Four students suspended at George Fox over Obama stunt
Christ, My Righteousness
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Suzanne Pardington, Religion News Service
NEWBERG, Ore. — Four students at George Fox University confessed to hanging an effigy of Sen. Barack Obama from a tree on campus and were suspended for up to a year, school officials announced Tuesday.
The students names were not released.
Other sanctions include community service and multicultural education, which must be completed before the students can return to campus, said Brad Lau, vice president of student life.
The students were singled out during a campus investigation late last week as those responsible for hanging a life-size cardboard cutout from a tree on campus with a sign saying "Act Six reject."
Act Six is a scholarship and leadership program for Portland students, many of whom are minorities.
"These students were very sorry and deeply grieved by the impact of this event," Lau said. "Regardless of their intentions, the image of a black man hanging from a tree is one of the most hurtful racist symbols of our history."
Lau declined to give any details about the investigation or the possible motivation of the four students.
The 3,355-student Christian university, which was founded by Quaker pioneers in 1891, stopped short of dismissing the students permanently. The campus is "a redemptive community, and we allow for the possibility of change," Lau said.
The FBI is continuing its investigation into possible civil rights violations, including whether the display intimidated minority students in exercising their federal rights, FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said.
Vanessa Wilkins, a 19-year-old sophomore in the Act Six program, said she is satisfied with the level of punishment of the four students. "I don't think they knew how far it would go," she said. "They didn't understand the repercussions of their actions. I don't believe the students thought this all the way through."
I congratulate these students for acknowledging their wrongdoing.
Dang! Cut Copy with "Lights & Music" live on Jimmy Neutron's show. Crank it up, stand up, and dance along!...
I have no CD's or downloads from Marissa Nadler, but that may change soon. Great song...
Marissa Nadler - Famous Blue Raincoat from Greg Eggebeen on Vimeo.
I really like the Fleet Foxes, as my Music Monday posts have shown. Here they are with more glorious harmonies...
This one is for my wife who needs some post-brain surgery inspiration as she struggles with symptoms and recovery...
Great Commission Resurgence: The Gospel and Deaf Ministry
The Silent Holocron
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I am convinced we need men with a vision for what can be called “A Great Commission Resurgence.”
With these words, Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, fired the first shot of what I believe to be the next and greatest of all “Baptist Battles.” Indeed, after the Conservative Resurgence which rescued the Southern Baptist Convention from liberalism, this battle may be the most important of all. Having won what has been called by some “the Battle for the Bible,” what do we do with that victory? Akin makes no bones about it: we must dedicate ourselves to the task the Great Commission.
What is a “Great Commission Resurgence?”
In his address Answering the Call to A Great Commission Resurgence, delivered at the Building Bridges conference last November, Akin lays the foundational principles for a Great Commission Resurgence, stating that “the time has come for us to focus on the great task the Lord Jesus left us as He ascended back into heaven.” For too long we have neglected this task. It is time for this task to “resurge” in our churches.
For something to surge it must have a strong, wavelike, forward movement. The very first “surge” of the Great Commission began, quite clearly, in Acts chapter 2 when the disciples, in obedience to Jesus’ command, waited in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. Receiving this empowerment, they immediately went out and proclaimed the Gospel. The result was that very day 3000 people were saved. Since Apostolic times this surge has noticeably lessened. However, church history shows clearly that at certain points there has been a resurgence, a rising again or revival, of the Great Commission. In our history we can clearly point to the Protestant Reformation and the Great Awakening as examples of such a resurgence of the Gospel. As Baptists we can point to William Carey and the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention (which was formed on missions as its primary purpose) as prime examples of Baptist participation in Gospel resurgences. I am hard-pressed to name examples prior to the Conservative Resurgence beginning in 1979; perhaps those more knowledgeable than I can provide these examples.
In Deaf ministry, the founding of the Southern Baptist Conference of the Deaf in 1948, also centered around missions, is a prime example of Deaf participation in these resurgences. In fact, the mission statement of the SBCD is “to reach Deaf persons for Jesus Christ by serving as a cooperative network for Southern Baptist churches and agencies to fulfill the Great Commission by providing training, advocacy, worship, fellowship, missions awareness and mission involvement.” Other Deaf Christian conferences/conventions have a similar mission statement. We can see, therefore, the foundation for Deaf involvement in a Great Commission Resurgence has already been laid.
What Is The Gospel?
Before we can ask what such a resurgence would look like, we must first remind ourselves of the main idea of such a resurgence. We must first seek to answer the question, “what is the Gospel?”
A basic description of the Gospel appears in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 -
Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I brought to you. You received this Good News and continue strong in it. And you are being saved by it if you continue believing what I told you. If you do not, then you believed for nothing.
I passed on to you what I received, of which this was most important: that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; that he was buried and was raised to life on the third day as the Scriptures say; and that he was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. After that, Jesus was seen by more than five hundred of the believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today, but some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all he was seen by me—as by a person not born at the normal time. (NCV)
To this we would add the commands of the Gospel; namely the command to repent of our sins (Acts 17:20) and to receive Christ and live for him and by him from now on (Colossians 2:6-7). As Baptists we would also add the command to be baptized once these things have been done (Acts 2:38) as a sign of what has taken place and of one’s commitment to live for and by Christ.
So we understand that the Gospel is the message of Christ’s saving work and the command to repent of our sins, believe in Christ, be baptized as a sign of our repentance and faith, and to commit one’s life to living in Christ.
We must believe that the message of Christ is more important than anything else, even our very lives. It must be more important than our jobs, friends, homes, families. It must be the one thing that makes our lives worth living. We must believe the commands of the Gospel must be lived out in every aspect of our lives. We must live our lives continually repenting of sins we find in ourselves, trusting in Christ to overcome those sins we find, and committing ourselves to Christlikeness in those areas of our lives from then on.
Before a Great Commission Resurgence can take place in Deaf ministry, we must first recover this clear, solid, and biblical understanding of the Gospel in our Deaf churches.
The Gospel and Deaf Ministry
I have become increasingly convinced the Gospel has been lost, not only in the hearing churches, but in Deaf churches as well. That is going to upset many Deaf readers of this blog. If the Gospel is truly our foundation, my only response must be this: I don’t care if it upsets you. Instead, I am going to praise God you are upset!
You see, in many Deaf churches we do not preach Jesus anymore. Instead we preach self-help and how you can feel better about your life problems. For example, I’ve heard (and have preached myself) way too many sermons on gossip and negativity in the Deaf community from Deaf preachers. I’m sick of it. My pastor must be as well, because this Sunday he asked our congregation which was more important to us: the Gospel or gossip. What a challenge! Instead of focusing on the unimportant and pitiful little problems we have in this life, our churches need to get back to the main thing: Jesus and his Gospel.
In many Deaf churches we don’t preach the Bible anymore. Instead we find a “Christian” book that is easy to understand and relates well with Deaf people and preach through that. We don’t stop to ask if the book is biblical, or if the Bible already teaches the principles in the book. Or we preach on topics, pulling different verses from around the Bible that may not really have anything to do with each other or the topic we choose. We don’t stop to wonder if a book of the Bible or a chapter of a Bible book would be deeper and more clear than 10 verses from 10 different places in the Bible. As a result, many Deaf people are being led astray by people such as Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, and others. Even worse, many Deaf people are ignorant of what the Bible teaches because they have not been taught to go through their Bible verse by verse! And it is mainly the fault of Deaf pastors who will not open up their Bibles and teach from the Bible alone on Sundays. If we pastors do not make what the Bible has to say number one in our preaching, it will be no surprise if our people do not read their Bibles. We must get back to the main way we learn about Jesus and his Gospel: the Bible alone.
Deaf ministry needs a Great Commission Resurgence. When less than 2% of all Deaf people have even heard the Gospel, something is horribly wrong. But unless our Deaf churches make the Gospel the center of their lives, that percent will get smaller and smaller, until 0% of all Deaf people have heard the Gospel.
If the idea that your church has lost the Gospel really bothers you, I praise God for that! Getting mad sometimes is the only way to get a problem fixed. I invite you to pay careful attention to this series and to join the discussion. Leave comments on the posts. Talk with your pastor friends about the Gospel. Preach the Gospel to your people. Above all, make the Gospel and its commands the center of your ministry!
Join me next time as I look at how the Gospel impacts us individually and as a church.
It’s October and that means Halloween is on the horizon. This year it falls on a Friday night. So what are you going to do?
Some will see this as the Devil’s day and opt not to participate. Others will go to a Fall Festival. Others will celebrate Reformation Day. And still others will intentionally stay home to make a bridge into their neighbor’s lives. Because I’m a pastor to children and families, I know this can be a hot-button issue. But I think it’s a good one for us to wrestle with in a spirit of humility. So what are you going to do … as a family? as a church? I’m curious.
In case you’re wondering, last year our pastors and elders encouraged our people to stay at home and hand out candy along with a tract and magnet provided by our church. We will do the same this year to encourage our members to think missionally on the only night of the year when all of our neighbors come right to our front door.
(BTW … our kids already got their costumes ready. Emie – a Bunny Rabbit, Lily — Minnie Mouse, and Luke — Tigger!)
Scot McKnight recently posted a fascinating article for Christianity Today about Emergent leader Brian McLaren. The whole article is worth the read, but one section in particular caught my attention. At the end of the article, McKnight raises some questions about McLaren’s theology, and the first one has to do with McLaren’s engagement with the wider evangelical movement:
“Despite his many proposals in these last two books, McLaren would rather ask a question and create a conversation than propound a solution. This style is an attribute of a good teacher. Yet having said that, I want to voice the frustration of many: McLaren’s willingness to muddy the waters, which is characteristic of Generous Orthodoxy, goes only so far. Many of us would like to see greater clarity on a variety of questions he raises.
“McLaren grew up among evangelicals; we’d like him to show the generosity he is known for to those who ask theological questions of him. The spirit of conversation that drives much of his own pastoral work urges each of us to answer the questions we are asked, and the Bible encourages those who ask those questions to listen patiently and to respond graciously. The lack of the latter has so far inhibited the former. This can be taken as a plea on behalf of all concerned to enter into a more robust, honest conversation.”
I agree with this critique. McLaren is notoriously difficult to pin down on some issues, though in recent years I detect a willingness to be more open about his post-conservative/liberal/progressive views.
In any case, the preference for raising questions over and against propounding solutions is not always a good thing (however useful it may be from time to time as a pedagogical tool). The apostle Paul warns against false teachers who are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). Or, to adapt it to the present situation, those who are always asking questions but never coming up with any answers.
It is precisely here that McLaren and so many others in the Emergent (and sometimes emerging) stream represent unhealthy impulses in the evangelical movement. It’s not that Christians have all the answers, but we do have some. And the “some” that we have are pretty substantial. In fact, our partial knowledge still amounts to everything that we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).
From Jesus to Paul and to every subsequent generation of Christianity, the assumption has been that God has revealed Himself in knowable ways—not the least of which is the revelation of God in His written word. It is at this seminal point that Emergents “muddy” the headwaters of the Christian faith. As a result, everything downstream becomes muddied too.
I think Scot McKnight would describe himself as “emerging,” so it’s fascinating to see his trenchant remarks about Emergent in a recent article for Christianity Today. McKnight describes the theological trajectory of Emergents in this way:
“Very few emergent folks I have encountered have any chance of returning to a robust, traditional evangelical faith. As emergents learned and listened in their evangelical churches and institutions, they realized they could not accept much of what they were being taught. Though they remained within the comfortable confines of these institutions, their faith became ironic. Yes, they were Christians, but not quite what most people meant by that term.
“Evangelical thinkers such as D. A. Carson, R. Scott Smith, John MacArthur, and Kevin DeYoung and Ted Cluck (authors of Why We’re Not Emergent) warn of the dangers of emergents’ theological drift and draw lines in the sand. The emergents I know are numb to both the warnings and the lines; they have heard those warnings and they have crossed those lines. They are surprised by neither and are not likely to turn back. Instead, they are building a new theology that ‘emerges’ from the story they find themselves in—namely, the shift from modernity to postmodernity.”
For the most part, I agree with this assessment. One feature of McKnight’s description, however, I might quibble with a little bit. He writes:
“Exposure to science in public education, universities, and personal study has led emergents to disown the traditional conclusion that when science and the Bible conflict, science must move aside. Although they refuse to give the Bible the trump card in this game, they remain committed to it, but now with a different view of what the Bible actually is. The Bible, so many emergents will openly admit, employs various literary genres and shows an ancient perception of how the cosmos works. So they are both left-wing and right-wing, committed to the Bible and open to new ideas.”
McKnight says that Emergents are both “left-wing and right-wing, committed to the Bible and open to new ideas.” Yet isn’t it “left-wing” to refuse to give the Bible the final say? Isn’t that in fact what old liberalism did? It undermined the Bible at precisely those points were it was deemed to be out of step with modern science.
In any case, you should read the rest of this one.
“The Ironic Faith of Emergents” – by Scot McKnight (Christianity Today)
In thinking about such issues as evangelism, apologetics, missions, and Christianity's relationship to other religions, I ran across an older but excellent and informative article: I. Howard Marshall, "Dialogue with Non-Christians in the New Testament," Evangelical Review of Theology (16): 28-47. Unfortunately, this article does not appear to be online. Nevertheless, it is essential reading for all Christians interested in sharing the gospel with others. It begins where we all should start in working through these issues--God's Word. While I'd love to post the whole article (but am equally sure that I cannot!), below is the introduction to whet your appetite. Hopefully it will serve as a "hook," leading you to find a copy and read it in its entirety.The place of dialogue with non-Christians in relation to the evangelistic task of the church has received renewed attention recently in the pages of the Evangelical Review of Theology. It is clear that some Christians regard dialogue as an important form of witness, and think that the church's evangelistic task should be carried on by means of dialogue as well as by proclamation.
We may roughly contrast the two possible approaches as follows. In proclamation the evangelist (X) has a message (G--the gospel) which he communicates to his hearer (Y) as something which is to be accepted or rejected; the evangelist himself has received this unchanging message, and he communicates it virtually without change. In dialogue, however, the message is not something which the evangelist already possesses in normative form. Rather he must enter into discussion with his hearer, both participants contributing to the dialogue and thus together reaching an understanding of the gospel.
A. PROCLAMATION
G ---> X ---> Y
B. DIALOGUE
X ---> G <--- Y
The question which is posed by juxtaposing these two types of approach is whether the Christian message is something 'given' to the evangelist which is passed on unchanged to the potential convert, or whether the truth of the gospel is something that emerges in the course of dialogue. Obviously the issues are not as sharp as this in practice. Any evangelist must shape his proclamation to the situation and character of the hearer; it is no use speaking in German to somebody who only understands Tamil, and illustrations and concepts must be chosen which will be intelligible to the hearer. Similarly, even in a situation of dialogue the evangelist will have some understanding of the gospel, even if his understanding of it may undergo radical alteration in the course of dialogue. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to ask whether the essential content of the gospel is something 'given' to the evangelist or can undergo radical alteration in a common search for truth along with a non-Christian.
It is surely essential that in discussing this matter we have a clear understanding of what is meant by 'dialogue' in the New testament and determine whether it was practised as a means of evangelism. We shall look first at the meaning of the Greek verbs which suggest the idea of dialogue, and this will involve us in a study of the church's evangelism as portrayed in Acts. From there we shall turn back to the synoptic gospels [Matthew, Mark, and Luke] to see whether the dialogue form can be found there, and then we shall move forward to see whether Paul's letters reflect the use of dialogue, and finally we shall consider the Gospel of John as a source for dialogue. The essay will close with some brief conclusions.
Studying John and Reading through the Fourth Gospel
Christ, My Righteousness
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Current Reads on John (right here on my desk)
-John As Storyteller by Mark W.G. Stibbe
-The Christology of the Fourth Gospel by Anderson
-The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel by C. H. Dodd
-The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple: The: Narrative, History, and Theology in the Gospel of Johnby Richard Bauckham
-New Currents Through John: A Global Perspective, Francisco Lozada Jr. and Tom Thatcher (eds)
-The God of the Gospel of John by Marianne Meye Thompson
Just Finished Reading
-Voices of the Mystics: Early Chrisitan Discourse in the Gospels of John and Thomas and Other Ancient Christian Literature by April Deconick
-Essays on John by C.K. Barrett
-Introduction to the Gospel of John by Raymond E. Brown
-The Gospel of John and Christian Theology, Richard Bauckham and Carl Mossers (eds)
-Jesus as the Fulfillment of the Temple in the Gospel of John by Paul Hoskins
-God's Indwelling Presence : The Holy Spirit in the Old & New Testament by James Hamilton
-Spirit in in the writings of John: Johannine Pneumatology in Social-scientific Perspective of John by Tricia Gates Brown
Books on John I Want and Would like to read
1. What We Have Heard From the Beginning: The Past, Present and Future of Johannine Studies by Tom Thatcher (Editor)
2. John, Jesus, and History, Volume 1: Critical Appraisals of Critical Views (Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series) (Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series) by Paul Anderson (Author), Paul (Editor), N. Anderson (Editor), Felix Just (Editor), Tom Thatcher (Editor)
3. Understanding the Fourth Gospel by John Ashton
4. Mysticism in the Gospel of John: An Inquiry into Its Background by Jey J. Kanagaraj
5. Realizer La Communion Avec Dieu: Croire, vivre et demeurer dans l'evangile selon S. Jean by Pascal-Marie Jerumanis (N/A in Amazon)
6. Studying John: Approaches to the Fourth Gospel by John Ashton
7. The Prophet-King: Moses Traditions and the Johannine Christology by W.A. Weeks
8. The Quest for the Messiah: The History, Literature and Theology of the Johannine Community by John Painter
9. The Priority of John by John A.T. Robinson
10. Jesus among the Gospel: The Relationship in Twentieth-Century Research by D. Moody Smith
11. Reading John: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Fourth Gospel and the Johannine Epistles by C. H. Talbert
12. Truth on Trial: The Lawsuit Motif in the Fourth Gospel by Andrew T. Lincoln
13. Rhetoric and Reference in the Fourth Gospel by Margaret Davies
* If you have any money you can give me a small gift by purchasing one of the books listed above:)
Major Johannine Players and Influential Works on John
The following list is restricted to English and French only. Since I don't read German yet, therefore I could not comment on any German source, except for the works of Bultmann, Haenchen, and Schnackenburg that have beeen translated in English.
1. John, the author of the Fourth Gospel (The Gospel according to John 85-90 AD, The Epistles of John , and Revelation)
2. John A.T. Robinson (The New Look on the Fourth Gospel; The Priority of the Gospel of John, 1985)
3. Raymond E. Brown ( The Community of the Beloved Disciple: The Life, and Hates of an Individual Church in the New Testament Times, 1979; The Gospel According to John, 2 vols, 1966-70)
4. Stephen S. Smalley (John the Evangelist and Interpreter, 1978)
5. George R. Beasley-Murray (John, WBC, 1987; Gospel of Life:Theology in the Fourth Gospel, 1991)
6. R. Alan Culpepper ( The Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel, 1987)
7. C. H. Dodd ( The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 1953; Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel, 1963)
9. D.A. Carson ( Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility:Biblical Perspectives in Tension, 1981; Recent Literature on the Fourth Gospel: Some Reflections, 1983, The Function of the Paraclete in John 16:7-11, 1979; The Gospel of John Commentary, 1991)
10. Francis J. Moloney (Belief in the Word; Signs and Shadows; Glory Not Dishonor; The Gospel of John
11. Rudolf Bultmann (Das Evangelium des Johannes, 1950)
12. Rudolf Schnackenburg (The Gospel According to St. John, 1965, 1971, 1975, 3 vols)
13. C. K. Barrett (Essays on John, 1982; The Gospel According to St. John: An Introduction With Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text, 1955; New Testament essays, 1972; The Gospel of John and Judaism, 1975)
14. Barnabas Lindars (The Fourth Gospel, 1961; Behind the Fourth Gospel, 1971)
15. D.L. Moody Smith ( The Theology of the Fourth Gospel, 1995; The Composition and Order of the Fourth Gospel, 1965; John Among the Gospels, 1992)
16. Robert Fortna (The Gospel of Signs, 1970)
18. M. Hengel ( The Johannine Question, 1989)
19. W. R. G. Loader ( The Christology of the Fourth Gospel, 1989)
20. John Ashton (Understanding the Fourth Gospel, 1993; Approaches
21. G. van Belle ( The Signs in the Fourth Gospel: Historical Survey and Critical Evaluation of the Semeia Hypothesis, 1994)
22. Leon Morris (Jesus Is the Christ: Studies in Theology of John, 1989; Studies in the Fourth Gospel, 1969; Reflections on the Gospel of John, 2 vols, The Gospel According to John, 1995)
23. J. Louis Martyn (History & Theology in the Fourth Gospel, 1968)
24. Craig R. Koester (Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel: Meaning, Mystery, Community, 1995)
25. R. J. Cassidy (John's Gospel in New Perspective: Christology and the Realities of Roman Power, 1992)
26. P. M. Casey ( Is John's Gospel True? 1996)
27. S. Motyer (Your Father the Devil? A New Approach to John and "the Jews," 1997)
28. Herman Riddermos (The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary, 1997)
29. Andreas Kostenberger ( The Gospel According to John Baker, The Mission of Jesus and the Disciples According to John2004)
30. Craig Keener ( The Gospel of John: A Commentary, 2 vols, 2003)
31. John W. Pryor ( John:Evangelist of the Covenant People: The Narrative and Themes of the Fourth Gospel, 1992)
32. Stephen S. Smalley (John: Evangelist and Interpreter. History and Interpretation in the Fourth Gospel, 1978)
33. Marianne Meye Thompson ( The Humanity of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel, 1988; The God of the Gospel of John, 2001)
34. M. Gourdes (Cinquante ans de recherche johannique, de Bultmann a la narratoloie, 1995
35. P. -H. Menoud (L'Evangile de Jean d'apres les recherches recentes, 1947)
36. Y. Simoens (L'evangile selon Jean. Positions et propositions, 2000)
37. M. -E. Boismard and A. Lamouille (L'Evangile de Jean, 1977)
38. F.-M. Braun (Jean le Theologien, 3 vol; vol. 1: Jean le Theologien et son Evangile dans L'Eglise ancienne, 1959; vol. 2: Les grandes traditions d'Israel, 1964; vol. 3: 1977)
39. E. Hoskins ( The Fourth Gospel, 1947)
40. M. - J. Lagrange ( Evangile selon Saint Jean, 1948)
41. X. Leon-Dufour ( Lecture de L'Evangile selon Jean, 1987-96, 4 vols.
42. B.J. Manns (L'Evangile de Jean a la lumiere du Judaisme, 1991)
43. I. de la Potterie ( La Verite dans Saint Jean, 2 vols, 1977)
44. Y. Simoens ( Selon Jean, 3 vols.)
45. H. van den Bussche ( L'Evangile du Verbe, 2 vols, 1959-1961; Jean: Commentaire de L'Evangile Spirituel, 1967)
46. F. Vouga ( Le cadre historique et l'intention theologique de Jean, 1977)
47. J. -D. Kaestli, J. -M. Poffet, and J. Zumstein (eds) ( La communaute johannique et son histoire, 1990)
48. A. Marchadour (ed) (Origine et posterite de L'Evangile de Jean, 1990)
49. Ernst Haechen ( vJohn, 1984, 2 vols; vol. 1: A Commentary on the Gospel of John Chapters 1-6; vol. 2: A Commentary on the Gospel of John Chapters 7-21)
50. Gary M. Burge ( The Anointed Community: The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition, 1987; Interpreting the Gospel of John, 1992, John: The NIV Application Commentary, 2000)
Recommended Introductory Works on the Gospel of John
Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the Gospel of John (2003)
Kostenberger, Andreas J., Encountering John: The Gospel in Historical, Literary, and Theological (1999)
Burge, Gary M., Interpreting the Gospel of John (1992)
Recommended Online Resources on John
The Johannine Literature Web , the most exhaustive online resource on the fourth Gospel.
John- Jesus- History, "The "John, Jesus, and History Group" highlights issues related to the Johannine tradition and the composition-history of the Fourth Gospel and the Johannine Epistles, with special emphasis on the place of these documents in contemporary study of Christian origins. Dialogue on these issues is encouraged through the group's annual meetings and through other venues throughout the year."
Johannine Literature Section of the Society of Biblical Literature, this particular website provides an overview "of some recent trends in the scholarly study of the Gospel and Letters of John.Links to abstracts, papers, and supporting materials are sometimes given, with the permission of the authors."
Johannine Literature Internet Group, it is an online exchange among students of the Gospel of John
The Johannine Bibliography Webpages
Gospel of John in Theopedia, provides basic introduction on issues pertaining to the author, date, origin, themes, relationships to the Synoptics, etc.
The Fourth Gospel and John's Epistles, an online research page oriented toward Johannine Literature
Gospel of John in Wikipedia, provides basic information on the issues of structure, authorship and date, provinece, textual history and manuscripts,etc.
Gospel of John, an Overview Christ: The Heart of Christianity , this site gives an overview on the purpose, power, penetration, and plan of the Gospel of John (4PS)
The Gospel of John, a course site administered by Dr. James F. McGrath, an expert on John.
Hearing on the Christ of John's Gospel, A five part lecture series by Jonathan Pennington
Gospel of John Commentary MP3 Audio and HTML Notes
Notes on Lectures of the Florilegia Institute by Gil Bailie Series: "The Gospel of John" Tape #10; Re: John 13:31-17:26
D. A. Carson Audio sermons and lectures on the Gospel of John
The Gospel of John in Film, Television, and Multimedia by Glenn Patrick Buxton
Previous Posts on John
John's Religious Environment
On the Bread of Life Discourse ( John 6:32-51)
Carter on Imperial Cult in the Gospel of John
Important Works on the Gospel of John
Jesus' Vision of God
John and the Synoptics: Differences and Similarities
Jesus as the Fulfillment of the Temple in the Gospel of John Review (Part I)
Review of God’s Indwelling Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Old & New Testaments ( Part I)
The Old Testament in the Gospel of John
A Place Called Heaven: John 14:1-4
Book Review on The Community of the Beloved Disciple
French Biblical Scholar, Xavier Léon-Dufour, Died
Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel
Recent Study on John
Spirit and Son in the the Gospel of John
Jesus' Vision of God
The Logos in the Prologue: Conclusion
John the Baptist bears witness of the Word (1:6-8)
The Word in relation to God and Creation (1:1-5)
The Meaning and Function of the Logos: Part VI
The Structure of the Prologue : Part V
The Prologue of John: Post 4, Logos in Jewish Context
The Prologue of John: Post 3 & 4
The Prologue of John: Post 2
The Prologue of John: 1:1-18
The Logos in the Prologue of John ( John 1:1-18)
Book Review of Who Do You, Say that I am?
Eschatology in John's Gospel
Jesus’ foreknowledge in the Gospel of John
Amazing Grace History/"Amazing Grace" By Wintley Phipps
Christ, My Righteousness
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Bonus songs:)
"It is Well With My Soul"
"O Love That Will Not Let Me Go" By David Phelps
It’s easy to look down on megachurches and assume they are using man-centered methods to draw in a crowd. But Ed Stetzer’s words here are helpful:
As raw data, numbers mean little. What brings meaning to the numbers are the stories behind them – the changed lives and transformed communities.
Nothing can replace the work you do in your own church, your own community, among the lost in your own neighborhood. But we can also learn from others – many of whom were small churches themselves a few years ago.
Also, theologically we know that God knows everything. He knows what we need before we can even ask for it. He's promised to clothe us, feed us, take care of us, and work everything out for good for those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. So why pray?
Well, the easy answer is "because he told us to." I suppose that should be good enough, but inquiring minds still want to know why. Why does he tell us to ask him for things that he knows we need and things that he plans to give us anyway? The classic answer is "God wants us to pray because prayer changes us. Prayer doesn't change God." Well, aside from that answer not being entirely biblical (I mean, there were times when prayer actually changed what God said he was going to do - think Moses), it just doesn't seem to satisfy me either.
This morning I read something in 2 Corinthians, though, that just sort of fixed it all for me. In chapter 1, verse 11 Paul says that "You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many." Now that's pretty significant. Paul wasn't asking for prayer from the Corinthians because he believed that the more Christians he could get praying, the better his chances would be. Jesus said that if two or three agree on something, it will be granted by the Father. So you don't need a thousand, just a couple. Paul asked for the prayers of many so that the many could give thanks when the prayer was answered. That's amazing!
Think about this: in the Lord's Prayer, when Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray, why did he tell them to ask for their daily bread? Remember in the Sermon on the Mount when he said that God feeds all his creatures, therefore don't worry about it? So why ask for it every day? I confess that I have lived most of my life eating meals every day without ever asking God to provide them. He does it anyway. I give thanks for the food, but I didn't ask for the food. So, if he's going to provide it anyway, why tell us to ask?
I think that the answer to that is the same as why Paul tells the Corinthians to join in prayer for him. When we ask and then we receive, we give thanks as one whose prayers were answered. When you ask, it makes you more attentive to the way in which what you asked for was provided.
We recently had an opportunity in our church to join in prayer for a missionary's wife who we know well. She had some kind of dangerous cyst that was threatening pregnancy. On a Sunday night, we gathered 'round in a circle at church and prayed specifically for her healing. A few days later, we got the word that the cyst totally and miraculously healed! Now, that was something that God was going to do anyway, apparently, but he wanted us to be able to give thanks for the answer and so we prayed. I'll tell you, when we got the news, my eyes pretty much instantly teared up and I started thinking about what an amazing God we serve. Our whole church got to rejoice over that provision from the Lord.
A similar issue occurred a couple of years ago that illustrates the point from a different angle. One of our good friends had a lethal breast tumor that we knew nothing about. God miraculously healed it too, but we didn't hear about it until after the fact. Now, we were still amazed, and we praised God, but it wasn't nearly as intense as if we would have been involved in the prayer for the miracle itself.
So why do we pray? God wants us to learn to ask for his blessings and provisions so that we can be more attentive to the way he provides and so that we can praise him for answered prayer rather than normal provision (which is anything but normal given our sinful estate) taken for granted. Rather than just thanking God for your lunch today, ask him to provide you with lunch today while you are praying in the morning and then pay close attention to how he provides it, and let the joy of that provision break forth into a real thanksgiving when you pray over that meal. And when you are in a crisis, ask a ton of people to pray for you, not because you think that there is more power when more people pray, but because you know that more people will be able to praise God when your prayers are answered.