April 30, 2008 by iMonk
UPDATE: I’m still holding firm on the indulgence granted to those who want to convert me to their version of Christianity, but let me say two things: 1) The thread is a discussion of a question, not a discussion of my errant views of whatever you believe and 2) I can’t respond to all of these posts. I simply don’t have time. If I have misrepresented any of you personally, I will apologize. If you are upset that I don’t get your view of things, we’ll all just have to learn to live with it.
Here’s a key question in my own theological evolution. I’ll lift the usual moderation rule on seeking to convert others to your point of view if you will make a substantial contribution to the discussion.
All Christians are united with Christ by the sovereign, gracious work of God himself. All the benefits of salvation come to us because of union with Christ.
So how does union with Christ relate to your understanding of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper?
I won’t rehearse where the tension is for me, but if you tell me that Christ is “really present” in the eucharist at your church, I’d like you to distinguish how Christ’s person and benefits are available to you in the Eucharist in a way they are not available to me by virtue of union with Christ.
April 29, 2008 by iMonk
UPDATE: A lurker suggests that Driscoll or his researcher were reading Challies’ post on The Shack. Decide for yourself.
Just one note: Driscoll seems unaware of the book’s opening chapters and the dilemma that lies at the center of the plot. It is not a book about a conversation with the Trinity. It is a book about reconciliation to something horrible that has happened in the life of a man who believes in the Trinitarian God.
Here’s the blurb from the publisher’s website:
Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever.
Odd omission.
April 29, 2008 by iMonk
I’d forgotten about this one. Really, this is so very much what I have to say to anyone about the whole business of being a Christian. I couldn’t write anything today more on target with my journey to a Jesus-Shaped spirituality.
April 28, 2008 by iMonk
This post is my opinion, and your opinion is welcome in the comments if you can talk about The Shack instead of talking about what a jerk I am. I WELCOME differing opinions in regard to the book. Reading it and making up your own mind is what we should all do.
Well, well, well….it’s the little book that could. With about $300 of big-time promotion, William P. Young’s little novel, The Shack, is a multi-hundred thousand selling publishing phenomenon, with no sign of losing its momentum as it heads for the rare air of a million sales.
And along the way, Young’s imaginative, playfully serious account of one man’s weekend with the Trinity has apparently made a lot of doctrine policing sit up and pay attention. Attention, as in, “heresy alert.” [Continue reading]
April 26, 2008 by iMonk
Following the trail of influences from William P. Young’s much maligned book The Shack (a book that’s earned all the right enemies to be commended strongly to all readers of this blog,) I discovered The God Journey Podcast.
I’ve been feasting ever since. [Continue reading]
April 24, 2008 by iMonk
“My theology is simply what I read in the Bible.”
Sure it is.
“What I believe and practice is simply what the Bible teaches and nothing else.”
Of course. What else could be simpler?
I’m sure several of you won’t be surprised at all to learn that I meet with a pastoral counselor on a regular basis. It’s one of the best things I do. We talk about all sorts of things, and we’ve developed a very beneficial dialog around many of the the issues that are part of a Jesus shaped spirituality. [Continue reading]
April 23, 2008 by iMonk
Is it just me, or are some Christians putting too much emphasis on the Gospels?
There’s a lot of talk about the Kingdom of God in the Gospels. That gets many people off on the wrong track entirely.
Some people are always quoting the parables or Jesus’ sermons. All of these things need some further elaboration, footnotes or clarification, not to mention lots of additional verses from the rest of the Bible. [Continue reading]
April 23, 2008 by iMonk
A friend of mine recently said, “It sure seems that you’ve gone through a lot of phases during your time as a blogger.”
I’m sure it seems that way, but most of that is an illusion of the blogging life. The people around me wouldn’t have any major change in my beliefs to report since I abandoned Calvinism a few years ago.
I’m not one of those communicators who preaches and teaches my blog. Quite the opposite. I preach assigned texts and topics. I teach Bible survey and stay with the syllabus. If I’m thinking through some major shift in my eschatology or how I plan to live out the Gospel, you’d have to follow me to my blog to notice. You won’t hear about it around here in the real world. [Continue reading]
April 23, 2008 by iMonk
Thoughts on the SOM; Invitationalism revisited; How I’ve changed.
You all need to buy “The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church” and more Reformation theology gifts from New Reformation Press.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
April 22, 2008 by iMonk
Podcast 40 Is Richard Dawkins the best atheism can do? (A review of “The God Delusion Debate” DVD.)
The podcast website is Coffee Cup Apologetics.
All the episodes of Coffee Cup Apologetics are now on iTunes. Go to iTunes and search for “Apologetics.”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
April 21, 2008 by iMonk
Tony Jones sent me his new book The New Christians, and I’ve been looking at some of the resource material on Emergent Village. I’ve been very encouraged the the Values and Practices Statement from Emergent Village. In my own journey to create a Jesus-shaped spirituality, I was particularly challenged by the first section: Commitment to God in the Way of Jesus. It says: [Continue reading]
April 19, 2008 by iMonk
“Now – here is my secret:
I tell it to you with an openness of heart
that I doubt I shall ever achieve again,
so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words.
My secret is that I need God –
that I am sick and can no longer make it alone.
I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving;
to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness;
to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love”
- Life After God, Douglas Coupland, (p. 359) HT to Tim at Sacrosanct Gospel
Did you ever wonder why Jesus didn’t call anyone from the religious establishment or extant established religious movements to be one of his disciples? I think I’m starting to see it more clearly, both in the gospels and in my own experience. [Continue reading]
April 15, 2008 by iMonk
I’ve been in a verse-by-verse study of I and II Timothy this year with several other men on our staff. We had an interesting discussion on this passage and its application in various contexts.
II Timothy 3:12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
You have to be careful what you say to an American Christian.
Paul is speaking in II Timothy 3 about the lessons Timothy has learned from watching Paul’s own ministry. One of those lessons was the certainty of persecution. [Continue reading]
April 15, 2008 by iMonk
At the Asbury Bloggers Society meeting last night, we had a wide ranging discussion on various aspects of blogging and ministerial formation at the seminary level. One of my suggestions was that a blogger develop a list of “teaching” blogs that exhibit and demonstrate excellence. Use these blogs to ask yourself questions about your own blogging and to develop some idea of what kind of blog will be effective in your own particular vision of blogging. Let these blogs be your teachers as you undertake blogging as part of your ministry or personal spiritual formation.
Of course, I was asked to put forward my own list of blogs that amount to a “School of Good Blogging.” So here’s the faculty. Sign up for the classes.
NOTE: I appreciate the blogs, not necessarily the content, theology or commentary of the blogger. [Continue reading]
April 13, 2008 by iMonk
Here’s one of my favorite major essays on Biblical interpretation. Lots of important ideas here that I’ve put together in my own approach to scripture. Yes, it’s a long one, but I think it will be worth the time for those interested in the subject.
Learning to read the Bible in a way that puts the focus where it is supposed to go- on the Lord Jesus Christ, our Mediator- is an important step in Christian growth. So many of evangelical problems come from simple mistakes in reading the Bible as a collection of verses, rather than as a collection of books.
