Kenneth Tanner – Speaking Wisely of the Cross
Speaking wisely of the cross.
The cross means no one else has to die for the
world to be made right again.
Not one more person has to die to balance a
scale, to ensure that we have enough of
whatever it is, to satisfy vengeance, to make
my life more convenient, to improve the quality
of another person's existence, or please add
any of our deadly rationales. They all belong in
Gehenna.
We will die and some will be killed, but
Christians, as people who believe the death of
Christ is the only death that can make the
world right again-trust that when God dies for
the world he loves as a human that death itself
dies-we ought to be be the people who say to
the spirit of Cain in all the ways that spirit
arises in us, "No more!"
Image: Peter Howson, Harrowing of Hell
exhibition, detail, 1999.
Wickedness beyond comprehension — by Sarah Armitage
I thought I had a good awareness of the wickedness and evil that man can carry out against man. I was wrong.I thought I had seen the lowest form of immorality and filth that another human being could stoop to. I was wrong. I thought I had an understanding of the...
A Kingdom Stance — by Ward Draper
I have been thinking alot about the Cross lately and the excessive and immeasurable lessons it holds. That such a violent device could hold so much knowledge, wisdom, life, and more importantly love, it is astounding. As I have been thinking about this grotesque...
Train Silence Breakers — by Jonathan Asher Gilbert
Recently I’ve been reading about modern Christian marketing techniques. I’ve been told they suck and aren’t good enough. A bad imitation at best, not enough effort at worst. Apparently people think the church’s communication efforts are a joke. It made me realize how...
Out Of The Corner Of My Eye — by Blind Man At The Gate
UBP - http://www.brianzahnd.com I think I caught a glimpse of truth out of the corner of my eye A ghost, a whisper, a suspicion, a subtle and subversive rumor So dangerous that every army would be commanded to march against it So beautiful that it would drive...
Review of Urs Von Baltasar’s “Dare We Hope: that all men be saved?” by Andre Harden
Is a somewhat misleading title for this book that examines the core nature of God's relationship to mankind. "Dare we" suggests that hope in God's intent and power to save his creation should be exercised tentatively, furtively and only at great risk,...
2:1 [the Cross] by Al Sergel
*artwork by: Barna da Siena, 1330-1350“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” - The words of Jesus“What Jesus calls us to in the Kingdom of God is not a religiously modified version of the self-preservation...
Review: Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer
Review by Ron Dart Frank Schaeffer, Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to take all (or almost all) of it Back (New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2007). I lived in Switzerland from 1972-1973, and while I...
Theological Affinities in the Writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King, Jr. — by Susannah Heschel
Reprinted from: Black Zion: African-American Religious Encounters with Judaism, ed. Yvonne Chireau and Nathaniel Deutsch (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming) The photograph of Abraham Joshua Heschel walking arm in arm with Martin Luther...
Is it possible that the war is over? — by Eric Janzen
When I saw the figure he was jumping the lineand hopping over trenches,rolling up razor wire,and, of all things, laughing. Wide eyed, I began to wonderIs it possible that the war is over?His eyes found me thenhe smiledhe grinned,then turned to the far flungwandering...
We believe in MLK. But we still don’t believe him.
Excerpt from "Beyond Vietnam," an address by MLK, April 4, 1967. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered...