Book Review: Primal Fire

Neil Cole’s recent book, “Primal Fire – Reigniting the Church with the Five Gifts of Jesus” looks at “APEST” or what is sometimes referred to as the five-fold ministry. This is based on Ephesians 4 where Paul says, “These are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors [or shepherds] and teachers.” (“APEST” is an acrostic of these gifts.)

I can imagine this may sound like a narrow topic, however the book is quite worthwhile. “Primal Fire” touches on how the church as a whole should function. And it especially imparts a vision of Christian leadership, painting an image which might be a paradigm shift for many people. Beyond this, Cole shares how these are gifts which every follower of Continue reading →

Book Review: Jesus, Bread, and Chocolate

John J. Thompson recently published what I believe is his first book. Entitled “Jesus, Bread, and Chocolate – Crafting a Handmade Faith in a Mass-Market World”, the book is one part auto-biographical, one part informational (overviews of how beer is made, where chocolate comes from, etc.), one part biography (he shares brief stories of several artisans), and one part analysis. This may make it sound like the book is schizophrenic. While it does cover a lot of ground, it is so well written and organized that it works and is not hard to follow.

In “Jesus, Bread, and Chocolate”, Thompson explores how the mass production of certain products has produced items of little substance. He compares this to Western Christianity, suggesting that Continue reading →

Jesus’ Death and Resurrection – What to Know

This week we approach the celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection. These event are truly central to the Christian faith and, assuming they are true as I do, central to the story of human history. So I think it’s quite worthwhile to look at some of the significance of these events.

Forsaken?

While on the cross, Jesus quotes Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I have most often heard this interpreted literally; people have said that the fellowship Jesus had with the Father was broken at this moment. And I’ve most often heard it said that God the Father turned his back on Jesus because of the sin which Jesus’ bore. “God is so holy,” the explanation goes, “that he can’t look upon sin.”

I’ve never been comfortable Continue reading →

Jesus’ Radical Teaching on Provision

Many Christians have the idea based on scripture that God promises to provide for us. I have a sense that this is true, but not in the way we thought. It seems that we have the idea that God will provide everything and keep us from trouble in this life, unconditionally.

But something inspired me to think differently about this recently. It may have been hearing about martyrs. I’ve heard that many early Christians realized that their willing deaths were a witness to radical nature of God’s nation. The fact that they died joyously and blessing their enemies was a testament that something incomprehensible to the natural mind was happening. There was some other worldly substance to the empire which Jesus had started. In fact, as I Continue reading →

How Effective Does A Ministry Have To Be In Order To Be Worthwhile?

I expect this is a question many leaders ask themselves in some form or another. When you spend your time, energy, and other resources on something, you want to believe that it is worthwhile. You also want to be getting the most out of this investment, not necessarily personally, but in terms of moving toward your goal. So it’s natural to question whether or not what you are doing is worthwhile and if you are being as effective as you can be.

By default we usually think bigger is better. If the ministry in question is big and touches a lot of people, this must be good. If the ministry is small and not reaching many people, we are tempted to think it is failing.

But just because a ministry is large does not mean it is effective in Continue reading →

Book Review: The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis

The C. S. Lewis book titled “The Weight of Glory” is actually a collection of essays or lectures made by Lewis. The title of the book comes from the first of these lectures and is also the most quoted of them. Since this book is a compilation, I provide below a brief overview of each essay below.

The Weight of Glory 6/8/1941 – In this address, Lewis first talks about the longings we each have: the deep longing for something which no experience on earth satisfies though we have faint glimpses of, like a memory of something long ago. It’s the desire that beauty stirs within us, the longing to be fully immersed and joined into the beauty. It’s what others have described as the God shaped void within us. Lewis argues that this longing Continue reading →

The Problem of Evil, Part 5 – Love Not Micromanagement

In my previous post, I explain why the “magical” view of God is ruled out by his unchanging nature which fixes reality within certain parameters. In this article, I share how one of God’s specific characteristics rules out him micromanaging the world.

One of if not the most primary characteristic of God is love. I believe that love is core to God’s being and his reason for creating. I believe love is therefore one of these fixed parameters so to speak. In line with what I’ve been discussing, I believe love has a specific meaning. It can’t be changed to anything and still be love.

Part of the nature of love is that it requires freedom on the part of each party. In other words, each person must have the ability to choose to act in Continue reading →

The Problem of Evil, Part 4 – The Fixed Nature of Reality

In my previous post, I shared two misconceptions about God’s power: that it is “magical” and means controlling (or micromanaging). I now want to make a case for why God’s being all power can’t mean these things.

When we say “God”, we must mean something or else we are talking about nothing. By saying God is certain things, we are implicitly if not explicitly saying God is not other things. Specifically following from this, God has a certain nature and this nature is what God is like. God can’t be anything; there are certain ways God is and certain ways God is not.

I see no reason to believe that God’s core, fundamental nature changes. To say otherwise I think would be close to not believing in God at all. (Note: people’s beliefs and Continue reading →

The Problem of Evil, Part 3 – Misconceptions About God’s Power

So far in this series I have assumed that evil does exist and that we as Christians want to believe that God is both all powerful and all good. However, it seems like we can have at most two of these three options. I want to argue that we tend to hold two misconceptions as to what it means for God to be all powerful.

The first misconception about God’s power is what I would call a magical view of God. This is the view that God’s power means that he can simply “snap his fingers” and anything he wants happens instantly. I don’t believe this view is either necessary nor most inline with the Bible and reality. But if you hold to the second misconception, it is implied.

The second misconception is that God’s being in control (all Continue reading →

The Problem of Evil, Part 2 – God Behind Suffering?

In my previous post, I introduced the dilemma caused by the existence evil.

There is another angle which is unique to people of faith: believing that God specifically wills or allows bad things to happen for some good purpose. This one which is particularly troubling because it sounds really good in certain respects so long as it is not taken too far¹. At first, it seems like the most reasonable way to resolve our dilemma.

What this response does, in an attempt to hold on to both God’s power and goodness, is effectively redefine goodness such as to include evil. Since God is good and is somehow involved (actively causing or allowing evil), the bad must in some way actually be good.

This could be seen as a way of effective Continue reading →