Karl Barth Quotes

 

Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is himself the way. - Karl Barth

Source: Karl Barth Quotes

Light!

Someone once said, "There are two kinds of light - the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures."

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

"Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:1-6).

lighten up, ron

Murdered Bible Printers!

Killing Christians in the name of religion doesn't raise an eyebrow to Muslim murder in the name of civility! Click on the below link and ask yourself what's wrong with this picture?

Link to GetReligion » Print » Lackluster coverage of murdered Bible printers

See also this FOXNews link & Christianity Today Link.

ex parte? ron

Theodicy!

A gunman walks into various dorms and classrooms at Virginia Tech and opens fire on students and professors. Students jump out of four story classroom windows to get away from the carnage. Then, the gunman, a fellow student named Cho Seung-hui, turns the gun on himself. In the worst school shooting in U.S. history, 33 students (including Cho) and professors are dead.

Immense tragedies such as this raise a host of questions. Where is God in all this? How could he allow this to happen? What kind of anguish would cause someone to randomly shoot people, and then commit suicide? What can we do as a society to prevent such tragedies in the future?

We are again facing the age old question of evil in a world both created and controlled by a good God (known, in theological circles, as theodicy). In case you are unfamiliar with either the term or its definition, here is one way the problem is presented:

God cannot be both all good and all powerful because:

1. if he is good then he would do all he could to stop evil; evil exists, therefore God did not stop it and is not all powerful.
2. if he is all powerful and evil exists then evil is his doing; therefore he is not good.

N.T. Wright makes the following point in his brilliant book Evil and the Justice of God:

If you offer an analysis of evil which leaves us saying, “Well, that’s all right then; we now see how it happens and what to do about it,” you have belittled the problem…. for the Christian, the problem is how to understand and celebrate the goodness and God-giveness of creation and, at the same time, understand and face up to the reality and seriousness of evil.

Evil cannot be explained. It can be viewed from different perspectives, but we, as finite creatures, do not fully know why evil is in the world and what God’s purpose for it is. What we do know, as Christians, is that we believe in an all powerful, all holy, all loving, all knowing, just God who has acted faithfully in the past and in whom we can be confident will act in the future.

At the end of the day there are no worldviews or religions that give a satisfying reason for evil in the world. What Christianity does have to offer above all other worldviews is the confident hope that God will restore the world. On that day, and not a day sooner, will we then understand the ‘why’ of the problem of evil.

“I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, of the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood that they’ve shed; and it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify what has happened.” Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

For further reading:

The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis

Evil and the Justice of God by N.T. Wright

Unspeakable by Os Guinness

How Long O Lord? by D.A. Carson

Why Does It Have To Hurt? The Meaning of Christian Suffering by Dan McCartney

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper

Peace, ron

The Real Easter!

Easter greeting illustrated by Michael Walker.

enjoy, ron

Receive Jesus!

The life & death of Jesus Christ!



Jesus took your punishment upon Himself -"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3.16-17). Then He rose from the dead and defeated death. Please, repent (turn from sin) today and trust in Jesus, and God will grant you everlasting life. Jesus is alive! Follow Him today!

The Three Marys at the Tomb!

Hubert van Eyck ? – 1426

Jesus has risen!

Van Eyck’s painting shows three women positioned at the empty grave of Jesus. An angel is telling them what happened while the guards slumber in a deep sleep. The women bring bottles with ointment and spices to anoint the corpse.

None of the gospels describes the scene exactly as Van Eyck does on this panel. The painting is closest to Matthew's description, the only gospel that mentions an angel sitting on the door to the empty grave, and that also mentions the sleeping guards.

Mark talks of "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome" and a young man sitting next to the grave.

Luke says the women were "Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James". He also claims that "two men stood by them in shining garments".

John only mentions Mary Magdalene visiting the grave.

This work is linked to Luke 24:1.

He is risen!
He is risen indeed!

Happy Resurrection Sunday, ron

The Entombment!

By Caravaggio 1573 – 1610

Monumental work by Caravaggio on the Entombment.

Nicodemus and the apostle John have wrapped Jesus in cloths. The women look on and throw up their arms and wail as Jesus is laid down.

The painting first served as an altarpiece for Roman church,

but is now part of the papal collection.

This work is linked to Mark 15:46

enjoy Easter, ron

Rise Up!

"Tsisa Dulehisanv" is Cherokee for “Jesus / when he arose”.

He is risen!
He is risen, indeed!

Happy Easter!