Noah's Flood and God's Justice

Lots of people have lots of questions about the flood of Noah in Genesis 6-9. Why did it happen? How did it happen? And who were those pesky Nephilim? I have answered many of these questions in another article. But another perennial question is how does the God of Wrath displayed in the Flood story relate to the God of Love seen in Jesus Christ. How can the evil of the Flood be justified in the light of the Goodness of God? Although I have touched on this in other articles on Divine Violence and Divine Sorrow, I would like to write more here on how the Flood connects with the larger problem of God and Evil.

On Grace and Faith and Works

There seems to be a great deal of interest and controversy parsing the exact position and proportion and progression of the roles of grace and faith and works in accomplishing and maintaining and completing our salvation. So what is the role of human effort in solving the human plight? Does salvation come entirely from God, or is human belief or action necessary to complete God's work of salvation? The Christian Scriptures offer perspectives such as the following:

Is a Politics of Life possible in a culture of death?

The LORD of Love is the God of Life. God’s Love is shown precisely in healing broken lives, and protecting vulnerable lives, and elevating endangered lives so they find abundant life. The Glory of God is humanity fully alive, and the fullest human life is revealed in God Incarnate, Jesus Christ, who overcame death by the power of his undying Love. And it is Christ who healed and fed and taught so that all might partake in his Life. Therefore it is incumbent upon those of us who claim to serve the God of Love, revealed in the Life of Christ, to actually do what he taught, and live as he lived: By healing and feeding and teaching others his Way of Life. 

This entails a number or commitments personally, ethically, societally, and even politically...

Is Christianity Political?

As we gallop into yet another conflicted election cycle, it is inevitable that people will ask the question of whether Christianity is political. Well, if by politics we mean a cohesive vision of Society which a group of people strive to implement, then yes. Christianity is deeply political. In the synoptic Gospels the core message of Jesus was the immanent arrival of the Kingdom of God. Kingdom is a politically charged word. It is a place ruled by a King. You don't get more political than that. And the phrase "Kingdom of God" occurs 66 times in the New Testament. "Kingdom of Heaven" occurs 31 times, mostly in Matthew. And other than that, Kingdom occurs over 50 more times. If that is not political, I do not know what is. Not only that, but Jesus came to call a community of people into communion with the Living God. And wherever there are people, there are politics. It is simply unavoidable.

Is Social Justice merely a Leftist Talking Point?

We've heard a lot about Social Justice lately. When used in a positive way, it is often connected with the move toward public recognition and equal treatment for historically disenfranchised peoples, including Blacks, Latinx, and Queer persons. When used in a negative way, Social Justice is portrayed as a kind of Leftist "trojan horse" to inflict good hearted people with guilt and shame and even debt because of historic policies and events they had nothing directly to do with. So, is "social justice" just some kind of newly devised left-wing catch phrase designed to browbeat Americans into policies which are at odds with the foundational principles of our civilization?

Deuteronomy Five Seventeen

A didactic poem

Hope in a Hollow Culture

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” (Ecclesiastes 1.2) 

It is easy to lose Hope in a counterfeit Consumer Culture like ours. Outwardly, we appear to have every resource and luxury, but inwardly so many of us are hollow and empty...