Selected Reading

I read these this week and recommend them to you.

God

Credo Magazine’s latest issue is on the impassibility of God. I linked to one of the articles at Out of the Ordinary a couple of weeks ago. This week I read two more, and I endorse them both.

• What Is Impassibility?: Defining a forgotten attribute  
  “Christian theologians have acknowledged that it is easier to say what God is not than what he is. This has been called the Way of Negation. Impassibility in one of many such negations. Just as God is infinite—not finite, immortal—not subject to mortality, incomprehensible—beyond our ability to comprehend and immutable—not changeable, so also God is impassible. He is not subject to passions” —James Renihan
• Why I no longer believe in a passible God
  This article discusses the philosophical reasoning behind the movement away from a historic, orthodox view of God to relational theism or theistic personalism.
  
  “What is fascinating to note about our contemporary context is that the idea of God loving and hating, and saving and judging, is seen by most people today as not just contradictory – but as obviously contradictory. It seems like an unbearable tension that must be relieved by denying either God’s love or God’s impassibility. What was never seen as a contradiction is now seen as an obvious contradiction. We need to ask: ‘What is going on here? Why the drastic shift?’”—Craig A. Carter.

Atonement

Expiation and Propitiation 
“God, to the praise of His unsearchable wisdom, gave ancient Israel sacrifices to serve as theological tools, instructing His people about the remedy for sin and the need for reconciliation with God. After the resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of His Holy Spirit, the Apostles were enabled to discern in the pages of the Old Testament Scriptures how the system of sacrificial worship had been divinely ordained for the sake of unfolding the wonders of Christ and His accomplished work on the cross” - L. Michael Morales. 

Scripture

Can We Believe God’s Word Is True Because Our Parents Told Us? 
Yes, we can! “[O]ne reason to believe God’s word (but not the only reason) is because of the testimony of others we trust. And this particularly applies to parents (or grandparents)” —Michael Kruger.

Prayer

What to Pray for Your Search Committee
“If your church is seeking a new pastor, your search committee needs you to pray. They need you to stand against the evil forces at work to undermine their labors” - Christina Fox.

My church is searching for a pastor right now, so I needed this one.