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The Point of It All

• Greg Boyd

God calls us to replicate the love of the cross instead of passing judgment upon others. We do this as we live into the reality of our inclusion in God’s love and our identity in Christ, as part of the Triune, cruciform love that God is. wh-bug

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Topics: Judgment, Love, Power

Sermon Series: Sermon on the Mount, Cross Examination


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9 thoughts on “The Point of It All

  1. Lorieanne says:

    God gave us a bootie to boogie with!

  2. Cercatore says:

    ‘The Trinity as Community’ or ‘Social Trinitarianism’ is something that is often overlooked or marginalized in Reformed, Independent Evangelical and Catholic Circles for various sublime reasons. Relational Ontology is a challenge to idea that we all stand alone as independent distinct entities, each only accountable to ourselves in corporal and metaphysical realms. But idea that a person’s identity is in one sense, comprised of and codependent on, the relationship that we have with one another or that it in fact, precedes the person themselves, is a brilliant spiritual epiphany of the dynamic of Divine Love. How we negotiate and navigate the space between us, can at times, determine our own ontological parameters. Greg mentioned the ‘Imagio Dei’ and how important it is for us to actively seek that in others. The dance of the Perichoresis does not only exist for us and or our all too human notions of hierarchy, but for every man, woman and child ever born or who will ever be. The very ontological constitution of the Trinity itself is an intentional blueprint for human loving relationships – it is what we were designed to be and to do, in that there is freedom, non-coercion and redemption.

  3. Matthew says:

    Cruciform love … all for it. Realizing the other that is not like me nor shares my opinions is of infinite value to our shared Lord … got it.

    But I am so sorry to say that I must judge. I can no longer sit back and not judge the mostly religious fundamentalist evangelicals and their support for guns in America. I must draw the line and advocate against them. They decry abortion yet support the death penalty. They scream “pro-life” but do nothing to impede the unnecessary death and carnage from lax gun laws. They may be my brothers and sisters in Christ, but they are woefully misguided. I never want to hear “Jesus” and “gun rights” mentioned together in the same sentence again, much less at a political rally!!!

    I have had it. Lord have mercy. May the power of God stop these people from gaining any more power than they already have in the U.S.

    1. Cercatore says:

      Matthew.

      I don’t know if you are the same ‘Matthew’ from Brian Zahn’s Blog, but I completely hear what you are saying. I am a teacher and have been working with kids (K-12, AP & IB) basically every day for over 25 years in the classroom and there is nothing more quintessentially important than their safety and character development. Although not a gun owner myself, I have desperately tried to have a more ‘Centrist’ & ‘Moderate’ view on such matters. One of the habitual arguments/philosophical positions that I have heard coming from those on the ‘Far Right’ is that this is essentially a [mental health issue] not a “gun access issue” and that “Haters are gonn’a Hate” and “Killers are gonn’a kill”. Well, of course that’s somewhat true and I saw it for myself living abroad over in the UK & Europe for nearly 20 years where those who didn’t have access to ‘Guns’, simply drove vans and or cars into groups of innocents to perpetrate their hate and carnage. But what is almost never uttered in the same breath by those who claim that it is exclusively a “mental health issue” is that simultaneously, it is also [an absurdly available access to firearms issue] for those who are mentally ill and or psychotically dupped and disturbed through the ‘dark web’ in the first place and like an alcoholic who has access to copious amounts of booze and fast car, they become a much more prevalent and pervasive killing machine perpetrating and spreading their dark & hateful Satanic vision upon God’s Creation when there are no or very little prohibitions stopping them from obtaining these weapons in the first place. Like “designated drivers”, ‘mandatory background checks and cooling off periods’ must be implemented nationally if we want the carnage to stop or at least be abated somewhat. On the Grand Scale of all things definitely ‘Evil’ in this world, what’s just happened in Texas, really isn’t that different from a ‘Spiritual Warfare’ context, than the instantaneous incineration of thousands of innocent Japanese children while playing on the playground when the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the thousands of Children murdered in Iraq or the Ukraine, Vietnam, etc.. by random bombings. There are no easy answers but something must be changed and changed now.

      1. Matthew says:

        Hello Cercatore. Looks like we frequent some of the same spaces! Yes … I am Matthew from Brian´s blog. I hear what you are saying, and I agree with some things you mention, but in terms of mental health sickness specifically as someone who suffers from mental illness I know first hand what it is like to live in the U.S. with such a condition with little or no available support. Many evangelicals and their conservative brethren in D.C. are also to blame for this! I am so thankful I now live in Europe where I have received adequate care and am able to much more effectively manage my life. But I digress.

        For me, the larger point (in line with this sermon series) is one of judging. While I firmly believe the image of God resides in all humans, and while I know I am to love my brothers and sisters in Christ without reservation, I also firmly believe we must make sincere moral judgements as Christians, even against one another in the Body of Christ when such is necessary.

        I simply cannot sit back and allow this madness to go on any more when it is clear who the real people are to blame!

        1. Cercatore says:

          As a father of two Senior boys who just graduated from high school this week and are headed off to college, I firmly believe that part of the solution to this horrific reoccurrence is effective parenting and role modeling. This is a very tricky business and there are ten thousand voices out there telling you what you should and shouldn’t do. I have found at times though, that a tangential and oblique approach to advice and instruction, has been more effective than direct didactic and or confrontational guidance. With boys at least, you often can generate the polar-opposite reaction and personality traits when you insist on your own life’s agenda. Thinking about these last two shooting incidents, I can’t even imagine what kind of ‘fathering’ or ‘mentorship’ these young men had, if any at all? When one does not see or experience compassion from a reliably present elder, you more than likely don’t develop compassion and empathy yourself; plain and simple. So many fathers are checked out and abandon their kids to the Internet and take little interest in what they’re actually doing Online. Being actively involved in your child’s world, even if it’s spiritually ancillary is key to building a worldview in them that is proactively kindhearted and balanced. Stricter laws and regulations and universal background checks will absolutely help bring down the frequency of such insanely horrific events, but you’ve got to cut of this ‘Satanic Hydra’s Head’ at the source with passionately involved parenting which has has compassion and empathy at its central core first and foremost if we truly want things to change. Father Greg Boyle of ‘Homeboy Industries’ has put this into practice and as a result has made a tremendous spiritual impact on the lives of hundreds, even thousands of young troubled men!

          1. Matthew says:

            A fair and balanced approach Cercatore. Thanks as always.

    1. Matthew says:

      Thanks so much Cercatore. I would like to communicate with you in another way other than in comment sections. Would that be possible?

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