Jason Albertson

I recently witnessed a discussion where a question arose: is it ever appropriate for a lay-person to confront a leader about a problem in their teaching? This is an attempt to address that question by surveying confrontation in Scripture. This doesn't address the question from other perspectives that would be helpful—Christian spirituality more broadly, systematic theology, psychology and sociology would all add valuable insights. This is just intended as a baseline. Religious leaders can confront those under their authority. In Scripture, there are examples of religious leaders confronting people who are under their authority about problems in their beliefs or practices.  For example, Paul confronts the Corinthians believers about a number of problems, and he explicitly says he has a right to their respect (1 Cor. 9:1-12). He cites his apostleship, the fact that he has personally seen Jesus and the fact that he founded the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 9:1).  But Paul denies that...

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...

In his recent book, The Life We’re Looking For , Andy Crouch describes the way marketers talk about new tech products: Now you can … Now you don’t have to … Crouch argues that there are two more ways we need to look at new tech to get a good read on whether it’s worth using: Now you can’t … Now you have to … I like to think of these four statements as related like this in a grid of possibilities: Can we? Must we? Yes 1. Now you can ... 4. Now you have to ... No 3. Now you can't ... 2. Now you don't have to ... Consider the interstate highway system. Because it exists,  Now we can travel or transport goods a lot more quickly and cheaply over greater distances. Now we don’t have to develop towns and cities that permit non-automobile traffic. But now you can’t access a lot of places without an automobile; and Now we have to design cities and towns to accommodate auto traffic and parking, usually at the expense of ...

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’...