I was afraid someone might ask me this! Amazing what you can get away with in the pulpit, but not on OST.

I was desperately searching for the commentary in which I found this nugget of information, but couldn’t find it in time for the post. So you may have to wait a little longer.

Knocking from the Inside: A theology of redemption in light of God’s omnipresence

If
God is everywhere, then s/he must be Everywhere, including within the
vibrating cells unbelievers, nonbelievers, partial believers and even
gay haters, gluttons and grass. Even me. Even before I was becoming a
Christian, opening to an increasing awareness of God’s truth, grace —
really just God’s love in all its many faces, like justice and joy and
the cross and being alive.

God is willing that none should
perish; Jesus asked his Father to forgive those who know not what they
do, and our Divine Creator sent his only begotton Son — which could
just as easily have been a her only begotton daughter — not to condemn
the world, but to save it. Grace is free, and it’s already here. Grace
is alive, waiting, present for everyone, anytime. All we have to do is
wake up and open the Present of Christmas morning: God with us.
If God is everywhere, then s/he must be Everywhere, including within
the vibrating cells unbelievers, nonbelievers, partial believers and
even gay haters, gluttons and grass. Even me. Even before I was
becoming a Christian, opening to an increasing awareness of God’s
truth, grace — really just God’s love in all its many faces, like
justice and joy and the cross and being alive.

How do you consider yourself a evangelical - what are the parameters that you use to define that in your life? I have not for instance seen you quote or refer to your relationship with Jesus. Are you sure you are saved?

This (provocative?) question was posed by marhorse in the thread ‘What is the “emerging church”?’ This is by no means a complete or even a very coherent response, but the question is important and helpful - partly for personal reasons but also because it brings sharply into focus a critical area of contention between evangelicalism and emerging theology. For a personal statement of faith you could also have a look at ‘My (tentative) beliefs’.

I found this story today in The New York Times and was curious what folks thought...

Total depravity - unconditional election - limited atonement - irresistible grace - the perseverance of the saints! Private conversations on the OST website have drawn my attention once again to the great hammer blows of the reformation - quietly being unpicked, perhaps, by the seamstresses of opensourcetheology?

The moral flaws of the central characters in the biblical narrative, the corruption flowing from idolatrous nations and in the chosen nation itself form the backcloth to the person and mission of Jesus.

What is sin? Is it personal, or social and structural? Does it need to be redefined? What is the significance of sin in our own experience and the maps we are drawing of redemption history?