In this episode we’re beginning a short series on Palestinian Liberation Theology, starting with a discussion on Zionism and the Nakba with Yousef AlKhouri, who is a Christian Arab Palestinian residing in Bethlehem, Palestine, where he is a lecturer in Biblical Studies and Mission at Bethlehem Bible College, and he is currently working on his doctorate in contextual interpretation at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Over the course of our conversation, Yousef provides helpful historical context for...
I recently read “The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel” formed by a group of fourteen men, signed by John MacArthur and many other Christian leaders with over 6,000 signers. They state how they do not see social justice issues as essential to the gospel and how the emphasis of social justice can detract from the gospel. In section 6 about the gospel, the statement says, “This also means that implications and applications of the...
In light of everything that is happening today in our nation regarding area of immigration, I wanted to write about how as Christians, we need to respond to these issues and see what God’s heart looks like towards the foreigner and sojourner. Instead of just being ethnocentric as Americans, and seeing America First!, our core identity is rooted in our identity in Christ, far more than our national identity. We are part of God’s family,...
Evil things happen in this world, and yet God is still somehow sovereign. This is perhaps the hardest part of Christian theology to accept and understand. How is God sovereign over the persecution of Christians around the world, over the acts of ISIS, over world hunger and poverty, or over smaller evils like my own depression, pain, and anxiety? The answer might be eerily similar to the answer to how a perfectly good Father is sovereign over...
At the table sat seven fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, and the other three apostles who at the very least were Jews. If you’re like me and grew up in 21st century United States, then that probably wasn’t the most eyebrow raising description. Except for the tax collectors, because I don’t think the majority of us have happy feelings when we think of the IRS. But what was it actually like? The fishermen were...
In light of the Walter Scott and Eric Harris killings, along with the #ShutdownA14 protests against police brutality this past week, I’d like to share an excerpt from my essay entitled, “To Establish Justice at The Gates”, which was published in the Los Angeles Review of Books earlier this month. How can I be well, when my sister is not well; how can I not be well if my brother has found love? […] in this concept, when...
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