A Thanksgiving Prayer to an Uncontrolling God
The uncontrolling love view has positive implications for prayer at Thanksgiving. Thanking an uncontrolling God makes a lot of sense. Thanking a controlling God doesn’t. Each November, Americans gather to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. Words of thanks sometimes enter the public news or get expressed at civic gatherings too. It’s natural to wonder, “What do […]
We Can Lament and Explain
I disagree with NT Wright. And I don’t often do that. In a recent Time article titled, “Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It’s Not Supposed To,” Wright makes some statements with which I can agree. But I don’t agree with his main point. I Agree… Wright begins his little essay by referring to […]
Free Will is an Experiential Nonnegotiable
There are strong reasons to believe humans have genuine but limited free will. I believe this, in part, because I experience freedom every day. In a previous post (click here), I listed 9 reasons it makes sense to affirm that humans have genuine but limited free will. In this post, I address perhaps the most […]
The Finally Impenitent
“The finally impenitent are hopelessly and eternally lost.” The Manual of the Church of the Nazarene includes these ominous words. The phrase “the finally impenitent” was in use prior to the denomination’s beginning. And other Christian groups currently include these words in their belief statements. “Impenitent” refers to those who do not repent from sin […]
God Can’t Intro
My new book, God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils will be released in January!
God’s Essence-Experience Binate
Many thoughtful believers wonder how best to talk both about God’s steadfast stability and relational flexibility. Unfortunately, even some of the best thinkers end up sacrificing one to affirm the other. Unchangingly Perfect For much of history, trained theologians in the Abrahamic faiths have sacrificed God’s relational flexibility in their desire to emphasize God’s stability. […]
Relentless Love in the Afterlife
In the book I’m currently writing, I address the question of heaven, hell, annihilation, and the afterlife. I take the logic of uncontrolling love to its eschatological end. And this process has led me to coin a label for my view, Relentless Love. The Usual Afterlife Theories The logic of uncontrolling love changes the way […]
Those Who Love Work With God
The idea God needs our cooperation is more common in the Bible than most realize. Because many assume God can accomplish tasks and establish relationships alone, they overlook it. But sometimes translators are to blame. Romans 8:28 is a great example of translator decisions that hide the God-creature synergy present in Scripture. Those who know […]
Creatio Ex Nihilo and Creation Care
A growing number of Christians see the need to care for creation. But most of these Christians affirm the ancient idea that God created the universe out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo). Does care for creation fit well with creatio ex nihilo? I don’t think so… I’ve been writing a book chapter for a new […]
Why You Actually Believe God Must Love Us (even though you may say otherwise)
Many Christians think God voluntarily chooses to love and relate with us, even though God could choose not to do so. I disagree. In this essay, I ask three diagnostic questions I think show that most Christians actually believe God must love and relate with us, even though they may say otherwise. In a series of previous […]