Theology Archives - Wil Ramsey

Keep the Cross Out of Christmas

December 17, 2013 2 Comments

Last Christmas I was standing in the lobby (foyer?) of a mega-church. This particular church had as, mega-churches often do, an impressive display that was changed with the season or sermon series.

This one was particularly impressive. It was a triptych of sorts. On one side, there was a nativity scene, complete with wise men and shepherds (together at the same time? I know. I wrote them a strongly worded e-mail). On the opposite side was a Christmas tree covered in ornaments with pictures of kids they were sponsoring.

And in the middle, larger than either of the other sides, was a 20 foot tall cross.

This year I’ve seen friends post on facebook that “Jesus was born to die.” I read a blog recently that said, “Bethlehem only happened so Calvary could happen.” I listened to a sermon that imagined the first Christmas Eve as Jesus saying goodbye to his father and preparing for the cross (it ignored the fact that Jesus had been in Mary’s womb for 9 months since he wasn’t just God wearing a mansuit and it ignored the fact that he wasn’t going to die for another 33 years).

It seems that we are eager to turn Christmas into Good Friday.

I want to be upfront about where I stand on this: I hate it.

It is a lie, it is bad theology, and believing it is damaging you.

It’s OK to Let Your Kids Read The Chronicles of Narnia

November 22, 2013 Leave a comment

C.S. Lewis, one of the most influential Christians of the 20th century, died 50 years ago today.

During his life, Lewis wrote more than 50 books, the most famous of which are probably The Chronicles of Narnia. Earlier this year, I read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe to my four year old and was struck by how effectively Lewis communicates complex theological and philosophical ideas through children’s fantasy. It’s because of this that these books are so well loved.

Lewis isn’t without his critics, though, and there are several passages in The Chronicles of Narnia that have raised some eyebrows. Martyn Lloyd-Jones even questioned Lewis’ Christianity based on an expression of the atonement found in The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe.

But its hard to dismiss an intellect like Lewis’ without further investigation. So in honor of his life and work, let’s defend some of the things you might not want your kids to read in The Chronicles of Narnia.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Throwback Thursday: On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius

March 28, 2013 5 Comments

As part of my ongoing attempt to expand my understanding of Christianity I have been reading old books. To find out why I would do such a thing check out my previous post about that very thing.

The introduction to this month’s book is what started this whole project so I figured I should read it. Also, being a vocational Christian thinker and not having read On the Incarnation is like being an American Lit professor and having not read Grapes of Wrath. This book is just that big and important (for a 70 page book).

Just like any great classic it is timeless, but is best understood by knowing the time it came from. So, just like always, we start with a little cultural context for St. Athanasius.

Have we forgotten the Father?

October 22, 2012 22 Comments

I’m currently reading The Forgotten Father by Thomas Smail. His central premise is that we tend to exclude the first person of the Trinity, the Father, in favor of the Son or the Spirit. In it he writes:

We have had in recent years a Jesus movement and a charismatic movement. The one has almost disappeared and the other is threatening to run out of steam, perhaps because easy is in a different way inadequate to the gospel, which is basically a Father movement. It is not first a Jesuology (a doctrine about Jesus) or a pneumatology (a doctrine about the Spirit) but it is a theology or even a patrology — a doctrine about God the Father. It starts not with the cross of Jesus or with the gift of the Spirit, but with the Father who so loved the world that that he gave his Son in his Spirit. And it achieves its purpose, not when the body of Christ is gloriously renewed in every part without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27), not even when the enthroned Christ has subdued all his enemies and brought every lee to bow before him (Philippians 2:11), but rather when that same Christ “hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after has destroyed all domino, authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15:24). “When he as done this, then the Son will himself be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28).

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