#reknew

[jaimeepaul-artist]

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Mid makeover #reknew #sneakyboarddesigns

[gospelofthekingdom]

The REAL Problem with Divine Violence in the OT

The real challenge we face, I submit, is that we must interpret violent divine portraits in such a way that we can discern the self-sacrificial God revealed on Calvary within portraits of God declaring he will use Babylon his servant to smash together parents and children (Jer. 13:14), or of God planning to trample his own “Virgin Daughter Judah” like one crushes grapes in a winepress (Lam. 1:15), or of God bringing about a judgment in which babies would be dashed to the ground and pregnant women would have their wombs ripped open (Hos. 13:16).

That is the real problem. And as it concerns this problem, arguments to the effect that God’s merciless violence against people was justified, even if successful, achieve very little. If there is any hope of resolving this problem, I submit that it lies in adopting a completely different framework. What if we, like Paul, adopted a hermeneutic that reflected Paul’s attitude toward the Corinthians when he “resolved to know nothing… except Jesus Christ crucified?”

[gospelofthekingdom]

Great reminder from the Reknew team that I recommend all kingdom people and thinkers to read (or reread) and meditate on.

[gospelofthekingdom]

Since people have misquoted this verse to me hundreds of times, here is a great answer from Greg Boyd.

'When Jesus later appeared before Pilate and was asked if he was the King of the Jews, Jesus responded that his kingdom is not of this world, and he points to the fact that his followers are not fighting as proof of this fact (Jn. 18:36). So, a distinguishing characteristic that a person belongs to Jesus’ Kingdom is that they refuse to fight their enemies. They rather prayer for their healing and seek to serve them any way they can — including dying for them, as Jesus did, if necessary.'

[gospelofthekingdom]

Greg Boyd talks about his thoughts on Rob Bell's book "Love Wins", and offers his own thoughts on his view of Hell.

[gospelofthekingdom]

The natural skeptic in me loves loves loves this and makes me glad that I'm not the only one.

And Greg's shirt is the jam; everyone poops.

[gospelofthekingdom]

Rethinking Hell

An excerpt from A Reknew Manifesto by Greg Boyd.  The whole article can be found here.  (Emphasis all original).

The earliest Christians understood “hell” in several different ways. Some viewed it as annihilation, others as eternal conscious suffering, and others redemptive process that will result in everyone being saved (“universalism”). After Augustine however, the view of hell as eternal conscious suffering became dominant. Annihilationism quickly became a marginal view and universalism was eventually officially condemned.

In light of the love that God has revealed for all humans in Christ, we are convinced that if there is any way that God could save all, he most certainly would save all. Moreover, we don’t see how anyone who genuinely loves all people—as Christ commands and empowers us to do—could fail to hope that God’s love will eventually rescue and transform everyone. At the same time, our belief in free will rules out the Universalist’s belief that there will come a time when everyone must be saved. Moreover, we don’t see in Scripture sufficient warrant for being confident that all will be saved.

What is more certain to us is that the fire of God’s love will salvage and purify everything in a person that is consistent with God’s loving character and will burn up (metaphorically speaking) everything that is not. If it unfortunately turns out that people can sink to the point where there is nothing salvageable, it’s our conviction God will justly, yet mercifully, withdraw his sustaining hand, allowing them to return to nothingness – “as though they had never been” (Obadiah 16). When Scripture speaks of hell as “eternal,” we believe this most likely refers to the effect of this punishment, not the duration of anyone’s experience of it.

However, we are convinced that what is more important than the particular views we hold is the manner in which we hold them. Since the biblical material on this topic is ambiguous, and since the witness of the early church is not uniform on this matter, we encourage Jesus-followers today to not christen their own view as the orthodox view, but rather to allow all views to be entertained and lovingly debated.

[nimberlake]

Or in other words, I don't believe in the god you don't believe in neither...

New stuff from @gregboyd. Looks nice and promising. I wonder if he hired Rob Bell's media team?! ;)