Marginal Christianity

“God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has thereby pledged his very being as God for your salvation. In Jesus Christ God has actualised his unconditional love for you in your human nature in such a once for all way, that he cannot go back upon it without undoing the Incarnation and the Cross and thereby denying himself. Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart from your ever believing in him. He has bound you to himself by his love in a way that he will never let you go, for even if you refuse him and damn yourself in hell his love will never cease. Therefore, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.” ( The Mediation of Christ , 94) This bold and bracing statement of Torrance’s may be too bold for some of us. It seems rather universalistic. Maybe not taking the biblical demand for f...

“ God with a Scowl ”           “God” is the most dangerous word in any language. Dangerous because we invest it with so much of our search for significance and security. Dangerous because it can become whatever we rely on as our “ultimate concern” (Paul Tillich). Dangerous because we will do anything for whatever we deem “God.” And “believers” have and continue to do horrendous things in the name of their “God.”           Now all of us are “believers.” There’s something or someone that’s the bottom line for us and helps us make sense of our world and respond to the issues we face in life. I am only concerned here with the Christian deity, though. That that “God” has a major PR problem at present is no secret to anyone.           Part of this PR problem comes from the miserable track record of his people representing in the world, including ...