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THE BIG ROMANS QUESTION
Outside of predestination, one of the hottest debates concerning Paul’s letter to the Romans focuses on 7:14 and following: We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing…
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WHAT THE “PUREST GOSPEL” SAYS ON HELL
I can’t help but return at least once more to the topic of hell vs. annihilation after studying Romans. I noted before that, although the whole book is concerned with salvation – what it means, who is saved and how – you will not find the word hell or the phrase lake of fire in Romans. Wrath and judgment are mentioned a few times: For example, in 1:18 – “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” (The use of the present tense is interesting…
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READING ROMANS
One of the best things I have ever done for my spiritual life is my recent deep dive into the book of Romans. And I am not finished yet. Since I spent 6 weeks going through each of the 16 chapters verse by verse, over the last few day I have been going back and reading large swaths of it again to see how differently it hits me as a whole now. And all I can say is … wow. I turned to Romans after I had studied Matthew and then Acts because I had often heard that Paul’s letter…
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I CALLED IT PRAYER
“Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way.” Col. 1:9-10 Do you ever look at the Apostle Paul’s prayers and think, “This guy is praying on a whole different level than I am”? Can you imagine being in a prayer meeting with this guy? Me, bowing my head: “Lord, please help me get…
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TO WILL WHAT GOD WILLS
This quote is from Oden’s book John Wesley’s Teachings, Volume 4:Ethics and Society, page 29. “To will what God wills” – what a profound phrase! How many of us, if asked to measure our current Christian lives by that standard, could unequivocally confirm that a desire “to will what God wills” composes the very center of our lives? I don’t know about you, but my prayers often feel like an attempt to bend God’s will to my own. That seems like it might be a pretty good indication that I have got things backwards!
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RULE-KEEPING AND TOILET PAPER
I knew a man who grew up Jewish and converted to Christianity as an adult. His parents remained devout Jews. He once shared the following illustration of their piety relating to observing the Sabbath. We know that the Jewish law forbids work on the Sabbath. The New Testament Pharisees disapproved even of Jesus healing a man’s crippled hand on the Sabbath. When this man’s parents came for extended visits, once a week he would find little squares of toilet paper already torn from the roll, folded, and placed on the edge of the bathroom counter … in preparation for the…
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REWRITE
One way to know if something is an incredibly poor attempt at persuasion is if it can be turned easily on its head in favor of the other side. That is true with the recently popular pro-choice meme which I brought up last night, consisting of a quote from Pastor Dave Barnhart (credited as a “traditional Christian pastor”): Now consider this rewrite: The unborn are a convenient group of people to ignore. You don’t see their faces. You don’t hear their voices. But unlike the incarcerated, the addicted, and, indeed, every other breathing human, they are completely innocent. Still, you…
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UNPERSUASIVE
The abortion debate is not just a disagreement. It is a “two movies on one screen” scenario. People are seeing two very different realities. And each reality has its own echo chamber. inside that echo chamber, it is incredibly difficult to tell what is a persuasive argument and what it not. As long as it aligns with “our side”, confirmation bias will lead us to believe the quote or meme we are sharing on Instagram is airtight and incontrovertible . It seldom is. The other side is more likely to see the flaws in our arguments. I am not looking to…
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TWO MOVIES ON ONE SCREEN
My four kids are Marvel movie fans. My wife has seen some of the movies but I don’t remember her ever being enthusiastic about any specific Avenger outing. Caleb, Hannah, and Sarah were wanting to see the new Dr. Strange movie before the weekend was over. I was game. And maybe because it was Mother’s Day, Melissa came to the theater with us. Four of us enjoyed the movie while one of us thought it was one of the worst movies ever made. Melissa was aghast. She spent the two hours alternating between covering her eyes and looking disgusted. It…
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MOTHER’S DAY
Since Samuel is leaving for Atlanta tomorrow morning, our family celebrated an early Mother’s Day on Saturday. Melissa said the only thing she wanted for her special day was time together as a family. We let everyone sleep in and then we were off to Madison, Indiana – about an hour south and one of Melissa’s favorite places to shop and sightsee. Over the last 21 years, Melissa has confirmed that she was created to be a mom. She is a natural. Need proof? Look at these 4 young adults she has raised: (Hardly a dud among them.) Over the…
