Wow! We just finished the weekend's series of meetings with Paul Washer and I feel both tired (physically) and refreshed (spiritually). In addition to our JPBC folk, we had out of town guests from Landover, Md; Greenville, NC; Dale City, Richmond, Newport News, and Lynchburg, VA.
We have the four audio sessions posted now on our sermonaudio site. Click here to listen. Warning: The audio on the first message ("I am under obligation") is a little distorted, but the problem is corrected in the other messages.
The message that stands out to me was Paul's gospel presentation on Saturday (click here).
JTR
1 comment:
Jeff,
I know this is guy that you really admire, and I really did try to listen with an open mind to his sermon. Unfortunately, I just simply can't agree. In fact, there's just huge sections of the theology itself that I just don't find either compelling or plausable.
I increasingly believe that what we hold up as sacred has a direct impact on how we choose to live. If we choose to worship and angry vengeful God then we'll also choose to be angry vengeful people. If we find it socially acceptable for our God to torture his children in hell for rejecting him, then we'll find it hard to be outraged by Guantanimo Bay, or Abu Ghraib either.
I could address other points too, but I know we don't agree and I wouldn't want to offend or sound disrespectful. Perhaps you could address a few questions for me though... How is it that Christians claim to be monotheists when they believe in three Gods? Yes, I know that all three are considered one, but that is also true in Hinduism as well and they are usually* considered polytheists. Besides, there are definite parts in the bible where Jesus is speaking with God as a seperate entity. Why would he need to do that if they weren't really two different gods? Anyway, that too has always been something that's never made sense to me.
Likewise, voluntary or not, I don't see how killing someone else settles a debt. Sure in the context of the Middle East where you have blood feuds, that makes more sense, but it doesn't seem rational that God would endorse sacrifice of any sort, human included. Anyway, we certainly wouldn't accept such a thing in our modern justice system. If a judge offered to kill his son, so that a murder could go free... well we'd just lock him up too. Even if he offered to kill himself, it still would be generally frowned upon (and still probably end up with him being locked up somewhere...)
I hope this doesn't sound sarcastic. It jsut really doesn't make any sense to me, so I'd appreciate your greater knowledge of Christian theology on the subjects.
Lonnie
*Most outsiders would consider them polytheists, but many actually consider themsleves Monists.
Post a Comment