Benjamin L. Corey's Blog, page 18

Please Stop Blaming Your Obnoxious Behavior On Jesus

When Jesus died on the cross, I believe he served as the ultimate scapegoat– exposing the evil within us by allowing us to pin it all on him. While being the scapegoat who shines a light on our own darkness was supposed to be a one-time-deal, 2000 years later I believe we’re still pinning a good [Read More...]

5 Serious Questions I Have For Christians Who Support Donald Trump

I used to consider myself a person of at least average intelligence, but I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the idea of Christians supporting Donald Trump, and I just can’t do it. I tried, but I have failed miserably. Instead, I’ve just found myself left with questions. So, here are 5 questions I [Read More...]

The Cross Is… (Philosophical Reflections on Calvary)

This is post 2 of 3 on philosophical reflections on the cross by pastor and philosopher, Jeff Cook … How we see the cross matters. Benjamin L. Corey here wrote, “the character of God we think we see on the cross becomes our foundation of understanding who God is.” Is the cross required to keep [Read More...]

God, The Cross, and the Problem of Evil (Jeff Cook)

 This is a first of three posts by pastor and philosopher, Jeff Cook, on philosophical reflections of the cross. … I have long believed that without pain, love is impossible. Real love requires sacrifice. The love I have for my boys is manifest in my persistent back pain from lifting them up over and again. [Read More...]

10 Reasons Jesus Would Never Win The American Evangelical Vote

It’s political season, have you noticed? (Seriously, kill me now.) As part of that political season, pundits like to crack numbers, explore potential paths to victory, and discuss voter blocks. One of those voter blocks is yuge– in fact, it’s hard to win the presidency without it: The Evangelical vote. I know this block well– [Read More...]

Old Testament Law: The Accuser Christ Defeated on the Cross

This month we’ve been talking all things atonement as we prepare for Holy Week to arrive. So far we’ve deconstructed the Penal Substitution theory of the atonement on various grounds, and I have offered the suggestion that perhaps the Devil is the missing link (the agent of causation) within many atonement theories. Finally, I have suggested [Read More...]

Paradigm Shifts, Tearing Down the Temples, & Being Here: The Rob Bell Interview

Yesterday MPT and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rob Bell for EP36 of That God Show. We covered a lot of ground, from his new book, How to be Here, to leaving Mars Hill, why he seems so happy these days, and wide-range of other topics. As Rob always does, he left [Read More...]

The One Word That Could Change Your View of the Atonement

We’ve spent the last few posts deconstructing aspects of the Penal Substitution theory of the atonement that so many of us grew up with (series archive, here). Today we turn away from the necessary deconstruction and begin reformulating a healthy view of the atonement. When I was doing my graduate work at Gordon-Conwell before going [Read More...]

If Jesus Had To Die Before We Could Be Forgiven, I Have A Few More Questions

Today we wrap up the deconstruction portion of my atonement series (you can find the rest, here) which thus far has looked at problems I see with the Penal Substitution theory of the atonement. In this final deconstruction post, I present the lingering questions Penal Substitution brings up in my mind. In our next post, I will [Read More...]

Blood Sacrifices? But God Didn’t Even Like Blood Sacrifices!

Continuing my series on theology of the atonement, we continue discussion of the issue of a blood sacrifice. The other day I noted that if God had demanded the blood sacrifice of a perfect, sinless human, he would not be all that different from Pagan deities who demanded blood to appease them. Many, of course, find [Read More...]