Scripture Study
Did Jesus go to Jerusalem to get himself killed? If he did, why, in the tinder-box atmosphere at Passover, did it take him so many days to get his wish?
Death was more than something for him to endure, just so he could rise again. Jesus' execution forever writes an identity upon him, as indicated in the Gospels' accounts of his resurrection.
It is not that Luke lacks correct information about Paul. It is that he interprets all he has from the viewpoint of at least two generations after Paul.
In this articulation of Muhammad, Muslims find their deep commitment to the universal human values such as sacredness of life and property, equality, justice, peace and more. Upon these high universal values, this religion of Islam was built.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Some people abandon their nets because they hear good news worthy of our lives. Sensing God's kingdom drawing near, they reshape their lives in response to God's call. They drop everything and go another way.
In the world of Christian scholarship, for example, to read the Bible literally is regarded as absurd. To call the words of the Bible "the Word of God" is more than naïve.
A God who is "just" is inclined to show special generosity to the poor and outcast. No wonder the respectable people get anxious.
It's not possible for us, with our limited and inaccurate sense perception and logic, to comprehend the nature, quality and personhood of Krishna. Krishna is God as never seen before.
Jesus was converted that day to a larger vision of the commonwealth of God. He saw and heard a fuller revelation of God in the voice and face of the Canaanite woman. If Jesus could be changed, can we?
Now more than ever, churches that have never done so need to devote talents and money to begin the harder work of imagining new ways forward, new conceptions of what's possible.