John Wesley, Legalism, and Love (part 3)

It is a well known fact that a pitfall of “holiness” traditions (those that trace their spiritual heritage to John Wesley) is legalism.  Rules rule our lives.  We often find “holiness” in a list of what NOT to do.  I’ve heard it said, “don’t drink, smoke, cuss, or chew – or go out with girls [...]

Wesley, Perfection, and Sin (part 2)

One of the biggest sticking points, when people consider Wesley’s teaching on Christian perfection, is the issue of being sinless; living without sin.  The problem seems to be that we all seem to continue to make mistakes in our lives.  This level of perfection – living without sin – seems unattainable.
In fact, this should not [...]

John Wesley, Christian Perfection, Love (part 1)

I recently read John Wesley’s little book, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, written in 1777 as a summary of his teaching on Christian perfection (also knows as entire sanctification).
As a result of growing up in a Wesleyan denomination (Nazarene) and of my studies as a theology student, have come to terms with the doctrine [...]

Women and Ministry

I’ve not blogged for a long time.  Too long.  I enjoy writing and thinking and expressing what is going on in my mind.  Lately I’ve just not had much to say.
But today I became aware of a piece that President Jimmy Carter wrote and it struck a nerve,  I loved what he had to write [...]

Death

I saw this quote on Twitter today: “Death gives meaning to our lives. It gives importance and value to time. Time would become meaningless if there were too much of it.”
It immediately made me think about the tendency in our society to view Death as a “natural part of life” or even [...]

Firstfruit, Peaches, Jesus, and Resurrection

I desperately love fresh peaches right off the tree.  Sweet and juicy and wonderful they are.
We have three peach trees in the back yard at our house and each one ripens at slightly different times.  That way, you see, we get fresh peaches for two months rather than two weeks.
The first in line is the [...]

Susan Boyle and the Kingdom of God

Wow.  You must watch this video.  It is a clip from “Britain’s got talent.” Once that task is done, continue on with reading my thoughts (embedding for this video is disabled, so go here to watch)…..

Now that you’ve watched, read on to see how this made me think of Jesus, the Resurrection, and the Kingdom [...]

Ehrman, Colbert Report, and Witherington

Ben Witherington is a wonderful, very orthodox, Christian Scholar.  On his blog recently he posted a critique of Bart Ehrman’s newest book and also this great video of Ehrman on the Colbert Report.  Bart Ehrman often tries to discredit the Christianity, as you will see in the video, and Colbert is wonderful with him.  I [...]

A Sign of bad Theology

 

 
I almost never like what I read on church signs. This one, in particular, really hit a nerve. Just in case the picture isn’t working the words read, “Don’t make me come down there!  -God”
 
What is wrong with this? Only about a dozen things.  Here are four that come to my mind [...]

Colbert and Wright about “Heaven”

I’m really high on NT Wright’s book, Surprised by Hope.  Here is a little video where Stephen Colbert “interviews” Wright about Surprised by  Hope.