“I always tell my kids that while most people in the world just want to kill and get rid of the bad guys, Jesus wants to change bad guys into good guys. While guns have the power to kill bad guys, only love moves us toward an enemy with the compassion and hope for transformation. A gun or nuclear warhead can destroy our enemy, but only love has the potential to transform an enemy into a friend.” … More The Most Powerful Force of All
Keri and I were out in the yard doing some spring raking a while back. Keri had made some piles of leaves and weeds, and I was coming around behind her to bag them up. I was in for a painful surprise when I grabbed a pile of leaves with my bare hands only to … More Going Green 5: Thorns and Thistles
Suicide is an all too common thing these days — especially among adolescents and younger adults. I thought I’d repost an older piece from around 2009 for a Christian perspective on such tragedies. Some of these words also give perspective on the evil of recent events. -JB The forces of darkness are always around us. Most of the time, if … More When Darkness Wins a Battle, We Still Win the War
This essay was my first attempt in college at grappling with the issues related to Theodicy, that is, the problem of reconciling the existence of an all-powerful, all-good God with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. Like many, my first exposure to this issue led me to the more traditional view influenced … More ESSAY: A Theology of Suffering (2001)
I want to share an incredibly powerful and innovative new ministry vision. Meet my friend and former colleague, Mike Lotzer, and his thoughtful new ministry venture Mourning Story. I encourage especially pastors who are ministering to people nearing the end of life to consider this powerful way to share the gospel at your next funeral. Can you … More Mourning Story
Dave Goldberg died tragically about a month ago on vacation with family. His wife, Sheryl Sandberg, is the COO of Facebook and a very thoughtful soul who bravely shared the following personally heart-wrenching thoughts on her grieving process. There is wisdom and humanity in these words. Read, reflect and hug your loved ones a little longer … More Honest Reflections on Grief and Loss (by Sheryl Sandberg)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of my heroes. He was a brilliant and gentle follower of Jesus. He formed an underground seminary in Nazi Germany and taught people the loving Way of Jesus. He stood fast and resisted the pressure to go along with the churches that were under the influence of Hitler’s regime. (I tried … More A Hymn for the Suffering by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What if Jesus pulled up on a Harley the day of the biker gang massacre in Texas? Jeremy offers one theory. … More EPHESIANS 16: Biker Gangs at the Cross (2:14-18)
This is an oldie but goodie from the old DI archives from 2007. A good reminder that though we’re all broken people, we have a God who shines his grace through all the cracks of our lives. “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes … More Cracked Pot Confessions
How long, O LORD, must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence? (Habakkuk 1:2-4) He came closer to the city, and when he saw it, he wept over it, saying, “If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it! (Luke 19:41-42) There … More Cruciform Justice 1: Introduction
It seems hardly necessary to make an argument for the universally experienced suffering and injustice prevalent in the world. If pain really is God’s “megaphone to rouse a deaf world”, as C. S. Lewis argues, then the message is deafeningly clear and God might consider turning the volume down a bit. When it comes to pain … More Crucified Justice 2: A Universal Yearning
The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones … More Water in the Desert 3 – Ezekiel 37:1-14
22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,[e] and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of … More Water in the Desert 2 – Gen 32:22-32
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, … More Water in the Desert 1 – Gen 28:10-22
I shared the following on the Caring Bridge for our dear missionary friends whose twin premie boys are fighting for their lives in the NIC unit in Managua, Nicaragua. -JB “So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, … More An Eternal Perspective on Life & Death
Like many people, I have been tuning into the History Channel on Sunday nights for The Bible Miniseries. The first two parts have brought us up to the time of Solomon. While I have enjoyed this rather faithful telling, I have also been reminded of just how violent and barbarous the OT can be, and … More The Violence of God in the OT
I’m in the process of being sifted these days. Have you been through this painful process? -JB Satan Desires to Sift us Like Wheat by Dick Karman God has warned us about Satan in the Bible. One probably most threatening and graphic passage is 1 Peter 5:8 where God tells us that the devil walks … More Being Sifted (Dick Karman)
Every year around Halloween, I like to explore the topic of spiritual warfare — you know, angels, demons and the cosmic forces of evil. Here are some of the posts on this topic from the past. Today I want to share Greg Boyd’s basic articulation of what he calls a “Warfare Worldview” — that is, … More God vs. Satan: The Warfare Worldview (G. Boyd)
“We are like blocks of stone, out of which the sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much, are what make us perfect….What I am trying to say is that the pain one endures from losing their beloved, is part of the happiness they shared while together.” … More QUOTABLES: William Nicholson, “Shadowlands”
This is a repost from last year. -JB It’s that diabolical week again. This Sunday night many paranoid Christians will be once again hunkered down in their basements (if not at a “Harvest Party” at church) with their front porch lights off holding prayer vigils to ward off those sinners who participate in this evil … More Just Lighten Up & Give Them Candy
In Satan and the Problem of Evil: Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy, Greg Boyd attempts to answer the question: “How are we to conceive of an all-powerful God creating beings who to some degree possess the power to thwart his will, and thus against whom he must genuinely battle if he is to accomplish his … More BOOK REVIEW: Satan and the Problem of Evil by Greg Boyd
The following post is from one of my favorite blogging friends Michael Spencer, known to most as the Internet Monk. Michael was recently diagnosed with cancer and is beginning that battle now. He wrote this piece only weeks before the diagnosis. Please lift up the iMonk in your prayers and check out his writing ministry … More “There’s Always A Day Before” (by Michael Spencer)
Where were you when the news broke on that tragic morning in America September 11, 2001? That’s the question we all ask years later. And we all remember. For what it’s worth, I was in my car on the way to Bethel University to lift weights with some buddies on campus. We didn’t lift any … More Remembering 9/11
BRINGING GOD INTO THE MIX As indispensable as justice and peace are to a world of suffering and injustice, are these the highest goods worth striving for or dedicating our lives to? A biblically minded Christian must answer ‘No.’ For those who find their lives within the redemptive narrative of the creator and redeemer God … More Cruciform Justice 6: Between ‘The Rock’ & A Hard Place
In light of the recent John Piper interpretation of the Minneapolis tornado, Greg Boyd hosted a Q&A centered around the debated concept that God might be behind the natural disasters in the world…as well as other related questions from the congregation. Well worth checking out links below! LISTEN TO AUDIO WATCH VIDEO
Jeremy L. Berg 