Sunday, January 20, 2013
323 - Understanding Christians and Christ
Spirituality
Column #323
January 22, 2013
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers – Zionsville
Understanding Christians and Christ
By Bob Walters
Author of (click) Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
May I recommend some holiday reading?
Martin Luther King’s Birthday: If you’ve never read Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” here it is the weekend of MLK’s birthday observance along with the upcoming 50th anniversary of this famous treatise (April 16, 1963). It’s a perfect time to read King’s sincere and instructive presentation of biblical principles to other Christian ministers. This is not merely a faith-based political polemic; it is a doctrinal letter Christians should read and believers will understand.
King, we all know, was a flawed man. But too many flawed Christians write off flawed men. King’s theological argument for his civil disobedience is well stated in this biblically-based human rights manifesto for the ages. The letter also teaches salient historical nuggets, such as the reason 1963 was so active in civil rights: it had been 100 years since President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves, and King perceived that very little real civil rights progress had been made.
America’s thinking Christians owe it to themselves to understand King’s biblical motivation and perspective of man’s formation and freedom in the image of God. Google “MLK Birmingham.”
Presidential Inauguration: And speaking of mankind’s freedom being formed in the image of God, I’ve recently read Marcelo Pera’s Why We Should Call Ourselves Christians: The Religious Roots of Free Societies. As America inaugurates a president and tries to find its way as a nation through the seemingly infinite polarization between liberals and conservatives, this Italian philosopher and statesman utterly nails both the philosophy and reality of freedom. Pera describes the absolute historical necessity of Christianity as a precondition for true political freedom to exist.
Pope Benedict XVI wrote the book’s foreword. Pera’s highly readable and thoroughly footnoted 161-page work ably explains modern liberal thought, which is almost entirely secular, and how it bears almost no relation to classic liberal thought, which is almost entirely Christian. This is a great group discussion book.
After Christmas: Have you ever wondered why Jesus was born in a barn? My elder son Eric gave me (by request) for Christmas Ken Bailey’s 2008 book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. The book clears up many cultural misunderstandings about Jesus. For example, our Western understanding of the Nativity (Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2) largely misses the reality of what happened in and around Bethlehem. Bailey taught New Testament studies for 40 years in the Middle East and provides a clear and faith-assuring overview of the biblical Jesus.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) got the tip about the Bailey book from his pastor Rick Grover at E91, who had gotten the tip from Walters’ Wednesday night Bible study teacher George Bebawi. Funny how life is a circle.
January 22, 2013
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers – Zionsville
Understanding Christians and Christ
By Bob Walters
Author of (click) Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
May I recommend some holiday reading?
Martin Luther King’s Birthday: If you’ve never read Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” here it is the weekend of MLK’s birthday observance along with the upcoming 50th anniversary of this famous treatise (April 16, 1963). It’s a perfect time to read King’s sincere and instructive presentation of biblical principles to other Christian ministers. This is not merely a faith-based political polemic; it is a doctrinal letter Christians should read and believers will understand.
King, we all know, was a flawed man. But too many flawed Christians write off flawed men. King’s theological argument for his civil disobedience is well stated in this biblically-based human rights manifesto for the ages. The letter also teaches salient historical nuggets, such as the reason 1963 was so active in civil rights: it had been 100 years since President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves, and King perceived that very little real civil rights progress had been made.
America’s thinking Christians owe it to themselves to understand King’s biblical motivation and perspective of man’s formation and freedom in the image of God. Google “MLK Birmingham.”
Presidential Inauguration: And speaking of mankind’s freedom being formed in the image of God, I’ve recently read Marcelo Pera’s Why We Should Call Ourselves Christians: The Religious Roots of Free Societies. As America inaugurates a president and tries to find its way as a nation through the seemingly infinite polarization between liberals and conservatives, this Italian philosopher and statesman utterly nails both the philosophy and reality of freedom. Pera describes the absolute historical necessity of Christianity as a precondition for true political freedom to exist.
Pope Benedict XVI wrote the book’s foreword. Pera’s highly readable and thoroughly footnoted 161-page work ably explains modern liberal thought, which is almost entirely secular, and how it bears almost no relation to classic liberal thought, which is almost entirely Christian. This is a great group discussion book.
After Christmas: Have you ever wondered why Jesus was born in a barn? My elder son Eric gave me (by request) for Christmas Ken Bailey’s 2008 book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. The book clears up many cultural misunderstandings about Jesus. For example, our Western understanding of the Nativity (Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2) largely misses the reality of what happened in and around Bethlehem. Bailey taught New Testament studies for 40 years in the Middle East and provides a clear and faith-assuring overview of the biblical Jesus.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) got the tip about the Bailey book from his pastor Rick Grover at E91, who had gotten the tip from Walters’ Wednesday night Bible study teacher George Bebawi. Funny how life is a circle.
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