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Mercy Not Sacrifice

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May 2012

May 30, 2012

Some clarifications regarding holiness & moralistic therapeutic deism

One of my favorite things about Stanley Hauerwas is the way he says outlandish, exaggerated...

May 29, 2012

Is Jesus a moralistic therapeutic deist?

When Christian Smith and Melinda Denton coined the phrase "moralistic therapeutic deism" in 2005, it...

May 29, 2012

Is God Against Hegemony? (The Question of Babel)

There is probably not a more awkward passage for Biblical literalists than the story of...

May 22, 2012

Trust not opinion

In the information age, people define themselves primarily by their opinions rather than their actual...

May 18, 2012

The witness of the sons of hell

The 23rd chapter of Matthew is probably the harshest speech that Jesus ever gave. We...

May 17, 2012

"I desire mercy not sacrifice"

"Go and find out what this means: 'I desire mercy not sacrifice'" (Matthew 9:13). There...

May 17, 2012

“I desire mercy not sacrifice”

"Go and find out what this means: 'I desire mercy not sacrifice'" (Matthew 9:13). There...

May 10, 2012

My Twelve Fundamentals

Between 1910 and 1915, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles published a twelve volume series...

May 09, 2012

Wisdom from heaven (James 3:17)

"The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive,...

May 02, 2012

What prevenient grace is and isn’t

"We stand united in declaring our faith that God’s grace is available to all ––...

April 2012

April 28, 2012

What must inclusivity exclude?

"All means all." It's a battle-cry that is appropriately Wesleyan. Since we believe in prevenient...

April 24, 2012

What I taught the confirmands: the sea of wrath and island of mercy

For the past two years at our church's confirmation retreat, I've shared a message based...

April 17, 2012

Opinion and relationship: the two American evangelical idolatries

Everyone else is writing about the “crisis” of American Christianity so I figured I’d add...

April 13, 2012

“The land is Mine” (the importance of Leviticus 25:23)

Last night, as I was looking at the passage about the year of jubilee in...

April 13, 2012

"The land is Mine" (the importance of Leviticus 25:23)

Last night, as I was looking at the passage about the year of jubilee in...

April 11, 2012

God’s tornadoes: when I stopped taking John Piper seriously

I imagine it's no surprise that a Methodist pastor would consider the dean of the...

April 11, 2012

God's tornadoes: when I stopped taking John Piper seriously

I imagine it's no surprise that a Methodist pastor would consider the dean of the...

February 2012

February 02, 2012

On preaching for the self-righteous bogeyman

It’s very easy to write a mediocre sermon about forgiveness. I’m already halfway down the...

January 2012

January 24, 2012

Helplessness: the foundation of prayer

My prayer life sucks! There, I admitted it. I don't pray nearly enough. I even...

January 12, 2012

Why I hate doctrine but love Jesus (response to a similarly named video)

Over the last two days, a video by spoken word artist Jeff Bethke called "Why...

January 01, 2012

2011: the Year of the Hell Debate

2011 was a turbulent year for American evangelical Christian identity. A major lightning rod within...

December 2011

December 30, 2011

On defending Zion

God often preaches to me through the text I'm supposed to preach to other people....

November 2011

November 21, 2011

Becoming the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:17-21)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has...

November 16, 2011

Thomas Merton on mercy

I've been reading about a chapter a week of Thomas Merton's No Man is an...

October 2011

October 31, 2011

How modernity made God mean

For most of Christian history, the relationship between God and the universe He created was...

October 19, 2011

Individualism is an atheist lie

"I am the vine and you are the branches. If you abide in me and...

October 18, 2011

The false dichotomy between God’s will and our will

I've been reading Thomas Merton's No Man is an Island. The fourth chapter called "Pure...

October 15, 2011

Is God free to be generous? [Matthew 20:15]

As I was reading the scripture for my sermon in church this evening, a dimension...

October 13, 2011

Does God hate people? (A response to Mark Driscoll)

Mark Driscoll created another controversy recently in a sermon when he told his listeners that...

October 02, 2011

Whose side does Jesus take?

I have a problem that perhaps you can relate to. I’m very good at taking...