Philip Yancey begins chapter four of his most popular book, What’s So Amazing About Grace? with this famous anecdote about C.S. Lewis: “During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of […]
grace
Why would God let rapists and murderers into heaven?
What do you think of extreme grace?
Grace is unmerited favor. What I’m calling extreme grace is the extension of unmerited favor to another person under the most extreme of circumstances. Today I posted a tweet recounting an instance of extreme grace and surveying responses to it: A while ago I heard a story of grace and forgiveness on CBC radio in […]
Have you committed the Unforgivable Sin? A Devotional Reflection
I recently wrote a few devotionals for a forthcoming publication and I decided to publish them at my blog as well. This second devotional is based on a section of my most recent book, What’s So Confusing About Grace? Mark 3:29: “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is […]
If God wants us to be saved, why is grace so confusing?
It’s a daunting question. If God wants all human beings to be saved — and surely he does — then why aren’t the requirements of that salvation clearer? This is a central theme woven through my book What’s So Confusing About Grace?, a theological memoir spanning a forty-year journey trying to understand the nature of God’s […]
What’s So Confusing About Grace? My Interview with Bob Dutko
I’ve been on The Bob Dutko Show several times now. In this twenty minute interview we talk about the theme of my new book, What’s So Confusing About Grace? https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/extras-tentativeapologist/Grace+on+Dutko+Show.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS
The Title of My New Book
If you’ve ever driven the interstate through southern Wyoming, you’ll probably notice the billboards appearing at regular intervals touting the virtues of “Little America“, a motel/gas station/restaurant located midway on the long drive from Cheyenne to Salt Lake City. The purpose of each billboard is clear: gradually build up anticipation for the destination until the […]
The Bitterness of Redemption
On April 23, 2006 police entered the home of the Richardson family in Medicine Hat, Alberta to discover the dead bodies of Marc Richardson, his wife Debra, and their 8 year old son Jacob. Marc and his wife had died of multiple stab wounds. But it was the death of young Jacob that was most […]
Should you ever shun anybody?
The 1527 Anabaptist Schleitheim Confession included the practice of the ban (or shunning), according to which the sinful offender should be warned twice before they are finally cast off and shunned from the community. Shunning was an extreme practice that set parent against child and child against parent as it expected community members to cut all […]
If you want to see folk damned, there is something wrong with you!
J.I. Packer has long distinguished himself as among the foremost evangelical critics of universalism. At the same time, he also made the following admission: “No evangelical, I think, need hesitate to admit that in his heart of hearts he would like universalism to be true. Who can take pleasure in the thought of people being eternally […]
The mystery of extreme grace
On October 2, 2006, Charles Carl Roberts IV walked into an Amish school in rural Pennsylvania and began shooting. Before Roberts finally shot himself he killed five young girls and wounded five more. In the wake of the carnage people inevitably wanted to know, “How could anybody do this?” This question was soon accompanied by a second, […]
Are Christian serial killers saved?
Some years ago I was at a coffee shop with a friend when we got into a heated discussion over the question of whether a Christian could be a serial killer. (He said yes, I said no. ) The dispute was not whether there might be self-identified Christians who moonlight as serial killers. That there […]
The day the Arminian Pride Parade came to Geneva
The Genevans were outraged to learn that the mayor had declared April 1 “Arminian Pride Day.” “Political correctness run amok!” the Calvinists growled. “And right here in our fair city. Why can’t those Arminians just go back in the closet?” Rumor even had it that the Home Depot and Disneyland were both sponsoring the Arminian […]
Amazing Grace at the Gospel Mission
This past Friday I preached down at the gospel mission. (Once a month my church puts on a service for the guys and I do my best to attend regularly.) I really enjoy visiting the gospel mission. The service is refreshingly informal and the guys applaud everything, the preaching, the music, everything. (While the congregants of suburban churches […]
