An excerpt from the sermon, "Friend of Sinners"
Posts
"What do you think about athletes thanking God?" A discussion with a friend.
Hey Dr. P! With the NCAA and NBA playoffs happening and the recent Boston Marathon win by Meb, I've noticed that a ton of athletes mention God in their post-game interviews. While I'm supportive of people trying to give glory to God for accomplishments, I'm uneasy whenever I hear this happen. I've tried to figure out exactly what it is about this that bothers me, and I've had a difficult time pinning down any one thing. I suppose the biggest reason I feel uncomfortable is that the statement appears to assume that God directly altered events and caused certain events to happen so that the person or team could achieve whatever it is that they did. (On a side note, this is a very similar uneasiness to people claiming "God has a plan for your life" by which they mean He has a specific chain of events laid out for your life that you have no choice but to live through.) Coming from the free-will camp, I do not believe that God programs us like robots and t...
"Did God breathe the Holy Spirit into Adam?" A conversation with a friend.
Good Morning David, Hope all is well with you. I have a question, In the beginning when God breathed the breath of life into man, was that the Holy Spirit? I have been struggling with a series of sermons based on “God’s Invasion of Earth/Man”. Perhaps it’s the word invasion that unsettles me, it seems negative. There is an interim pastor at the church I attend . . . Several weeks now the sermons have seemed to point to saying that man was in the beginning filled with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit left when man sinned, Jesus came to bring back the Spirit, and Jesus has invaded earth and man to reconcile us back to God. Which, I do see the theology that Jesus is our way to God, but something in this keeps bothering me. I have to say, after reading your blog, I have said several times, that this man (who is a lawyer, called to be a pastor, not theologically educated) needs to learn how to preach to make his points clearer and precise, he seems to b...