Jul 19, 2024
Attending my church by myself: lovely and nuanced sermon about caring for neighbors and being like Jesus
Bringing a friend to church: “ghosts might be real”
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
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seen from China
seen from China
seen from China
seen from China
seen from Portugal
seen from China
seen from Canada
seen from China
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Portugal
seen from Canada
seen from Malaysia
seen from Portugal
seen from Canada
Attending my church by myself: lovely and nuanced sermon about caring for neighbors and being like Jesus
Bringing a friend to church: “ghosts might be real”
Jesus came, not to protect us from a God who is furious with us, but to reveal a God who is pleased with us. - Greg Boyd
You can't be concerned with believing the truth if your concern is to feel certain that what you already believe is true. - Greg Boyd
Did God punish Jesus on the cross? William Lane Craig vs Greg Boyd on Penal Substitution Atonement
Did God punish Jesus in our place on the cross? William Lane Craig’s new book ‘Atonement and the Death of Christ’ is a major new defence of Penal Substitutionary Atonement. He discusses the doctrine of atonement with Greg Boyd who has been a critic of PSA and an advocate of the Christus Victor view of the cross.
Paul Copan on Divine Violence
Paul Copan on Divine Violence
Today’s guest post was written by Paul Copan. His essay is a review of my book Divine Violence and the Character of God. Paul is a professor at the Palm Beach Atlantic University (Florida) and holds the endowed Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics. He is author or editor of more than 40 books, including his well-known book, Is God a Moral Monster? Some Reflections on Claude…
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Divine Violence
The manuscript for my book Divine Violence and the Character of God has been accepted for publication. The book will be published probably next January. The research, the writing, and the editing of the manuscript took more than one year of my time. This is the reason I have not published my blog as often as before. There is much violence in the Old Testament, both human and divine. Christians…
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“I’ve observed that we in the West—especially Christians—tend to attach great importance to what we believe. We treat beliefs almost as though they have magical power, as though merely believing something makes it so. For instance, many assume that believing Jesus is Lord of their life magically makes him Lord. This is undoubtedly why so many evangelical churches place so much significance on getting people to believe in Jesus and why so much is made of the moment sinners raise their hand or go to the altar to profess their faith in Jesus. This one-time event, it is often assumed, makes Jesus Lord of their life forever.
The truth is, merely believing Jesus is Lord no more makes him Lord of my life than believing Kim Jong-un is the leader of North Korea makes me his follower. For Kim Jong-un to be my leader, I would need to submit my life to him and become a citizen of North Korea. So too, for Jesus to be my Lord, I need to submit my life to him and become a citizen of his Kingdom.
Research shows that however emotional people may have been when they raised their hand or responded to the altar call, fewer than 4 percent reflected any change in their lives several years later.
I’m not trying to minimize the importance of beliefs. Obviously, it’s impossible to surrender to Jesus unless you first believe that he is Lord. Still, the belief is not itself the surrender. Embracing a belief is something you do in your mind. Actually surrendering your life is something you can only do with your will. And since the only life you have to surrender is the one you’re living at this present moment, the decision to surrender can only take place right now.
The important question, therefore, is not what you believe. The important question is what you decide to do, moment-by-moment, on the basis of what you believe.”
- Greg Boyd, Present Perfect, pp. 47-48
Mariottini v. Boyd
First of all, I have to confess that the v. as in Mariottini v. Boyd is misleading.
The fact is that on Monday, January 25, I will have a dialogue with Greg Boyd about his book Crucifixion of the Warrior God. The main focus of our dialogue will be on the character of the God of the Old Testament. The dialogue will be on Northern Seminary’s weekly podcast.
I have written a series of posts on…
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