Discover America's four political religions and why Jesus is crashing them all!
The political divide is growing. Each side demands ultimate allegiance that's incompatible with the Christian faith. The fervency with which so many advocate their political ideals is best described in religious terms.
Four political "religions" are rising in America:
• Religion of Progress: "We can change the world."
• Religion of Responsibility: "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps."
• Religion of Identity: "Live your truth."
• Religion of Security: "Good fences make good neighbors."
In this insightful, nonpartisan work, a respected pastor first exposes the religious nature of these political movements and how they compete for our loyalty to Jesus, and then prescribes ten political commandments for Christlike engagement.
Fortunately, Jesus is the ultimate Party Crasher. And he is disrupting politics-as-usual to invite us into a bold vision capable of redeeming our partisan divide.
A powerful call for Christians to understand sex as a window into God's story of redemption, and a validating guide to living with authentic love in a changing culture-from the influential pastor and author of The Skeletons in God's Closet.
Beautiful isn't likely the first word that comes to mind when we think about sex.
Our reactions are as varied as our experiences and backgrounds. Perhaps the word brings up past baggage. Perhaps it holds yearning for a dream that has never come true. Maybe we would rather not talk about it. Maybe it's all we want to talk about. Around us, our culture is divided by this topic. On one side, "progressive" voices seek to dismantle historic Christian teachings to fit current norms. On the other side, "conservative" voices can reinforce messages of shame, judgement, and repression.
Beautiful Union offers a third way, one that is both true and beautiful. It gives us a provocative, positive look into the deepest Christian understanding of sex . . . and what sex reveals about God, our world, and even ourselves. Through biblical teaching and livable, joyful answers to our tough questions about sexuality, author and pastor Joshua Ryan Butler shows how sex illuminates the structure of creation, the nature of salvation, the abundance of God's kingdom, and God's heartbeat for the world.
Discover afresh the beautiful invitation of our sexuality . . . as God intended it to be.
Is God a sadistic torturer? Coldhearted judge? Genocidal maniac?
Unfortunately, our popular caricatures often make him out to be.
God has some skeletons in the closet. At least, that's what many of us fear. "How can a loving God send people to hell?" "Isn't it arrogant to believe Jesus is the only way to God?" "What is up with holy war in the Old Testament?" These are difficult questions that our family, our friends, our culture--even we ourselves--are asking. The Skeletons in God's Closet pulls these skeletons out of the closet to show that they were never really skeletons at all--but part of the good news that God is good and coming to redeem his world.
Hell is not an "underground torture chamber" God creates to torture sinners, but a destructive power we unleash that God has promised to redeem his world from--it represents an extravagant act of mercy. Judgment is not "churchgoers go to heaven, everyone else goes to hell," but God coming to raise humanity from death and set his world right by calling things out as they really are--and the results are a shocking surprise. Holy war is not "the strong using God to justify their conquest of the weak," but God arising on behalf of the weak when the tyranny of the strong has raged for far too long--he is the hope of the world.
Mercy. Surprise. Hope.
Not what we usually think.
