Oct 10, 2022
Theologian
and New Testament scholar NT Wright tells this story of the time he
was the campus chaplain at Worcester College in Oxford,
England.
As chaplain he would make it a point to meet all the students each
year. In introducing himself, a number of the students would say
they probably wouldn’t be seeing much of each other because they,
the student, didn’t believe in God.
Wright
had a stock reply. He would ask, “Oh, and what god don’t
you believe in?”
The
student would give a puzzled look. So Wright would say,
“Describe this god that you don’t believe
in.”
So
the student would describe a god who was distant and uninvolved in
the goings on of earth, and who was ultimately angry and upset with
people.
Wright would listen, nodding his head. And when the student was
done, Wright would reply, “I’m
not surprised you don’t believe in god…I don’t believe in that god
either."
This
simple interaction opened up a number of opportunities for NT
Wright to talk about how Scripture actually describes God, and it's
shockingly different then what social media, memes and TikTok
describe!
How
would you describe God? Unfortunately, a lot of people hold to
untrue images and descriptions of God. Jesus faced this situation
with a group of religious leaders.
To help reshape their view of God, he told them three paradigm
changing stories about the character of God. The third story Jesus
told was about a son who "spit in his Father's face" took his money
and ran away, only to have his life fall apart. His life became a
total wreck.
If you were the father of that son, what would you do if he wanted
to come home? In this story Jesus reveals how God would
respond...and it's shocking! According to Jesus, there is no evil
or sin God won't forgive. What a scandalous thought!
Is that the God you know? If you want to learn more about who God
is, give a listen to part two of Lost & Found.