Confessions of a Seminarian

Covenants- Obedience and Rebellion

In my last post, I discussed the nature of a Covenant itself.

What it is:  A specific form of relationship
How God relates to us through covenant:  He initiates, we respond.
What voids a covenant: Death
What blessing means: being in right relationship with YHWH

I ended the post claiming the purpose of God to bless the nations was achieved through Israel whether it was obedient or rebellious.  The nature of their participation in God’s world mission was up to them.  That assertion is the focus of this post. Read more »

(crickets)

Hey everyone…  The last couple weeks have been insanely busy for COAS.  The one downside of having a blog staffed exclusively of people with the same schedule is that when one of us is busy, we are all busy.  The new semester has officially commenced and we are swamped.  Once our schedule irons out and we get a handle on the workload, you can expect business as normal.  To wet your appetite, here are a few things you can look forward to in the coming weeks….

• Guest author Matt Blazer will be writing a review of the God on Trial Debate last week.  Matt had the massive opportunity to hang out and share a few drinks with Christopher Hitchens and Dinesh D’Souza after the debate.
• I am (still) working on the next iteration in the series “Towards a Biblical Masculinity,” and should have it in shortly.
• We will be starting a new series called “Profile of a Christian Artist,” where we will have the opportunity to interview various artists about their craft, their faith, and how each of these interact in such a culturally rich profession.  This will include musicians, painters, and everything in between.

Last Chance!

Tomorrow night is the God on Trial Debate that I mentioned a couple weeks back.  If you are interested in coming, please use the “Contact Us” form in the top right corner of the blog ASAP.  My wife and I will be there helping out with the book signing, so holla if you see me.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that we will be hanging out with Hitchens and D’Souza for a little while afterwards?  No?  Well, we are. 

Covenants-What are They?

Many people understand a covenant as similar to a modern-day contractual relationship: I do this, you do this and if one of us doesn’t perform our duties, then the contract is broken and we walk our separate ways, thus ending the relationship.

This definition, however, is the exact opposite of how a covenant is depicted throughout the Bible.  Read more »