We started this series by looking at some of today's most popular views regarding life-purpose. While other views leave the purpose-seeker frustrated (because their purpose never goes beyond themself, their limited community, or the "oneness"), the biblical perspective on purpose in life provides remarkable and sustainable motivation for daily living.

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PART ONE: POPULAR VIEWS TODAY REGARDING LIFE-PURPOSE

Have you noticed that a lot of people in our culture go about each day doing a lot of good things (i.e., doing a great job at work; loving their spouses) but without really knowing why they are doing these things?

This dilemma was illustrated in one episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" a few years ago. Ray and his wife were trying to answer their daughter's question, "Why did God put us here on earth?", After several attempts they couldn't figure out how to answer it. Ray's brother was particularly baffled: "You mean God made us smart enough to know that we have a purpose in life, but not smart enough to figure it out?!" FULL POST

I. PATRISTIC THEOLOGY

The first major debate regarding the Holy Spirit is found in the patristic period.  The question here was essentially, "Is the Spirit a divine Being (that is, 'God'), or merely a creature?"

A. Arius vs. Athanasius FULL POST

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones asked a poignant question in the 1960s in his short book entitled Authority: "How much do we hear about the Holy Spirit and His authority?"1 His main point in his final chapter is that the authority of Christ and the authority of Scripture, as critical as they are, do not provide a complete development or conception of divine authority in themselves. Without the authority of the Holy Spirit these other authorities cannot be "felt" on a practical level. Lloyd-Jones provides examples in church history--specifically those periods marked by tendencies toward intellectualism or formalism--to illustrate the resulting deficiencies that followed the church's neglect of the Spirit. The final effect is that the church's "authority"--that is, her display of Christ's authority and Scripture's authority in the world--often goes unnoticed in the surrounding culture. Lloyd-Jones sums up his argument with a surprising declaration: "Here, I truly believe, we are dealing with the main source of weakness in modern Evangelicalism."2 FULL POST

III. A COMMUNICATION MODEL

It is tempting to try to build a communication model for postmodernists simply based on what seems to work best with them. The prevailing church strategy is "If it works, don't question it!" According to Grant Osborne, Pragmatism has become "the primary governing rod which determines church strategy." A sociological survey and "what works in the super-churches" seems to determine most decisions. Osborne concludes that we have become a market-driven church rather than a Bible-driven church.

Instead of following the culture in creating our communication model, we need to use Paul's philosophy of ministry as an ambassador, bringing God's authority into our postmodern context. How can we follow Paul's "begging" to present the rich theology of God's authority and Christ's historical redemption in the context of a present, winsome appeal? The following model involves three interdependent methods of communication that together seek to accomplish this task. These three methods also correspond with the three suspicions held out by many postmodernists (as listed in sec. I). FULL POST

II. The role of the ambassador

How can God's kingly Authority, as presented in the historical document of scripture, be "seen" and "felt" in present, postmodern life and culture?  Paul seems to give us an answer to this thorny question in 1 and 2 Corinthians.  Here he demonstrates how God's eternal authority is brought to bear in the present. He also shows us how we, as Christ's "ambassadors", can represent Christ in our own spheres of influence so that people see God's authority working on their behalf. FULL POST

B. The Context of Postmodernism

1. What is Postmodernism?

Postmodernism holds that one's philosophy of life is ultimately determined by the community or group which most influences one's life. Other factors, such as personal choice or religion, are secondary. Postmodernism is to a great extent an attack upon what postmodernists call "metanarratives," which are grand stories about the world, "overarching explanations of reality based on central organizing 'truths."1 For postmodernists, these "truths" are actually "myths," fictional stories that embody the central core of a culture's values and beliefs, and are in this sense fundamentally religious.2 FULL POST

"Theology of Joy" implies that an informed faith can be a very joyful faith!  It also implies that the communication of faith can be an act of extravagant joy for the "ambassador of Christ". In sharing our Christian faith with others, we are able to re-visit what we actually believe, why we believe it, and why we think it is so attractive for those who do not yet believe.

However, communicating one's faith may not seem to be as easy in our present "postmodern" culture. Postmodernism often seems to pose an insurmountable problem for Christians seeking to share their faith joyfully. Why does it often seem difficult to communicate Christ in postmodern times?  This series of three articles will address the challenges we face along with the opportunities we have for communicating the message of Christ effectively in postmodern times.

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Forgiving Others

"Love Hurts!" was the name of a popular song in the early eighties. Its message was simple: to love someone means to make oneself vulnerable to be hurt. To love another person can be a very big risk!

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Understanding God's Forgiveness

Alexander Pope said that "To err is human; to forgive, divine." Is that really true? Is God really a forgiving God?

To understand God's forgiveness, we first need to understand what forgiveness is. Forgiveness actually has three parts to it. First, there is the hurt, or the harm, that which we experience due to some moral or emotional wrongdoing we have suffered. When forgiving someone, we will usually recognize that there has been an injury to our spirit, and we will experience emotional hurt.

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