Simple Kingdom Theology

I am currently in my final year at Oral Roberts University as an undergraduate student. As a result, I am spending much time working on my Senior Paper. The primary text for my Senior Paper is John 18:33-19:16a, and one of the themes that is central to not only this specific passage, but the entire Gospel of John, is the theme of "truth." John's Understanding of Truth The Gospel of John is unique from the other three Gospels in the New Testament; whereas Matthew, Mark, and Luke--commonly referred to as the Synoptic Gospels--are incredibly similar to each other in narrative arc and shared content, John stands somewhat alone in his storyline and his content. For example, while the word "truth" (in Greek, it is alēthia ) appears only 7 times in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, the Gospel of John uses this word a total of 25 times!  What, then, does John have to say about "truth"? And also, what does he mean whenever he uses this word?  Usua...

I was first introduced to Lectio Divina a little less than a year ago in a college class on prayer. Since then, I have used Lectio Divina to move from intellectual knowledge about scripture into an encounter with the Divine One. Lectio Divina is Latin for “Divine Reading” and is a practice which combines prayer and scripture reading. This method of meditating on scripture is rooted in the Benedictine order of Catholicism, and it emphasizes reading the word of God to know the one who is the Word (John 1:1). In his letter to the Romans, Paul wonderfully illustrates the heart behind Christian prayer which consequently is also the heart behind Lectio Divina. Romans 8:26–27 Paul states:  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of Go...

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1). "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, For the sake of your steadfast love and faithfulness," (Ps 115:1–2) In the year 1610, Galileo Galilei was looking through his telescope and noticed that Venus has full phases of orbit similar to the moon. This observation led him to discover the common understanding today that the earth revolves around the Sun. Galileo had the realization that the planet he lived on, with him included, was not the proposed center of the universe. Sometimes I think we can spiritually be in a place similar to 1609. Maybe I am alone in this, but I love being in control. I love having power and being complimented on the individual skills I hold. Does it not feel good to win a competition? The throne of power is immensely tempting to sit on. However, I know for sure two things happen when I sit on it. First, I view myself more highly than others, an...

Last week, Eric Blessing devoted his post to the Incarnation of Jesus; he looked specifically at the opening prologue of John's Gospel, which is perhaps the greatest presentation of the Incarnation that we find in Scripture. However, John's prologue is not the only place in which the Incarnation is discussed in detail in the New Testament. The Text As Paul is under house arrest, he pens a letter to the community of believers in Philippi. After establishing the preliminaries of his letter (i.e., a greeting [1:1-2]; a prayer and thanksgiving for the Philippians [1:3-11]; and an explanation concerning his own circumstances [1:12-30]), Paul dives into the heart of his message at the outset of chapter 2. He exhorts the Philippians to "[d]o nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves" (2:3), and to look out for "the interests of others" (2:4). The foundation of Paul's commands in these two verses is...

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and the Word was the God. All things were made through him, and without him, nothing, not one thing, was made" (John 1:1–3). "And the Word became flesh and lived with us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). There is painting at a local museum near my house that I have, from time to time, found much humor upon gazing. It is one of many Madonna and Child paintings that is part of a more extensive collection of Christian art.  The reason I find the portrait so humorous is that the face of the infant Jesus appears already elderly and has an expression of ageless boredom. I laugh due to the thought process I have of what the young Lord must be thinking at that moment, as he looks already done with everything around him. "God and creator of the cosmos," I think, "put into the fragile body of a newborn!" It remi...

The daily life of 21 st century Christians is sorted into systems which provide rhythm, comfort, and stability. As a human living in this time, I am well aware of the categories my life divides into. For example, Sunday is the day for church and rest, while Monday through Saturday is a time dedicated to working and studying. In fact, if I zoom out a little bit, I can see that most of my life fits into a neat box of comfortable divisions and boundary lines. American culture as a whole is identified by what categories we do or do not fit into. These boundary lines give us a sense of identity, they protect who we are by outlining what we do or do not do. In our culture, our worldview teaches us to organize our activities under their respective classification. However, there comes the point where this method of organizing begins to create divisions. We identify who we are by who we are not. When we think of doing “spiritual” things, we probably think of prayer, fasting, worship, and ...

At the beginning of this year, my wife and I started getting involved with our current church community in downtown Tulsa. One of the ways in which I choose to participate is by attending a men's confession group on Thursday mornings. Sadly, before joining this group, my only encounters with confession were from unrealistic over dramatizations from movies I had watched before. I had no idea at the time, but this group would eventually shape the way I saw community and discipleship, as well as become a loyal tool in my prayer life. Forgiveness in Confession As someone raised Protestant and immersed in a charismatic background, I found myself asking, "but are we not saved by grace? Why then must we need to confess our sins if we have already been forgiven of them?"  We have indeed been cleansed of our sins by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, we should not abuse the grace of our Lord and continue to live in our sin (Romans 6:1...