Advent 4 (2016.12.18 Sermon)
December 19th, 2016 | John Chandler
John Chandler rounded the corner to the home stretch of Advent as we read an ancient story (or two) of God proving trustworthy through the birth of a child.
Quotes and links mentioned:
- “We are living in the most peaceful era in history. International wars have dropped to an all-time low. With few exceptions, since 1945 states no longer invade other states in order to conquer and swallow them up. Such conquests had been the bread and butter of political history since time immemorial. It was how most great empires were established, and how most rulers and populations expected things to stay. But campaigns of conquest like those of the Romans, Mongols and Ottomans cannot take place today anywhere in the world. Since 1945, no independent country recognized by the UN has been conquered and wiped off the map. Limited international wars still occur from time to time, and millions still die in wars, but wars are no longer the norm. … Today humankind has broken the law of the jungle. There is at last real peace, and not just absence of war. For most polities, there is no plausible scenario leading to full-scale conflict within one year.” – Yuval Harari in Sapiens
- Benefit of the Doubt, by Greg Boyd
- “God is capable of appearing in history through the normal means of marital intercourse. The virgin birth does not seem necessary for God or for us; but it is an impressive doctrine, enshrining the important evangelical truth that God can, and in fact regularly does, come to human life without the initiatives of human nature.” — Dale Bruner
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