Abortion is murder, absolutely murder.

If you’ve had an abortion, God’s already forgiven you, He’s not holding your sins against you, and you aborted child is already safe in His arms.

I find myself wondering… does our horrible atonement theory contribute to our societies sin of abortion? Maybe I’m connecting dots that aren’t there, but when I think about the fact that many evangelical Christians teach that God poured out His wrath on the Son and turned His back on Jesus on the cross… I’m reminded of Jeremiah’s words in the following three passages and I think about the horrible way that I’ve heard Abraham and Isaac taught, and I wonder if our poor theology has contributed to the millions of abortions in America.

Jeremiah 7:31 “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.

Jeremiah 19:4-6 “Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent 5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind ; 6 therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom , but rather the valley of Slaughter.

Jeremiah 32:35 “They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Watch this to understand the problem of abortion…

Watch this to see the mistake we’ve made with bad theology…

I have a slightly unique way of reading and reviewing a book.  I underline and mark a book up pretty good, but I always write little notes in the front of non-fiction books with the page number so I can quickly find good quotes and ideas later when I need them. This blog may serve to help you find some good nuggets in C. Baxter Kruger’s Jesus and the Undoing of Adam.

I loved the book, Kruger’s theology is right on. Anyone would be helped to read and think about Kruger’s writing.

My bullet notes for your review or reference… (keep in mind that sometimes the thoughts I bullet below are my thoughts, other times they are straight from the book, and sometimes they are a combination, also just because I make a bullet about it, doesn’t mean that agree with it – but often or usually I do)

• Kruger was taught Calvinism as a child – p. 8
• Incarnation is the biggest news of all – p. 9
• There’s a word about marriage that I thought was worth thinking on – p. 11   ( a key to marriage is revising our perception of one another )
• “If we are going to penetrate the mysteries of our world, then our perception of it must be in constant revision.”    p. 11
• Repent means “change thinking” p. 11
• “In science, the price of imposing our own ideas onto reality is the loss of discovery, with all its immense rewards. In Christian Faith, it is the loss of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Forcing our own ideas upon Jesus is a singular disaster, for it is only in knowing the staggering truth about Jesus – who He is and what He has done for and with and to the human race – that we are set free from the bondage of our profound and debilitating anxiety into the freedom to live.” p.12
• New thoughts on the Pearl of Great Price p.13
• We must be aware of our thought patterns or habits of thought p.13
• Why Jesus died - ”What happened on the cross? Why did Jesus die? How do we understand the meaning of His death? The death of Jesus Christ was part of a seamless movement in which the Triune God laid hold of the human race and decisively and sovereignty altered its very existence, cleansing it of all alienation, quickening it with new life and lifting it up into union with the Father, Son, and Spirit. It is finished.” p. 16
• THIS ISN’T REALLY A COMPLAINT BUT KRUGER DOES REPEAT HIMSELF QUITE A BIT IN THIS BOOK SO YOU SHOULD READ THE WHOLE BOOK TO FULLY UNDERSTAND WHY JESUS DIED BECAUSE KRUGER IS ADDRESSING THAT QUESTION ON MANY PAGES, BUT I DIDN’T NOTE IT OVER AND OVER
• I thought about the deification of man on page 17
• When Christianity says God it says relationship – p. 18
• Human race – included in the trinity (invited, welcomed, drawn) p.20
• Atonement theory – starts with diseased p. 21
• Curative view of the cross p.22
• Fall wasn’t eating fruit – rather loosing faith in relationship or trust in God (It seems that God has been showing me something along these lines lately – In a chat with Michael Hardin I learned that sin is mentioned in the bible until the Cain kills Abel story and not in the Adam and Eve fall narrative) p.24
• The Fall – damaged fellowship – p.25
• Fellowship filled their existence with the Great Dance of life p. 25
• We are still hiding from God – like in the garden – p.26
• fall changed the way “the man” saw God – Adam (the man) = all men p.27
• This explains the OT – p. 27
• God is opposed to our destruction p. 28
• trinitarian fellowship (this is a key concept – you might say theme of Baxter’s theology) p. 32
• Incarnation was dangerous…?  never thought about it the way Baxter puts it here.  p. 33-34
• We are at war – strange war – not won they way we imagine wars are won p. 34
• The cross freed Jesus of His Adamic flesh – Kruger uses the word circumcised in this context I believe – p. 35
• God’s the Father’s NO! was no I will not allow man to be destroyed
• Jesus’ Yes was yes, I’ll redeem mankind
• The final word p.36
• Jesus is still man today… p. 36
• therefore all died in Christ p. 37
• David versus Goliath is compared to Jesus versus Adam p. 38
• Cross Answer p.40
• Trinity – the truth about God p. 41
• Why many don’t get what I’m saying (the natural mind cannot receive the the things of the Spirit – 1 Cor 2:14) p.41
• Law thoughts… p.44
• typical evangelical gospel starts with proclaiming the legal holiness of God p. 45
• also on page 45 Kruger basically defines Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA) p. 45
• The cross changed man – not God or just God’s view of man p. 46
• PSA = Janus faced God p.47
• Athanasius quote contrasted with Johnathon Edwards quote p.49
• The Jesus Lens idea shows up on p.51 (it seems all of the books that I love have this idea in common – we need to see the bible through the lens Jesus and not Jesus through the lens of the bible.  p. 51
• Assurance of Salvation is impossible as long as a person thinks in the PSA mindset p. 51
• Modern evangelical thinking with PSA has the church hiding from God the Father behind Jesus’ blood p. 51
• I bet self help book authors sell more to “Christians” or “marginal religious people” than to non-religious people      p. 53
• Great explanation of what I believe about Jesus “My God, My God…” line on the cross pp. 58-62
• Great St. Hilary quote about talking about and studying God “to deal with lawful matters, to scale perilous heights, to speak unutterable words, and to trespass forbidden ground,” p. 63
• Moral Influence Theory?  Kruger may see some merit in the Moral Influence Theory of the Atonement, I certainly do… p. 69

Well there are my notes.

I hope this blog causes you to run out and buy a copy of Kruger’s book!

The modern day idea of repentance is “doing the right thing,” “turning from sin,” “avoiding evil,” “feeling regret,”"acknowledging our faults before God,” “process of correction and refinement,” “being different,” “changing behavior,” “being sorry for something,” “turning from wrong doing,” “turn or burn,” “confessing sin,” “changing behavior,” “a 180 degree change in direction,” or saying and really meaning “I’m sorry.”

Above is the modern day idea of repentance. That’s my main point here, the first things that come into many of our minds when we think of repentance are all about behavior, actions, and a single moment in time.

In the New Testament we find the word repentance (or repent) in our English translation in the neighborhood of 50+ (remember quick blog – there may be more) times.

In the New Testament the word translated as “Repentance” Metanoeo / Metanoia means to change your mind. It doesn’t automatically mean to change your mind about sin, or turn around, or feel sorrow, or behave differently – in fact the behavior isn’t always the problem. For example a person can be doing the right things for all the wrong reasons and he or she may still need to metanoeo (change their thinking).

So the two things that I wanted to say in this rushed blog are,

1. We might to better to say “Open your mind or burn” than to say “Turn or burn!”  
2. This repentance (Metanoeo / Metanoia) that the scriptures speak of is not a one time event but a process that we should live in daily.

Changing our minds is a daily process, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”  Maybe Paul is encouraging us to be open to truth more than we thought!

Sometimes after taking some heat from the religious friends in my life, I reflect on how much I’ve changed theologically over the years and I realize that METANOEO is happening in my life.

If your thinking hasn’t changed over the last few years, if you are still looking for that old time religion that you heard as a child, maybe you are resisting METANOEO.

Today I am posting here to ask you to pray about giving – but not to aplacetotalk. aplacetotalk doesn’t have a donate here link, and for now we don’t want to. I have a friend who is preaching peace, non-violent atonement, and God’s amazing radical grace but has come to a crossroads financially. They need to raise $50,000 by May 15th to continue their operations.

Here is a quote from their website. “We take minimal salaries, use our money wisely and have accountants audit our books every year.” Because I trust Michael, I believe that quote is totally true.

I’m not asking or telling you to give, I’m simply asking you to visit the Preaching Peace website and pray about whether or not you WANT to give. I want to give and I’m thinking about what amount I can give, I wanted to give others an opportunity to give as well. If you haven’t heard from or learned from Preaching Peace, you should. I’ll share some ways to hear from Preaching Peace below.

You can listen to Michael’s heart by listening to the podcast he and I recorded a few months ago. You can find the talk by clicking on podcast at the preaching peace site or by linking to my site here.

Another way to hear from Michael and understand the heart of Preaching Peace is to watch Hellbound. It isn’t going to be avaiable on DVD until May 28th, 2013 but there seems to be a 10 minute clip that you can watch for $2. Here’s a link to watch that 10 minute video. If you click on that link, and pay the $2 a portion of that will also go to Preaching Peace.

Michael has also been a guest pod-caster multiple times on Beyond the Box Podcast. Here is a link to one of those pod-casts. Here’s another link.

Whether you are able to give or not, I hope you take advantage of the Preaching Peace Ministry by clicking on every link! Have a great day, Josh.

Here are some PDFs from a small group I did on 1 John… let me know if this is helpful to anyone and I’ll continue to post my notes for the rest of the book.

I should probably add… I was trying to do 1 John in a small group with kids and adults (family integrated small group).

1 John 1:5-10

fill in the blanks

*Inspiration for this talk comes from Shane Hipps’ message titled “Spoiling the Illusion” May 8th, 2011 Mars Hill Bible Church Grand Rapids, MI

Is this Sunset true?

Opposites Game

Practice

Thinking about Light and Darkness

Truth Aletheia

Here are some simple PDF files to help with a small group looking at 1 John.

We’ll start with 1 John 1:1-4…

1 John 1:1-4

Is this Sunset true?

John 10:6-11

Psuche life

Zoe Life

Is the FDA even awake? Is there a single benefit to the FDA today? I read over and over about the things that the FDA allows through that is dangerous and I don’t hear of anything anymore that they don’t allow through. I find myself wondering… watch this video to see what some professionals and even members of congress are saying about the FDA.

IS IT ALL ABOUT THE MONEY, MONEY, MONEY?

Well I’ve done it again, I’ve read a book that will get me rejected, hated, or judged by “Christians.” I don’t know how to explain the level of irony that is involved in that statement. If you consider yourself a “Christian” and you don’t see irony in the previous statement, I’d encourage you to back up and reconsider what being a Christ follower means… Here’s a hint, instead of rejection, hate, and judgment… try acceptance, love, and grace.

Now on to the review.

I want to say things like I read Bell to see what he is thinking, but I don’t agree with everything he says.

Or

this book makes some great points but Bell is a bit too out there for me.

See it seems that I’m tempted to do something to KRISIS (Greek word that means to separate) Bell from myself, because I’m afraid of being labeled or rejected like he is but instead… I’M MAKING AN INTENTIONAL DECISION TO DO JUST THE OPPOSITE!

LUMP ME IN WITH ANYONE YOU WANT.

I WANT TO BE UNIFIED WITH PEOPLE…

I BELIEVE THE MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST IS A MESSAGE OF UNITY.

ROB BELL AND I ARE ON THE SAME TEAM!

Heck, label me as a univeralist if that makes you feel safer.  I’m not…

…but if labels make you more comfortable – label me!

That brings me to my first thought in this review. On page 154 – 155 Bell mentions being at a peace conference where the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu were speaking. I think Bell was sharing the stage with these guys. Back when that happened I wanted to talk to Bell and ask him, “Rob, why don’t you put a bit of seperation between yourself and these guys? Why don’t you say, these guys have the wrong message?” Today, I don’t ask that question and I’m trying not to be the guy who keeps revealing that KRISIS, that happens in my mind. I believe that the KRISIS is bad for me. I believe that a position of unity is right. I know you are about to stone me, but I have to trust my LORD Jesus Christ and do as I feel He leads. Of course I still believe He is the only way, but my belief can’t cause me to treat other human beings as less than myself.  When Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the life and that no one comes to the Father but through Him, I’m pretty sure He didn’t intend that to be a statement we used to judge, discount, and ignore others.

Anyway, on page 155 Bell mentions that the peace conference was being protested.  He asked who was protesting, and of course it was a group of “Christians.” Christians protesting peace, that’s irony.

I can’t properly review this book; I believe it was good; I don’t even want to loan it out because I think I’ll be using it for reference points; Instead of a proper review, I’m going to bullet point my notes from the front inside cover and following 3 pages. Below is a pic to show you how I read a book. I read and jot notes and page numbers in the front of things I want to be able to quickly access again later.  Hopefully my many notes will stimulate your thirst for this book… if it does, but a copy.  If it doesn’t that’s ok too, I enjoyed it.

My front of book notes, kind of like my homemade table of contents:

• Weight of the nucleus of an atom – p. 33
• Space travel or Quantum leaps, reminds me of Phillip’s plain air ride after leaving the Ethiopian Eunuch p. 36
• The universe is small p. 43
• Matter and Spirit… one, same, similar, indistinguishable…?  - p. 45
• Bell seems to indicate that he isn’t a Gen. 1-11 is literal guy… I’m comfortable with someone thinking that way, but I’m not sure  p. 60
• GRENZBEGRIFFLICH – German word that describes that which is very real but beyond analysis and description  p. 63
• I think therefore I am p. 67
• I’m planning to quote something from page 67 in the book I’m writing
• My thought…. wouldn’t there be more bones if older earth were true?  p. 70  (maybe not, I’m still open to literal or mythological interpretations of Gen. 1-11)
• “Science does an excellent job of telling me why I don’t have a tail, but it can’t explain why I find that interesting.”  p. 75
• Everything is spiritual p. 76
• Summary of Chapter two p. 77-78
• It’s all miraculous (even breathing is miraculous) my thought: When we pray for God’s presence to show up it is basically saying falsely that we believe our current actions like breathing, seeing, thinking, praying, are possible without His presence.  I don’t pray for God to show up, He is here.  Instead I pray that my eyes and ears will be more open and attuned to His current real presence…. p. 79
• Real Faith is Open Minded p. 80
• Women worked in the fields first?  p. 88   (I went to the end notes hoping to find a reference for this and I found it… Ken Wiber’s History of Everything
• Faith & Doubt are good dance partners p. 92
• Conviction & humility are also good dance partners p. 93
• Just typing these notes is wearing me out… must be a pretty good book  (I wonder if Bell would do an interview podcast with me… ?? he can only say no)
• Again more like above… we don’t pray for God’s presence we recognize it – it is already here p. 98-99
• Great illustration of us not seeing – Share this with Bill Carrier p. 100
• Something more p. 103
• RAUCH – Hebrew idea for breath, spirit
• KAVOD – explained on 113 – great illustration about guy with bald head  (means that something is bigger and more meaningful than you can express in words) p.112
• ECHAD – “ONE” when the Hebrews said that the Lord is one, the word one meant “one made up of many parts” p. 117
• fragmentation p.118
• telos p. 121
• Bell begins to express the gospel p. 125-126 and 133
• AA meeting – I experienced the same thing when I went with my biological father to a NA meeting p. 138
• Water skiing illustration p. 132
• Admitting our need (sin) p. 138
• Prayer – why do people who don’t pray, pray when they are terrified? p. 139-140
• Album illustration goes along with my New Frequency illustration p. 149
• Enemy love p. 150
• Bell is against sin… imagine that! – p. 151
• Bell says eye 4 an eye was a step forward… p. 159  (I like this idea better than most, but I’d also argue that the eye for an eye idea was anthropological, meaning that it was more what they heard and understood than what God actually said)
• Quoting the bible for the opposite of its true message example p. 161 (Bell illustrates this, doen’t do it)
• Bell believes that we’ve still got a way to grow in the fair treatment of women… he mentions the restaurant Hooter’s in a negative way.  I get it, he didn’t call for a boycott, but he spoke truth anyway.  I like that.  p. 164
• Abraham’s tribe was different p. 167
• Israel – the one who struggles with God p. 167
• USA’s weapon military problem (6% of world population 49% of world’s weapons – only people to ever use Nukes – those are facts whether you worship America or not… my words not Bell’s) p. 171
• Ground Holy all the time, Abraham just took his shoes off when he realized it.  p. 182 – 183
• Shadow management – I think that is a great explanation of much of religious Christianity p. 194
• SPLAGCHONON – bowels / guts “I feel it in my SPLAGCHONON (guts).  p. 196
• 6th sense… cellular level p. 198  (reference to first chapter stuff)
• Motor Neurons – p. 200
• Energy is liberated matter, and matter is locked-up energy – Einstein p. 202

Ok there are my notes… if anything there peeked your curiosity – go buy Rob Bell’s – WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT GOD.

PS… final thought – the book didn’t really discuss homosexuality at all.  The promo video I’m sure caused people to be prepared for some sort of theological discussion about homosexuality.  I expected that.  That however isn’t in this book, and I think Bell was very wise to leave that subject alone… I will too.

 

In this video professionals claim that Psychotropic drugs are present in 50% of all suicide victims.

Is there any scientific proof of chemical imbalance in the brain?

Is there any types of tests that measure chemical imbalances in the brain?

I believe in mental disorders. I believe people need help. I want to help, but I don’t want to offer drugs without full disclosure and education for problems that are undefined.

John Sommers-Flanagan Professor of Counselor Education at the University of Montana says that the term chemical imbalance is used as a marketing ploy.