There are three basic approaches to suffering: violent reaction, passive absorption, or the Jesus-following alternative of living aright while waiting for God to bring about justice. James prefers the third option, so it seems to me. Notice the emphasis on God’s just judgment that is coming in 5:7-9: Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.... Read more
Jeremy Bouma is live blogging this preaching conference with Pete Rollins and Shane Hipps … and Rob Bell –> Drop comments here if you’d like. Read more
Can These Bones Live? This is the question posed in Chapters 10 and 11 of Alister McGrath’s book A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology where he gives a brief overview of the chemical requirements for the origin of life. There are two facets to this discussion. The first is really a continuation of the general observation of fine-tuning in the universe. Life as we know it requires (1) the intrinsically flexible chemistry of Carbon, with... Read more
We are discussing marriage by examining the recent book of John Piper’s called This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence. Piper connects marriage to justification and to forgiveness. For marriage to “display God” the husband and the wife are to live vertically with God and then to bend that forgiveness and grace out toward the other. The foundation for this approach to marriage is that marriage is a “mystery” of Christ and the Church. In that Christ’s relationship to the... Read more
Today I’m following (here and here) the live blogging of the conference on preaching at Mars Hill with Rob Bell, Pete Rollins, and Shane Hipps. In the midst of the comments I have heard is one potent question and I’d love to hear your response — we’d like to hear from both preachers and “listeners”: What is the purpose of a sermon? Other questions come to mind: What do you expect from a sermon as a listener? What do you... Read more
Conference Call with Scot McKnight Tomorrow (July 7th) Our next LIVE conference call will be tomorrow July 7th from 1-2pm (PST). Join us for an interview and Q&A with Scot McKnight, the author of The Jesus Creed and The Blue Parakeet, a New Testament professor, and part of The Origins Project creative team. Sign up here for a free, live teleseminar. Read more
We turn the corner now in our study of the letter of James from the angle of James absorbing and passing on the wisdom of his brother, Jesus. James 5:7-11: Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other,... Read more
Jeremy Bouma is live blogging this preaching conference with Pete Rollins and Shane Hipps … Drop comments here if you’d like. Read more
I got this letter last Friday, July 3d, as a comment on a post and I want to post it today to generate a conversation. What is your advice? Dear Scot, I’m not a Christian and don’t intend becoming one. However, my children are and I get the distinct impression that they think they are somehow above me, better than me. They push me away because I refuse to convert. This is one of many reasons that I have... Read more
We are discussing marriage by examining the recent book of John Piper’s called This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence. “Marriage,” Piper says, “is more wonderful than anyone on earth knows” (29). And he argues that we need God’s grace to know this and that as fallen humans we will not grasp this fully on earth. So much for the intr to chp 2, which is called “Naked and Not Ashamed.” He summarizes his previous chp and brings in once... Read more
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