Jason Albertson

To reiterate what I concluded in part 1 (several months ago), saying “I have rights” is another way of saying “I have the authority to expect things.” Rights/authority can be inherent (for example, Paul founded a church, so he will have authority inherent to his relationship to the church - see 1 Cor. 9:18) or delegated (for example, the government - see Rom. 13:1-7). Lately, I’ve been exploring in one direction in particular. I've been trying to figure out whether this statement is true: When God gives a command or prohibition, He conveys rights on people. I think it is true. For example, He says, “You shall not murder,” and as a result, I have a right not to be murdered. This is delegated authority from God. In the right (but not desirable) situation, I could say authoritatively, “Stop murdering me! I have a right not to be killed.” I don’t have inherent authority to say that, but God has delegated it to me through His law. Another example. God says through Paul, “Fathers, ...

I like to read young adult fiction. As literature goes, it's not demanding, and it lets me get my mind off study and explore new directions. Recently, I read through the  His Dark Materials  trilogy. You may have run across reviews/comments on that series before, and I can confirm, it does present a view of God and the universe that runs completely contrary to Scripture. More on that another time, probably. However, as I read, I was struck by a beautiful theme in the books that's worth reflecting on: the incurable wound. Fig. 1, Two Severed Fingers In the second book, Will, one of the characters, must retrieve the subtle knife. To do so, he must fight for it, and in the course of the fight two of his fingers are cut clean off. In a gut-wrenching and fantastic turn of phrase, the author describes the fingers lying on the floor like a hideous, bloody quotation mark. The former keeper of the knife tells him that this was no accident: every keeper of the knife loses the same two...

Applies to contents of this very blog. But does it apply to me personally? Where do rights come from? How do I know what my rights are? To what extent should I assert my rights? I’ve been mulling over these questions for a couple of weeks. An unfortunate consequence of childhood is that I sometimes didn’t know how to balance things I heard. I have heard people describe their experience of entire sanctification as, “I gave up all of myself to God. I’ve given up my rights. I’m holding nothing back. I’m completely surrendered to His will.” As a child, hearing “I’ve given up my rights” conveyed the impression that there must have been something wrong with having rights. I started working with 1 Corinthians for a class project this semester. I was surprised to see Paul affirming his own rights repeatedly! That drove me to ask the questions above. I started in the New Testament because that's where I found a believer talking about his personal rights and because I'm more familiar...

Uber review: "1 star. Cramped vehicle. Poor snacks. Reckless driving.  Thankful to be alive." The message of a story is usually communicated by the characters. In the story of Jonah, there are three main characters: God, Jonah and pagans. The characters make the author's points. The first two posts here looked at contrasts between God and God's prophet. Those contrasts show us how Jonah was unlike God, and the contrasts call us to be like God, not like Jonah. There's another comparison/contrast relationship going on in this story: God's prophet versus the pagans. In chapter 1, God's prophet receives God's call. God's prophet  refuses  to obey because he hates the Ninevites (4:2), and he skips the country. This probably indicates that Jonah thought Yahweh, who is the God of Israel, might be  merely  the God of Israel, and so hemmed in by national boundaries. It turns out that Yahweh is not hemmed in by national boundaries. Jonah is stupid; he b...

Jonah: "See ya, buddy! You really have been a 'great fish.' Ha ha ha" This post is second in a series reflecting on what I've learned from writing a Theology of Jonah. The topic of this one is God's compassionate kindness, especially in contrast to Jonah's character. God demonstrates His compassionate kindness throughout the entire story of Jonah. The story begins unfolds because God speaks to Jonah, a servant who doesn't share God's character or values. God speaks because He wants to show mercy to Nineveh, the people whose wickedness has come up before Him. God pursues Jonah because He is determined to show mercy to Nineveh. He prepares a great fish to preserve Jonah’s life, then recommissions His prophet, giving Jonah another chance to serve Him. God accepts the repentance and abasement of the Ninevites and relents from the disaster He had planned. Finally, God gives Jonah an object lesson that called him to change his thinking and adopt God...

Great fish: "Please remove your foot from my mouth." This weekend I had the privilege of writing a theology of Jonah, the Old Testament prophet. I enjoyed the project. The class spent four weeks translating and discussing the book and this paper gave us a chance to reflect on what we've learned and make some observations. Here's one I took away: God shows Himself to be the  Ruler of everything  in the book of Jonah, both by what God does and what Jonah is so bad at doing. Nothing can stop God from doing what He wants to do. Here's a list of examples: He caused a violent storm on the sea (1:4), caused the storm to dissipate (1:15), prepared a great fish to preserve Jonah (1:17), appointed a plant to grow (4:6), appointed a worm to strike the plant (4:7), appointed a hot wind to strike Jonah (4:8), and prepared judgment for Nineveh down to the very day (3:4). In contrast, when Jonah tried to assert his self-sovereignty by refusing God's summons for service a...