Friday, December 30, 2022

INVITATION TO PRAY THIS JANUARY 2023

 


Pastors and Christian Leaders, 

I am inviting you to join me and others to focus on prayer, and praying, in the coming month of January. 

I want you to use, as your devotional guide, my new book 31 Letters to the Church on Praying. Read one entry a day, beginning January 1.

If you want a paperback or ebook, they are available on Amazon.

If you would like a free PDF of my book, send a request to my email. 

johnpiippo@msn.com

Pastsor and leaders, please forward the PDF to your people. Call your people to a month of praying in January 2023!

John Piippo

Thursday, December 22, 2022

The Check-out Line at Meijer before the big storm

 

This afternoon Linda and I went to Meijer to pick up some last-minute Christmas things.

We got in the check-out line at 3 PM.

This is where being a philosopher is advantageous.















Thursday, December 15, 2022

Pastors - Join Me in Refueling Your Church's Praying Life in January

 


Pastors and Christian Leaders - 

Praying is foundational Christian activity. As shepherds and mentors and leaders, we are to escort our people into praying as a lifestyle.

My new book 31 Letters to the Church on Praying is a resource you can use to increase the praying in your church community.

I provide 31 brief devotional and inspirational lessons that will equip your people in the praying life.

I'll be doing this with several churches in January 2023. I invite you to join me.

Email me and request the PDF of my book. I'll send it to you, for free. You can disseminate this to your church family, at no cost.

If someone wants my book as a paperback, or a Kindle ebook, it's available at Amazon HERE.

Blessings!

John Piippo

johnpiippo@msn.com


Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Martin Heidegger - My Fascination, and an Oh-So-Brief Introduction to Being and Time

 

                                                                  (Detroit - 12.10.22)

When I was an undergraduate philosophy major at Northern Illinois University, one of my favorite professors was Michael Gelven. Dr. Gelven, to me, was a great teacher. Students who complained about his teaching did not understand the brilliance of what he was doing. I was so influenced that I adopted some of his methods and used them in the philosophy courses I taught at our county community college.

Gelven introduced me to the German philosopher Martin Heidegger. I have often referred to his book A Commentary on Heidegger's Being and Time

When I attended Northern Baptist Theological Seminary I did an independent study, on Being and Time, with theologian Dr. Tom Finger. (Thank you Dr. Finger!) What a challenging book this was for me. And, in retrospect, how little of it I understood. Yet, I wanted to know more about Heidegger's ontological quest.

While a doctoral student at Northwestern University I took Dr. David Michael Levin's doctoral seminar on one of Heidegger's books. (Poetry, Language, Thought) Dr. Levin's creative Heideggarian approach to teaching at times confused me, and at times motivated me.

Forty-three years have passed since I was in Levin's class. These three professors increased my desire to go after, as much as possible, life's big questions. 

I have, periodically, returned to Heidegger studies. My interest in his thinking comes from his captivation by metaphysics and ontology (the study of Being). Here, for my own benefit perhaps more than yours, is a brief (big-time understatement) introduction to Heidegger's ontology, found in Being and Time.

Philosophical metaphysicians, throughout history, have asked questions such as Does the computer screen before me exist?, or Does God exist? Questions like these presume that we know what 'exists' means. (See "Martin Heidegger," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.) But mostly, such is not the case. Yet that is the question.

Rather than focusing on epistemological questions of the form Does ______ exist?, Heidegger's ontological project is to ask a more fundamental question; viz., what does it mean "to exist?" "This is one way of asking what Heidegger calls the question of the meaning of Being, and Being and Time is an investigation into that question." (Ib.)

To answer the question of the meaning of Being, Heidegger says we need not inquire into the nature of entities lying outside our consciousness. He calls that approach 'ontical,' which is about entities, and differentiates it from 'ontological,' which is about the meaning of Being, and how entities are intelligible as entities.

For Heidegger the search for the meaning of Being begins with something he calls Dasein (literally, "being-there"). Dasein is his technical term for "the distinctive mode of Being realized by human beings." (Ib.) In human beings, Being presences. Being manifests. In human beings, Being beings. All this means to say is that the meaning of Being is to be uncovered in a phenomenological analysis of Dasein.

In Being and Time Heidegger engages in fundamental ontology. This kind of thinking is precisely what drew me to philosophy as an undergraduate, way back in 1971.

Friday, December 09, 2022

TAKE MY WINTER CLASS ON SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION

 


                                            (Fog in Munson Park, across from our house)

Can people change?

If yes, then how?

Change, into who, or what?

I'll answer these questions and more in my class How God Changes the Human Heart, in Renewal School of Ministry

This class is one I have taught, since 1977, in seminaries, at conferences and retreats, in our country and around the world. 

Six Monday classes, on Zoom, 8 - 9:30 PM

Beginning Monday January 16; ending Feb. 20. 

Cost: only $10 for all six sessions! 

Registration information is HERE


***

And, if you're interested, I'll teach my Spiritual Formation class at Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio. 

Feb. 28 - March 3. 9 AM - 5 PM. In Payne's M.Div. and M.A. in Theology programs. See here.

Course Description

CM 450 Spiritual Formation 3 Credits. This course is designed to engage participants in an exploration and expansion of their inner spiritual life utilizing the spiritual disciplines. Personal transformation is an internal process that occurs as the individual allows God access to the whole of one’s being and life. The course combines: 1) Personal encounter with God; 2) Keeping a spiritual journal as a record of the activity of God in one’s life; 3) Corporate sharing of one’s experience with God; 4) Select a book from the bibliography that is relevant to one’s spiritual development and formation. 5) Write a 5-page paper on the book and one’s interaction with it. Biblical and theological reflection on key issues that arise in the life of one who seriously engages in the spiritual disciplines. 

Wednesday, December 07, 2022

The Logical Argument Against Abortion (Another Version)

 


                                                                           (Eldoret, Kenya)

1. Every human has inherent dignity and value.

2. The conceptus is human.

3. Therefore, the conceptus has inherent dignity and value.

JOIN ME FOR Discipleship Opportunities in December and the New Year

 


I am offering the following discipleship opportunities, coming soon.

JOIN ME IN KNOWING THE REAL JESUS THIS CHRISTMAS

Beginning December 2, and on every day to December 25, I am posting a 5-8 minute video on Jesus. These videos will help you focus on Christ during this season. They will also add to your understanding of the Real Jesus. You can use each video as a devotional exercise. 

JOIN ME IN LAUNCHING A PRAYING MOVEMENT IN YOUR CHURCH AND BEYOND

Several churches will use my new devotional book for the month of January. 31 Letters to the Church on Praying. Join me and others who will be praying for God to move mightily in our home churches, and churches across our state, even our nation.

Pastors - if you want to do this January focus on praying with me you and your church people can contact me and request a free PDF of my book (johnpiippo@msn.com.) Or, you can purchase a Kindle book and a paperback on Amazon - HERE

TAKE MY CLASS ON SPIRITUAL FORMATION AND TRANSFORMATION

I will teach my class How God Changes the Human Heart in Renewal School of Ministry. This class is one I have taught in seminaries, at conferences and retreats, in our country and around the world. Meeting dates/times: Six Monday classes, on Zoom, 8 - 9:30 PM, beginning Monday January 16 and ending Feb. 20. Cost: only $10 for all six sessions! Registration information is HERE

And, if you're interested, I'll teach my Spiritual Formation class at Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio. Feb. 28 - March 3. 9 AM - 5 PM. In Payne's M.Div. and M.A. in Theology programs. See here.

Course Description

CM 450 Spiritual Formation 3 Credits. This course is designed to engage participants in an exploration and expansion of their inner spiritual life utilizing the spiritual disciplines. Personal transformation is an internal process that occurs as the individual allows God access to the whole of one’s being and life. The course combines: 1) Personal encounter with God; 2) Keeping a spiritual journal as a record of the activity of God in one’s life; 3) Corporate sharing of one’s experience with God; 4) Select a book from the bibliography that is relevant to one’s spiritual development and formation. 5) Write a 5-page paper on the book and one’s interaction with it. Biblical and theological reflection on key issues that arise in the life of one who seriously engages in the spiritual disciplines. 


Tuesday, December 06, 2022

How to Know the Will of God

 


For years I have used, in my praying times, Dallas Willard's Hearing God Through the Year: A 365-Day Devotional.

Here's today's entry.


EXPECTANT AND ALERT

Happy is the one who listens to me,

watching daily at my gates,

waiting beside my doors.

For whoever finds me finds life

and obtains favor from the LORD. 

Proverbs 8:34-35 NRSV 

James Dobson has given some of the best practical advice I have heard on how someone who wants the will of God and who has a basically correct understanding of it should proceed. On a radio broadcast he once described how he does it himself: “I get down on my knees and say, ‘Lord, I need to know what you want me to do, and I am listening. Please speak to me through my friends, books, magazines I pick up and read, and through circumstances.’” Such waiting is not empty, but expectant and alert. 

The simplicity of this should not mislead us. When we are in a proper, well-functioning relationship with God, this is exactly what we are to do. And then we are, as Dobson says, to listen. This means that we should pay a special kind of attention both to what is going on within us and to our surrounding circumstances.

Monday, December 05, 2022

Now Reading on... Cessationism

 


                                                                    (Redeemer's sanctuary)

I'm going to be interviewed on a Canadian (Vancouver) Christian radio station next Monday evening. The subject: the supernatural realm, signs, wonders, miracles, spiritual gifts, and healings.

Listeners are already sending me questions, which I will respond to.

Andrea writes: “I don’t believe in miracles because I don’t see any happening in the Church where I attend in Canada? I’ve even prayed for miracles but I have never received any for myself. Maybe I’m not good enough and frankly I don’t know what to think or believe right now.” 
Choo writes: “there are so many phony miracles today by flashy preachers who are trying to line their own pockets with money. They jet-set around the world in their expensive airplanes and fancy cars, while the rest of us are working hard just to get-by. Some say they have the gift of healing but all they do is cheat and steal. Why should I believe them?” 
 Ellen is asking: “what do I tell my cessationist friends who are trying to convince me that the Gifts of the Spirit does not apply to the Church? I’ve experienced supernatural miracles before and I know God was behind them but how I do tell my friends that I’m not convinced with their arguments? I don’t want to lose my friends.”

I'll interact with these, and more.

I will debunk cessationism; viz., the idea that "the “foundation” metaphor of the apostles, prophets, and Christ, somehow requires that as they died, their gifts died with them." (Jon Ruthven, On the Cessation of the Charismata: The Protestant Polemic on Post-biblical Miracles

I just bought Ruthven's book, and am reading it today.

And, BTW, I have never been a cessationist.

***
Next in line,,,

... 

The Kingdom Case against Cessationism: Embracing the Power of the Kingdom (Authors - John Ruthven, Graham Twelftree, Randy Clark, Michael Brown, Derek Morphew, Robert Graves, Don Williams, James Hernando. Foreward by Craig Keener.)

Friday, December 02, 2022

Studying Jesus - Some Resources

 


(Jerusalem street)

One of my PhD qualifying exams was in Ancient Christology. Christology is still, for me, an area I study in. This is my first love: knowing Jesus, and making Jesus known. 

Here are books and websites I recommend for studying Jesus, with a few annotations. 

This list could be miles long! These are some I recommend. If you read these, you'll be well on your way in studying Christ and thinking Christologically. You will, increasingly, be able to separate the real from the false.

BOOKS ON JESUS

Gustav Aulen

Ruth Haley Barton

Richard Bauckham

Michael Brown



Greg Boyd

Greg Boyd & Paul Eddy
James Charlesworth
William Lane Craig
Paul Eddy and James Beilby

Craig Evans

Craig Evans and N.T. Wright
Gordon Fee

Gordon Fee and Cherith Nordling Fee
Simon Gathercole, Robert Stewart, N. T. Wright

Larry Hurtado and Chris Keith

Craig Keener
J. N. D. Kelly

George Ladd

Michael McClymond

Scot McKnight
Richard Norris and William Rusch

Eugene Peterson


Stephen Porter, Gary Moon, J. P. Moreland

Stephen Prothero
Fleming Rutledge
Klyne Snodgrass

Lee Strobel

Rankin Wilbourne 



Dallas Willard 



Ben Witherington

N.T. Wright (No one, except Craig Keener, is writing more about Jesus than Wright is.)

NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARIES

When the following New Testament scholars write a commentary, it's going to be worth reading.
  • Richard Bauckham
  • Craig Blomberg
  • D.A. Carson
  • Craig Evans
  • Gordon Fee
  • R.T. France
  • David Garland
  • Joel Green
  • Richard Hays
  • Craig Keener
  • Andreas Kostenberger
  • Scot McKnight
  • Douglas Moo
  • Klyne Snodgrass
  • Ben Witherington
  • N.T. Wright - especially see Wright's "For Everyone" series.

WEBSITES ON JESUS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

My Two Radio Interviews with Phillip Lee (on Progressive Christianity)

 


(Lake Erie, Monroe, MI)

Thank you Phillip Lee for interviewing me on your radio show!

The two interviews on Progressive Christianity aired on Keri 1410 AM (Bakersfield, CA), and WLMR Am and FM (Chattanooga, TN).

You can listen to the first interview HERE.

Interview #2 is HERE.

Philip's website is His Way Out Ministries - hiswayout.com


Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Truth Excludes



(Downtown Monroe)

Former USC philosopher Dallas Willard writes:

"There is a certain logical exclusiveness built into knowledge as such, and it must be respected... This is due to the fact that knowledge (not mere belief, commitment, sentiment, or tradition) involves truth. Truth by its very nature is exclusive in the following sense. If any belief is true, that by itself excludes the truth of any belief contrary or contradictory to it. And this “exclusion” is not a matter of what anyone wants or hopes to be true or false. For example, if “Sue’s dress is red” is true, then “Sue’s dress is white” and “Sue’s dress is not red” are false. It does not matter what anyone may think or want. It is simply a matter of the objective logical relations between the beliefs (or statements or “propositions”) involved."

- Dallas Willard, Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge, pp. 170-171

Truth marginalizes. Truth excludes.


You have a worldview, a set of beliefs through which you interpret reality and experience. Your worldview excludes masses of people. 


Here is an example. 


When I was speaking in India, the hotel I stayed in had an altar in the lobby. Every morning a young Hindu priest, dressed in a white skirt, lit incense sticks on the altar, and offered prayers to the god of the hotel. This scene can be captured in the following statements:


1. There is a god who watches over the hotel.

2. Appeasing this god with the burning of incense and other sacrifices helps ensure that the hotel will succeed financially.
3. Uttering prayers of worship to this god increases the probability that the god will show favor towards the hotel.
4. To not perform #s 1 and 2 may cause the god of the hotel to be angry, and bring harm or disaster to it.

Take statement 1. If it is true, then I, who think it is false, am wrong. Such is the nature of truth. The Hindu priest knows something I do not. I am logically excluded from such knowledge.


I think statement 1 is false. If I am right, then statements 2-4 are false, since there exists no "god of the hotel" to be appeased.


It is not rude or impolite to talk like this. It is not disrespectful. Marginalization is epistemically unavoidable. Willard writes: 


"It is not arrogant and unloving merely to believe that you are right about something and that others are wrong... There have, after all, been many people who were strongly convinced of the rightness of their beliefs, in religious and other matters, without being arrogant and unloving." (Ib., 170)


In embracing the truths of your worldview, you have excluded many. That's just the way truth works.