The Penitent Thief...: April 2011

Apr 24, 2011

Apr 23, 2011

According to the New Testament, on the day between Jesus' death on Friday afternoon and his resurrection on Sunday morning, he descended to the dead in Hades. Why? Well, he was dead. But he didn't stay dead. Nor did he just play dead. He preached.

1Peter 3:19–20 says that Jesus "went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah…"

1Peter 4:6 says that the gospel (the good news) was "proclaimed even to the dead…"

In the Orthodox traditions, this is an important part of Pascha (the original name for the celebration of Christ's defeat of death, the name "easter" is actually of pagan origins) called Harrowing Saturday. The Roman Church, and the Protestant churches that came out of it, don't say much about this, even though the three creeds of Christianity (Apostles, Athanasian, and Nicene) all make it a primary tenet of the Faith.

Hades, being outside of time and space, is not a chronological place. It is reasonable to believe (if you can believe in reasonableness) that Jesus preached to all the dead of all time, and released from prison those who would follow. I know this to be true.

Why? Because he preached to me when I was yet a dead man... and he will yet preach to everyone. His sheep will then recognize their master's voice.

Apr 22, 2011

TGIF

    Those who think God did this almost incredible thing call it Good Friday because only an extremely good God could do a thing like that. All religions attempt to bridge the gulf between the terrific purity of God and the sinfulness of man, but Christianity believes that God built that bridge Himself. This particular Friday commemorates His deliberate action in allowing Himself to be caught up in the sin-suffering-death mechanism which haunts mankind.
    He didn't let it end there, for He went on, right through death. But the men who believe in Him can't forget the kind of Person such an act reveals. That's why they call it Good Friday.

    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982)
 CQOD

Apr 18, 2011

Annoying host/presentation, great barbecue.

Watch the full episode. See more The Daytripper.

Apr 14, 2011

Don't!

Quotation:

Every time the disciples started establishing rules—no children near Jesus; don’t let the crowd touch Jesus; don’t talk to Samaritan women; don’t let people waste expensive perfumes—Jesus told them to knock it off, and his rebuke was usually followed by a lecture that said, “You still don’t get it! We’re not substituting religious rules with our rules. We are substituting religious rules with Me!” Jesus kept saying “Follow Me,” not “follow My rules.” So most of us have spent our Christian lives learning what we can’t do instead of celebrating what we can do in Jesus.

... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Dangerous Wonder, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1998, p. 53 (see the book)

Source: CQOD