Sturtz Stuff

1 John 2:1-6 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. It is a quiet evening and you are relaxing at home. One of your favorite meals has been prepared and you are just about to sit down and enjoy your meal along with family and friends. All of the sudden someone starts ringing your doorbell. Your dog starts to bark and you were so startled that you just about dropped your plate full of food. Whoever it is stops ringing...

Mark 12:13-17 (NIV) Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax[b] to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.        What are the politics of Jesus? That is what the questioners want to know. They are bring out a specific and particular hot button political issue to smoke Jesus out. If you have been in church...

So why release Barrabas instead of Jesus?      “Very simple: if you let Barabbas go, you can always stop him. The most Barabbas will do is go out, round up another bunch of guerrillas and start another riot. And you will always stop him by rolling your tanks into his neighborhood, bringing out the National Guard and putting his riot down. Find out where he is keeping his ammunition. Raid his apartment without a search warrant and shoot him while he is still asleep. You can stop Barabbas.      But how do you stop Jesus? They took and nailed him to a cross. But they did not realize that, in nailing Jesus to the cross, they were putting up on that cross the sinful nature of all humanity. As Christ was nailed to the cross, it was more than just a political radical dying; he was God's answer to the human dilemma. On that cross Christ was bearing in his own body my sin, and he was proclaiming my liberation on that cross. And on that cross he shed his ...

Probably the most famous Bible passage used to talk about Biblical womanhood is Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31 is about an upper class Jewish women [1] who is up at the crack of dawn to get to work. She owns land owns her own vineyard and cooks dinner every evening. She tends to every single need and want of her husband. She could be considered a total over achiever. When Proverbs 31 is used as the rule and guide for being a “Biblical Women” it would seem to set a very high if not a totally unattainable level for women to achieve. If the Bible were a blueprint and nothing more than a list of dos and don’ts then think of all of the controversies and tensions we could avoid. Consider all of the decisions that we would not have to make. It would be so much easier because we would all look and act the same. Seems to me that often when some suggest that they have discovered some Biblical blueprint on how to be a women or a man some Biblical character comes along and breaks that blueprint. Fo...

     In the middle of the night is a phrase used throughout the Bible. The phrase “in the middle of the night” often signals a moment of epic transition, transformation and change. It is the moment that is filled with promise and remarkable peril. It is the moment that indicates you are about to change. It will be risky and you will never be the same again. ·          In the middle of night Jacob wrestled with God (Genesis 32) ·            In the middle of the night the angle of the Lord passed over those who had placed the blood of the lamb on their door posts. (Exodus 11:4) ·          In the middle of the night Jesus says 10 virgins were awaked to find that the bridegroom had arrived. Those who were unprepared were not treated well and those who were prepared were treated beautify. (Matt 25:1-13) ·      ...

Went to see the movie Son Of God. Making a movie about Jesus is difficult due to the possibly of stirring up controversy. Christians, sadly, can often be known more what they protest then for whom they are to represent. However, I fear that the Son of God movie presents a domesticated and distorted Jesus. A Jesus that is more one dimensional than 3-D. The Son of God movie presents a Jesus that avoids the political. A Jesus that does not confront the violence of poverty. A Jesus that is ghostly not bodily. A Jesus that forgives yet tells nobody to repent of sin. While I appreciate the effort, time, money and desire to share the story of Jesus with a wide audience I fear the Son of God movie tells an odd, distorted and unbiblical story. 1.        If I didn’t know much about Jesus I would be confused. The movie presents a disjointed and confusing story. It never gets around to explaining what the message of Jesus was nor how that message connected to the th...

This blog post came from the web site Experimental Theology . The site is operated by Richard Beck who is Professor and Department Chair of Psychology at Abilene Christian University. You can click on the link above go to his site. At the end of this post there are some books and web sites listed that you might find helpful. One of the more interesting contradictions in the Old Testament has to do with the events in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. The story is about a census David makes of Israel. For whatever reason, this census angers YHWH bringing a plague upon Israel. It's not clear why taking a census is so bad. The speculation is that in taking a census David is expressing proprietorship over the people, treating Israel as his property. That's a usurpation of YHWH's position as the true king of Israel. All that is interesting in its own right, but the real puzzles are what I'm about to point out. The first puzzle is why David undertakes t...