Ruminating Musings Brainwork

The chapter for this week’s Bonhoeffer reading is called Ministry . This chapter truly focuses on an extension of conversation about community. How sweet it is to talk about a Life Together that has been truly lived. My goal for this post is to point out three tidbits from this chapter which struck me as important. First, the ministry of holding one’s tongue. Second, a matchless discovery. Third, meekness. Bonhoeffer suggests that if we held our tongues at the right time, the evil words that are unfit for speech would not be spoken. He acknowledges the difficult balance here. We must not speak evil against our brother but also we must not tolerate injustice. What is the key to understanding when to speak out and when to hold our tongues? Well, how is your heart? In the next section, Bonhoeffer talks about a matchless discovery when you hold your tongue. How does someone go from harsh and hurtful words toward someone to kind and praising words toward that same person? “Where this...

The beginning of a new book! How exciting to start reading Bonhoeffer’s Life Together ! This post will begin to cover the first chapter, Community. First, we’ll look at visible fellowship. Next, we’ll look at joy and strength. Last, we’ll look at through Christ and in Christ. “It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God’s Word and sacrament.” (18) Bonhoeffer makes the point that believers have a unique bond that unbelievers do not have. We are able to spend time together in the same space to talk about God. There are several places all around the globe of people who cannot make their faith public because they would be persecuted for the gospel message. What a gift it is to be able to gather together with other believers. “The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.” (19) As humans, we were made with a physical body. This is important because if we try to neglect ...

“The main business of our lives will be to bring them to the Saviour of their souls.” (134, Machen) Chapter 7, the final chapter in Machen’s book Christianity and Liberalism, it titled The Church. What I see as the very core of this chapter is the Church’s honor and responsibility of connecting people with God. Machen explains this in a couple ways. First, Christians have a special bond. Second, Christians cannot be unified with sin. Third, unauthentic Christians can sometimes seem authentic. Lastly, we will not be able to be unified if we do not try to understand others. “The Christian knows also of a relationship far more intimate than that general relationship of man to man, and it is for this more intimate relationship that he reserves the term ‘brother.’ The true brotherhood, according to Christian teaching, is the brotherhood of the redeemed.” (134, Machen) Galatians 3:26 tells us that by faith, we are all children of God. This is the brotherhood of the redeemed. I feel like...

     This week’s chapter is on Salvation. Machen is concerned with people knowing where their true salvation comes from: a life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ. He explains this by reminding us of why Jesus is savior, why His death was important, where liberal preachers fall short, and how the gospel is exclusive.      First, Machen wants us to know that Jesus is savior because of the sacrifice of his life. Some may try and say that Jesus was just a good guy who lived a life that is worthy of being an example of what a good person could do. But this thinking completely denies the authority of Jesus. Scripture says that Jesus is the Messiah, the saving one. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice because he lived a sinless life, could take on all the sins of the world in the past, present, and future, and he was completely man and completely God.      Machen writes, “According to Christian belief, Jesus is our Saviour, not by virtue of what H...

     This week’s chapter was on Jesus. Machen is explaining what he believed were some of the most important doctrine to know about Jesus. My focus of this chapter will be on just a few of Machem’s points: Jesus is the object of faith, Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, and Liberalism tried to bypass Jesus and have a relationship without him.      First, Machen begins by talking about how Jesus was everything to Paul. He wrote, “Jesus was not for Paul merely an example for faith; He was primarily the object of faith. The religion of Paul did not consist in having faith in God  like the faith which Jesus had in God; it consisted rather in having faith in Jesus.” (70, Machem) What does Machen mean by this?      When I first read this, I was confused because I didn’t think Machen was trying to say that Paul objectified Jesus and turned him into an object in any way. Instead, what Machen was referring to is how Jesus is the very center of P...

In this week’s chapter of Christianity and Liberalism, there are two main themes: authority and subjective experience. Machem was concerned with the people of his time losing sight of the authority of Scripture and relying only on their own experience to recognize truth. This is very prevalent in our time and culture today. In our culture, there are an exuberant amount of people who will nominally claim Jesus for the sake of fire insurance or simply forsake Jesus altogether. What does this mean and why is it a problem? This means that people who claim Jesus but not have any fruit from an alive relationship with God are forsaking the authority of Scripture. How do we know this? Scripture is not only informative but transformative. The more you know God the more you love God. “The Christian message has come to us through this book.” (59, Machem) Machem explains how some will use their experiences to confirm or deny the Gospel. “It is one of the root errors of modern liberalism. C...