ARE YOU ‘SAVED’? (UH…)

By Brad Jersak at Christianity Without Religion A constellation of questions, common to some Christian traditions, increasingly makes me cringe. Are you saved? Is he/she saved? When were you saved? I know what is intended. They are identifying ‘saved’ with the moment I ‘invited Christ into my heart’ through the faith confession involved in ‘the …

Lie #3: God is in Control.

From Wm. Paul Young. I was sitting in a hotel lobby in Orlando, Florida, having a conversation with my friend K, from Germany. Her world-class young athlete friend was recently paralyzed as a result of an on-camera stunt that went horribly wrong. K was distraught. She dried her eyes and said, “I struggle believing this …

The Greatest of These

By Rachel Hooker at patheos. I am not a very good Christian any more. I used to think that under it all, I was doing the things right and that counted for something. That it counted for a lot. I wanted God’s blessing and God’s protection, and to get those one must do all the things just …

Romans 6:1 is the Litmus Test for Grace

From Jeremy Myers at Redeeming God. Inevitably, whenever I speak or write about grace this way, someone objects that I am contradicting Paul who said in Romans 6:1 that we should not continue in sin so that grace may abound. Whenever someone asks this question, I am always pleased, because it shows that they are …

Lie #5: God is a Christian.

By Wm. Paul Young from Lies We Believe About God. I wrote The Shack at the request of my wife, Kim. She’d asked, “Would you someday please write something as a gift for our kids that puts in one place how you think? Because, you know, you think outside the box.” She was referring to …

It’s Time to Rethink Judgment

By Russ Shumaker found at patheos. In Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis points out that westerners have been largely spared an age-old experience regarding our legal system: ​In most places and times it has been very difficult for the “small man” to get his case heard. The judge (and doubtless, one or two of his underlings) has to …

The Incompetent God

By Russell Croft from patheos. Much is made of our free will, our ability to choose good or evil, to accept God or reject him. The adage, “If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?” is still said frequently at youth rallies, revival meetings, and on street corners, with the implication that the hearer …