Tag: Christianity
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Salvation is not the same as having Assurance
One common refrain I hear often is “are you sure you’re going to heaven?” But how can I even ask this question if I question whether or not that answer is yes for myself. Evangelicalism has not reflected deeply on its theology of assurance and of faith and how that theology has related to the…
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The Christian Life Is the Unintentional Life (Pt. 2)
Previously I talked about how the Christian life is the unintentional life, one where the natural response is godliness and we no longer require effort to be ungodly. This is the nature of sanctification. Now I want to talk about how God also interrupts and destroys any notion of the centrality of intention to Christianity.…
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The Christian Life is the Unintentional Life (Pt. 1)
“Intentional” seems to be a buzzword among Christians these days. Phrases like “intentional relationships” appear in discussions about the nature of dating. Intentionality has become a part of how some Christians define what it means to have friendships or our relation to God. Intentional seems to be this buzzword that seems to be this positive thing…
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The beauty of catholicity
As a protestant, the word “catholic” is not the first word I’d use to describe myself. Indeed, for many of us who do consider ourselves to be fairly conservative protestants, holders of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone (with some measure of asterisks around the word “alone”), the very word “catholic” might…
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The Gospel Is not Everything
The gospel is not everything. By this I mean to say that the gospel isn’t necessarily this message of the holiness of God and sin (and indeed it is not). It is not the message of heaven (though that may be a result). The gospel is much more focused than that. Pure and simple, the…
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Remembering 9/11 and the Church
I am American and I am just old enough to have remembered the events surrounding 9/11 (which are now closer to the fall of the Soviet Union than today) and the world I live in has been shaped by this pivotal moment, even if I may not be one of the many who have lost…
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Longing for the Justice of God
How long, O Lord? Wilt thou forget me for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? —Psalm 13.1-2 (RSV) I don’t think I’ve really understood…
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I don’t want to be Christian
The more I understand Christianity and Christ the more that I don’t want to be Christian, and yet the more I can’t help myself from being so. Christianity is about grace, it is about how a God who is love has provided a means for a wayward people to come back to himself in the…
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God Became Man so that We Might Be Made God
The Son of God was made man so that we might be made God Athanasius, On the Incarnation §54 When I first heard this astounding quote I was repulsed and revolted by the idea that man might become God. Christianity is, after all, not polytheistic. We are at our core monotheistic and the very idea…
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Faith and Obedience
Recently I have been reading Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship where Bonhoeffer talks about the nature and meaning of true Christian discipleship—the purpose of Christianity. Reading it, I was most struck by how Bonhoeffer frames the relationship between works and faith. only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes. Thinking more about…
Defined Faith 