Category: Authors
Featuring authors of interest and insights.
PART III from Dr. Ben Witherington on the Imago Dei
Thanks for joining me in this series that summarizes Dr Ben Witherington’s lectures on the Imago Dei (at the Welsey Forum 2014, Evangelical Seminary).
The following are snippets of the talk; the things that made the biggest impact on me.
(Scroll to the bottom to read a bio of Witherington and access his books.)
“By loving God you become like God. You become what you admire.”
The Kingdom of God is here now.
my note: (God broke into history and time with Jesus and his mission-and has always done that, to which the Bible attests.)
The Kingdom is also to come.
Kingdom means dominion (a realm). Dominion is a noun. Dominion is our inheritance.
“We live in a foreshadow, not a foretaste of the kingdom.”
my note: (The kingdom will come fully in the “fullness of time” and all will be put to rights-evil vanquished.)
Yom means day in Hebrew.
Yahweh can be translated as “Ancient of Days”
“Jesus is the only human + superhuman.”
Jesus:
• he is fully unique
• he meets the requirement (for sacrifice)
• he is the only God-man
• he is the only one worthy to be a mediator
Jesus imposed self-limitation
(Satan tempted him to abandon that.)
Jesus’ limitations on the “OMNIs”:
• Time
• Space
• Knowledge
(He did have immediate access to God through his intimate relationship with God and that is why he could know secret or hidden things and how he could prophesy.)
• Mortality
• Power
Jesus accepted our natural limitations.
Phil. 2:6-8
Though in the form of God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
The big difference? He sinned not.
How Jesus dealt with problems:
1. Using the scriptures
2. With the spirit of God
Thus:
• We have the same resources
• We can imitate Jesus
BIO:
Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies.
Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt.
Witherington has written over forty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website.
Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.
Click to View the Books by Dr Ben Witherington
Ben Witherington on the Imago Dei
Continued from my last post…this is Part II of summary of insights I gleaned from the Wesley Forum lecture at Evangelical Seminary, featuring Dr Ben Witherington. He gave us three presentations on the topic of the Imago Dei (image of God).
The 2nd lecture was about the Imago Dei in Jesus.
Here are some snippets I enjoyed:
“charakter” latin
(Yes, it’s the original of our English word “character”).
It refers to the impressionable wax seal used by a king to imprint his royal signet ring.
God’s charakter is manifest in Jesus and includes these qualities:
1. Heir of God, the King
2. Co-Creator
3. Perfect Reflection
4. Exact Imprint
5. He sustains by his word (logos: Jesus was and is the word)
6. Purifies sin
7. Rules over all
Witherington says that Romans 3:23 is better translated as this:
“For all have sinned and lack the glory of God.”
(This verse refers to the effaced but not erased Image of God in humans.)
SALVATION: the behavior & pattern of life.
I was saved.
I am being saved.
I will be saved.
Church is not a collection of individuals.
It’s a family and an identity centered on community, not individuality.
(In ancient times who your daddy was and who your clan was told everyone who you were. Only secondarily was your individual identity noticed (unlike how modern, North Americans experience identity).
The Imago Dei is a royal seal.
We have the imprint.
You embody the word; you become it.
• Jesus gave us the “what” – Great Commandment
LOVE
(The chief imperative is forgiveness and is a Christian distinctive that breaks the cycle of bitterness and violence.)
• Jesus gave us the “how” – Great Commission
(go and tell, and make more like me– which is discipleship)
• Jesus gave us the “goal” – Great Doxology
(praise) Live in the wonder and love of God.
When we pray in Jesus’ name we must always consider this question:
“Would I sign Jesus’ name to this?”
The next post will conclude my notes on the final lecture of Dr Witherington.
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Re-inventing how we use Money?
When you don’t have enough money, you start to question the idea of it in the first place.
Who controls it? Why? and how?
You start to wonder if the typical system makes sense or if it’s really up to any good.
I’ve often wondered why the most important work doesn’t pay well. The answers are more complicated than I can talk about here or even truly understand without a lot of research. Nevertheless, many of the answers tend to stem from issues of power, the sources of control/power, and the desire to keep things a certain way for people who have amassed wealth and power.
The capital of the United States is now the richest city in the country and awash in new millionaires and billionaires; not because these folks created important and noble things, but because they are following a gravy train of money, special favors, and power for a very few.
I don’t subscribe to all of Charles Eisenstein‘s views, but what he has to say about money and what we can do to make our relationships better and the world a better place are worth hearing.
It’s good to question the influential things in our lives. It’s smart to vet them for their goodness and test them for their true benefits. If our ways are left wanting, it’s good to re-invent how we interact and exchange with one another.
Today, I give you this video as food-for-thought. How could we do things differently?
I’m planning a webinar on April 24th with my friend Bill Fox. I’ve learned that he is beginning to use a gifting model for his work. It’s intrigued me and I’m starting to investigate it for my purposes too. More on the webinar (topics and schedule) will be coming in the next week or so…stay tuned!…
OKAY UPDATE! My newest resource is now available using the gifting system. Check out the details HERE!
Please share this post with others. It costs you nothing :)
Non Profit: RE-invented as “For Purpose”
When you tell someone that you work for a non profit, (or a ministry, or a charity…)
You often get one of three reactions:
1. A strange and muted pity.
Some times this is accompanied by slow nodding and maybe an awkward silence and change of subject, or some refer to some one they know who sort of does the same sort of thing (awkward empathy).
“Oh, yeah, my uncle was a pastor. He died unappreciated and penniless.”
2. A bemused reaction, “Oh, okay. How…nice.”
3. A flummoxed stare.
They think something went wrong.
Or, that you must a be a bleeding heart, or maybe you are just confused about what you really want to do.
“Oh, I thought you were…um… (smart and industrious)…but, you can’t get paid much, right?”
Sadly, I had to leave a non-profit graduate school as the Director of Communications because I needed to pay bills.
I worked with the nicest group of people I’ve ever worked with. We did exciting and transformative things that make the world a better place. In the end though, my family needed, literally, a roof over our heads (lots of leaking in the attic). I had no choice but to look for work to meet that pressing need.
Strangely, I’ve sensed in all the non-profits I’ve worked with, so far, that there is going idea was that you have to give up something to be there. The rules are different and you just have to suck it up and put big girl pants on, and such.
You have to be okay with being very poorly compensated.
Now, it isn’t for lack of will to do it. The funding (really-the lack of funding) just can’t support something otherwise. However, there is something more. A kind of unconscious (maybe?) communal ascension to thinking is cemented way that makes change, improvement, and sometimes even success difficult.
It’s a disabling mindset, really.
We can get stuck is a false conundrum that subtly discredits the fulfilling work being done because it it conversely attached to a conflicting paradigm that claims profit = success. By definition then, non-profit = non-success.
(Any pockets of moralizing that all the hard work is to be for treasures in heaven one day, hardly makes it easier.)
I wonder if there is a better way.
Adam Braun thinks so. He gets to a great point: We shouldn’t start labeling ourselves as failures. We shouldn’t be apologizing for doing awesome things in the world asa 501C status.
(Have you ever done the old……”Oh, yeah, we’re a non profit.” …as eyes shift downward in shame…?).
The truth is…
Being centered on a purpose rather than existing for a profit is the most important sort of work on the planet.
The good news is that certain business models can be infused to make the whole system more successful. That’s how Adam set up “Pencils for Promise” (click on Adam’s photo to get to his website…but, wait…just a minute more).
I love what how he describes for-purpose organizations as a places…
“where idealism meets acumen.”
How great to see this important shift happening. I have GREAT hope in Millenials!
I look forward to infusing both purpose and profit into what I’m doing. Who says they have to be in silos!?
For me, it started with a passion project: the book I created with Doug Jackson in August (2013). Some proceeds are earmarked for 2 -for purpose- groups that care for dogs and cats.
The most exciting thing I’m involved with now is the new resource that keeps the underdogs (but not canines) in mind and offers a high Return of Investment (ROI).
The knowledge gained translates quickly into success (be that revenue, exposure, or impact).
The non profit (for PURPOSE) organizations are the ones with such heart. I want them to succeed.
If you are interested, click HERE.
Read what others are saying about it.
Have YOU ever worked for a ministry or other kind of non profit?
What was the mindset like?
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