Stopping to Think

                                                                    Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash A Response to “A Gospel on the Move” by Eric D. Barreto Introduction In his paper, “A Gospel on the Move: Practice, Proclamation, and Place in Luke-Acts,” Eric D. Barreto argues that from the narrative coming to us as the twin books of Luke and Acts we can draw imaginative tools useful for understanding and evaluating the world around us today. He extends this specifically into the area of border and imigration policy, encouraging his reader to embrace a disruptive and Jesus like stance toward including outsiders in our conception of family and those who belong. Appreciation Barreto asks an important question in his third paragraph on page 175, “how do we move from narration to injun...

"[Christ came] to 'save sinners'; -not to open a door for them to come in if they will or can; not to make a way possible, that they may be saved; not to purchase reconciliation and pardon of His Father, which perhaps they shall never enjoy; but actually to save them from all the guilt and power of sin, and from the wrath of God for sin: which, if He doth not accomplish, he fails of the end of His coming." John Owen Commonplace Monday is a series of posts wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for. 

Throwback Thursday is a series of posts, wherein I will on (some) Thursdays post a piece of writing from back in the day. Generally not from this blog. I will edit lightly for readability, but my intention is to allow each piece to stand basically as written. Over the years my mind has shifted on many things, as my knowledge of life, the Scriptures, and myself has grown. I'm not in the business of hiding this fact, so these will probably (at least on occasion) contain some things which even I think are crazy. Originally Posted on Facebook as: Some musings on Salvation... February 9, 2010 Public Friends Friends except Acquaintances Only Me Custom Good feed South Lake Youth Ministries See all lists... Le Mars, Iowa Area Plummer, Idaho Area Family US Postal Service Acquaintances Go Back Just to preface, well...I was going to write a disclaimer trying to explain where I'm coming from, mostly because I'm assuming there will be a lot of people (many of whom...

Throwback Thursday is a series of posts, wherein I will on (some) Thursdays post a piece of writing from back in the day. Generally not from this blog. I will edit lightly for readability, but my intention is to allow each piece to stand basically as written. Over the years my mind has shifted on many things, as my knowledge of life, the Scriptures, and myself has grown. I'm not in the business of hiding this fact, so these will probably contain some things which even I think are crazy. Originally Published on Facebook as, "I just felt like writing..." April 14, 2008 at 2:24am Public Friends of Friends Friends Friends except Acquaintances Only Me Custom Good feed South Lake Youth Ministries See all lists... Le Mars, Iowa Area Plummer, Idaho Area Family US Postal Service Acquaintances Go Back I don't know why. I don't really feel like I have anything to say, but maybe some intelligable gibbersh will come out. I guess I'll talk about core gro...

Roughly one third of the population of the earth would identify themselves as Christian. What each individual might mean by that varies greatly, but I want to simply take my definition from the Apos tle Paul. I believe what he " delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep." 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 (ESV). Jesus Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Old Testament Scriptures which predicted this would happen. He was buried, and He rose to life on the third day (also in accordance with the Scriptures). He appeared to witnesses, more than five hundred of them. Through placing our faith in Jesus and the work that He did in dyi...

Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:13-14 NIV Jesus' words in Matthew 19 are familiar to many of us. You have most likely heard a sermon, read a blog, or been encouraged by someone to be more childlike in your faith. This is, I think, a good thing. Jesus does tell us here that "to such as these" belong the kingdom of heaven. But what does that mean? Again, we are familiar with exhortations to such things as humility and simple faith. I have no desire to contradict those here, both are concepts taught many other places in Scripture. I wonder, however, if we miss something when we equate childlikeness only with humility and trusting faith. I am far from being a child expert, but I have been around a few during the co...

The Goal The argument that God's sovereignty and man's culpability for sin are two ideas which simply do not mesh is nearly as old as Christianity. You see this in the writing of Pelagius and Augustine. Erasmus and Luther. Calvin and Arminius. What I want to accomplish here is a very quick summary of what the Bible says about the "how" of people coming to belief in Christ. Man's Nature We are told, from the very beginning of the Bible, that man is created in the image of God ( Genesis 1:26-28 ). Scholars differ on the precise implication of the word "image", but it is very clear throughout the Bible that God designed us to reflect a number of His attributes. Among these, very basic to our function as humans, is the ability to choose. We make small choices everyday, what color tie to wear, whether to drink Coke or Pepsi, or whether to start our day with granola or fruit loops. We also make big decisions on things such as college, marriage, chi...

Death. The mere fact that the title of the post along with it's first word consisted simply of that one word will have a good many of you considering the writer to be a person or rather morbid character. It's not a popular topic. On the one hand, we glory and revel in it, just so long as it is confined to our video games, TV shows, and movies. But do we want to have real conversations about it? Do we want to delve into the reason it exists, how it affects us, what happens afterword, and so on? No. We embrace the idea in our entertainment because it is “real”, yet this same reality is something we are constantly running from. There is no end to the number of ways in which we are trying to extend our lives, make our later years more painless, and eliminate from ourselves the appearance of being old. Most of us want nothing to do with the idea that one day our life here on earth will be over. Furthermore, even those willing to entertain that notion and consider will very rarel...