Mark Labberton Is the New President of Fuller Seminary

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:44 pm By Tony Jones

Fuller Seminary — from which I received my MDiv and at which I currently teach — today announced Mark Labberton as its new president, succeeding Richard Mouw. I have a ton of respect for Mark, and I think it’s a great choice for Fuller: The Fuller Theological Seminary Board of Trustees has announced that Mark Labbertonhas accepted the call to serve as the seminary’s fifth president, beginning July 1, 2013. Announcing Labberton’s unanimous election by the trustees, Board Chair Clifford L. Penner... Read more

Regarding My Popularity with the Secular World

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:44 pm By Tony Jones

As this blog has grown in popularity, I’ve been getting more and more unsolicited email through my website. That’s been interesting. So, I thought I’d occasionally post them here, since I figure that you can help me respond. Here’s one from Antonette: Tony you are preaching a false Gospel, you are part of the apostasy that the Word of God talks will come about in the last days…………you dont preach what was delivered to the saints for once for all... Read more

Do We Retain Our Memories in Heaven? [Questions That Haunt]

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:44 pm By Tony Jones

I hope you liked Richard Beck’s wonderfully thorough answer to last week’s question. I thought it was awesome. This week’s question comes to us from Angel: I have a question for the series. When I was very young, I used to wander into my parents’ morning bible study and listen. At one point, I heard something that really disturbed me and worries me to this day: when we go to heaven, we take no worthly possessions, not even our memories.... Read more

Hawaii Doesn’t Suck

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:44 pm By Tony Jones

I’m putting up this quick post from LAX, where Courtney and I are en route back home after a week on the Big Island of Hawaii. My parents took my brothers and me and our spouses to celebrate our marriages and their own 70th birthdays. Of course the weather was amazing, as was the fresh fish, the ocean breezes, the breeching humpback whales and pod of 30 dolphins and the Mai Tais. All of that was fantastic. But, honestly, the... Read more

What If the Cross Set God Free?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:44 pm By Tony Jones

I’m away from the blog this week, and I’ve asked my friends to fill in. This is a poem by my dear friend, Michael Toy. wonderful plans god loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life it is helpful, when saying that to be illuminated from above or have just finished transmuting wine otherwise it just sounds stupid when one looks at the many things which are not wonderful (more…) Read more

To Love God Is To Love Flesh and Blood [Questions That Haunt]

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:44 pm By Tony Jones

I’m away from the blog this week, so I have the great honor of introducing one of my favorite theobloggers and authors, Richard Beck, to answer this week’s Question That Haunts: Many thanks to Tony for hosting this great series, a series I follow every week. Many of the questions that haunt Tony’s readers haunt me as well. So it’s a great honor to get a chance to participate in this way. And blessings on Tony during his time... Read more

What is Happening in the Middle East is NOT a Sign of the End Times [Jon Huckins]

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:44 pm By Tony Jones

I’m away from the blog this week, and I’ve asked my friends to fill in. Here’s a post from Jon Huckins. Jon is part of Nieu Communities, one of the most innovative Christian organizations around, and the co-author of Thin Places: Six Postures for Creating and Practicing Missional Community. Through my work in co-founding The Global Immersion Project, I have spent significant amount of time over the years cultivating relationships among both Israelis and Palestinians as we partner together in... Read more

The Spirituality of Gardening [Christine Sine]

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:44 pm By Tony Jones

I’m taking a week away from the blog, and I’ve asked some of my friends to fill in for me. Today’s post is by Christine Sine. Christine is a physician and a spiritual director, and she and her husband, Tom, run Mustard Seed Associates. But Christine and I have really hit it off over our love of gardening. Snow is still thick here in Minnesota, but it’s time for me to order my seeds. Maybe like me, your mind has... Read more

Destroy the God-Product [Peter Rollins]

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:44 pm By Tony Jones

I’m away from the blog this week, so I’ve asked my friends to fill in. Today, an excerpt from Peter Rollins’s new book, The Idolatry of God. Pete is provocative, as usual. Read more

Can I Love God More than Anything? [Questions That Haunt]

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 4:45 pm By Tony Jones

This week’s question comes from frequent commenter AJG. He asks: I’m a recovering evangelical who is probably somewhere on the spectrum between atheism and Christian Agnosticism these days. One of the things we were always taught in church was that we should love God more than anything or anyone else in our lives. Now this always struck me as an impossibility because how does one go about loving something that one cannot see, hear, touch or interact with? It sounds... Read more