Recently, a friend gave
me two pamphlets and asked for my opinion of them. Both focus on what it means
to become a Christian, and I would classify both as Evangelical Protestant
documents. But they still have a good deal of difference between them,
representing disagreement that exists between a number of churches (and even
members of the same churches) under the wide banner of Evangelical
Christianity. As is so often the case when it comes to my relations to other
Christians, I do not completely agree or disagree with either of the positions
presented by them. I also know I cannot present my own opinion in such a way
that it will be completely satisfying to everyone else. Nevertheless, I intend
to give my best attempt. I am going to go over each of these documents,
specifically pointing out the areas I would criticize, and then I will conclude
by presenting my own synthesis of what I consider to be their best ideas and my
own ideas for what it means to become a Christian.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Why In Fact Did Jesus Die?
This
article shared by one of the members of the Facebook group is interesting
enough, so far as it goes, and I hope everyone will take a few moments to read
it. Unfortunately, it does not actually mention an answer to its own question.
Why did Jesus die on a cross? It holds a theory known to me as the "New
Perspective on Paul," which holds that the death of Jesus Christ was not
substitutionary (ironically, the author of the piece calls the older view
"relatively recent"). The New Perspective is an example of eisegesis,
reading the right answer into the text. A number of verses in the Bible, such
as Matthew 20:28, Romans 5:1-11, and Colossians 2:11-16 as a very limited
sample, go to show that Christ's death actually accomplished something. The
book of Hebrews even goes to great lengths to explain this, particularly in
Chapters 9 and 10.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)