Jason Albertson

The Fruit of the Spirit has kind of a VBS-theme vibe going on. That might be why it doesn't come up a lot in adult discipleship. Maybe it's just typecast—"Oh, that's mostly in the Bible so there's safe imagery for children's church. It's not really important for adults. Too cute." But the Fruit's position in Galatians 5 is actually really theologically significant. The Fruit is significant because Paul contrasts it with the acts of the flesh. They're opposites. Gal. 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are obvious: ... Gal. 5:23  But the fruit of the Spirit is: ... It almost sounds like Paul is contrasting two ways of living. In fact, that's exactly what he's doing! Gal. 5:16  But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. This is one of the big themes in Paul's depiction of the Christian life. You either carry out the desires of the Spirit or you carry out the desires of the flesh. Those desires are ...

In his book, Art + Faith , Makoto Fujimura describes the Garden of Eden as a “discovery zone” God prepared for Adam and Eve. God filled the garden with every kind of tree (Gen. 2:8-9). He brought to the garden all the beasts and birds (Gen. 2:19-20). God introduced the materials of the earth to humans, and then He expected them to make something of those materials by naming and cultivating them (Gen. 2:15; 2:19). And we get hints in Gen. 2 of fabulous and exotic materials God placed beneath the soil for Adam and Eve and their children to eventually explore, excavate, discover, refine and employ (Gen. 2:11-12). Fujimura wonders, “are we to assume that they would have begun the work of building the city of God in some way, to use the materials, even if the Fall had not occurred?” Consider God’s actions in Eden as an analogy for education. God… Introduces unfamiliar material and Provides opportunities for creative, meaningful work (naming, cultivating) that results in Growth in knowledge ...

I think most of us are used to thinking of Christian worldview in education as something that affects class content. For example, if I’m teaching a high school science class, I might take time to talk about what creation reveals about God, and I might think of that as Christian worldview integration.  Those content-level connections often end up feeling—and being —squashed in where they aren’t actually helpful. When that happens, it cheapens the way we and our students think about the truth, because it’s a misuse of the truth. That kind of mis-integration can lead us to think of a Christian worldview as a habit of tipping our cap toward God at the end of every conversation. If we only ever portray God’s perspective as an obligatory afterthought, I would argue that that’s actually a subversion of a Christian worldview. There’s a deeper level of Christian worldview integration available, and I think it’s actually a more helpful level. What if we could apply Christian teaching not jus...

Across the canon of Andy Griffith, there’s a type of episode that pops up again and again.  “The Bed Jacket” is an example that illustrates the type. It’s Aunt Bee’s birthday, and she insists that she doesn’t want any frivolous gifts. She’s a Very Sensible Person, after all. Then she sees something frilly that she really wants, and she’s in a bind—she can’t tell Andy and Opie, because that would mean she’s actually not a Very Sensible Person. The usual hijinks ensue, and Andy finally discovers what Bee really wants through one of her friends. He gets her the gift in such a way as not to reveal that he knew she wanted it. She’s happy, and he’s The Good Guy that we all knew he was.  That’s the type of episode I’m thinking of: Andy becomes aware that another person’s self-perception is just plain wrong, and then he bends over backwards to keep them from being confronted with that reality, and therefore he is The Good Guy. The problem-person is usually Barney (e.g., “Andy Saves Ba...

As I read the gospels, I’m amazed by how many people Jesus delivered from suffering, most often from disease or demon-possession. Of course, He warned us that following Him would deliver us into suffering too, especially social suffering (Matt. 5:11-12; John 15:18-25). His example also teaches us that following Him may expose us to spiritual (Matt. 4:1-11) and physical suffering (Matt. 27:26-50). But for the people I know and pray for, His Kingdom doesn’t seem to deliver people from disease and death as often as I would expect. Why? Not for lack of power. I know people who have been touched by His power in unmistakable ways. But why so rarely? In some cases, I think I can tell why. In this stage of history, the one between Creation and the Judgment, God often appears to avoid overpowering people who rebel against Him (Rev. 22:11). That accounts for suffering that comes from people who choose evil.  But what about disease?  Why doesn’t God always heal? There are some standard a...

A Reconciled Life… Paul’s message in 2 Cor. 5:14-21 exhorts us to be reconciled to God through Christ. It’s easy for me to truncate that reconciliation—to think of it only in terms of my guilt being taken away, and not to consider what kind of life flows from that reconciliation. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. What is it like to live that new kind of life? How could you describe it? From my own experience, I would describe a reconciled life with God as deeply satisfying. There are a bunch of things that go into that satisfaction. For example, The experience of walking in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-25). We get a hint that this is a little bit like life with God in Eden (Gen. 3:8), which is just astounding to me. Living without the shame of unconfessed sin. I don’t thin...

This is the second post in a two-part series about anger and forgiveness. Read Part 1 here .   Forgiveness is better than anger at dealing with injustice—though it doesn’t get stuff done in the same way that anger does.  Before talking about getting stuff done, here’s what I mean by forgiveness. It’s not pretending or feeling like injustice hasn’t happened, but instead…  Forgiveness is turning injustice (like bad debt) over to God (like the collection agency). Forgiving someone doesn’t heal the ways they have wounded you. But it does release you from the further harm of trying to bring about justice yourself. Fixing the injustice is now God's responsibility, not yours.  Forgiveness sounds like it would have some drawbacks, doesn’t it?  It might not make the intruder leave your little kingdom.  It might not prevent future invasions.  It might not lead the intruder to pay you back for the ways they’ve hurt you.  But I would argue that when you ...

This post is the first in a series of two on anger and forgiveness. Today, an exploration of where anger comes from. Created in God’s Image to Rule When God created us in His image, He also blessed us with the responsibility and authority to rule over Creation on His behalf and in fellowship with Him (Gen. 1:26-27). Because God gave us that authority, every one of us rules over a little kingdom where we have legitimate authority to choose what happens. For example, you could close this blog post right now. That choice legitimately belongs to you.  Overlapping Kingdoms These little kingdoms can overlap—there can be areas where several people have a legitimate right to choose what happens. When kingdoms overlap, they can do a lot more together than they would alone, whether for good or evil. It’s really good—enjoyable, fruitful, fulfilling—for my little kingdom to be in alignment with my coworkers’ little kingdoms. Voluntarily sharing our resources and having patience for each other’...

Humans seem to be fascinated with superheroes.  Nowadays we have the Flash and Captain America, but it's bigger than America—think of Finn MacCool in Irish folklore or the Greek demigods delivering humanity from monsters. And it's not just comic books: consider Sherlock Holmes from detective fiction or the many “long-prophesied chosen one” characters in fantasy, like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. By superhero, I mean a character who is both human and gifted with superhuman ability to solve the problems regular humans can't solve.  Sherlock Holmes is good at noticing stuff. Hercules is really strong. The Flash is the fastest man alive (except when his latest nemesis steals his speed). Why so many superheroes? I think it's because we recognize that humanity faces problems too big for us on our own. I think it's because we long for a Savior, someone like us but better than us, too. But here's the weird thing: when we tell stories about superheroes, people equipped...

Matthew 13:24-30 (NET) He told them another parable:  The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the plants sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.  So the slaves of the owner came and said to him, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?”  He said, “An enemy has done this.”  So the slaves replied, “Do you want us to go and gather them?”  But he said, “No, since in gathering the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, but then gather the wheat into my barn.’” Jesus teaches us that  God didn’t intend for there to be evil people. God plans to remove evil people ultimately.  But God often leaves evil people alive, which is for t...

I’ve heard the story from Judg. 4-5 ( Judg. 4:4-9 in particular) used to justify this claim: It is shameful when the lines between gender-roles are blurred. Judg. 4:8-9 in particular are the basis for that claim. The argument might go something like this: Barak said he wouldn’t lead if Deborah didn’t come with him (v. 8). Barak failed to lead alone, like a man should—he failed to perform his masculine role. God was displeased by Barak’s lack of leadership, so God shamed him by giving the glory of killing the enemy general to a woman (v. 9). Conclusion : Men should not look to women for leadership, but should take leadership upon themselves as their masculine duty. There are several assumptions/beliefs involved in this argument. Men and women have different roles in relation to (1) other people, (2) society and (3) creation in general. Those roles flow from the differences in what it means to be male and female. Those differences are so pervasive that men and women share almost no comm...

I grew up in the Christian homeschooling movement. The movement has some dappled shadows; there are good aspects, and there are really bad aspects, and which aspects you experience depends on which area you grow up in. While my family didn't take it on, I grew up on the border of one particularly harmful shadow: belief in hyper-distinct masculine and feminine roles. For homeschoolers, this belief was popularized by figures like Bill Gothard and Doug Phillips. The same beliefs show up in lots of manifestations of religious fundamentalism, from Islam to some of the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement. In the Christian homeschool context, that hyper-gendering (HG) takes the form of theology about what it means to be a man or a woman. HG theology leans heavily on the KJV translation of Gen. 2:18—thus the term “help meet”: And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Gen 2:18 KJV) HG theology proponents interpret the phr...

In a 1999 interview with journalist Bill Moyers, George Lucas said that Star Wars is “a thin base for theology.” Lucas never intended for  Star Wars  to have a coherent theology; he didn’t want to evangelize anyone to some Force-based religion. Instead, he says, his intention was for  Star Wars  to have a theology in which anyone could see their beliefs represented. In another interview , George Lucas called himself a Buddhist Methodist. I know people who won’t watch  Star Wars  because its theology is fuzzy. For them, the author’s intentions (to portray an ideal religion as a sentimental mix of ideas about compassion and working together against oppression) spoil the whole thing. I want to provide another way of approaching art and authorial intent. I think Christians can get a lot of good from art even if the artist's intended message contradicts Christianity. Here’s the assertion I want to defend:   In general, artists have control over what their...