Fritz a wonderful lesson – and esp. reading has a flow I found encompassing. If only …….. yes we can…
Weekly lessons in theology and public life • Since 2011
-
Lesson 9: Faith 5
Read MORE: Lesson 9: Faith 5At the heart of Christianity is, of course, faith in Christ Jesus. John says this means Jesus is the logos, the design, or the explanation of the world. If Jesus is the first thing God created, he becomes the pattern…
-
Lesson 8: Faith – Biblical Support
Read MORE: Lesson 8: Faith – Biblical SupportLet me list the points our discussion has made so far: Faith is trusting God. It includes trusting also the goodness of his creation. That means we must trust God’s love in spite of what we observe humans doing to…
-
Lesson 7: Faith – Story and Promise
Read MORE: Lesson 7: Faith – Story and PromiseLet me say more about story and promise. It can be said that the Bible contains God’s story. We are not talking about theological statements, laws or even history. As the Augsburg Confession XX says, faith is not merely knowledge…
-
Lesson 6: Faith 2
Read MORE: Lesson 6: Faith 2I closed last week’s post with the question, “What does faith in God involve? What do we trust God to do for us?” None of the responses I received believed faith in God involved expecting God to grant personal requests.…
-
Lesson 5: Faith 1
Read MORE: Lesson 5: Faith 1Biblical faith is best defined as trust. To have faith does not mean simply believing God exists or accepting some teaching about him. It is to trust God’s promises. So when Jesus wonders out loud in Luke 18: 8, “When…
-
Lesson 15: Summary of Salvation
Read MORE: Lesson 15: Summary of SalvationLooking back over all the biblical pictures of salvation, you find many similarities. For one, they are primarily about healing what is rather than escaping from this world. They reflect our craving for something better than our society’s suffering. In…
-
Lesson 14: What Buddhism Teaches Christians About Salvation
Read MORE: Lesson 14: What Buddhism Teaches Christians About SalvationA couple of my face- to- face fall classes used Kristen Largen’s What Christians Can Learn from Buddhism: Rethinking Salvation. In her last chapter she suggests four challenges Buddhism offers to our popular Christian picture of salvation. In many ways,…
-
Lesson 13: Salvation as a Wedding Feast
Read MORE: Lesson 13: Salvation as a Wedding FeastAlthough Jesus did not offer a comprehensive picture of salvation, he often referred to it as a dinner. Quite a few times his parables proclaimed the Kingdom of God is something like a meal or a banquet. Almost all his…
-
Lesson 12: Christmas Story as Salvation
Read MORE: Lesson 12: Christmas Story as SalvationI think “The Peaceable Kingdom” and “The New Jerusalem” might be the only detailed pictures of salvation in the Bible. Most of our conceptions have been pieced together from short illustrations. The Christmas Story is a perfect example. Matthew’s and…
-
Lesson 11: The New Jerusalem as Salvation (Revelation 21-22)
Read MORE: Lesson 11: The New Jerusalem as Salvation (Revelation 21-22)If Isaiah’s Peaceable Kingdom is the most fleshed out picture of salvation in the Old Testament, certainly John’s New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22 is the New Testament’s. The latter offers much the same promises as the former but…
Recent Comments
So forgiveness pre-requires understanding the mistakes of the past? here hear re this opposing this me-first, America-first, white-first, male-first approach>…
An extremely timely topic. Thanks, Fritz!