Tag: God

Theology with my boys

Before saying our prayers tonight my boys started explaining what they knew about God and asking a few more questions.

By the end of the day I think they settled on a few things…

1. God is upstairs
2. God is downstairs
3. We can’t see God
4. God leaves his home sometimes to go to the doctor
5. God is big

By the end of it all they had a bit of a debate on whether God was upstairs at our house (which we don’t have) or upstairs at his house.

I’m sure we’ll be able to come to an agreement on that sometime before the next Council of Blundell.

The power of grace and forgiveness

Rwanda - POTSC

This is the power of grace and forgiveness.

Emmanuel was part of the Rwandan Genocide. This is his powerful second chance story told in his own words. He takes us through these real life events filmed on location in Rwanda.

Via People of the Second Chance

What I really wanted

angus mathie

I asked members of the Insurgency of Love to share their own personal stories of how they’ve seen Love Win in their own lives. I’m thrilled to share the first response, which comes from Angus Matthie who lives in Motherwell, Scotland.

I found shyness a dreadful impediment as I was growing up and still find it a problem in social interaction. The most relevant part in what I am considering today is that I got to the stage of finding it difficult to accept that people would want to be friends with me, far less have a meaningful relationship. I realize that I had built a picture of what I wanted, which was in large part an answer to all the perceived wrongs and hurts.
Continue reading What I really wanted

Therefore let us love

Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King Jr - Wikimedia Commons

When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate — ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: “Let us love one another, for love is God. And every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.” “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us.” Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day.

We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. And history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As Arnold Toynbee says:

Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.

– Martin Luther King, Jr

Rob Bell, Love Wins, and what Bell isn’t saying

The rapture in Dallas
The rapture in Dallas | Via boingboing.com

With Rob Bell’s book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person who Ever Lived (available in hardcover, Kindle, audio version) creating such a stir, and pastors across the country rushing to warn their congregations about the book, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at some of the major accusations I’ve heard and give a little insight into what I believe Bell is really saying.

(You may want to read my first post – Rob Bell, Love Wins and why I hope he’s right before continuing.)

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this isn’t a full scope of what Bell is or isn’t saying — but perhaps it will encourage those of you who are getting over your certainty to take the time to read the book for yourself and make your own opinions about what’s inside it.
Continue reading Rob Bell, Love Wins, and what Bell isn’t saying

Rob Bell, Love Wins and why I hope he’s right

love wins
love wins

So Rob Bell has a new book out. It’s caused a firestorm of controversy and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and read it for myself.

And now I have.

But before I give you my overview of Rob Bell’s latest book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person who Ever Lived (available in hardcover, Kindle, audio version), perhaps it would be fair to give you a little perspective as to where I’m coming from.
Continue reading Rob Bell, Love Wins and why I hope he’s right