Mockingbird Ministries was kind enough to post one of my pieces, entitled “Adam Smith and the Nature of Heaven.” It delves into how the popular idea that “good people go to heaven” kind of misunderstands what heaven actually is. You can check it out here, and make sure you browse through more of the awesome content Mockingbird has to offer. Thanks!
Intersections of scripture and life
Tag: Paul
Over the last two or three months, the churches in the town where I minister have seen a major uptick in calls for financial assistance. Some callers tell us that they’ve recently lost their jobs, but the majority are on disability insurance which, for whatever reason, isn’t enough to keep the lights on. On most days it feels like we’re pretty good at treating the symptoms of financial hardship (past-due rent and empty gas tanks) but powerless to get at the root cause (in this case, physical disablement).
To switch metaphors from the hospital to the battlefields of WWI, our churches are up against “entrenched” poverty, the kind that can’t be dislodged by a quick barrage of money. And in many places across the US and for all kinds of reasons, poverty has been digging in for generations. Some towns have never recovered after the local factory closed decades ago; some neighborhoods suffer the ongoing effects of the racist policies of the past. In St. Louis, where I live, sections of the northern part of the city look like they’ve been through a literal war. Whole blocks are abandoned, and once-venerable buildings collapse in on themselves, victims not of bombs but of long-term economic malaise.
It is those who would make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. – Galatians 6:12
Paul’s opponents in Galatia have since become known as the “judaizers.” They apparently held that since Jesus was the Jewish messiah, gentiles had to convert to Judaism and, more specifically, undergo circumcision in order to receive the salvation offered by Jesus.
Their position doesn’t seem outlandish. At the time it was far from clear what (if any) break the followers of Jesus had made or would make from Judaism. No one in this new movement doubted for a moment that the Hebrew Bible was authoritative.The apostles Peter and John continued to pray in the temple, as faithful Jews, even after Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 3:1). And Jesus himself had declared that he had come “only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 15:24). The judaizers may have been wrong, then, but surely they were honestly wrong?
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