Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category:
Confessions of A Christian
2 Peter 1:3-11
“Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”
This short confessional statement makes it clear that the realization that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior produces a life change. So when this confession is made, what does it mean? Most Christians hear these words so often that we can repeat them without considering their implications. As a result, I am going to attempt to define each of these loaded terms with regard to their Biblical context and describe which aspects we as a culture tend to omit or elaborate. Read more »
Jesus Christ!!!
There has been a lot of talk about whether or not Jesus viewed Himself as divine, and whether or not the early church viewed Him as divine. In response to these questions, I had asked for permission from Dr. Dan Doriani to post his lecture notes specifically on the implicit divinity claims throughout scripture. As I said, these are in note form and as such dont read that fluidly. If you are interested in reading a scholarly article by him that has been published on this topic, you may go here. If anyone simply wants a point on the notes clarified, please ask a question and I will do my best to answer. The PDF of his lecture notes is in our resource page as well. Enjoy:)
Why I Do Care
In response to the article I wrote called “Why Do I Care,” it became clear that for many, a generic answer to why someone should follow God left out a crucial aspect: Love.
This was truly a keen observation, as the logical chain I constructed focused primarily on God as creator and enforcer. Yet that is not all.
Read more »
The Treasure of You
“Now I know that you’ll always be where I go.” –Plus One, Forever
A bartender at the restaurant where I work said to me this week, “Jen, if you could make out with ANY guy in the WHOLE world, who’d it be?” I just looked at him and started cracking up.
I couldn’t even make eye contact.
So, I ran away in the name of tending to my guests, came back, stared at him and said, “You know, you make me think about stuff!” While scratching my head I honestly confessed, “Well, if you must have an answer, I’ll say to you, my future husband.”
And silence filled the space between us.
Why Do I Care?
In a conversation on De-Conversion, Pat (comment #15) said
“I would like to see a post on your blog as to why someone would follow God.”
This is a very good question and one that needs to be asked by Christians and non-Christians alike, but often goes unaddressed in Christian circles. I will endeavor to provide a generic answer to the question here. However, before we can start to answer why someone would follow God, there are a lot of underlying assumptions about God and our knowledge of Him that we must first address. By doing so not only will we all be on the same page regarding certain terms and concepts, but we will be able to follow the logic used (hopefully) in answering this question from start to finish. Read more »
The Gospel and “Religious Experiences”
During chapel recently on my campus, I witnessed something truly religious.
Our speaker sculpted a head of Jesus while telling of his betrayal (with a little bit of theatrics and exaggerations). Then he explained how Jesus was beaten and crucified. He thrust a crown of thorns on the clay Jesus’ head and sprinkled it fake blood. It was meant to evoke a highly emotional response, and it did. As he brought up a pianist to play some music in the background as he made the altar call. One young female briskly strode to the front of the auditorium and began uncontrollably weeping. The speaker continued to call people forth to have an experience. Then this young woman started screaming, at the top of her lungs. I could not make out exactly what she was saying. She continued for a few minutes saying the same two or three words over and over again. The speaker was pleased, and affirmed her experience as true.
D***ed if I do, and D***ed if I don’t
The media has a tendency to portray Christians in one of two ways: 1) The belligerent, hellfire and brimstone, abortion clinic bombing types, and 2) The embezzling, caught in adultery, child molesting priest types. We can dismiss this portrayal as merely the media’s constant desire to focus on only the most sensational stories, or we can admit that they are providing a service. The reason these instances make the news and are disseminated into public opinion as typical of Christians all over is because ultimately, people want to see Christians (and by extension, Christianity) fail. The two ways a Christian can fail in society’s eyes is by claiming to be holier-than-thou, or by being not holier-than-thou. Let’s analyze that claim a little further. Read more »
