CONCEPTS OR PERSON?
The aim of our conversation is the communication of the person of Christ.
“J.B. Torrance’s last comments to his post graduate students in the last seminar that he did before he retired. He said, ‘What we need is not a new doctrine or a clear doctrine of the Holy Spirit, we need the Holy Spirit. What we need is not a better Christology, what we need is Christ. What we need is not Trinitarian doctrine, but a relationship with the Trinity itself and that is the difference.’ We always run the risk, especially in theology and the church, we always run the risk of falling in love with concepts. Those concepts are there to be a pair of glasses to allow us to see, and understand, and know who God is and who we are in relation to God. So, yes, the bottom line, Jesus Christ is the center of everything, not just truth about Jesus, but Jesus Himself, and in Him, the Father, Son, and Spirit.”
—Baxter Kruger, The Big Picture, A 33 Lecture Series
Quote provided by John H. Walker
The blood
The blood of Jesus was not shed to persuade the Father to love you, but because the Father already loved you so much He sent His only Son as the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. If you have seen Jesus you have seen the Father. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. Jesus willingly submitted to our wrath, along with the Father and blessed Holy Spirit. Jesus displayed no greater love while, despite our doctrines to the contrary, the blessed Trinity did not separate. They are one. Innocence is necessary for true intimacy, hence the blood was not to change the mind the Father but to cleanse our conscience that we may abandon all our objections to fellowship and run into the embrace of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as their love always intended.
“I and the Father are one.”
—John 10:30
“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
—2 Cor. 5:19, KJV
“let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”
—Heb. 10:22, NLT
Jesus often ministered through asking questions.
Some are quite piercing if you'll take time to consider them.
"Do you love Me?" John 21:16
"Could you not watch with Me for one hour?" Mt. 26:40
"Who do you say that I am?" Mt. 16:15
"Do you believe?" John 11:26
"Why did you doubt?" Mt. 14:31
"Can you add a single hour to your life by being anxious?" Mt. 6:27
“Why do you put me to the test?" Mt. 22:18
"Do you want to be healed?" John 5:6
“Why do you question in your hearts?" Luke 5:22
“Why do you think evil in your hearts?" Mt. 9:4
"Why did you doubt?” Mt. 14:31
“Do you want to go away as well?” John 6:67
"Have you never read the Scriptures?" Mt. 21:42
"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit His soul?" Mark 8:36
"When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Luke 18:8
"My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" Mark 15:34
"Before the time of the beginning, the Word was face to face with God. He was there before the ages in intimate union with God, and fully God. Every single thing that is came to be in Him. And not one thing has existence apart from Him. In the Word life was and came to be, and this life is light, the true origin and meaning of human life. And the light of life shines in the gloom of darkness, and the darkness does not understand the light, neither can it stop it shining."
—John 1:1-5, Paraphrase by C Baxter Kruger, Ph.D, @PerichoresisC
@reachjulieroys It seems nearly all the big name authors / pastors, I used to read and follow have ALL been doing nasty stuff. So sad and disturbing. I believe it comes down to shame and fear theology misunderstanding Father God, started with Augustine!
Grace versus works is a meaningful discussion if one views salvation as a legal transaction to save you from God and get you a ticket into heaven. But what if we realized the entire underlying Western framework was asking the wrong questions? What if this was always about relational participation? What if "Grace" is a Person? What if Jesus Christ is "Salvation?" If Christ must persuade the Father to love us, then grace is no longer God’s nature, but a concession against it.
What if God is not a meticulous Lawyer but a loving Father? What if the whole story was about a Father raising children, a Son rescuing us from the disease of sin and the entropy of death, a Spirit conforming us to the truth of our divine image; that it was never about insiders vs. outsiders, performance orientation or a legal loophole we call "grace" to get us in the holy club?
We've always been in. We've always been loved.
If Jesus was twisting the Father’s arm to love us, then the Father is not perfectly imaged in the Son but was conditioned by him. The notion that Jesus was legally saving us from God would have been foreign to the early church.
You know what wrecked me when I was converting to Christianity?
Jihad is literally the gospel in reverse. Once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it.
The gospel says Christ shed His blood for YOU.
Jihad says you shed your blood for ALLAH.
Jesus lays down His life to save His enemies. Jihad calls you to take the lives of enemies in pursuit of God's favor.
Christianity says the Shepherd dies so the sheep can live. Jihad says the sheep die hoping the Shepherd accepts them.
They are mirrors. One is grace, the other is striving.
One says, "It is finished." The other says, "Do more."
Jesus never asked me to earn God's love with my blood, he proved God's love by shedding His own.
That's why the cross changed everything for me. Jesus didn't come to tell us how to die for God.
He came to die for us so we could truly live. PRAISE GOD! I AM FREE! Now, we need to make all the Muslims Christian.
Lettre à l'Amérique, d'un Français qui a vu la fin du film.
Vous vous croyez encore le dernier pays libre. Vous l'êtes pour l'instant. Je vous écris depuis un pays qui l'était aussi, et qui a signé sa reddition sans qu'un seul coup de feu ne soit tiré.
En France, l'État capte et redistribue 57% de tout ce que la nation produit. Cinquante-sept pour cent. Arrêtez-vous sur ce chiffre. Pour chaque unité de valeur créée par un ingénieur, un ouvrier, un fondateur qui a risqué sa peau, plus de la moitié transite par une main qui n'a rien bâti. Ce n'est pas une ligne budgétaire. C'est une hypothèque permanente sur l'existence des gens.
Et voici ce que personne ne vous avouera : ça n'arrive jamais par la révolution. Personne ne vote pour le déclin. On vote pour la compassion, pour la sécurité, pour la justice, pour la planète. À chaque étape, on troque un morceau de liberté contre une promesse. Et les promesses sont toujours belles. C'est ça, le piège.
Le collectivisme d'aujourd'hui n'agite plus le drapeau rouge il a compris que ça ne se vend plus. Il a appris à parler la langue du soin. ESG, gouvernance, conformité, « responsabilité » : ce sont les mots nouveaux d'une très vieille idée. L'idée qu'une élite éclairée sait mieux que vous ce qui est bon pour vous, et qu'il faut donc lui transférer, ligne après ligne, le pouvoir de décider à votre place. Ce n'est pas un complot. C'est pire : c'est un consensus. Personne ne se cache. Tout se fait à visage découvert, applaudi, subventionné.
Hayek l'avait écrit il y a quatre-vingts ans : la route de la servitude est pavée de bonnes intentions et de planification centralisée. La France a marché sur cette route en souriant. On a nationalisé le risque, socialisé l'échec, taxé l'audace, et administré tout le reste. Résultat : un pays magnifique qui ne construit plus rien, qui gère sa décrépitude avec une élégance funèbre, et où le jeune le plus doué rêve d'une seule chose partir. Beaucoup atterrissent chez vous.
L'Amérique a encore ce que nous avons perdu : le réflexe de bâtir plutôt que d'administrer. Le fondateur y est un héros, pas un suspect. La réussite y est une preuve, pas une faute à expier. C'est votre trésor. Et un trésor, ça se perd sans qu'on s'en aperçoive un formulaire, une agence, une « bonne cause » à la fois.
Alors ne cherchez pas d'ennemis cachés. C'est inutile et c'est indigne de vous. Regardez plutôt le chiffre. Regardez la France. Chaque point de PIB que vous laissez glisser vers l'État est un point de liberté qui ne revient jamais.
La liberté ne meurt pas assassin��e. Elle meurt anesthésiée, sous les applaudissements.
Ne signez pas. Construisez.