Christmas, Theology, Advent, Church, Hospitality
John Beeson
The Faithfulness of God of the Manger

Recently we had someone over and as the night came to a close Angel warmly offered, “Let’s do this again soon!” I wilted as I processed just how many things were on our calendar in the coming month. Just like Angel did, I wanted to be with them again and soon, but her invitation made me flinch.

 

My wife Angel and I are very different people. Angel brings light and life everywhere. People are drawn to her, and she is drawn to people. One of the many things I love about Angel is how she gets caught up in a moment with people. In that space, it’s not unusual that she shares hopes with those we are with of spending more time together. And she means it: there is no doubt of her genuineness.

The Faithfulness of God of the Manger
Advent, Christmas, Theology
John Beeson
A Humble God?

“I don’t compare myself with anybody, but nobody is better.” Michael Jordan

“They say the sky’s the limit, but I think my potential is beyond it.” Jay-Z

“I won’t be happy until I’m as famous as God” Madonna

“I won’t be a rock star. I will be a legend.” Freddie Mercury

“We’re more popular than Jesus now.” John Lennon

We tend to expect that greatest among us are also some of the most arrogant. And why wouldn’t they be? For many who make it to the top of their field, we can see how that arrogance can be a driving force for their greatness.

A Humble God?
Christmas, Forgiveness, Theology
John Beeson
The Just and the Justifier

God became flesh.

Let that sink in. Christianity asserts that God—sovereign, immutable, omnipotent, other—the eternal God who has no beginning and end—became a human being.

 Because many of us have had exposure to Christianity from our early years, it is easy to miss how massive the theological implications of the incarnation are. The incarnation lays the groundwork for a God who chooses to participate in his creation. The incarnation denies the existence of an abstract and distant God, unmuddied by his handiwork.

The Just and the Justifier
Advent, Christmas, Theology
John Beeson
The Theology of the Manger

“God did not, as the Bible says, create man in his own image; on the contrary, man created God in his own image.” Ludwig Feuerbach dropped this theological bombshell three years before Friedrich Nietzsche’s birth. Feuerbach, a name forgotten by most, but who influenced Nietzsche, wrote these words in his book, The Essence of Christianity (1841). He argued that human beings project their own attributes and desires onto an imagined deity, creating God in their own image. This for Feuerbach, is the essence of Christianity (and indeed all religions), the deification of our human ideals. “What man wishes to be, he makes his God… God is the outward projection of a man’s inward nature.”

The Theology of the Manger
Death, Gratitude, Prayer, Suffering
John Beeson
Go To a Funeral

We Westerners avoid death.

 

When was the last time you walked through a cemetery? When was the last funeral you went to? Our churches no longer have cemeteries, those who are older head to retirement communities and then to head to long-term care or assisted care facilities. The number of funerals held in churches has diminished. Death has become professionalized, antisepticised, and remote.

Go To a Funeral

Amy Hall

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  • Your Attention Span Isn’t Dead – Yet: Rebecca Ruiz begins, “I have a modest dare for you, dear reader: Try to stay on this page for longer than 47 seconds. That may seem like a ridiculously short and easy period to focus on one task, but studies show that the average time spent on a single screen has shrunk to less than a minute.”

  • How Should We Handle Outrage? Amy Hall reminds us, “It’s not wrong to be outraged by evil. Our desire for justice flows directly from our love for God and our knowledge of his magnificent, righteous, beautiful character. Because he is the standard of all justice, we likewise love justice. Because he is the Creator, all truth is valuable. And because we love the truth, lies are maddening. Because he has explained what it means to love, we know how to truly help people. And because we love people, injustices infuriate. God himself is angry at evil because evil destroys human beings, who are created in his image, so our outrage is understandable.”

  • Facts Don’t Care About Your Healings: This is a dense, but important post by Samuel James. He draws toward this conclusion, “Ben Shapiro’s famous tweet “Facts don’t care about your feelings” has come to symbolize the reactionary conservative movement. Feelings are thought now to be left-coded, and facts right-coded. This isn’t all that new. But the recoding of justice/forgiveness suggests that it is now conservatives who find themselves the party of emotional health, over and against the progressives as the party of capital-L Law.”

  • Don’t Be a Fig Leaf: Kim Barnes, “Yet we are often uncomfortable when people we love confess sin. Almost like a reflex, we want to reassure and comfort. How many times has someone apologized to you and your automatic response was: “It’s okay”? We minimize the sins of others because we minimize our own sin. While we should love and forgive the friend who comes to us in confession, it’s not okay. Sin is not okay.”

  • The Peace of Wild Things: Stop what you’re doing and give just over a minute of your attention to this beautiful poem that echoes Jesus’s words about the sparrow.

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This Week’s Recommendations

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This Week’s Recommendations

  1. Why it Matters to Be Human: I have been wanting to write a similar post. Phil Cooke wrote it better. He talks about science, faith, and Covid. He begins, “One of the most tiring arguments on social media these days are from people who debate science versus religion. In so many cases, they don’t understand the purpose of each, and as a result, look in the wrong place for the answers they seek. It’s one of the reasons people who have no religious faith look on those who do as ignorant and backwards.”

  2. Have You Tasted Heaven? Tim Challies shares a simple story of a poor boy who tastes an orange for the first time. Have you ever tasted something so sweet you long to visit where it is from? There is a truth here for all of us.

  3. Americans Most Want to Avoid Fear and Anxiety, Gain Freedom and Safety: Lifeway Research’s recent poll reveals what Americans run to and run from. Asked what feeling they avoid most, “4 in 10 U.S. adults (41%) say fear. Far fewer say shame (24%) or guilt (22%). Around 1 in 10 aren’t sure.”

  4. What Motivates Sin (and How to Fight it): Amy Hall begins by explaining that sin is “…when you think you’re missing out on something good that you try to grab things God hasn’t given you in a way he hasn’t allowed. You think you’re missing out on something wonderful and that you need to rectify that situation in order to have a truly fulfilled life, when in reality, the only way to truly miss out is by not being obedient in the situation God has you in right now.”

  5. Will God Really Praise Us? John Piper answers this question, “What did you mean that we will be praised and glorified? Isn’t this for God alone? If not, what Bible verses would help this make sense to me?”

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