Radically Happy

  • Leviticus 1-3 Sacrifice Play

    From this I presume that the children of Israel were already in the habit of bringing offerings, but were (at best) inconsistent in their quality: his offering [be] a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will…

  • A (Post-)Evangelical Missiology of Transformation

    You see, if we don’t get it that God is really on about spiritual, moral, and social transformation on all fronts and at all levels, then we will perpetuate across the globe the current Christian tragedy of my continent, namely Africa, where we have some 380 million professed Christians –…

  • O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

    Which made me think of this hymn…O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GOGeorge MathesonO Love that wilt not let me go,I rest my weary soul in thee;I give thee back the life I owe,That in thine ocean depths its flowMay richer, fuller be.O light that followest all my way,I…

  • Kingdom Equations, with Bob Mumford

    Our NALC West speaker Bob Mumford is on a bit of a physics kick, and thus presented his summary on the nature of God’s Kingdom using a series of pseudo-algebraic equations.

  • From Soul to Spirit, with Bob Mumford

    Specifically, I think he is tackling the question of:Why do devout, Bible-believing Christians often act — in all sincerity — in such un-loving ways?I’m sure I don’t need to give you examples of such behavior; we see it all the time in the media, and even the short history of…

  • DiaBlogue Finale 2: The Halting Problem

    For the record, I did not in any way mean to imply that any goalpost-shifting was intentional or malicious — or even that any anger involved was necessarily “irrational.”The specific bit of cognitive dissonance I’ve been trying to wrap my head around is that you appear to hold Christianity to…

  • DiaBlogue Aside: Open Questions on Desire Utilitarianism

    …these are not so much meant to negate DU as to point out that (as currently formulated, as far as I can see) it fails to address a great many important questions that are successfully addressed by other ethical theories (though to be fair, DU solves problems that those other…

  • GRACE: Unusual Strength by Philip John

    God gives us unusual strength – his supernatural ability to do so!Even though we took the ‘law into our own hands’ and did things our way the good news is that through Jesus, God has given us unusual strength to get out of whatever we choose to get out of!Scripture…

  • Types of Prayer by Philip John

    The Greek word temptato itself means ‘trials’ or ‘trying circumstances’ and the only time God tries us is when there is something in our heart that needs to be revealed – a wrong motive, lust, love of money etc. In the Lord’s Prayer we are asking God to help us…

  • From Arche to Agape, with Bob Mumford

    in goodness and truth (KJV)Intriguingly, he defined these seven attributes — Forgiving Slow to Anger Faithful Compassionate Gracious Merciful Truth — as not merely the “glory of God”, but also as “the face of Christ”, and “agape”.

  • DiaBlogue Finale: Return to Love (redux)

    It is a follow-up to my own initial reaction to our decision to call things off, as well as Alan’s own reaction and closing thoughts, and may well be our final word on this topic.Dear Alan,There’s many things I could say to you at this time, but after much wrestling…

  • The Kingdom of Love, Take 1

    We had the immense privilege of hearing from Bob Mumford, who actually founded our church many years ago. He is a deeply insightful speaker — and has been to hell and back since then — so it was a deep privilege to have him share directly from his heart.In trying…

  • Philemon Slave-ish Obedience

    What if Paul really did know Phil’s heart? In that case, rather than feeling shamed into doing what he did not want, Phil would actually be encouraged at Paul’s faith in him — and delighted at the chance to demonstrate his love for Paul in his treatment of Onesimus. The…

  • DiaBlogue: A Time To Grieve

    It is probably the sin of Pride — not wanting to admit there’s problems I can’t solve; or, worse, problems that I’m not supposed to solve.Regret also plays a role, though; as long as things continue, there’s always the hope (vain though it may be) that past mistakes may yet…

  • Diablogue[Chat]: End Game

    E: So, we should wrap up. A: yepE: Do you want to take a stab at defining secular humanism for next time, and how it obviates the need for a consensus around my Deistic Hypothesis?A: I’m not really sure I’m interested in continuing, actually. E: Sorry to hear that. E:…

  • Titus 3 Fruitless

    The key, I suppose, is to set the bar for humility and unity by our own example, so that we have the moral authority to judge those who are truly divisive (vs. merely inquisitive).Perhaps that is why Paul values Titus so highly, and commends other such men to him:

  • Titus 2 Discrete Advice

    The bar for female elders is even higher, since they need to be his proxies to teach younger women:That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, [To be] discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that…

  • Titus 1 Cretins!

    Titus’ primary duty would actually appear to be leadership development, not evangelism:For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:Then follows a list of criteria, quite similar to those…

  • DiaBlogue[Chat]: Agree Locally, Disagree Globally

    Medieval Western Christianity (MWC) — while far from perfect — has proven to be the most fertile ground for succesful moral innovation of any system yet attempted.A: How are you determining that?E: Well, can we go back to the metric of “greatest good for the greatest number?”E: If you buy…

  • 2 Timothy 4 Well Seasoned

    But, based on the previous chapters, I think it applies equally to those who “dispute about words”, and obsess about “myths and genealogies” instead of pursuing godliness with their whole hearts.For Paul seems less concerned about Timothy’s notional beliefs than his practical behavior:But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions,…