Name Your Price II - Church, Faith and Theology Books

As Nicole and I are starting to pack up to move to our new home we continue to unclutter our bookshelves and you can benefit. This is Name Your Price - Round 2.

Name your price on any or all of the books that you can find here - http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pRDjTt3QKYSm_9L3uNCYmQw

Send me an email at andrew . conard (at) cor . org with “Name Your Price” in the subject line. Include the titles that you want and your offer price. I will send you a money request for the amount that you name via PayPal (you do not need to have used PayPal before) All I ask is that the price that you offer will cover shipping.

Enjoy!

Finish It - Journey of Faith (4 of 5)

This series is about your thoughts. Each day I will post a sentence starter and invite you to finish it with a comment.

The next step in my journey of faith may be…

Last Chance!

This is the last chance to Name Your Price on Church, Faith and Theology Books. My loss is your gain.

Name Your Price - Church, Faith and Theology Books

I am uncluttering my bookshelves and you can benefit. Name your price on any or all of the books that you can find here - http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pRDjTt3QKYSm_9L3uNCYmQw

Send me an email at andrew.conard (at) cor . org with “Name Your Price” in the subject line. Include the titles that you want and your offer price. I will send you a money request for the amount that you name via PayPal. All I ask is that the price that you offer will cover shipping.

Enjoy!

Can one be saved by faith in God alone, without faith in Christ?

As I was picking up my things after teaching the Builders Class, I was asked this question by a member of the small group (Bible 101)that was coming into the same room at 10:45.

This question touches on the issue of Christianity and other religions and my first response would be to be in reference to some of my previous thoughts on the subject and the great comments added. You can find those posts here -

• Christianity and Other Religions
• Good News for All

I do not have anything additional to add to those thoughts other than these references from Our Doctrinal Standards and General Rules as a United Methodist congregation:

The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church: Article IX—Of the Justification of Man

We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.

The Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church: Article VIII—Reconciliation Through Christ

We believe God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The offering Christ freely made on the cross is the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, redeeming man from all sin, so that no other satisfaction is required.

The Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church: Article IX—Justification and Regeneration

We believe we are never accounted righteous before God through our works or merit, but that penitent sinners are justified or accounted righteous before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe regeneration is the renewal of man in righteousness through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, whereby we are made partakers of the divine nature and experience newness of life. By this new birth the believer becomes reconciled to God and is enabled to serve him with the will and the affections.

We believe, although we have experienced regeneration, it is possible to depart from grace and fall into sin; and we may even then, by the grace of God, be renewed in righteousness.

How would you interpret these articles? How would you respond to this question?

Good News for All

Last week I posted on Christianity and Other Religions and included my thoughts about how to best respond to someone of another faith. I want to follow up on some of the conversation that I have had via the comments and emails on my assertion that it is more important to share the good news of Christ with non and nominally religious persons rather than persons of other religions.

I have received some excellent critiques that it is the responsibility of all Christians to share the good news with others - regardless of whether they adhere to a particular faith tradition. I agree. I do think that it is important to tell the story of Jesus to all persons in a way that tells of life transformation and gives the opportunity and calls for a response.

I did not intend to assert that Christians should not share their faith with those of other religions. I do believe that this is important. In regard to a relationship with Christ I do not make a distinction between someone who is non-religious and someone with who is faithful to another religion. In the collective, it is important to share the good news with all.

I would like to stay with my original assertion that given the choice of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with an individual of faith and with someone without any faith I believe that I would pursue the relationship with the person without faith. However, I recognize the validity of the counterpoint that someone with some sort of faith structure may have a familiarity with shaping her or his life around a life of faith and thus may be more willing to shift

As you can likely tell, I am still working this out and have appreciated the comments which help sharpen my thoughts. So here is a question about which I am not clear - Which of the following do you think would be someone that would be more willing to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ?

• A person who faithfully practices a faith tradition other than Christianity?

Or

• A person who does not practice any religion?

I am clear that it is important for Christians to share their faith with each of these groups. What do you think?

Seeing Gray - Wrap Up (6 of 6)

At the beginning of 2008, we started a conversation around the sermon series Seeing Gray: Faith Morality and Politics in a Black and White World at Resurrection. You can see my video responses to each of the sermon themes at these links:

• Where Faith and Politics Meet - Week 1
• Bridges and Wedges - Week 2
• What to do? Two Rules to Live By - Week 3
• Stage Five: When Christians Grow Up - Week 4
• A Vision for America - Week 5

It has been an experiment in the new use of technology at Resurrection through the Seeing Gray You Tube Channel. I really did not know what to expect when the site was set up. The response was not overwhelming, but I think that it was an important step for the congregation in leveraging technology to build a Christian community where non and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians.

What did you think of the series overall? What were some of the strengths? What were some of the weaknesses? How about the use of YouTube? Good? Bad? Indifferent?