Embracing the Humanity of the Bible: Listening for the Divine through Human Words

Last updated on: August 2, 2012 at 5:05 pm By Kurt Willems

Many Christians hold to a doctrine of scripture that sees only the divine side of the documents, while significantly downplaying the human dimension. It’s almost as if they believe the writings came from outer space somewhere, magically appearing on earth as a complete book, directly from God. Others believe they were divinely dictated, leaving the writers to simply record what they were verbally given. As before, this view dehumanizes the bible. It doesn’t take seriously the cultural, linguistic, and historical... Read more

Does God Care If We Sin? – Reflections on Holiness

Last updated on: August 2, 2012 at 2:29 pm By Kurt Willems

Recently I had a seminary professor ask me if God cared about sin. We were in the midst of a discussion about God’s holy love and His merciful sacrifice of sending His Son to the cross. I find it so easy to get caught up in the scandalous love of God, and this can cause me to lose sight of God’s righteous anger toward sin. So I posed this question to you: In view of God’s mercy, does He still... Read more

Church Plant Journal #3: Prayer Partners (#SeattlePlant2013)

Last updated on: August 15, 2012 at 10:44 pm By Kurt Willems

In the summer of 2013, I will be relocating with my wife and a core team of folks to Seattle to inaugurate a church planting movement. Prayer is one way that you can get involved. We need this dream to be bathed in prayer! *I should add, that if you subscribe to this blog via email, I have added you to this list already. IF you do not wish to be part of my occasional prayer updates, you can unsubscribe... Read more

Can Porn be used responsibly?

Last updated on: August 26, 2012 at 10:24 pm By Kurt Willems

My view is that porn always removes God from the center replacing the Divine with lustful desires. Porn never glorifies God or embodies what St. Irenaeus proclaimed: “The glory of God is humanity fully alive.” Porn distorts God’s image-bearers, thus misrepresenting our perception of God’s glory. Read more

Lesson on Persecution Lands Youth Pastor with Charges of Kidnapping

Last updated on: August 2, 2012 at 11:58 am By Kurt Willems

I've made several mistakes in my short ministry career (now about 10 years). But then there are the things that just go too far. Kidnapping kids is one of those areas. Read more

The Problem of Selective Fundamentalism (abortion & LGBT) – Shane Claiborne

Last updated on: July 29, 2012 at 10:21 pm By Kurt Willems

What do you think? Some may feel he goes “too far” (conservatives) and others may think he doesn’t go “far enough” (some progressives). I think Shane offers us one kingdom approach to these issues, specifically lgbt issues, that chooses the way of love and discipleship and inclusiveness in community. Read more

The Secret of Great Talks/Speeches/Presentations (TED)

Last updated on: July 27, 2012 at 11:19 am By Kurt Willems

Evangelicalism: A Boundless-Centered Theology

Last updated on: July 25, 2012 at 11:52 pm By Kurt Willems

I need my Calvinist family, just as much as I need my Openness relatives. Like a family, there will be disagreements, but we don’t disown members for disagreeing with one another. Read more

Rob Bell Speaks a Year After Love Wins – Still Painting

Last updated on: July 25, 2012 at 2:20 pm By Kurt Willems

Watch live streaming video from robbell at livestream.com Unfortunately, the way LiveStream works, the videos they post are always playing and replaying… in other words, you can’t simply start at the beginning. My apologies for this. If someone knows how to fix this, please let me know! Talk Description: “Still Painting is a night of storytelling with Rob Bell. Many people have asked him, “What’s next?” Rob will answer this question with stories: He may talk about the time he... Read more