When Jesus was born, Caesar Augustus had recently ushered in a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity that would make the Reagan years look like the Great Depression. Roads were built, robbers were kept at bay, the military was invincible, luxury was all around, and distant nations that would otherwise pose a threat kept to themselves. This was the Pax Romana—the “peace of Rome”—and Jesus was born smack dab in the middle of it.
Christians everywhere have debated whether violence is ever justified. Some make the case that it’s never okay to use violence, while others say violence is necessary as a last resort to stop evil. For the most part, both sides agree that the general rhythm of Christianity should be one of nonviolence. We love our neighbors and enemies alike, and we give our left cheeks to the one who strikes us on our right cheek. That’s the general posture of the Christian faith, and most Bible believing Christians agree with this.
He was an unmarried peasant who was executed by the state for treason. Many of his friends were criminals, sinners, thugs, and misfits. Few of them were religious. He got kicked out his home church (or synagogue) after saying things that offended the status quo. He spent most of his time with drunks, gluttons, fornicators, and thieves. He was so close to “sinners” that the religious leaders thought he was one. And nearly everything he said and did made religious people mad. Like when he told them to turn the other cheek, love their enemies, and give their money to the poor.
Loving people is hard. Loving unlovable people is particularly difficult. But loving your enemy? The command seems insane! But this is the love of Christ: “While we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). And this is why God calls us to love our enemies. He doesn’t call us to do something that he hasn’t already done.
God’s scandalous grace invaded Portage, Wisconsin, with unwelcomed splendor in April of 1994. It targeted a criminal serving multiple life-sentences in the Columbia Correctional Institution. It’s not uncommon for thieves and murderers in prison to receive God’s grace, but this day was different. The person who attracted God’s love was a man who killed 17 young men.
Christian subcultures are an entertaining phenomenon. Multiple brands of Christianity claim the same Lord and read the same Bible, and yet they promote a set of values sometimes as different as apples and orangutans.
Where was God when Jesus died? Some have characterized the cross as divine child abuse—the Father beating the snot out of his Son—to critique the notion that God is actively present doing something at the cross. Others claim if God left the building, it’s neglect and abandonment. While both of these are caricatures, it’s worth asking:
Grace under a Bridge America has no shortage of megachurches that glimmer with stage lights and thunder with deafening sound systems. But one of my favorite churches doesn’t have any lights. No building, no stage, no bells and whistles—it doesn’t even have a paid pastor.
We live in a country that’s obsessed with performance. From the time we are kids, we are trying to out-perform our classmates in school or fellow athletes on the field.
I want to talk about why millennials are fleeing the church in droves. But first, let’s circle back around to a question I raised at the end of a blog last week. Regarding discipleship, I said: “I wonder if we’ve elevated certain pet aspects of personal morality over communal and social action.”
I’m writing a book on discipleship that’s tentatively titled “The State of Discipleship in the Church.” (I'm sure I'll find a much sexier title than that, but it's what we've got for now.) So I’ve been knee-deep in all the discipleship books and statistical surveys as I try to get my arms and heart around the topic.
I posted a blog on Monday titled “Why a (yet another) White, Straight, Male Decided to Write Book about Homosexuality.” The blog was a response to some buzz created online regarding the release of my two books being published on homosexuality
By Preston Sprinkle and Jeff Cook This will be our final post in the 8 part dialogue in which we discussed the question: “Does the New Testament forbid same sex relationships?” We were originally going to post 10 blogs but we both felt like there’s been a good number of points raised that we could chew on for many weeks and months to come.
We wrapped up the previous post with a question: “What role do works play in our future justification?” We’ll get to that question below, but first, let’s throw the whole Piper/Wright debate on the table.
One of the best pieces of intellectual advice I received (from a student, actually) was that “we should seek to understand before we critique.”
The following is an excerpt from my book Charis: God’s Scandalous Grace for Us. The relationship between grace and obedience is a gnarly issue, and too often you have to hack your way through a theological jungle to sort out the problem. In general, there are three different explanations Christians give to how grace relates to obedience.
In yesterday’s post, I gave a brief response to Dr. David Gushee’s recent shift regarding homosexuality. My blog was passed around fairly broadly and elicited various Facebook discussions, which I did not anticipate.
My new book, Charis: God’s Scandalous Grace for Us,is free today and tomorrow! What a fitting deal for a book on grace! Also, my previous book, Fight: A Christian Case for Nonviolence, is on sale today and tomorrow for $1.99.
Parents are often infatuated with law and less so with grace. As a father of four kids, I feel the tension daily. "Clean up your room!" "Wash the dishes!" "Share with your sister!" Stop taking things from your sister!" Parenting is a mosaic of rules that put Moses’ Law to shame. Where does grace fit in?
