Indagatio Veri

Sometimes there seems to be a thousand different ways to understand the Gospel, what Jesus' mission was, and what it means to be a Christian. I am often confused and frustrated by the multitudes of different opinions and ways of understanding Christianity. Sometimes it makes me doubt, while other times it is just frustrating.  Even in my own life my faith and belief has change and transformed as I have gone through different periods of life, had different experiences, faced different contradictions, and noticed greater complexity in the world around me. I often wonder if my current understanding of the Gospel is correct, both because of the ways I have changed and because of the seemingly endless supply of differing ideas around me. Yet amidst all the different ideologies, understandings, and practices, there is one common denominator across Christianity, one thing that the Christian world revolves around, Jesus. The fact that there are so many ideas, opinions, and understandings...

Over the last number of years I have really struggled to understand what Paul means when he talks about the ‘sinful nature’, or the flesh. In my mind it has always been merely an idea that gives us a reference point to understand our internal struggles. It is the ‘reason’ we turn to sin, the ‘root’ of our evil, or the deepest ‘part’ of who we are. After all, when you talk about the nature of something, we generally are talking about what it’s made out of, what defines or characterizes it. The sinful nature has always seemed more of an idea then something that can actually be defined and pointed to in our experience. After all where is it? Is it our entire body? Is it within our spirit? What about us is bad? Is it our emotions? Our thoughts? Our actions? The deepest part of a person is where all these things stem from, but they are not necessarily the most defining aspect of our humanity.  For now, I will define the common understanding of the sinful nature as ‘our propensity t...

Expecting the bitter bite of cold, I was pleasantly surprised to find the water was very comfortable to be in. It wasn't long before I had dipped my head beneath the surface. I felt the silky water moved against my skin, and ripples moved and undulated away from me as I brushed the surface of the lake with my hand. I noticed the hint of fall colors just beginning to show themselves in the trees, and took pleasure in the rustling leaves as the wind played through the branches. The sun reflected and danced over the water, and I felt a deep pleasure well up within me; wonder bubbling to take expression in my heart and on my face. My last couple blogs contain my theological journey into understanding that the Gospel is the good news that we are united to the Father, Son, and Spirit, not that we somehow need to make that happen. Furthermore, not only are we wrapped up into the relationship of the trinity, but Christ is actually inside of us! We aren't relating to a distant deity t...

I have gone through a huge paradigm shift over the last couple years when it comes to seeing and experiencing God. This hasn't only been an intellectual overhaul, but an experiential one as well. I have always thought of God as being 'out there'. What do I mean by that? I mean that I have primarily interpreted by thoughts, emotions, and experiences as originating in myself; and therefore since I start from a place of independence, any interaction and pursuit of God has to be towards a God that is 'outside of myself'. Does that make any sense? Believing I am alone; I have prayed and worshiped and interpreted my experience from the standpoint that God is 'out there' somewhere and I want to get Him in with me and my life. The reason I have thought that way is why we all do. First off, I often feel separate from God! We are all such natural control freaks governed by shame and anxiety, that our experience tells us that we are alone. I often feel alone, feel li...

"Everything the Father has is Mine. This is why I told you that He takes from what is Mine and will declare it to you. " (John 16:15).  The Holy Spirit is going to take what is Jesus' and share it with us! What do the Father, Son, and Spirit have? Unity, delight, joy, love, hope, and wonder. Within their connection there is no shadow, no fear, no shame, no worry or anxiety. They share other centered love and delight. They are creative, and they take great joy in goodness.  The plan from the beginning of creation was to include us in the relationship that the Father, Son, and Spirit share with each other. " For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love  he predestined us for adoption to son-ship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves (Ephesians 1:4-6)." The Father, Son, and Spirit created ...

"The Thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy; I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10)." From the Garden of Eden to Revelation, God's one focus is to give us the abundant life He has created us for. There isn't some abstract reason or purpose that God wants us to join Him in, He has always been and always will be purposed towards one end; to give us life. This life isn't abstract either, it is real, something we all yearn for and recognize on a fundamentally human level. This life He has for us is about love, connection, freedom, true pleasure, fellowship, joy, and hope. Creation: God created us to live in the Garden of Eden with Him and with each other in unbroken fellowship, other centered love, and joyous discovery. We were created to be completely vulnerable without any distrust, hurt, anger, or pain in our lives; to be completely naked and unashamed. Simply put we were created for life and life was created for us. We w...

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds (Romans 12:1-2)." These two passages have a deep but practical meaning to them. Our thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and decisions are visible signs that point to what influences us. The way we choose to live, the way we make decisions, the things we care about, and the way we define ourselves, are all indicators of what we deem to be the most important in life. If someone took an assessment of our attitudes, thoughts, and decisions for the purpose of trying to figure out what drives us as individuals, we would probably be rather embarrassed.  In the passage above, Paul is making quite a statement. How we choose to submit our lifestyles and what we choose to submit to, is actually worship.  When my thoughts, emo...

In the beginning God created man in His image, after His likeness (Genesis 1:26). God, Elohim, is plural. You see, God's essence is one of other centered love, connection, wholeness, and safety.  We were created in His likeness, bearing his same characteristics; in other words, we were created to live the kind of life that He does within Himself. We were created to walk intimately with both God and the rest of humanity in all truth and wholeness; we were created to be naked (completely vulnerable/exposed) and unashamed (no insecurity or pretense). Satan came into the garden and did the one thing he could to undermine God's children, he tactfully placed a lie at the core of what made us His. 'Did God really say?. . . You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil (Genesis 2:1,4-5).  Already bearing God's likeness, humanity believed the lie that Satan presented, and the lie produc...

Sin, a word that seems less and less relevant in the world today. It is a concept viewed as primitive, unnecessary, and or too harsh.  Outside of the religious world, and even sometimes within it, sin is re-named or not directly talked about. Yet sin seems to be such a key component for us in understanding God through the Bible; sin is a big deal in the Old Testament, with Jesus, and with the rest of the New Testament.  Even grace preacher Paul took a very hard stance when it came to sin. So what do we do with it? We certainly don't want to throw it out just because we don't like the context sin has been delivered in. There are two ways of looking at sin that really stem from two different ways of looking at God. The first, is to see sin as merely wrong because God said it was. This perspective assumes a few things. First, it assumes that God is controlling, that He is set apart from the natural world, and that He demands our obedience.  It therefore also assumes that w...

The idea of salvation has been complicated on one hand, and overly simplified on the other. Take a moment to define salvation for yourself. . . . chances are you came up with a statement like 'accepting Jesus', 'asking for forgiveness', 'asking Jesus to be your personal Lord and Savior', or 'saying the prayer of repentance.' What do these actually mean, and how does that actually save someone? Too often we think we are saved by some weird sort of allegiance we give to 'Jesus'.  As if our small amount of will power in positioning ourselves alongside Jesus changes God's perspective about us.  Let me be clear, Jesus is not calling us to have faith in Him in order to change God. Jesus is God's mind made up about us, and it is our faith that allows us to see it.   What are we saved from? Again answers are given  that are vague and elusive. 'Saved from the devil', 'saved from our sins', 'saved from hell', again these s...