Tags: Culture

Law & Gospel

The teaching of Christ provides protection against the harshness of Old Testament law, and reveals God’s grace, which trumps God’s law for those who are “in Christ,” those who take advantage of Christ’s teaching. To read the Old Testament apart from the light of Christ constitutes a grave error for us who live on the resurrection side of the cross of Christ.

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The Error

The failure to see the wholeness of a thing is the failure to see its essential character because it is its wholeness that defines it as the thing that it is. The failure to understand God’s holiness amounts to a failure to stand under His wholeness. People do this when they engage in compartmentalization, the unconscious psychological defense mechanism used to avoid the mental discomfort.

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The Church and the Future

We who are in the church, especially pastors and denominational executives, have a vested interest in maintaining the church as it currently exists. Of course we’d like our church and/or denomination to grow, but what we mean is that we would like more of what it already is, more of the same kind of people, more resources, etc. What we really want is a better status quo, churches like the ones we have, but bigger. But is that what God wants or what God is doing at this time in history? It doesn’t seem to be. The church plural is in crisis. I don’t have a magic solution for this problem, but it is worth discussing, worth facing up to some harsh realities, and taking stock. Which is better: harsh realities or false hope? …

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