Marginal Christianity

the fall of babylon (Revelation (18) Rev.17 details the “mystery” of the harlot, the beast, Rome. Only to eyes of faith does the true reality of this figure disclose itself. If you take the blue pill the glitz and glamor, power and prosperity will be what you see. If you take the red pill, however, you will see what John shows you, for Revelation is the red pill par excellence. This illustration from the movie “The Matrix” is a perfect example of how this book works. It unveils, or x-rays, the surface of things so the community of faith can carry on with a sure sense of the deep truth of God and the world it has been called to bear witness in. Rev.18 details in horrible detail the demise of this figure. A great angel announces Rom’s fall, declaring it a wilderness, a haunt of every foul thing, who has polluted and deceived the earth with it oppression, injustice, and cruelty (18:2-3. Another heavenly voice calls God’s people out of Rome. This is not a physical retrea...

In one of his sermons Tim Keller listed eight characteristics of early Christians, living under a Roman government far less congenial to Christianity than the United States today.  1.     Opposed bloodthirsty sports and violent entertainment, such as gladiator games 2.     Opposed serving in the military 3.     Opposed abortion and infanticide 4.     Empowered women 5.     Opposed sex outside of marriage and homosexual activity (pederasty was common in the empire 6.     Encouraged radical support for the poor 7.     Encouraged the mixing of races and classes 8.     Insisted that Jesus is the only way to salvation http://www.patheos.com/blogs/evangelicalpulpit/2017/01/evangelical-vote-donald-trump/ In contemporary America the church does or should oppose 1, 2, 3, 5 (sex outside of marriage part) and support 4, 6, 7, 8 (imho). The church doe...

cALL To WORship 1:4-8 (Part 2) 4  John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,   5  and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed   us from our sins by his blood,   6  and made   us to be a kingdom, priests serving   his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7  Look! He is coming with the clouds;      every eye will see him, even those who pierced him;      and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. 8  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. We got as far as v.5 in the last post. We are reading 1:4-8 as a Call to Worship in o...

Revelation 1:4-8 (04) Before we begin today it might help us get where we need to be to by considering this paragraph of A Declaration of Faith , a PCUSA piece and, imho, a very fine piece of narrative theology. Reflect on the following for a few moments before picking up our exposition of Revelation as a “Resistical” Worship service. We are certain that Jesus lives.                                                                                He lives as God with us,                                                     ...

Revelation 1:1-3 (03) We begin our journey with Revelation as a “Resistical” Worship service by treating the first three verses of the book as the “Welcome and Announcement of a Guest Preacher” at First Church of Patmos. [1] The first section is a reading of the text as this “resistical” worship service. The comment afterwards deals with issue(s) of our resistance. The notes deal with some textual and contextual issues in relation to the texts. Welcome and Announcement of a Guest Preacher Good day, friends. Welcome to worship here at First Church of Patmos. Today we have a guest preacher – none other than the risen Christ himself [2] (along with his interpreter John). Jesus will lead us in worship this morning. His sermon title is “What Must Soon Take Place.” The Seer John who received the vision Jesus unveils [3] for us this morning with be Jesus’ interpreter. None of us “speak” Jesus naturally, you see. We all need help to grasp what he says to us, and John is that ...