Ain’t No Grave!

As I was thinking about what I was going to share for the Easter morning service, I had the song, “Ain’t No Grave” on my mind. Then I get a call from my brother. He’d gone to the doctor for some medical issues and found out he has six months to a year to live. The heavy toll of old age (he’s 72), hard living (heavy drinker and smoker), and the  Vietnam War (agent orange) are all finally catching up with him. 

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The joy set before Him

We know what Jesus did, but why did He do it? What would motivate Him to suffer so unjustly, abandoned by His own, bearing the weight and sin of whole world in His own body? Why would anyone do this?

This is a re-post from last year that I felt deserves a repeat, because I can’t think of a more important question for us to ponder.

Easter expectations

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the last week before what we now call “Easter,” what do you think the people expected Him to do? Think about that for a moment before reading on.

Imagine Jesus riding into your city one Spring morning….

What a Glorious Day!

This is from a post I wrote back in 2016 because I thought it would be good followup to my last post. We’ve been been looking at how we see the atonement and what that view says about God. It was in response to this statement: “the word propitiation refers to the fist of the Father, striking the Son….” While this view is extreme, what does it say about our atonement paradigm?

On atonement theories and the nature of God

I was in an interesting conversation over at Insanitybytes22’s blog with her post, “A Wrinkle in Time….” The subject was about the atonement. You might be surprised to hear this if you’ve only heard one version of the atonement but, historically speaking, this subject is one the most controversial topics in Christianity.

No longer orphans

There has never been one moment in time when Gentiles (non-Jews) have been under the Law of Moses. That was a covenant between God and Israel. No Gentile was expected to follow the Mosaic covenant, even when it was in effect, so why would we Gentiles be required to follow it under a new covenant based on better promises? (Heb.8:6) It’s actually mind-boggling to me.

Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris on ethics

While learning about Jordan Peterson, I’ve been fascinated with the discussions he’s had with Sam Harris, one of the so-called four horsemen of the New Atheists. There’s literally hours of those discussions on YouTube. In my estimation, these are, by far, the most refreshingly mature conversations between two people who have very different views about God and ethics.