Tag: theology

True to Scripture and true to God

Mark Batterson (see something beautiful 1.15) took a quick trip to Germany last week with a group of other pastors and leaders, including Chris Seay of Houston.

He was able to stand at the place where Martin Luther posted his 95 Thesis nearly 500 years ago on Reformation Day (last Friday). Very cool.

He posted a short followup on Sunday:

Here’s the table where Martin Luther had his infamous table talks. I got in trouble for taking a flash photograph. Oops! Pretty amazing to think that much of our theological thinking today can be traced back to some of the theological conversations around this table. Luther’s five solas and 95 Theses and Augsburg Confession reshaped 16th century theology. But his table talks were the bread and butter of a simple parish priest that was trying to be true to Scripture and true to God.

I really like Batterson’s comments here. Imagine, theology that shaped our view of God and religion discussed around a simple table by folks trying to be true to Scripture and true to God. Not one individual but a community of believers, sitting around a table, probably enjoying a meal and drinks and discussing the activity of God within their world.

What theology will be discussed and shaped around your dining room table this week or in your living room?

Can theology still be shaped and molded for our day and time – or has it been set in stone now that Martin Luther and his peers have said all that they could say?

Christian Liberation

“The liberation that Christianity preaches is a liberation from something that enslaves, for something that ennobles us. Those who talk only about the enslavement, about the negative part of liberation, do not have all the power that the church can give one.

It struggles, yes, against the earth’s enslavements, against oppression, against misery, against hunger. All that’s true – but, for what? For something.

St. Paul uses a beautiful expression: to be free for love. To be free for something positive, that is what Christ means when he says, ‘Follow Me.'”

– Oscar Romero

Related ::
HT – Tripp Fuller

Quote of the day

“I’ve really just begun to see that everything that I do with my life is sort of a theological statement. So many times I thought theology was just this black and white doctrine in a dusty book somewhere. But I’ve begun to realize that what I do with my money, what I do with my lifestyle, what I do with my politics, all of these things are theological statements. I’m not just living in a vacuum somewhere… Where I shop is not just a practical decision anymore or or financial decision or because they have the best products or the best tasting things. Where I shop at and where I go to eat at and what types of things I buy with money… I’m trying to invest in these things with some theological meaning because they are theological statements. Where I shop shows the world what I think about God or how I view God.”

– Josh from the Nick and Josh Podcast 4.0

Found out about The Nick & Josh Podcast from Chad and Tripp on The Homebrewed Christianity Podcast. Apparently Nick & Josh have decided to pick a “podcast war” with the Homebrewed guys. Should make for some fun. I’ve advised Chad to break out an F.O.C. gun as the true WMD.

Born that way?

Listening to E. Scott Jones on the Homebrewed Christianity Podcast.

Interesting tidbit here… he says that the original idea behind the “we were born that way” argument about homosexuality was originally brought up by those against homosexuality.

The reason being, that if they were “born that way” then they were different and they could then justify treating them differently.

It would be similar to the white supremacist knowing a black man was born black or that a sexist knows women were born as women.

They know they’re born different and that’s how they can justify treating them differently.

Forging another way

Not sure who said this, but I thought it was a great point brought up in the 1st episode of The Homebrewed Christianity Podcast (around 36 min in):

“The church has been deeply resistant to accept it’s own failures…”

“The people who have had privilege, in this culture particularly, are whining miserably because they’re losing. And part of what you’re teaching is that the old system is that if you disagree with me over these major doctrines than it’s not just that we disagree, there’s a flaw in your character and I can’t talk to you because you will corrupt me if I spend anytime with you. The ability to say there’s another way of talking about this. We must forge another way…”

From the show description:

This is the first of two episodes taken from a conversation between Bill Leonard, Doug Pagitt, Tim Conder, Zach Roberts, and myself. I mostly just listened in to Bill Leonard, the Dean of Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity and professor of church history, have a fascinating conversation with Doug Pagitt and Tim Conder about the Emergent movement and American religion.

UPDATE: And for those of you who aren’t iTunes fan – you can listen to the file here.

Is Brian McLaren anti-Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement?

A few excerpts from the comments section of the blog:

You’d have a point about McLaren if it wasn’t for the fact that he has consistently attacks the doctrine of Christ’s Penal Substitutionary Atonement.

In his book “a new kind of Christian” he likens it to cosmic child abuse. There is a recurring pattern and history with McLaren regarding Christ’s death on the cross and that patter is to re-imagine, redefine it and steer us away from what the scriptures clearly teach on it.

It bugs me when people take things out of context and don’t cite their sources.

You mean to tell me you don’t think the cross exposed “the cruelty and injustice of those in power?”
You don’t think it instilled “hope and confidence in the oppressed.”

Join in the fun and leave your own thoughts and comments in the comment section.