Here's a link to the blog but I can't find the exact post when I used the search feature. You might really like this guy. He has alot of atheists discussing theology with him.
This is an excellent excerpt from a sermon given by N.T. Wright titled “The Government Shall Be Upon His Shoulder” at the Midnight Eucharist on Christmas Eve (2008) in Durham (see whole transcript here):
Quote:
“The story the gospels tell is not whistling in the dark. It’s about this child growing up and starting to put God’s kingdom into operation, close up, wherever he goes. This is what it looks like, he says, when God is running things. The world gets turned the right way up. Watch, in the gospels, as the Wonderful Counsellor goes to work, dealing with individuals but also confronting the systems which had enslaved them, and upsetting the slavemasters. Watch as the Mighty God strides through Galilee feeding the hungry, healing the sick, rescuing people and restoring creation itself. Look on in awe as the Everlasting Father is seen mirrored in the incarnate Son, giving himself totally to his beloved world. And, if you dare in the light of our culture where war, the way of death, is the way of life for so many, watch as Jesus, from his earliest beginnings with a price on his head through to his riding the donkey into Jerusalem, shows what it looks like when the Prince of Peace is on the move. He comes to get God’s kingdom off the ground – or perhaps we should say, precisely on to the ground, the real life of real people. And that involves taking upon himself the full force of the world’s cruel systems, the political and economic enslavement from which we still suffer, so that the power of evil can be broken and something new may take its place. That was true at Jesus’ birth, as it was true at his death. This is what the alternative looks like. Some mock it as if it were irrelevant, but the truth is that it is all too relevant, a rumour of hope that the powers of the world do their best to hush up.”
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His banner over me is LOVE.... My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
For God so Loved the World…that He Couldn’t Stay away: A Brief Arminian Advent Meditation
For God so loved the world…that He couldn’t stay away. Yes, to academics and scholars it sounds simplistic and even smacks of folk religion. But if you strip from it any connotation of God being “lonely” or absent it’s an apt statement of the gospel itself. And it nicely expresses the essence of Arminian theology: that God’s love for the whole world demonstrated in the incarnation and cross stands at the center of theology as its critical principle.
We are now in the midst of the annual Advent season of the church year. Many of us are too busy rushing around trying to find that “just right” gift for someone to stop and think about the “reason for the season” which is the incarnation which is because of God’s love.
What Advent is all about is God’s love–for the whole world–shown in the event in which the Creator God of the universe humbled himself and became vulnerable and even our servant. Some theologies like to dwell endlessly on God’s power and sovereign control and find God’s glory in those attributes. Arminianism sees God’s glory in his self-sacrificing love that drove him to enter into our human condition and suffer along with us and die for us.
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His banner over me is LOVE.... My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
In the beginning was Nothing, and Nothing created Everything. When Nothing decided to create Everything, she filled a tiny dot with Time, Chance, and Everything and had it expand. The expansion spread Everything into Everywhere carrying Time and Chance with it to keep it company. The three stretched out together leaving bits of themselves wherever they went. One of those places was the planet Earth.
For no particular Reason—for Reason is rarely particular—Time and Chance took a liking to this little, wet, blue rock and decided to stick around to see what adventures they might have. While the pair found the Earth to be intriguing and pretty, they also found it a bit too quiet, too static. They fixed upon an idea to change Everything (just a little) by creating a special Something. Time and Chance roamed the planet, splashing through the oceans and sloshing through the mud, in search of materials. But though they looked Everywhere, there was a missing ingredient that they needed in order to make a Something that could create more of the same Somethings.
They called to their friend Everything to help. Since Everything had been Everywhere she would no doubt be able to find the missing ingredient. And indeed she did. Hidden away in a small alcove called Somewhere, Everything found what Time and Chance had needed all along: Information. Everything put Information on a piece of ice and rock that happened to be passing by the former planet Pluto and sent it back to her friends on Earth.
Now that they had Information, Time and Chance were finally able to create a self-replicating Something which they called Life. Once they created Life they found that it not only grew into more Somethings, but began to become Otherthings, too! The Somethings and the Otherthings began to fill the Earth—from the bottom of the oceans to the top of the sky. Their creation, which began as a single Something, eventually became millions and billions of Otherthings.
Time and Chance, though, where the bickering sort and were constantly feuding over which of them was the most powerful. One day they began to argue over who had been more responsible for creating Life. Everything (who was forever eavesdropping) overheard the spat and suggested that they settle by putting their creative skills to work on a new creature called Man. They all thought is was a splendid plan—for Man was a dull, hairy beast who would indeed provide a suitable challenge—and began to boast about who could create an ability, which they called Consciousness, that would allow Man to be aware of Chance, Time, Everything, and Nothing.
Chance, always a bit of a dawdler, got off to a slow start, so Time, who never rested, completed the task first. Time rushed around, filling the gooey matter inside each Man’s head with Consciousness. But as he was gloating over his victory he noticed a strange reaction. When Man saw that Everything had been created by Time, Chance, and Nothing, his Consciousness filled with Despair.
Chance immediately saw a solution to the problem and took the remaining materials she was using to make Consciousness to create Beliefs. When Chance mixed Beliefs into the gray goo, Man stopped filling with Despair and started creating Illusions. These Illusions took various forms—God, Purpose, Meaning—and were almost always effective in preventing Man from filling up with Despair.
Nothing, who tended to be rather forgetful, remembered her creation and decided to take a look around Everything. When she saw what Time and Chance had done on planet Earth she was mildly amused, but forbade them to fill any more creatures with Consciousness or Beliefs (which is why Man is the only Something that has both). But Nothing took a fancy to Man and told Time and Chance that when each one’s Life ran out, she would take him or her and make them into Nothing too.
And that is why, children, when Man loses his Life he goes from being a Something created by Time and Chance into becoming like his creator—Nothing.
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His banner over me is LOVE.... My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
This is an excellent excerpt from a sermon given by N.T. Wright titled “The Government Shall Be Upon His Shoulder” at the Midnight Eucharist on Christmas Eve (2008) in Durham (see whole transcript here):
Quote:
“The story the gospels tell is not whistling in the dark. It’s about this child growing up and starting to put God’s kingdom into operation, close up, wherever he goes. This is what it looks like, he says, when God is running things. The world gets turned the right way up. Watch, in the gospels, as the Wonderful Counsellor goes to work, dealing with individuals but also confronting the systems which had enslaved them, and upsetting the slavemasters. Watch as the Mighty God strides through Galilee feeding the hungry, healing the sick, rescuing people and restoring creation itself. Look on in awe as the Everlasting Father is seen mirrored in the incarnate Son, giving himself totally to his beloved world. And, if you dare in the light of our culture where war, the way of death, is the way of life for so many, watch as Jesus, from his earliest beginnings with a price on his head through to his riding the donkey into Jerusalem, shows what it looks like when the Prince of Peace is on the move. He comes to get God’s kingdom off the ground – or perhaps we should say, precisely on to the ground, the real life of real people. And that involves taking upon himself the full force of the world’s cruel systems, the political and economic enslavement from which we still suffer, so that the power of evil can be broken and something new may take its place. That was true at Jesus’ birth, as it was true at his death. This is what the alternative looks like. Some mock it as if it were irrelevant, but the truth is that it is all too relevant, a rumour of hope that the powers of the world do their best to hush up.”
__________________
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 KJV
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 KJV
From The Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll pag 20-21
"Most people I know look forward to payday. You do, too, right? For a week, or perhaps a two week period, you give time and effort to your job. When payday arrives, you receive a hard-earned, well-deserved paycheck. I have never met anyone who bows and scrapes before his boss, saying, "Thank you. Oh, thank you for this wonderful undeserved gift. How can I possibly thank you enough for my paycheck?" If we did, he would probably faint. Certainly, he would think, What is wrong with this guy? Why? Because your paycheck is not a gift. You've earned it. You deserve it. Cash it! Spend it! Save it! Invest it! Give it! After all, you had it coming. In the workplace, where wages are negotiated and agree upon, there is no such thing as grace.We earn what we receive; we work for it. The wage "is not reckoned as a favor but as what is due".
But with God the economy is altogether different. There is no wage relationship with God. Spiritually speaking, you and I haven't earned anything but death. Like it or not, we are absolutely bankrupt, without eternal hope, without spiritual merit; we have nothing in ourselves that gives us favor in the eyes of our holy and righteous heavenly Father. So there's nothing we can earn that would cause Him to raise his eyebrows and say, " Um, now maybe you deserve eternal life with me." No way. In fact, the individual whose track record is morally pure has no better chance at earning God's favor than the individual who has made a wreck and waste of his life and is currently living in unrestrained disobedience. Every one who hopes to be eternally justified must come to God the same way: on the basis of grace; it is a gift. And that gift comes to us absolutely free. Any other view of salvation is heresy, plain and simple."
Mizpeh - I love your thoughts and postings! I have read Bro. Lawrence's book, and wow! What an inspiration it is. Have you ever read Hinds Feet on High Places? I love that allegory story too.
Mizpeh - I love your thoughts and postings! I have read Bro. Lawrence's book, and wow! What an inspiration it is. Have you ever read Hinds Feet on High Places? I love that allegory story too.
Thanks, KBTW!
I haven't read Hinds Feet on High Places but I have the book. I finished a book by Stott and I'm reading one on discipleship. I can't remember the name of the author.
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His banner over me is LOVE.... My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
First, Morris argues that, although no individual can have more than one individual-essence (that whole set of properties individually necessary and jointly sufficient for being numerically identical with that individual), various individuals share kind-essences (sets of properties individually necessary and jointly sufficient for membership in that kind). On the basis of this first key metaphysical distinction, he suggests that Jesus could have had all the kind-essential properties of humanity and divinity while still having a single individual-essence. He might have existed, that is, as "one person with two natures."
Secondly, a distinction should be drawn between common human properties (those widely shared) and essential ones (those necessary to being a human being at all). To be fully human, then, is to share these essential properties. Morris suggests that one might properly hold properties that would be logically incompatible with an incarnation (such as metaphysical contingency, having a beginning in time, and being possibly annihilated) to be common, rather than essential human properties. Thus, by sharing all essential human properties, Jesus may still have been fully human without being merely human, as those would be who do not share such properties as these.
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His banner over me is LOVE.... My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
Indeed, Wesley is not merely concerned with spiritual practices, he is concerned with all Christian behavior. Thus for example he quotes a Kempis in the very first chapter of his extract as saying that we are indeed called to imitate the praxis of Christ. The goal is to live a virtuous life not merely to be a more spiritual person, thus we hear
We are admonished, that we ought to imitate his [Christ's] life and manners, if we would be truly enlightened and delivered from all blindness of heart. Let therefore our chief endeavour be to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ.
What will it avail thee to dispute sublimely of the Trinity, if thou be void of humility, and art thereby displeasing to the Trinity? Truly, sublime words do not make a man... a virtuous life maketh him dear to God. I had rather feel compunction, than know the definition thereof.
If thou didst know the whole Bible, and the sayings of all the philosophers by heart, what would all that profit thee without the love of God ?
Vanity of vanities! All is vanity, but to love God and serve him only. It is therefore vanity to seek after perishing riches. It is also vanity to seek honours.
It is vanity to follow the desires of the flesh, and to labour for that for which thou must afterwards suffer grievous punishment.
It is vanity to wish to live long, and to be careless to live well.
It is vanity to mind this present life, and not those things which are to come.
It is vanity to set thy love on that which speedily passeth away, and not to hasten thither where everlasting joys remain.
Notice that this is primarily about not striving after riches and honor, and instead living humbly before one's God. Wesley was perfectly happy to exhort people on how to spend their money, and what to strive for in life. Indeed, late in his ministry, the second most frequently preached sermon of all of Wesley's sermons was 'On the Use of Money'.[1] The net effect of reading a Kempis is that one is called to live a simple Christian life, a message John Wesley's Puritan born parents had ingrained into him from childhood. The book is not just about humility and prayer and private spiritual disciplines. It is about living out humility by self-sacrificial service of others, by choosing a simple, not a self-indulgent lifestyle, by walking what we talk as we follow the actual behavioral example of Christ. The problem with many modern readings of Wesley's treatment of a Kempis, is that it is read through the lens of modern individualistic Christianity which tends to spiritualize and privatize even social and public praxis and behaviors.
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His banner over me is LOVE.... My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
The Architect stood forth and said:
“I am the master of the art:
I have a thought within my head,
I have a dream within my heart.
“Come now, good craftsman, ply your trade
With tool and stone obediently;
Behold the plan that I have made—
I am the master; serve you me.”
The Craftsman answered: “Sir, I will,
Yet look to it that this your draft
Be of a sort to serve my skill—
You are not master of the craft.
“It is by me the towers grow tall,
I lay the course, I shape and hew;
You make a little inky scrawl,
And that is all that you can do.
“Account me, then, the master man,
Laying my rigid rule upon
The plan, and that which serves the plan—
The uncomplaining, helpless stone.”
The Stone made answer: “Masters mine,
Know this: that I can bless or ........
The thing that both of you design
By being but the thing I am’
“For I am granite and not gold,
For I am marble and not clay,
You may not hammer me nor mould—
I am the master of the way.
“Yet once that mastery bestowed
Then I will suffer patiently
The cleaving steel, the crushing load,
That make a calvary of me;
“Any you may carve me with your hand
To arch and buttress, roof and wall,
Until the dream rise up and stand—
Serve but the stone, and stone serves all.
“Let each do well what each knows best,
Nothing refuse and nothing shirk,
Since none is master of the rest,
But all are servants of the work—
“The work no master may subject
Save He to whom the whole is known,
Being Himself the Architect,
The Craftsman and the Corner-stone.
“Then, when the greatest and the least
Have finished all their laboring
And sit together at the feast,
You shall behold a wonder thing:
“The Maker of the men that make
Will stoop between the cherubim,
The towel and the basin take,
And serve the servants who serve Him.”
The Architect and Craftsman both
Agreed, the Stone had spoken well;
Bound them to service by an oath
And each to his own labour fell.
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His banner over me is LOVE.... My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. 
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