Robots or Rebels: The Dangers of Growing Up a Legalist, and Biblical Motivations for True Holiness
Robots or Rebels: The Dangers of Growing Up a Legalist, and Biblical Motivations for True Holiness

Author: Robert P. Pruitt

Publisher: Ambassador International

Published: 2014-01-31

Total Pages: 121

ISBN-13: 1620203588

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Legalism! Almost no one is neutral on the subject. Some see a legalist behind every attempt to encourage holiness in the lives of God’s people, while others fail to see that they have fallen into the clutches of legalistic thinking. In the name of calling people to righteousness, many add to the Word of God and form a system destined to end in an unbiblical approach to godly living. The results of legalism are devastating. Many fail to learn to think, or at least think biblically, but continue to conform to the rules that have been laid before them. Robotic in their obedience, they never experience the joy of the freedom available in Christ. Others rebel, not only against the system, but against even those teachings that are true to the Scriptures. These rebels often leave their families and the church in pursuit of personal pleasure. In so doing they find themselves becoming slaves to sin. This book is designed to expose legalism and its tragic results, and then point the way to a true holiness that is based in biblical motivations. Christ is glorified only through truly holy lives.

The Universal Christ
The Universal Christ

Author: Richard Rohr

Publisher: Convergent Books

Published: 2019-03-05

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1524762105

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From one of the world’s most influential spiritual thinkers, a long-awaited book exploring what it means that Jesus was called “Christ,” and how this forgotten truth can restore hope and meaning to our lives. “Anyone who strives to put their faith into action will find encouragement and inspiration in the pages of this book.”—Melinda Gates In his decades as a globally recognized teacher, Richard Rohr has helped millions realize what is at stake in matters of faith and spirituality. Yet Rohr has never written on the most perennially talked about topic in Christianity: Jesus. Most know who Jesus was, but who was Christ? Is the word simply Jesus’s last name? Too often, Rohr writes, our understandings have been limited by culture, religious debate, and the human tendency to put ourselves at the center. Drawing on scripture, history, and spiritual practice, Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world. “God loves things by becoming them,” he writes, and Jesus’s life was meant to declare that humanity has never been separate from God—except by its own negative choice. When we recover this fundamental truth, faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God, and more about learning to recognize the Creator’s presence all around us, and in everyone we meet. Thought-provoking, practical, and full of deep hope and vision, The Universal Christ is a landmark book from one of our most beloved spiritual writers, and an invitation to contemplate how God liberates and loves all that is.

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die
I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die

Author: Sarah J. Robinson

Publisher: WaterBrook

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0593193539

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A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

Being Disciples
Being Disciples

Author: Rowan Williams

Publisher: SPCK

Published: 2016-07-21

Total Pages: 79

ISBN-13: 0281076634

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"If discipleship is a journey, this book belongs in the rucksack. . . Like the scriptures on which it is based, it deserves repeated reading." Stephen Cherry, Dean of Kings College, Cambridge This fresh and inspiring look at the meaning of discipleship covers the essentials of the christian life, including: faith, hope and love; forgiveness; holiness; social action; life in the Spirit. Written for the general reader by one of our greatest living theologians, this book will help you to see more clearly, love more dearly and follow more nearly the way of Jesus Christ.

Native
Native

Author: Kaitlin B. Curtice

Publisher: Brazos Press

Published: 2020-05-05

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1493422022

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Native is about identity, soul-searching, and the never-ending journey of finding ourselves and finding God. As both a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation and a Christian, Kaitlin Curtice offers a unique perspective on these topics. In this book, she shows how reconnecting with her Potawatomi identity both informs and challenges her faith. Curtice draws on her personal journey, poetry, imagery, and stories of the Potawatomi people to address themes at the forefront of today's discussions of faith and culture in a positive and constructive way. She encourages us to embrace our own origins and to share and listen to each other's stories so we can build a more inclusive and diverse future. Each of our stories matters for the church to be truly whole. As Curtice shares what it means to experience her faith through the lens of her Indigenous heritage, she reveals that a vibrant spirituality has its origins in identity, belonging, and a sense of place.

Christianity's Dangerous Idea
Christianity's Dangerous Idea

Author: Alister McGrath

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2008-11-04

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 0061436860

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A New Interpretation of Protestantism and Its Impact on the World The radical idea that individuals could interpret the Bible for themselves spawned a revolution that is still being played out on the world stage today. This innovation lies at the heart of Protestantism's remarkable instability and adaptability. World-renowned scholar Alister McGrath sheds new light on the fascinating figures and movements that continue to inspire debate and division across the full spectrum of Protestant churches and communities worldwide.

The Next Mormons
The Next Mormons

Author: Jana Riess

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-02-01

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0190885211

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American Millennials--the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s--have been leaving organized religion in unprecedented numbers. For a long time, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was an exception: nearly three-quarters of people who grew up Mormon stayed that way into adulthood. In The Next Mormons, Jana Riess demonstrates that things are starting to change. Drawing on a large-scale national study of four generations of current and former Mormons as well as dozens of in-depth personal interviews, Riess explores the religious beliefs and behaviors of young adult Mormons, finding that while their levels of belief remain strong, their institutional loyalties are less certain than their parents' and grandparents'. For a growing number of Millennials, the tensions between the Church's conservative ideals and their generation's commitment to individualism and pluralism prove too high, causing them to leave the faith-often experiencing deep personal anguish in the process. Those who remain within the fold are attempting to carefully balance the Church's strong emphasis on the traditional family with their generation's more inclusive definition that celebrates same-sex couples and women's equality. Mormon families are changing too. More Mormons are remaining single, parents are having fewer children, and more women are working outside the home than a generation ago. The Next Mormons offers a portrait of a generation navigating between traditional religion and a rapidly changing culture.

All that is Solid Melts Into Air
All that is Solid Melts Into Air

Author: Marshall Berman

Publisher: Verso

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780860917854

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The experience of modernization -- the dizzying social changes that swept millions of people into the capitalist world -- and modernism in art, literature and architecture are brilliantly integrated in this account.

New Wine in New Wineskins
New Wine in New Wineskins

Author: Zac Poonen

Publisher:

Published: 2021-09-30

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9789384302092

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Today many believers have been led astray and are in bondage, because they have been fed on the old wine - the traditions of men that have accumulated in Christendom through twenty centuries, and that have been added to God's Word, or that have replaced God's Word. When the new wine is offered to them, they say, "The old is good enough" (Luke 5:39). This they remain in spiritual stagnation, year after year. Most Christians are unwilling to give up the traditions of their elders, even when they see these to be clearly contrary to the teaching of God's Word. We need to come back to the faith that was revealed by God to His holy apostles and prophets, as recorded in the New Testament Scriptures, if we are to fulfil God's purpose in our day and age. To come back to that, we must be willing to do violence to every tradition of man that is contrary to God's Word (Matthew 11:12). This book will change your life and your ministry, because it will question many 'sacred' ideas that you have held that have no foundation in God's Word. That in turn will save you from regret and loss when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of your life to Him. He who has an open mind and a bold heart, let him read on...

Rethinking Hell
Rethinking Hell

Author: Christopher M. Date

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2014-04-15

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 1630871605

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Most evangelical Christians believe that those people who are not saved before they die will be punished in hell forever. But is this what the Bible truly teaches? Do Christians need to rethink their understanding of hell? In the late twentieth century, a growing number of evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell in favor of a minority theological perspective called conditional immortality. This view contends that the unsaved are resurrected to face divine judgment, just as Christians have always believed, but due to the fact that immortality is only given to those who are in Christ, the unsaved do not exist forever in hell. Instead, they face the punishment of the "second death"--an end to their conscious existence. This volume brings together excerpts from a variety of well-respected evangelical thinkers, including John Stott, John Wenham, and E. Earl Ellis, as they articulate the biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments for conditionalism. These readings will give thoughtful Christians strong evidence that there are indeed compelling reasons for rethinking hell.