Jesus and the Toads

A vile toad

Photo by Paul Henjum

I ran across this passage by Richard Baxter, famous puritan teacher, and it just made me laugh with his picture of Christ holding himself back from making fun of all us toads in our little swamp. Sorry, this is what happens to old theology students: we find ourselves snickering at 17th century preachers.

_____________

As a sinner, you are far viler than a toad. Yet Christ was so far from making light of you and your happiness that He came down into the flesh, and lived a life of suffering, and offered Himself a sacrifice to the justice which He has provoked, that your miserable soul might have a remedy. It is no less than miracles of love and mercy that He has showed to us.


Richard Baxter (AD 1615 - 1691),
From his sermon Making Light of Christ and Salvation

Never Out

The Lord is loving to humans beings, and swift to pardon, but slow to punish. Let no one therefore despair of his own salvation.

Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 313 - 386)
Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem

Or as the Salvation Army says, "A man may be down, but he is never out."

Bottom Line

Some people think Pope Francis is a marxist, socialist, radical for his idea of restructuring the global economy so that it revolves around human need rather than "the bottom line." This may be true, but he is in good company.

A girl in India

Courtesy of Varun Chatterji

Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead,
those who are always instituting unfair regulations,
to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,
and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice,
so they can steal what widows own,
and loot what belongs to orphans.
What will you do on judgment day,
when destruction arrives from a distant place?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?

(Book of the Prophet Isaiah 10.1 - 3, NET)

Infinite Power, Infinite Compassion

"Gentleness"

Etching by Chaim Koppelman

It is the prerogative of great strength to be gentle. Always remember that you are linked with the Infinite God, and that all things are possible to you. There must also be infinite pity. We must be tolerant and pitiful to those who abuse us, or have been embittered by disappointment, or have been ill-used.

It must be our aim to make allowances for such, and always to be sweetly reasonable towards any brusqueness, rudeness and bad manners of their behaviour. Let us be willing to admit that much is due to congenital moroseness. Therefore, we bear gently with the erring, and with those who are out of the way, because we also are encompassed with infirmity.

F B Meyer

Noah, Hmm... I Wonder

Wondering if Noah (the movie, that is) will be worth seeing?

Here is a 3 part article by Jerry A. Johnson, Ph.D., President and CEO of National Religious Broadcasters who was invited by Paramount to see it. From his conservative-but-not-particularly-dogmatic viewpoint he sees 5 good points, 5 bad points, then makes some generally positive comments at the end.

DANGER: Many, many spoilers!!

GOOD
http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/february/noah-five-positive-facts-about-this-film.html

BAD
http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/february/noah-five-negative-features-about-this-film.html

WORTH PAYING TO SEE?
http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/march/noah-application-for-christians-and-hollywood.html

The Secret of National Bible Week

1940 was a very scary year to be alive. Hitler was ravaging Europe, Pacific nations were being conquered, and the Great Depression had by no means disappeared. Many Americans were determined to stay uninvolved and isolated but it was becoming increasingly apparent that they and the other democracies of the world were being surrounded. A latent fear was pervasive.

In the midst of this a group of professionals in New York felt it was important to turn people's minds to the hope offered by the Bible. So they formed the National Bible Association to simply encourage people to read this pivotal book, regardless of their religions affiliation or lack thereof.

In 1941 the first National Bible Week was observed the week of Thanksgiving and they've been held ever since. This year it runs from November 24th through 30th.

Now, it is true that Bible Week is, to a great extent, part of the "civic religion" that I see as one of the ways we try to shave the rough edges off the Christian Movement and make it comfortable. Jesus is not here to be the mascot of any government or society; he is here to take over. To repeat N T Wright's famous dictum, "If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not."


But I also believe this: The Bible is a time bomb. "The word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword," one of our early thinkers said, "piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart," (Letter to the Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12). Saint Paul himself found that the Great Announcement of the Gospel was not just a series of words but, "God's own power for salvation," (Letter to the Romans chapter 1, verse 16, CEB).

When the Scriptures are read, the human heart is exposed to God's raw, transformative energy. This is not an ordinary book. Anything can happen. The corridors of history are rife with stories of people whose lives were changed and minds convinced simply by reading this book. In many churches, reading the Bible is known as a "means of grace," a physical thing or action that God uses to convey his life and mercy to us.


If National Bible Week prompts someone to pull their old family Bible off the shelf -- or even use the Bible Gateway gizmo at the upper-right of this page -- and start reading the Prophetic Scriptures, well... you never know. That time bomb might just go off.

God’s Bias

At first blush one might think it’s almost blasphemy to suggest that God is biased. The default God of our current culture, should one believe in one at all, does not get involved much in the affairs of Earth. He played some part when the universe(s) began, perhaps "wound it up," but since then has sat back in his throne and let everything run it's course, declining to interfere for philosophical reasons. This view has been quite popular since Renaissance times.

But if God did have a preference, hypothetically speaking of course, many assume it would lean more toward the 'condemnation' side of things. You know, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God,” and all that...