Philip Friesen

GETTING IT RIGHT: OBEDIENCE IN THE REAL WORLD

My last blog was on “Getting It Wrong” when reading a parable. This time is “Getting It Right.” The first in this intended series (Lord willing) is On Eating and Drinking In the June issue of Christianity Today, a friend from my church published an article called “The Case for an Alcohol Free Life.” In this article she describes how that while many Evangelicals today do not share the aversion...

Philip Friesen

GETTING THE PARABLE WRONG

GETTING IT WRONG FROM CULTURAL BLINDNESS                 There is one parable of Jesus that seems quite easy to understand. It is the parable of the talents in Luke 19. In this parable a nobleman leaves town and entrusts his wealth to three servants, whom he rewards or punishes according to how well they have invested his wealth. Anyone in an investment society understands this. The simple...

Philip Friesen

VIOLENCE IS WHAT?

A recent article by Darrin Belousek in the Mennonite Quarterly Review prompted the following.  Darrin challenges the notion, popular with pacifists, that claims God is a nonviolent God. Instead Darrin suggests that God has a right to, well, be violent. God has a right to give life and to take it. We, on the other hand do not. Divine being and Divine prerogatives are not the same thing. In the incarnation...

Philip Friesen

The Cross (presented at the Islamic Center Apr 6

THE CRUCIFIXION             In a mysterious and inexplicable way, the cross of Jesus’ crucifixion is the key to reconciliation and peace on earth. This is not something we can explain, but something we have accepted and come to know as our experience of God. For us, this is the good news of God in Jesus, Messiah. 1.       JESUS REVEALS GOD. Jesus reveals in real life what God is like-...

Philip Friesen

Died in Russia, Resurrected in Germany

Full Churches in Europe We think of Europe as a land of empty cathedrals, but there are also full churches in Europe—immigrant churches. Among the immigrants to Germany are up to 100,000 new Mennonite arrivals from Russia, according to the March 17 issue of Mennonite World Review. People long thought dead and hidden from the world screen for more than half a century since Stalin’s purges—these people...

Philip Friesen

Public Taxes for National Sin

Last evening I heard William Cavanaugh from De Paul University speak on Religious Freedom and the Security State. According to Cavanaugh, the security state in which we live defines religion as a sacred right of every individual, but it must be kept individual. Religion must not impinge in any way upon government, economics, education, or any aspect of “secular” life. Religion is but one...

Philip Friesen

Muslim Christian Dialogue on Answering Atheism

  A Christian Response to Atheism for Muslim Christian Dialogue. Islamic Center Fridley, MN February 2, 2013   There are three references to atheism in the Bible that define what an atheist believes and does as follows:   Psalm 10:4 The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, “There is no God.” This verse could be read to mean: A...