Drew Downs
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Christians love on the inside and the outside.
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3 min read
25. Christians should be taught that faith is both an internal and external commitment to love. The fundamental character of faith is love. Some of us talk about love and we often try to express love, but we rarely equate faith with love. We see love as living out our faith. Or we like to say that our faith inspires our love. But this…
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Believing in grace means living in grace.
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6 min read
24. Christians should be taught that belief unused is unbelief and a damning of God’s generous mercy. Much of what passes for faith or Christian theology is not a profound truth, but a riddle. We aren’t being honest with each other or ourselves; we’re unwittingly playing a game of deception. What I mean by riddle…
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Why Not Empty Hell?
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5 min read
23. As, for instance: why would the pastor not empty hell for the sake of love rather than the hollowest of incantations? If love is what you’re about, then why not support love for the sake of love? Isn’t that what God is after? Why not place the redemption at the center of the faith and the…
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Faces of Love
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8 min read
In Matthew 22:15-22, we get stuck on the words “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s” we forget the whole thing’s a trap. Proper 24A | Matthew 22:15-22 I don’t know if any of you have been outside in…you know…the last few years…but there are people really concerned with the mixing…
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Jesus Isn’t a Pez Dispenser
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7 min read
22. Nor does the pastor embody Jesus in the forced recitation of words, empty or well-meant. Virtually everything I teach conforms to historic Christian orthodoxy. And yet, there are many Christians who call me a heretic. Granted, I often call myself a heretic and encourage thoughtful followers of Christ to wrestle with many of the things…
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You Aren’t Being Jesus in Your Hate
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4 min read
21. Therefore the pastor doesn’t “with” love in excluding his LGBTQ brothers and sisters. The nature of Jesus is being with us. His place is with, presence. Jesus is present in a “withness”. Withness is active. It is intimate and full of hope. There is no grace without the comfort of intimacy. Take the idea that…