Sunday, I taught the latter half of Luke 4. After Jesus leaves his hometown of Nazareth, he travels to the town of Capernaum where he casts out the spirit of a defiling demon, heals a fever and spends an evening healing people before heading south toward Judea. All of these place names can get very… Read More »
A Field to Be Harvested
You quite literally can’t read the Hebrew Scriptures without encountering harvests of every size, shape and color. Since Palestine was a highly agrarian region for most of its history, harvests loom large. They define offerings and sacred holidays in the Torah. The barley and wheat harvests in particular defined the rhythms of life and even… Read More »
"To Be With God"
Heaven.
That place where you go when you die. First, you stroll through the pearly gates and meet St. Peter, then you get a crown and a mansion and can eat all you want. There’s a temple and lots of holy people around, angels singing from the clouds. You get a harp. It’s great.
Of course, that image is entirely wrong. Oh, some of it is in the Scriptures, but the way we perceive it and the way it will truly be are two different things.
The Kingdom
Before we can talk about The Sermon, you need to hear it. Don’t just read it in your head, like an intellectual exercise. This kind of reading is entirely a Western thing, and I’m not sure it is an entirely good thing. Remember that Jesus spoke this, and it burned into the memory of the… Read More »
Book Review – The Original Jesus
I have only recently discovered the thoughts of N.T. (Tom) Wright. If you don’t know who he is, Wright is an Anglican bishop who has been very active in the ‘historical Jesus’ debate for some time. After listening to several lectures I found on christianaudio.com, I decided that I should check out some of his… Read More »
Quoting Jesus Out of Context?
Yesterday, I watched Brian McLaren present his view of the Gospel as “Your kingdom come to earth.” Brian is one of my favorite heretics. His beliefs are heavily influenced by deconstructionist views of Scripture, and always appear to be foundationally sound at first. Unfortunately, his presentation often obscures his view of Scripture. His view of… Read More »
Jesus' Non-violence and Roman Law
Jesus was, among other things, a true master of intentional actions. This morning, I was putting together some notes for a Church History class I will be teaching this fall. I was researching Jesus’ statement in the Sermon on the Mount: If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. [Matthew… Read More »
The Scandal of Easter (jesusmanifesto.com)
Written by Mark Van Steenwyk : March 18, 2008 This article originally appeared on www.jesusmanifesto.com . I don’t necessarily agree with everything, but it is worth reading. Easter is coming. On Sunday, we remember the day that our Lord wrested free from the confines of the grave. It is the day when the final Enemy,… Read More »
Facing the Powers
What follows is a raw documentation of the confrontation between Christ and what I believe to be demonic powers. There are many even in the Church who would say that there is no such thing as demonic power and control anymore (if they acknowledge its existence at all). I think this is a very foolish… Read More »
