I recently discovered the blog of John Shore, and the first thing I read was a coffee shop conversation he listened to between an evangelizing Christian and a guy he described as “Wasn’t Having Any.” The discussion was over John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” W.H.A. asserted that Jesus was not saying that only Christians were going to heaven, and that many Christians have abused that verse to claim it means something Christ didn’t say. Continue reading
Category Archives: Theology
Lessons from the Prodigal Son
The Parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s an old favorite. Beginning with chapter 10 and going all the way through 20, Luke basically recalls one parable after another. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, but this story is perhaps the best known; and most frequently taught. There are still good lessons we can learn from it.
Let’s begin by looking at the father in this story. He’s not your typical Jewish father. When the younger son asks for his inheritance, he’s saying in essence that he is tired of waiting for the old man to die. It would have been an appropriate response to take the young man to the gates of the city and stone him to death. Continue reading
Still on vacation…
While we’re in GA I have limited access to the internet (I hope to buy a laptop next week, and not have this problem in the future). I want everyone to know we’re alive and well, and not give up on The Master’s Table as one of the blogs you read. Hopefully this will tide you over:
The Internet Monk is in transition to being Jesusshaped.com. In the meantime, he wants everyone to keep up with what’s going on at http://jesusshaped.wordpress.com, the temporary home during this transition phase. Check his new stuff out there.
We’re having Ricky from Two Channel Station as a guest blogger (he just doesn’t know it yet). I’m sure he’ll be thrilled. If you don’t know about Two Channel Station, this will be a good introduction, and keeps with the theme of The Master’s Table quite well also. Ricky writes:
Logic vs. Faith
How do you know that Christianity is the only way? How can you say that? Do you know for a fact that Christ did all that he supposedly did? Logically, how is that possible? Continue reading
Free will, or not free will?
Today that is the question. We clearly read in scripture where God has ordained certain events to take place. God establishes thrones and kingdoms on the earth, to serve in certain instances, as instruments he uses to bring about his righteous judgment, or at other times to show his mighty hand. He is the Lord of history. But.. what about free will? If humanity has the will to choose for himself, how does God predestine historical events? That my friend is the right question.
Okay, I’m going to cheat. I’m not exactly going to answer these quesitons, but give you some useful information as you work it out. In Genesis chp. 50, Joseph tells his brothers “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” They had evil in their heart when they sold Joseph into slavery, but God used it to bring about his purpose and plan.
Consider this passage from Acts 2:23 “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” God’s plan of salvation called for Jesus to die as a sacrifice. The evil men of the first century, whom Peter is preaching to in Acts, carried out God’s plan in order to bring salvation.
Man does what he wants; God gets what he wants.
Let’s try something new. Below is video of this sermon being preached on Sunday, May 18th. Sorry about the sound quality. This is my first attempt at uploading digital video. (The video made me nervous; I’m normally a better public speaker than a writer.)
Jesus has left my building…
…and I’m leaving with him.
UPDATE: Internet Monk has deleted the original article this post references.
Many of my readers are already familiar with the internetmonk. His latest blog post is the best thing he’s written in a long time in my opinion. If you’re a fan of his, you know he’s been going through some kind of “funk” for while. If you’re not already reading internetmonk, I want Jesus has left my building…and I’m leaving with him to be the first thing of his you read. It’s way more than just a reminder that denominations are the creation of man.
This link is to a post I wrote in March about the ecumenical and international nature of the ministry I’m a part of. If you stand in a room with people from many different nations, or perhaps many different types of Christians – or both – then you get a glimpse of what Heaven is going to be like. The gospel message is even now being carried to every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Heaven is not going to be divided by denominational differences; all people from all the ages will gather together in praising God. Jesus will be the firstborn of a large family; a family made up of Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopals, Roman Catholics, Messianic Jews and a host of others. There are over 30 Protestant denominations, plus Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, non-denominationals, and God only knows – literally – how many others. But there is one God, one faith, and one baptism.
We will sit down as God’s children some day; we should live like we believe that.
The Failure of Science vs. Religion
When I first heard of “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” I was hoping it would open some doors. I was optimistic that the popularity of this movie would get people asking the right questions, and that Christians would have some answers ready. It could be expected that atheists, evolutionists and Darwinists would oppose the film and its ideas, but Expelled has also received negative criticism from other circles.
Intelligent Design is sort of a redheaded stepchild to begin with. It is not creationism, and conservative evangelicals think of ID as a compromise between religion and science. They accuse ID of trying to “water down” religious faith enough that science can accept it. So IDers are going to take it from both sides; Darwinists who think that it’s creationism as well as religious zealots who thinks it isn’t creationism enough. Continue reading
Looking for God?
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV)
The image of the invisible God; I’ve always loved that verse. To put it simply, God cannot be seen. At least not by man. His glory is more than we can handle. He said so. That’s the beauty of Jesus: he is God. Continue reading
Tough questions
Some questions I know are going to come up, so I’m prepared to answer. “How do we the Bible is true?” “Does the Bible contradict itself?” “Was the world created in seven days?” I know these are coming, I’ve answered them before, someone will ask them again in the future. But last night some church youth caught me off guard. At first I was stumped because I couldn’t believe high school kids sat around and thought about stuff like this. The question was about the Apostle’s Creed, specifically about Jesus descending into hell. Church youth in a Baptist church ask me if that was true. When I came to, I gave a very political answer that allowed me to avoid saying yes or no. But let’s unpack this issue. Continue reading
The Difference Jesus Makes in God
This is a follow-up to The Difference Jesus Makes, posted April 13th. That post was really about the difference Jesus makes in us.
What is God like to you? At the mention of God, all of us conjure up some image in the mind’s eye. Some imagine God to be like Zeus on Mount Olympus, tossing thunderbolts at the earth. Others have a misty, ethereal, floaty idea of a disembodied God on a cloud somewhere. Perhaps God is an old man, sitting like a grandfather in a rocking chair, just watching over everything. Deism is the concept that God is like a clockmaker, who put the universe in motion eons ago and is not actually involved in its working. Jesus is the incarnation of God, and should shape our view of who/what God is. Continue reading
Roman Catholic Christians
I’m the only writer in the entire blogoshpere that hasn’t said anything about Pope Benedict XVI being in the United States. Half the internet is devoted to this topic. There’s more pics of him this week than Brittney Spears; well, maybe not.
I’m still not going to blog on the Pope, but will take this occasion to say some things about the Catholic Church while everybody’s talking about it right now in America. Continue reading
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