Quotes from Gregory A. Boyd

For we are only as healthy as our picture of God is accurate. The

According to the substantival view, all people are of infinite worth, regardless of their natural or acquired abilities or disabilities, simply because they possess a soul. It may be that certain persons cannot or do not exercise the capacities of their soul. Their intrinsic value, however, is rooted in the fact that they possess a soul, whether or not its capacities are exercised. Responding

Hear Jesus say, "Jill, I will never hurt you or shame you. I told you I will never leave you nor forsake you. Never! I love you with an everlasting and perfect love." Can you hear Jesus say this? JILL: Yes. GREG: Hear him say

If a crystal ball gives God any advantage, then you've got a stupid God.

Opponents of this view often point out that it is not rooted in an exegesis of Genesis 1:26–28, the central biblical text that discusses the imago Dei. Indeed, it is frequently argued that the view that the imago Dei refers to the soul is more influenced by Greek philosophy than by Scripture. More specifically, it is argued that the traditional emphasis on reason as one of the hallmarks of the imago Dei is a distinctly Hellenistic, not Hebraic, notion.

Most importantly, if we approach the passage with the assumption that the author was concerned with chronology, we miss the profound thematic point the author is making throughout this passage, namely, that God brings order out of chaos. 4.

This is what the kingdom of God looks like. It looks like humility. It looks like grace. It looks like service. It looks like Jesus.

We are to engage in this behavior not out of duty to an abstract ethic, but because the life of the one who came under all humanity on Calvary is pumping kingdom life through our veins. We are part of the growing revolutionary kingdom he began and is continuing to grow. It is a kingdom that looks like him, a kingdom in which the greatest is the one who serves others (Matt. 20:26; Luke 22:26–27).

The open view of the future is the most plausible view because it squares with our everyday life. Whatever philosophy we might embrace, we all live as though the open view were true. With every decision we make we assume that much of our immediate future is settled (e.g., we take for granted the ongoing reality of our world and the laws of physics) but that some of it is up to us to decide. The open view simply says that this common-sense assumption is accurate. Responding

Open Theists unequivocally affirm that God is omniscient—that is, God perfectly knows everything there is to know! The disagreement is not about the scope or perfection of God's knowledge but rather about the content of reality that God perfectly knows. Open Theists simply believe that possibilities are real and that God knows them as such. Some

All sin in our life is in one way or another a symptom of our being spiritually wounded, sick, or hungry.To

Throughout the biblical narrative what sets humans apart from all animals is that humans alone possess a soul and therefore live eternally, reason, have moral capabilities, and can love. Unlike humans, nowhere are animals offered eternal life (John 3:15), commanded to think (Luke 10:27), held morally accountable (Ezek. 33:18–19), or commanded to love (John 15:17).

At that moment they ceased being human beings and began to be human doings.

the inerrancy of the Bible relates to the authors' original intent, not necessarily to our interpretation of a passage. Moreover, the inerrancy of an author's writing must be understood in accordance with the genre of literature the author was using and the culture the author was writing within. For example, we cannot say that an ancient author was incorrect in what he said just because he did not employ the same standard of precision we employ in our culture.

For they know the approval—and the worth they assign to this approval— would not be there without certain behaviors on their part. Hence, they never experience unconditional love and worth. Yet

Thus, to take the phrases in Acts and make them into a magical incantation upon which God s forgiveness rests is to grossly misunderstand the phrase and, consequently, grossly misportray the kind of God whom Scripture reveals. Beyond

The crucified Christ, in short, gives us the "Magic Eye" to discern him in the depths of even the most horrifically violent portraits of God.

Our fundamental job is to love like God loves, not to pretend that we know what only God knows.

We miss the full force of the imago Dei concept if we simply identify it with various ways humans are distinct from animals (e.g., reason, morality, love). The biblical concept instructs us as to how we are like God, not just how we are different from animals. To discover the meaning of the imago Dei, we must pay close attention to the way Scripture speaks about it. The

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. I think it applies to faith as well. The unexamined faith is not worth believing.

We judge others harshly in order to judge ourselves with approval.

This understanding of God provides the key to understanding what the Bible means when it declares that humans are made "in the image of God." The imago Dei means that humans, like God, are essentially beings who exist in relationship. We are created to exist in relationship with God and with each other. To the extent that we live in isolation from God and from each other, we are not fully human. The

effort.While people involved in religious forms of the flesh may believe they are taking sin seriously by persistently reminding people to stop doing it, they are actually trivializing sin by depicting it as something that can be overcome through behavior modification.

addressed.Where the Holy Spirit is moving, sick people will be free to be unhealthy and thus will be free to be healed. Out