Q & R: Hell, etc.
Here's the question:
I know you are very busy and I also know that the chances of my receiving a response to this email are pretty slim, but I must send it anyway....
I have read a lot of material on your website and have formed some assumptions based on what I read. First, It sounds like you believe in some form of relative morality based on your thoughts toward scripture. Second, that you do not believe in hell. And third, that you believe (based on some of your latest comments) that the god worshipped by Muslims is the same God that Christians worship.
Are these assumptions true?
Response after the jump
0 Comments6 Minutes
The new Baptists …
I'm in North Carolina today, speaking to folks at Campbell University (home of the camels!). The good people of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will be strongly represented today - a group I am tremendously impressed with and optimistic about. Many have damaged the good name of Baptist in recent years, but these folks represent a different spirit and are moving toward a better future. I return home tonight, and then tomorrow Grace and I leave for Australia, so expect blog posts to be less frequent for the next couple weeks.
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Q & R: Secret Message of Jesus, perichoresis, cross
Q:
I have enjoyed the Secret Message of Jesus book, which to be honest surprised me. Some of these issues related to Jesus, church, and kingdom have been rattling around in my head for a while, and you have helped stir them and feed them.
I had two questions about sources. 1. You said that early church fathers used the metaphor of dance to understand the relationship of the trinity. I cannot find that in my sources. 2. You said that the early church chose the cross because they saw Jesus’ way as a way of suffering and not of power. Do you have any source material for that?
Thanks for the very helpful, thought-provoking book.
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Australia … Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gets it right …
I'll be in Australia for the first half of October - traveling and speaking in several cities, then stopping off in New Zealand before returning home. Here's a speech by Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, celebrating the release of the Poverty and Justice Bible, which is one of the truly worthwhile Bible-publishing accomplishments in my lifetime ... to which The Justice Project would be a great accompaniment! The speech - after the jump:
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Ramadan 2009: Retrospective
I just received a nice note from a Franciscan novice who joined in the Ramadan fast ... you can read his blog here.
And this from a Christian who was in the Middle East during Ramadan:
Brian, I just read your blog on Ramadan 2009 and very much appreciate your comments. I’ve been in Jerusalem and Bethlehem for 3 of the 4 weeks of Ramadan and also have been very much inspired by the discipline and love of God that is expressed in this holy month. I am a Christian who has come to have great respect for the Muslim faith. I was invited to an iftar last week, to the home of a family I had never met before. I was received with graciousness and hospitality and spent a lovely evening with people who were not of my faith, culture or even language. A friend of mine, a Palestinian Muslim, spent a great deal of the month at the Al Aqsa Mosque, and participated in the daily fasting. He has suffered under Israeli occupation and conflict for over 60 years, yet I could see the difference that this month made in his life. Thank you for sharing. Peace, Shalom, Salaam
And another reader sent this link offering thoughtful reflections on observing Ramadan in Mozambique ...
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