Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
Jesus said that a sign of his nearing return would include an increase in lawlessness with the result that “the love of many will grow cold” [Matt. 24:12]. It’s not that a loss of love for God is only found in the end times. The problem was also cited in Ephesus where, although true doctrine …
Read More Lost LoveLet me return to one of my drumbeat issues: sin. Augustine’s fifth century debate with Pelagius had much to do with defining sin as moral privation (Latin “privatio”): an absence of righteousness in human conduct. Let me offer a snapshot of what Augustine was saying and then invite comments from readers. For the full post …
Read More PrivatioPam, who attends Good Shepherd, sent me an email after I preached this morning. She highlighted Ephesians 4:22, that we are “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on …
Read More CorruptionIn reading 1 Kings I’m appalled by Solomon’s fall. In chapter 8 we find Solomon’s epic recital of God’s greatness at the dedication of the new temple. Again, in chapter 9, God appeared to him a second time and promised: “I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. …
Read More Guarding against heart attacksThere are times when friendships that were very important to me suddenly evaporated without explanation. Ask as I might, or try as I would, no reasons were offered or voicemails or emails returned. Just silence. So painful! It’s something common to every age, of course. Think, for instance, of young school children who announce to …
Read More Disappointment and JoyIn The Theological Origins of Modernity Michael Allen Gillespie offers a comparison of views in the debate between Martin Luther and the humanist Erasmus. Let me cite a part of his discussion at length: The crucial issue in the debate, however, is not epistemological and methodological but substantive. It is a question of the relationship …
Read More Who Rules the World?I’ve agreed to write a chapter on “Salvation in Christianity” for an edited study that compares Christianity to a competing faith system. In preparation I’ve surveyed the many uses of “saved” and “salvation” in the Bible. From my reading came a set of questions I’m still trying to process. What, for instance, are we saved …
Read More The Solution to SinAn update: I’ll be posting a separate blog every other weekend on www.cordeo.org.uk in a sharing of responsibilities with Peter Mead in our Cor Deo mentoring initiative. His first post is already available on that site and invites a visit! My first post there is set for next Sunday. Now let’s turn to today’s concern. What drives us? Are …
Read More Love and PowerI spent two years in a locked psychiatric unit during my days at seminary. As a part-time “psych tech” in a secular hospital my role was to support the nursing staff in patient care. The real life of most of our patients was often heart-breaking: in some measure all were broken and hurting. We did …
Read More God in Real LifeYesterday I watched a miracle take place. It was God’s work of taking two people and making them one. The wedding was one part of the event. The consummation of the marriage, in the privacy of the honeymoon suite, will have followed. Then in the communion of life that will unfold in days and years …
Read More A Wedding