In April of this year, 2008, Veritas Forum brought N.T. Wright to Emory University. His talk was titled, Why Does Jesus’ Resurrection Matter? Considering Its Relevance for Today. If you would like to watch or listen to these two lectures click on the appropriate links below or go to the Veritas website to get them.
I found the following statement so amazing that I typed it out so those of you who don’t have the time to listen to this can rejoice with me over this remarkable truth.
There is a very good interview with Tim Keller about several subjects in Christianity and religion in general. I wanted to focus on just one here: marketability.
You reject marketing apologetics like, “Christianity is better than the alternatives, so choose Christianity.” Why?
Marketing is about felt needs. You find the need and then you say Christianity will meet that need. You have to adapt to people’s questions. And if people are asking a question, you want to show how Jesus is the answer. But at a certain point, you have to go past their question to the other things that Christianity says. Otherwise you’re just scratching where they itch. So marketing is showing how Christianity meets the need, and I think the gospel is showing how Christianity is the truth.
Last weekend we held an evangelism conference at Living Hope Community Church in upstate NY. During the conference we focused on what the biblical gospel is and how to speak the gospel of the kingdom and the cross to a world in desperate need. The weekend included teachings, an interactive video workshop, role playing, and an evening out at the park. We wanted to provide an opportunity for those who wanted to try out what they had learned while at the same time not forcing anyone who wasn’t ready to do evangelism. Fortunately a good number of people did speak to people at the park and we had a wonderful time discussing these encounters as well as some related questions regarding evangelism in general Saturday night. The teachings from the conference are now available for free download.
Click here to listen to Discerning the Difference Between Two Opposed Theologies presented by Anthony Buzzard, Apr 30th 2008, Atlanta Georgia. Commentary by John Obelenus
Anthony opens by explaining to us that distorted versions of the faith, held up by theological and spiritual leaders in high places, fight against the revealed biblical truth. He spotlights Swindoll and Zuck’s Understanding Christian Theology as a perfect example of this distorted version of the faith from the evangelical camp.
Often times the evangelical camp find and dictate a pre-existent Jesus in the Old Testament as the Angel of the Lord, despite their admission that there is no precise verse to declare a pre-existent Jesus. Futhermore they massively misunderstand the phrase “Son of God” by importing a post-Christian creedal understanding onto the person of Jesus in the gospels. This is where they begin their incarnation doctrines about Jesus that are so repellent to the biblical text and first century Judaism.
Click here to listen to Looking for the Historical Jesus: In Between Evangelical and Liberal Scholarship presented by Sean Finnegan, Apr 29th 2008, Atlanta Georgia. Commentary by John Obelenus
Sean tells us a story of a girl he met in Borders. He was unable to give her a good introductory book to the Christian faith. He knew the kinds of books on the shelves: the evangelical ‘Jesus-is-God’ type, and the liberal ‘there are no miracles-Jesus is a failed prophet’ type. We need to find a middle road between these two, as they both offer good points and bad points.
He starts with the good news about evangelical scholarship:
- The existence of God (Peter Kreeft, Alvin Plantinga)
Click here to listen to Religion and Politics: A Fresh Look at Imperial Overtones in the New Testament presented by Dustin Smith, Apr 29th 2008, Atlanta Georgia. Commentary by John Obelenus
The thesis of Dustin’s paper is that Paul is using specific phrases and words traditionally used in the context of the Caesar cult (the worship of the Roman emperor as a divine figure in the pantheon) that are re-appropriated for use in the preaching of Jesus as the Messiah, God’s representative.
A startling fact is shared: “If one were asked, what is the biggest and fastest growing religion in the Mediterranean world during Paul’s lifetime, one may be quick to think of the Christians as is described in the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. What may come to most a a surprise is that archeology, inscriptions, Greek writers, and historians all confirm that the Roman Caesar cult was the fastest growing phenomenon of the time.”
Click here to listen to Yet Another Music City Miracle as presented by J Dan Gill, Apr 29 2008, Atlanta Georgia. Commentary by John Obelenus
Dan opens with a startling thought he had leaving a Billy Graham revival. It seems that nearly all of those who ran forward to receive Jesus there would not have understood the Trinity, nor the divinity of Christ. Odd, it seems, because such revivals are led by those who hold the belief in the Trinity as the marker of a Christian. Yet, here are potential converts without that knowledge being accepted.
He asks “Must one come to faith in the doctrines of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ in order to be saved? Yet the activities of the crusade itself seemed to be overwhelmingly convincing that large numbers of people going forward would not have possessed even a rudimentary faith in those particular traditional doctrines.”
I was reading Luke today:
When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who is invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. - 14.7-10
Jesus’ life is a Gospel presentation. I do not mean that in an abstract way. Jesus, as Messiah, literally lives the Kingdom age for all to see. His values are the values of his Father, and therefore the values of the next age. Jesus’ life isn’t a Gospel presentation because he “just loved everybody”, or “met them where they were at”. He did much more than that. He did love them, and he did meet them where they were. But as a result of Jesus’ actions these peoples’ lives were changed forever. It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to reveal why the miraculous Church came out of him. They were literally being Jesus. As I’ve started to show in my last two posts Jesus’ “theology” was lived in his life. It wasn’t only a mental construct that he believed in a vacuum. His core beliefs defined his behavior. His core beliefs were the values of the Kingdom set against the reality of fallen humanity. Even beyond this, his behavior was not for himself, but for others. His behavior caused healing and restoration in and around the people he came in contact with.
One of the most deceptive beliefs of modern Christianity is that people go to heaven at the moment of death. The Bible simply does not teach this doctrine, rather the goal is always the kingdom of God which one enters (on earth) through resurrection on the last day (when Jesus comes back). The problem with the heaven-at-death idea is that it stands out in front of the kingdom idea, effectively eclipsing it. One might say, “yeah, that sounds interesting that we will eventually be on earth, but what really matters to me is that I go to heaven when I die.” The heaven hope shifts our focus from this world to another place. Rather than yearning for the day when God sets this world right, we instead fall into an “escapist” mentality, believing that we’ll get taken out of here. After all, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through.” Jesus simply did not talk like this at all. He was concerned about the poor, the outcasts, the lame, the lepers, the afflicted, marginalized, the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He did not promise them that at death they would enter “heavenly glory.” No! Jesus promised that they would inherit the earth, they would possess the very kingdom of God, they would finally gain mercy, comfort, and would be called the children of God. The gospel is good news because God is going to act through Christ on the last day to make everything wrong with the world right. I found the following quote about heaven to be quite encouraging: