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Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages are from the NIVArchives
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Category Archives: Kingdom of God
Sharing about The Father’s House with Others—Which Model?
Previously, I introduced the metaphor of the Father’s House, and we will now look at it further. I believe the love of the Father extends to everyone, and I like to think of all of us being in the Father’s … Continue reading
Posted in Jesus, Kingdom of God, The Father, The Father's House, the Good News
Tagged Evangelism, universalism
21 Comments
The Kingdom of God is Like Attending a Banquet
Do you like banquets? Jesus did. It is amazing how many stories we have of Jesus eating with people or talking about eating. And he was sometimes criticized for not being choosy enough about whom he ate with. Banquets were … Continue reading
Posted in Jesus, Kingdom of God, Pharisees
Tagged feast, kingdom banquet, Luke 13, Luke 14, Mathew 25, Matthew 23, Parables, The Ten Virgins
25 Comments
The Kingdom of God is Like… (7 Short, Informative Kingdom Parables)
The concept of the kingdom of God was very important to Jesus, and he told a number of parables about the kingdom to help his followers understand it better. I am so glad he did that! Matthew 13 is a … Continue reading
2 Parables of the Kingdom from Planting
For many (perhaps most) of us the concept of the kingdom of God is very unclear. What is the kingdom of God? What is our relationship to it? And what do we know about it? We discussed the first two … Continue reading
Posted in Jesus, Kingdom of God
Tagged Matthew 13, Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Weeds
24 Comments
How Do We Become Part of the Kingdom of God?
The kingdom of God appears early in the gospels. Matthew 3 reports that: John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Remember that the ‘kingdom of heaven’ … Continue reading
Heaven, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Kingdom of God
Some seem to think that the kingdom of heaven is the same as heaven, but it isn’t. The kingdom of heaven is actually another term for the kingdom of God. Some years ago, I read an author who said that … Continue reading
Posted in Jesus, Kingdom of God
Tagged book of Luke, book of Mark, book of Matthew, dispensationalism, John the Baptist, kingdom of heaven, Matthew 3
27 Comments
What Is Heaven and Where Is It?
What do you imagine when you think about heaven? Wings and halos? Sitting around on clouds? Playing harps? Pearly gates and streets of gold? Where is heaven anyway? Is heaven the place we go to when we die? The NIV … Continue reading
3 Reasons Why Loving Others is Not All There Is to Following Jesus
In recent years the idea that loving others is the essence of following Jesus has exploded. And this is a good thing! It runs counter to the view that following Jesus means embracing harmful beliefs like angry god, inerrancy, legalism, … Continue reading
Posted in behavior, Jesus, Kingdom of God, love, love your enemies, the Good News
Tagged Luke 6, Matthew 28
62 Comments
If Most Everyone Will Have Eternal Life with God Anyway, then Why Do We Need to Share the Good News of Jesus?
Recently we discussed whether those who have not heard the good news or who even follow other religions might receive eternal life and live in God’s community after death—even if they never became followers of Jesus during this lifetime. My … Continue reading
Posted in eternal life, fundamentalism, God, hell, Jesus, Kingdom of God, love, resurrection, the Good News, witnessing
15 Comments
Hell? Conditional Immortality? Something Else? What Happens to Those Who Reject God?
I agree with believers who suggest that God offers eternal life after death to everyone — even those who have never heard, and even those of other religions. Thus it is possible that all who ever lived could be part of … Continue reading
Posted in conditional immortality, eternal life, fear, hell, Kingdom of God, resurrection
Tagged Annihilation, Isaiah 66, Jeremiah 19, Plato, universalism
50 Comments
Will Everyone Live Forever with God After Death? Not Necessarily!
Recently we discussed whether people of other religions, or those who have never heard, participate in the life after death that Jesus offers us or whether this life is available to only the limited number of people who respond to … Continue reading
Posted in eternal life, Kingdom of God
Tagged egotism, free will, John 3:16, narcissism, universalism
18 Comments
Has Some Believers’ Focus on ‘Getting Saved’ Replaced Jesus’ Message of the Good News?
When we are attracted to Jesus and want to follow him, how do we go about doing that? Many believers would answer, “Get saved by responding to a salvation presentation and praying some form of the sinner’s prayer admitting you … Continue reading
Posted in God, hell, Jesus, Kingdom of God, the Good News, the invitation, witnessing
Tagged Mark 1, Matthew 11, sinner's prayer
37 Comments
Jesus’ Final Act of Anti-Violence—Crucifixion
For the past several posts we examined passages in the gospels to determine whether Jesus is violent (see the links just below this article). The purpose of this survey was to answer both believers and unbelievers who claim that Jesus … Continue reading
Posted in behavior, hate, Jesus, Kingdom of God, love, love your enemies
Tagged Father forgive them, John 18, Luke 23, Matthew 26, violence, violent jesus
43 Comments
How Does Identifying with the Kingdom of God Affect Our Political Participation?
This is not a partisan political article; it promotes no political party and no candidate at any level. Rather it raises the question of how our being part of the kingdom of God influences our voting and political participation and … Continue reading
Posted in Kingdom of God, love your enemies
Tagged Jesus and politics, politics, two kingdoms, voting
34 Comments
Isn’t it Violence for Jesus to Tell Us to Cut off our Hands to Avoid Punishment?–No!
Does Jesus promote violent acts? I don’t think so. Sometimes those who DO think Jesus promotes violence bring up a passage where Jesus tells us to severely injure ourselves. Mark 9 reports this saying of Jesus: If your hand causes … Continue reading
Posted in behavior, eternal life, hell, Jesus, Kingdom of God
Tagged Hebrews 12, Mark 10, Mark 9
27 Comments
3 Possible Reasons Jesus Told His Followers to Carry Swords
Whenever we talk of Jesus being nonviolent there are always those who protest that Jesus was indeed violent. Often they embrace violence and use Jesus for justification. We have discussed other inadequate ‘proofs’ of Jesus’ ‘violent’ side, such as his cleansing … Continue reading
Posted in Jesus, Kingdom of God, love your enemies
Tagged Christian violence, Jesus and violence, John 18, Luke 22, Mark 6, Matthew 5
51 Comments
What does it Mean that Jesus Brings, not Peace, but a Sword?
Does Jesus come to bring, not peace, but a sword? According to Matthew 10 this is exactly what he says: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, … Continue reading
Posted in alienation, hate, Jesus, Kingdom of God
Tagged family, family conflict, Matthew 10, not peace but a sword, violent jesus
30 Comments
Why Did Jesus Die on the Cross?
We talked last time about three atonement theories that I believe are woefully misguided and miss the point of Jesus’ death completely: The Ransom Theory, the Satisfaction Theory, and the Substitutionary Atonement Theory (Penal Substitution). All three are inadequate to … Continue reading
Posted in atonement, eternal life, Jesus, Kingdom of God, love, resurrection, sin
Tagged Christus Victor, death, John 3:16
79 Comments
‘How to Follow Jesus’ is Revised and Improved
One of the features of Jesus without Baggage most dear to me is How to Follow Jesus. Its purpose is to explain how to follow him without the ritual, baggage, and burdens frequently promoted by believers. I have: rewritten the … Continue reading
Posted in behavior, favorite blogs, Jesus, Kingdom of God
Tagged following Jesus, how to follow Jesus
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Entering the Kingdom Requires Abandoning Old Ways of Thinking
It might surprise a lot of people that many Hindus accept Jesus. The puga area of a Hindu home contains images of various deities and revered personages, and in many homes you will also find the image of Jesus—perhaps right … Continue reading
Posted in Jesus, Kingdom of God, Pharisees
Tagged born again, Hinduism, Hindus, John 3, Mark 2, New Wineskins, Nicodemus, Old Wineskins
36 Comments
Jesus Without Baggage 