All tagged Christ and culture

375 Ref. vs. Arm. (13) God's Motive—Glory or Love?

The Reformed's Westminster Shorter Catechism, point #1, "What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." That's a solid claim! I don't disagree, except it doesn't explain a deeper-still question, why did God create? What motivated Him? Was there a need in God to be glorified? Did God have a lack He needed to fill? Or does God express Himself through a kind of prodigal (wasteful, overspilling) love? I work through the traditional Protestant emphasis on the motivation of God and then suggest a better, more biblical, more Jesus-y answer. And then, because the majestic Lordship of Christ does not stop at the boundary of culture, I explain why I have been having numerous and regular dystopian nightmares where I awake in a fit of terror as demons lead me off into captivity. Come laugh and think with me!

248 The Spiritual World (2) Problems in Paleo Paradise

"There was a serpent in the garden of Eden." What does that mean? First? I erase some glosses that get overlaid onto the text. Then, we work through both some historical-cultural and textual framing of the story of the serpent. What would ancient readers immediately have recognized about that creature, that story? How does the notion of divine oracles play into the story? Come laugh and think with me.