Post Category → Phillip Yancey

Question & Thought for April 3rd, 2016!

Question & Thought for April 3rd, 2016!
Good Sunday Morning!
1. Question – How distant do you feel from God after reading The Sermon on the Mount?
2. Thought – For years I had thought of the Sermon on the Mount as a blue-print for human behavior that no one could possibly follow. Reading it again, I found that Jesus gave these words not to cumber us, but to tell us what God is like. The character of God is the urtext of the Sermon on the Mount.
The Sermon on the Mount forces us to recognize the great distance between God and us, and any attempt to reduce that distance by somehow moderating its demands misses the point altogether.
The worst tragedy would be to turn the Sermon on the Mount into another form of legalism; it should rather put an end to all legalism. Legalism like the Pharisees’ will always fail, not because it is too strict but because it is not strict enough. Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace. (The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey)
“The test of observance of Christ’s teachings is our consciousness of our failure to attain an ideal perfection. The degree to which we draw near this perfection cannot be seen; all we can see is the extent of our deviation.” (Leo Tolstoy)
Have a wonderful week!
rem – I had no knowledge that I had no knowledge.
Question & Thought & ANDs.

Question & Thought for Easter 2016!

Question & Thought for Easter 2016!
Happy Easter Morning!
1. Question – How distant do you feel from God after reading The Sermon on the Mount?
2. Thought – For years I had thought of the Sermon on the Mount as a blue-print for human behavior that no one could possibly follow. Reading it again, I found that Jesus gave these words not to cumber us, but to tell us what God is like. The character of God is the urtext of the Sermon on the Mount.
The Sermon on the Mount forces us to recognize the great distance between God and us, and any attempt to reduce that distance by somehow moderating its demands misses the point altogether.
The worst tragedy would be to turn the Sermon on the Mount into another form of legalism; it should rather put an end to all legalism. Legalism like the Pharisees’ will always fail, not because it is too strict but because it is not strict enough. Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace. (The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey)
“The test of observance of Christ’s teachings is our consciousness of our failure to attain an ideal perfection. The degree to which we draw near this perfection cannot be seen; all we can see is the extent of our deviation.” (Leo Tolstoy)
Have a wonderful week!
rem – I had no knowledge that I had no knowledge.
Question & Thought & ANDs.

Question & Thought for the last Sunday in October 2015!!!

Question & Thought for the last Sunday in October 2015!!!
Good Sunday Morning!
1. Question – Are we altering the definition of sin?
2. Thought – The Christian church has always found ways to soften Jesus’ strong words on morality. For three centuries Christians tended to take literally his command to “resist not evil,” but eventually the church developed a doctrine of “just war” and even “holy war.” At various times small groups of Christians have followed Jesus’ words about disposing of wealth, but most of these have lived on the fringe of a wealthy church establishment. Nowadays many of the same Christians who hotly condemn homosexuality, which Jesus did not mention, disregard his straightforward commands against divorce. We keep redefining sin and changing the emphasis.
At the same time, the institutional church expends much energy positioning itself against the sinful world outside. I recently attended a play based on stories from a support group comprising people with AIDS. The theater director said he decided to stage the play after hearing a local minister state that he celebrated each time he read an obituary of a young single man, believing each death to be yet another sign of God’s disapproval. Increasingly, I fear, the church is viewed as an enemy of sinners.
All too often, sinners feel unloved by a church that, in turn, keeps altering its definition of sin – exactly the opposite of Jesus’ pattern, Something has gone awry. (The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey)

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rem – I had no knowledge that I had no knowledge.
Question & Thought & ANDs.

Question & Thought for October 7th, 2015!

Question & Thought for October 7th, 2015!
Good Wednesday Morning!
1. Question – Have you ever had difficulty describing the Incarnation to others?
2. Thought – I learned about incarnation when I kept a salt-water aquarium. Management of a marine aquarium, I discovered, in no easy task. I had to run a portable chemical laboratory to monitor the nitrate levels and the ammonia content. I pumped in vitamins and antibiotics and sulfa drugs and enough enzymes to make a rock grow. I filtered the water through glass fibers and charcoal, and exposed it to ultraviolet light. You would think, in view of all the energy expended on their behalf, that my fish would be at least grateful.  Not so. Every time my shadow loomed above the tank they dove for cover into the nearest shell. They showed me one “emotion” only: fear. Although I opened the lid and dropped in food on a regular schedule, three times a day, they responded to each visit as a sure sign of my designs to torture them. I could not convince them of my true concerns.
To my fish, I was a deity. I was too large for them, my actions too incomprehensible. My acts of mercy they saw as cruelty; my attempts of healing they viewed as destruction. To change their perceptions, I began to see, would require a form of incarnation. I would have to become a fish, and “speak” to them in a language they could understand.
A human being becoming a fish is nothing compared to God becoming a baby. And yet according to the Gospels that is what happened at Bethlehem. The God who created matter took shape within it, as an artist might become a spot on a painting, only using real characters, on the pages of real history. The Word became flesh. ((The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey)
“I had no knowledge that I had no knowledge.” (Stephen Pratt, student)

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rem – know the why or lose the way! 
Question & Thought & ANDs.