“Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, used words.” Francis of Assisi
mathetes for life
The word "disciple" comes from the Greek "mathetes" which means learner. For as long as I'm living, I want to be learning.
This is where I post stuff that I've been larning about God & Jesus and stuff.
I attend Western Seminary in Portland, OR.
Ask thou
Submit!
April222012
April202012
Bible Categorization via sds
April102012
Cross-examination of the gospels: Collusion
“Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20. In these narratives, the same fundamental details are described through all of them, with signs of personal touches and different perspectives…. By definition, collusion is a secret agreement or conspiracy designed to carry out fraud. It most commonly comes up in the modern day during court trials, where it’s used as an objection when multiple witnesses provide testimonies that are too similar in details. What this means is essentially a recognition that there is a degree of variance that is required to exist in order for multiple accounts to be believable. Anything more similar than this, and it’s apparent that the witnesses got together and planned out their testimonies, throwing their accounts into question in general. Anything more different, and contradictions arise and challenge the validity of the claims as well. In order to be credible as multiple witnesses, the different accounts must show signs of different perspectives without contradicting one another.”
Great terse introduction to this argument for the legitimacy of the Gospel witness accounts.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: On the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Cross-examination of the gospels
(via n1ghtcrwler)
April92012
“Our whole being should be seized with fear, the whole world should tremble and heaven rejoice, when Christ the Son of the Living God is present on the altar in the hands of the priest! What wonderful majesty! What stupendous condescension! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble himself like this under the form of a little bread, for our salvation!”
Saint Francis of Assisi (via abideinhislove)
Sorry, Francis, you’re a great guy, but Christ is not in the bread, and the bread does not give us salvation. WE, the believers, are His priests, and He is in our hearts, not our bread. He said “Do this in remembrance of me”. The bread is a reminder, a ritual.
(Source: glorialaudes, via abideinhislove)
April82012
Etymology lesson of the day: religion
from dictionary.com:
Latin religiōn- to tie, fasten ( re- re- + ligāre to bind, tie; compare ligament)
“Religion”, originally, referred to one’s contractual obligations, the duties they were bound to perform for another. In time it came to be used primarily in the context of pagan worship: the list of actions which one must do in order to appease the gods. Most religions indeed operate this way: the deity makes demands, and we perform them to earn his favor. If we fail to perform them, we earn the deity’s ire.
On the cross, Jesus said “It is finished”. One thing that was finished that day was this list. There would be no more duties to perform to appease God, no more requirements to fulfill to become righteous. Jesus performed them all. It is done. He did it on our behalf. Jesus ended religion on that Good Friday.
God wants nothing but good for us. He does good on our behalf with no need for appeasement from us. His Son already made intercession for us.
Jesus: the anti-religion
December292011
“The Puritan ethic of marriage was first to look not for a partner whom you do love passionately at this moment but rather for one whom you can love steadily as your best friend for life, then to proceed with God’s help to do just that.”
J.I. Packer
The kind of thing I need to remember, especially now
via christianwords
December222011
“You can make the devil so very mad by deciding to be joyful regardless of what you’re experiencing. Walk in authority; for it is done.”
Jacinta Nést
via godmoves
(via morenitachulitapr)
11AM
“To embrace the sovereignty of God over all things means that we can also embrace his sovereignty over every kind of hardship in our own lives. God gives meaning to all suffering, and only he knows the future. The fact that we can’t understand or see what’s ahead can be difficult, but God knows and we can trust him.”
John Piper
“God gives meaning to all suffering”. This is important
via peacenotwar
December142011
“Jesus says, “Even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” In other words, the suffering you may undergo in speaking the truth is not because God is disinterested in you or unfamiliar with your plight. He is close enough to separate one hair from another and give each one a number. Fear not; he is close. He is interested; he cares. Be of good courage, and speak the truth whatever the cost.”
John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World
(Source: kindlequotes)
December82011
“You are asking how can God be good if He sentences sinners to eternal damnation, but I think you have the question backwards. The real question is how can God be good if He doesn’t send sinners to judgment.”
Denny Burk responding to Rob Bell’s Love Wins
He continues:
This is the question Paul wrestled with in Romans 3, and he concluded that God set forth His son Jesus as a propitiation for sin. That means that all of the wrath and anguish that would have taken us an eternity in hell to endure, God poured out on His Son in the moment of the cross. God is good because He settles our sin debt in the cross of Jesus Christ, our substitute… This is more than good news; it’s the best of news.
We tend to think of hell and God’s wrath poured out on Christ on the cross, as overreactions. We do this because our sins seems small. We need to realize the holiness of God, and the severity of our offenses against Him.
I look at it this way; what would heaven be like if God simply ignored our sins? We’d kind of like Him to simply look the other way as he let any sinner in the back door of heaven, but then what would heaven be populated with? Sinners. Heaven would become just as corrupt and vile and hurtful as Earth is. God can’t, and won’t, allow sinners to contaminate heaven. His own wrath for our sins needs to be propitiated by His son, and we need to be remade before we can ever go be in His presence for eternity.
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