tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737240630579383862.comments2013-05-22T00:27:13.919-07:00Grace and Knowledge Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10265285328519427200noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737240630579383862.post-50980546938757124212013-05-22T00:27:13.919-07:002013-05-22T00:27:13.919-07:00You're welcome! :) It was great to see your f...You're welcome! :) It was great to see your family enjoying the regional quiz together this past weekend. I'm sure it was a busy but exciting time for you all!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10265285328519427200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737240630579383862.post-84821896147229028242013-05-21T06:11:59.208-07:002013-05-21T06:11:59.208-07:00Thank you, Ryan. This made a difference for me, an...Thank you, Ryan. This made a difference for me, and in me, today.philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17234297775933507796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737240630579383862.post-72279178700465109892013-03-07T17:43:38.765-08:002013-03-07T17:43:38.765-08:00I read the book The 3rd Jesus by Deepak Chopra and...I read the book The 3rd Jesus by Deepak Chopra and couldn't help but feel that Jesus had been hijacked and transformed into an enlightenment teacher like Buddha. People take Jesus and shape him into one who lives and believes like they want to live and believe. I think it is better stated that the implications of the gospel need to be contextualized, not that the gospel itself is contextualized. How does that gospel manifest itself here and now? It is both timeless and timely. We are to be shaped by the gospel and not vice versa. I chopped out a section about the movie Gods and Generals where you have leaders on both sides of the Civil War convinced that God was for their cause and that their cause was just. Was hard to make it fit the flow. Might do a later one about war and religion and include it. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10265285328519427200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737240630579383862.post-82042709417184106002013-03-07T05:02:59.538-08:002013-03-07T05:02:59.538-08:00This is really good and also really timely to some...This is really good and also really timely to some conversations I have been having with others this week.<br /><br />One thing I would say is that the gospel *does* always need to be contextualized so it is understood in any given historical-cultural context. So Jesus will look a little different depending on where and when you are - but that is an entirely different things from wholesale changes to who He is, especially in His *character* - and that is the watered-down version we too often find in Western/American/Evangelical churches.<br /><br />I loved the line, "When the church attempts to package Jesus into what she thinks is a sellable product it is shown for what it is. Church folk may be fine living with a Jesus who looks like us but it is of no help to this world." We have far too many salesman occupying our places of leadership today, and too many consumer-customers occupying the pews (or theater seats, or living room couches, or whatever).<br /><br />Dan Kimball talks about this subject of different Jesus's in "They Like Jesus But Not The Church" (the Jesus bobble-head may be my favorite depiction of all time - not sure what that says about me (I have a warped sense of humor?). Brian McLaren, I believe in "A Generous Orthodoxy," talks about "the seven Jesus's I have known.<br /><br />I want to know Jesus as He really is: "I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." (Philippians 3:10). And to be *like* Him as He really is. And the good news is, we can, because the *real* Jesus really does live *in* us by the power of Holy Spirit.<br /><br />Thanks for this post!philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17234297775933507796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-737240630579383862.post-83529070074025535622013-01-21T14:19:17.549-08:002013-01-21T14:19:17.549-08:00By the way...Acts 4:13 is quickly becoming one of ...By the way...Acts 4:13 is quickly becoming one of my favorite verses. Because of the reason you just talked about. It's a good standard to set.Lori Kuehlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12904248663060154198noreply@blogger.com