Pope Francis, lgbtq and semi-pelagianism
‘For many protestants, this move is difficult to understand since the Vatican has simultaneously claimed that the “Declaration remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage” (see under “Declaration, Presentation”). How could he bless those in same-sex marriages while remaining “firm” on the traditional doctrine of marriage? Though many protestants may want to blame the Pope for double-speak, in reality, he is being consistent. How is this the case?’
When we hurt those who are hurting
‘The apostle Paul often writes that he was comforted by the words and deeds of the churches. There are, indeed, wise comforters in the church today as there were in the early church. Perhaps, even in this generation, we can reach a tipping point in which their numbers grow and the church is known as a place of comfort and refuge.’
Fulfilled Time
‘The great mystery of the Christian faith is that time was inhabited, for 33 years or so, by eternity. The eternal Son of God lived a succession of human years, one after the other. The full life of God was lived not only in eternity, but in time. The love of the Father and the Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit took place in human history as well as from eternity past to eternity future. There was a time, two millennia back, when eternity was also, and without any loss, now. And in the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of God, time was in a sense gathered up into eternity.’
A misguided pastoral motive
‘The reason many pastors fail at being leaders is that they want to be leaders. While that may sound strange, we must understand that leadership is not the ultimate goal or standard of success when it comes to gospel ministry. The plethora of books, conferences, seminars, and courses on the subject of leadership feeds a misguided passion in many pastors simply because the world has touted it as a quality and skill of the highest order that’s worthy of our greatest effort. Gospel leadership, however, is quite different.’
A third perspective on complementarian and egalitarian discussions
Dave Williams has been offering some mapping tools to help us understand similarities and differences between various strands of complementarian and egalitarian thought. Here he offers a compass for understanding where we might sit on the different questions at play.
Moral seriousness and the post-Christian right
As a Christian on the left – one with whom Denny Burk would be very close theologically indeed – I appreciated this one. It also bears saying the same thing for those of us who are Christians on the left: ‘I am concerned that political tribalism may be obscuring for some Christians what their duties are under Christ and what is otherwise very clear in Scripture. For some, “no enemies to the right” means withering public condemnation of sinners on the left and whataboutism for sinners on the right. This is not morally serious, and everyone can see the blatant hypocrisy.’
From the archive: Don’t make brexit conversations the model for evangelistic ones
‘There is a difference between continuing to make your case regarding facts and evidence and making ad hominem remarks and unkind insinuations. Nobody will listen to us if we can’t cogently present an argument that makes sense, but neither will they listen if we insinuate that they are stupid and haven’t really thought things through. We don’t win people to our point of view on Brexit by calling them too thick to see what is plainly in front of them; and we don’t win people to Christ by calling them too stupid to see what we see either.’