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Review of “The God Who is There”

One recent Sunday morning I met a man visiting our church.  His wife Jane had stayed home while he and his boys attended worship.  When I asked him about Jane, he said, “She wasn’t raised in any faith.  That’s why she’s not here.” 

Two hours later I rejoiced with Orion’s mother as Orion was baptized into Christ.  A seventh grader from a strong Christian household, Orion nonetheless had much to learn about God.  His new life was just beginning.

Before leaving the church building I received a note from Albert.  A seventy-something widower, Albert has attended every class offered by our congregation.  But in his note, Albert remarked that there’s still so much he’s trying to grasp about the Bible.

D. A. Carson’s latest book was written for Jane, Orion and Albert.  Carson is a research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and the author of over 45 books.  This book, entitled The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story is Carson’s attempt to summarize the narrative of Scripture for non-believers, new believers, and seasoned believers.

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Irreligious: Forsaking Religion and Finding Jesus’ Lord (Mk. 12:35-37)

Chris Altrock – August 15, 2010

Robin Meyers grew up in Churches of Christ.[i]  Along his journey, however, he became disenchanted not only with Churches of Christ, but with all theologically conservative groups.  In his book Saving Jesus From the Church Meyers describes this disenchantment as him rejecting Christ but embracing Jesus.  In fact, the subtitle to his book is “How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus.”  Meyers began to make a distinction between the “Christ” whom conservative mainline churches have historically emphasized and the “Jesus” whom Meyers had rediscovered recently in the pages of the Bible.  Meyers ultimately became repulsed by people who mistreated others yet said they believed in the orthodox doctrines about Christ (e.g.,. the virgin birth, the miracles of Christ, and his resurrection from the dead).  Meyers came to believe that all of these doctrinal matters about Christ were of little significance.  What mattered most was living out the example left behind by Jesus—treating people the way Jesus would.

 

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Irreligious: Forsaking Religion and Finding Jesus’ Law (Mk. 12:28-34) Chris Altrock – August 8, 2010

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” (Mk. 12:28 ESV)  A scribe approaches Jesus in the temple.  This scribe joins a long list of people at the temple who have been verbally sparing Jesus.  The chief priests, scribes and elders have interrogated Jesus about his authority.  The Pharisees and Herodians have double-teamed Jesus regarding taxes.  The Sadducees have grilled Jesus about resurrection.  And now this scribe takes up the fight.  Matthew specifically tells us that this scribe has come to “test” Jesus.  Mark notes that the scribe has seen how Jesus handled the Sadducees.  Perhaps the scribe believes he can do a much better job than the Sadducees.[i]

 

Read More »Irreligious: Forsaking Religion and Finding Jesus’ Law (Mk. 12:28-34) Chris Altrock – August 8, 2010

Irreligious: Forsaking Religion and Finding Jesus’ God (Mk. 12:18-27)

Chris Altrock – August 1, 2010

 

Over the past few days I’ve practiced what I call the “ministry of presence” among the LaVelle family.  When a young person like Liz dies, there few words worth speaking.  The very best we can do is just be present with each other.  And as I’ve tried to be present I’ve overheard numerous people saying the same thing over and over.  As they’ve thought of the hurt and pain that comes in the midst of the death of a young person like Liz, they’ve said, “I just don’t know how people make it through times like these without God and without the church.”  They’ve been testifying that times of tragedy reveal that there is nothing comparable to following Jesus, there is something indispensible about following Jesus.  You can’t make it through those times without that “thing” that only comes through following Jesus.

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