Judas Verses Peter (Part 3)

I’m picking up here where I left off in my last post, Judas Verses Peter (Part 2).

If Judas couldn’t be forgiven, I’d argue that it is only because he wouldn’t allow for it. If Judas is in hell, I’m not sure it’s because God is getting his revenge. At most I would suggest it is out of justice that God would do this, and with deep sorrow in his heart at that.

I imagine the notion that Judas could have been restored or that he could be in heaven will be deeply disturbing to some people. Why is this?

We all recognize that there is evil and injustice in the world. We correctly recognize that certain acts which a specific do are evil and injustice. We desire for these to be corrected and the injustice removed. However, there is a Continue reading →

Judas Verses Peter (Part 2)

In my previous post, I compared Judas to Peter looking at their big failures. I now continue by considering how Jesus responded to Peter.

Jesus’ harshest criticisms were directed at the religious leaders of his time. For this reason they often get a bad rap. However, a while ago I realized that, if we are to be consistent, we must say that Jesus loved the pharisees and religious leaders just as much as anyone else. Similarly, I think it would be inconsistent to hold that Jesus merely tolerated Judas, thinking “Well I’ve got to put up with this one punk so that scripture can be fulfilled—someone has to betray me after all.” No, I think that Jesus must have loved Judas as much as he did the other disciples. He must have honestly hoped Continue reading →

Judas Verses Peter (Part 1)

Judas and Peter. Both of these men were chosen by Jesus to be part of the twelve—the first sent ones representing the new Israel. Yet the two men had drastically different fates. I don’t believe this necessarily had to be so. Neither were perfect men. I mean, Jesus once rebuked Peter as speaking for Satan!

Judas led the religious authorities to Jesus betraying him and leading to his arrest. Soon after, Peter denies ever knowing Jesus, swearing and cursing in the process. This is perhaps just hours after Peter and the other disciples swore that they would fight to the death for Jesus.

Both Judas and Peter soon realize their grave errors. Peter crawls into a hole a weeps despairingly. I think when he and others swore they would die Continue reading →

Prepared to Fight…

The team had been working all year toward this one goal. Countless hours of practice, drills, weight training, and conditioning had been undertaken in an effort to be the best. Tonight they had a chance to make this happen. The championship game was only minutes away. The players huddled together. The team’s captain and Heisman winning QB fired them up. He had led them to this moment both through is play on the field and through his leadership both on and off the turf. Their competitor would be fierce but the team believed in themselves. They knew they could do this. Each player would put everything he had on the line tonight in order to be able to hoist the championship trophy in the air at the end of the night.

The kick off soared and Continue reading →

We Can’t Judge and Love Simultaneously

I love Greg Boyd’s proposition that we can’t judge (condemn) and love people at the same time. Obviously many Christians feel a very strong compulsion to condemn sin. Where does this come from? Probably two places. First, much of the Old Testament stresses holiness in the form of outward signs and actions. If people don’t understand how to view scripture in light of Jesus and instead see the Bible as our rule book / manual / encyclopedia, then there’s a higher probability of mis-applying this first portion of the Bible. In this article, Greg points out a second reason people look at the Bible this way. At some point we received the simplified gospel that Jesus came to deliver us from our sins. I believe this became popular among Continue reading →

Spiritual Growth

  • I believe that spiritual growth is a journey, and the journey is not always straight forward.
  • I believe that spiritual transformation is a slow, gradual process, measured more in terms of years rather than days and weeks. (So be patient.)
  • I believe that spiritual growth happens best when we are continually, repeatedly reminded of God’s perspective (a.k.a. a kingdom and biblical perspective) on us and the world.
  • I believe that relationships are one of the primary contexts for growth. This is in part because relationships are one of the best sources for encouraging us through the challenges of life and for reminding us of the truth of God’s perspective amidst these challenges.

Conclusion: Have a community in which you engage Continue reading →

Ministry Segregation

I’m noticing that many churches gender segregate their adult small groups. I wonder if this is because the average adult church goer is assumed to be married (and, because marriage seems to be a prerequisite for ministry, this is also the perspective from which the organizing pastor is making decisions). I suppose church members are assumed to live closely with a member of the opposite sex (because of being married), but have more limited opportunities to build closer friendships with members of the same sex. (The Christian fear of sex may well also influence this decision.) I can see the reason and value in this. However, as a single adult who subsequently does not live closely with a member of the opposite sex, I want to find a place to Continue reading →

Book Review: Surprised by Hope (N. T. Wright)

I had heard good things about the book “Surprised by Hope” by N. T. Wright. I previously read his book “Simply Jesus” and thought it to be good. So I put “Surprised by Hope” on my reading list. It is a bit lengthier than the average book. However, it is the most important book I’ve read recently—I could hardly recommend “Surprised by Hope” highly enough.

Wright presents a paradigm of Christianity which, while biblical, has often been clouded or lost through centuries of western theology. Wright clears away the clutter and explains the central importance of Jesus’ resurrection as understood by the early church and the Bible, and why it’s important for both our present and future.

This review has been challenging to write. The ideas Continue reading →

Book Review: Courtship in Crisis

I believe Thomas Umstattd Jr. has written an important book in “Courtship in Crisis“. Umstattd effectively answers the concerns which Joshua Harris brought up in the infamous book, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”. Similar to that book, “Courtship in Crisis” has two main parts: a problem and a proposed solution. The main problem Umstattd addresses, and the perspective he previously held to, is the type of courtship (“modern courtship” as Umstattd refers to it) which Harris proposed in “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”.

While I was not immersed in quite as conservative a culture as Umstattd, I wasn’t too far from it either. I hadn’t personally gone as far as holding to “modern courtship” as the only way to go, however my beliefs were in many ways Continue reading →

Taking America Back For God

I will confess to you that I honestly don’t have a clue what it even means to say, “Take America back to God”. I hear that a lot—all the time, more and more on the radio and television. And every time, something inside of me turns. I’m really wondering when the golden age of America was, when we were a nation under God—hallelujah—God was being glorified. Was that before, during, or after we loaded five to six million Africans on cargo ships, shipped them over here and the three million that survived we enslaved and beat for two-hundred years. Was that the golden age? I’m a little confused on this—someone help me out. When God was really being glorified… Was it before, during, or after we came over here, declared that this was our Continue reading →