CWR Blog
Christianity Without The Religion BLOG hosted by Brad Jersak.
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God-Given Freedom – by Greg Albrecht
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in ...
Life, Dirt, Dust and Jesus Part 3 – Ken Williams
What I learned from mom and how I apply her lessons.
The saying, “Hurt people, hurt people” is true for my family. We helped and hurt each other. Well intentioned people told me, “Let it go!” I “forgot about it” for years but now ask God for the serenity to accept the things that I could not change. Writing “Life, Dirt, Dust, Jesus Part 1 & Part 2” has comforted me as I recalled the good times with my father. On the other hand, it was humbling and challenging to remember my relationship with my mother. Facing it and seeking to find the good that ...
Damaging Legalistic Religion – Jim Fowler
Many have had experiences in rule-based, legalistic religion that casts everything into arbitrary right or wrong categories. Such believe-right, do-right religion can leave a person with a damaged psyche of perfectionist moralism that affects their personality and operational perspectives. The authoritative and judgmental orientation of such religion often leaves a person with an elitist attitude of thinking they know everything and everyone else should conform to what they believe. They judgmentally view and accept others based on their conformity to their belief-s...
Everlasting Grace—How Expansive Is God’s Love? – Steve Orr
This question is posed in a pop music hit by the Bee Gees, which is among the top 500 greatest contemporary songs.
Despite the pop culture overtones, this is a serious question. "How deep is your love, 'cause we're livin' in a world of fools, breakin' us down."
There are spiritual overtones: "I believe in you. You know the door to my very soul. You're the light in my deepest, darkest hour. You're my savior when I fall." "It's me you need to show, how deep is your love?"
To this I would like to ask another question: How deep is God's love?
I believe the ...
Join Us For Our Sunday Sermon
"We Need a Bigger Boat"
Join us for our Sunday Sermon:
Many characterize their religious church or movement rowing away from the sinking ship of "the world". They are "saved" and the ship of this world is going down, and anyone not on board their lifeboat deserves to be lost.
https://ptm.dreamhosters.com/mp3/FreeDwnld/CWR593.mp3
Link to Christianity Without the Religion - Sunday
We hope that our articles and resources bring comfort, hope, encouragement, and healing to our readers. If you’re experiencing that, please subscribe freely, share ...
Q&R with Brad Jersak – “C.S.I. Jerusalem: Who killed Ananias & Sapphira?”
Question:
Dear Brad,
I have read your book, A More Christlike God, and I am on board wholeheartedly, knowing that we are still learning every day. I have given your book to a friend whose worldview has shifted dramatically. Yesterday he asked me, “What shall I make of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) in light of the "unwrathing" chapters in Brad's book?” It is a problematic text. Where have you landed on this one? Thanks for all you do … Faithfully reading your CWR blogs.
Response:
Because of my conviction that Christ revealed that our Abba ...
CWR Video – The Religious Version of the Prodigal Son – by Greg Albrecht
The Religious Version of the Prodigal Son
For other video shorts, with Greg Albrecht, Brad Jersak, Lucy Peppiatt, Brian Zahnd, Steve McVey, and others, visit CWRvideo.
We hope that our articles and resources bring comfort, hope, encouragement, and healing to our readers. If you’re experiencing that, please subscribe freely, share freely, and, if you’re able, please consider donating freely toward paying it forward by clicking the blue giving at the top of your screen.
Treasures, Gifts and Rewards – Greg Albrecht
Grace alone, faith alone and Christ alone is a way of stating our unrelenting focus on the grace of God in the ministry of CWR/PTM. Our good works are the evidence that we are saved by the grace of God, they are evidence that Christ lives his risen life in us. Good works are the result of God’s grace, the product of Christ living in us, for indeed, apart from him we can do nothing of eternal virtue and good (John 15:5). Our good works, the gifts of God, the fruit of God the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23), involve our participation, our willing ...
Tender Mercies: “Isadore’s Secret” – by Ruth A. Tucker
Bless the Lord who crowns you with tender mercies (Psalm 103, NKJV).
When we contemplate love and care and tender mercies bestowed upon another, we usually imagine the person to be alive. But throughout history—particularly among Christians—there has been special care accorded the dead. Jesus' body was perfumed with spices and laid to rest in a tomb set aside for burial. Generations later Christians stayed behind in Alexandria during a pandemic to nurse the sick and bury the dead. Pagans, fearing for their own ...
John’s Delectable Double Meanings – Brad Jersak
The Gospel of John is an amazing showcase of double entendres. A few of my favourites are:
John 1:4-5
“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (NIV)
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (NKJV)
John 1:9
“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” (NIV)
“That was the true Light ...
The Real Love Story – by Greg Albrecht
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.—John 3:16-17
It's been said that love is the most powerful force in the universe because it alone can conquer the human heart. But God's love does not coerce. God's love works in our lives by our consent.
Many people suffer with a ...
Q&R with Greg Albrecht – “Is Being Born Again the Same as the New Election?”
Question: I'm trying to get a clear understanding on what the new creation in Christ means - specifically in Gal 6:15.
Can you recommend any good books/articles that could help me?
Hope you can help!
Warm regards,
A Pastor in California
Response:
My initial response is that all of the New Testament metaphors for new creation, salvation, conversion, transformation, being one in Christ, new men and women in Christ, putting “on” Christ, born again, being children of God, being heirs of his kingdom, being resurrected in Christ from ...
Robert Frost’s “The Oven Bird” – by Stuart Segall
There is a singer everyone has heard,
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.
He says that leaves are old and that for flowers
Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.
He says the early petal-fall is past
When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers
On sunny days a moment overcast;
And comes that other fall we name the fall.
He says the highway dust is over all.
The bird would cease and be as other birds
But that he knows in singing not to sing.
The question that he frames in all but ...
What’s a Father’s Love Worth? – Alex McFarland
What Brian Wilson told Alex McFarland:
Alex McFarland was a friend of the famed song writer Brian Wilson, the creative force behind the Beach Boys, who passed this week.
Despite the amazing melodies and harmonies Brian Wilson penned, despite being considered by many to be “the American Mozart,” he was missing something very deep.
And yet, just at a moment of recognition for career achievement, Brian Wilson looked at Alex McFarland and said, “I’d give everything I’ve ever done to know that my dad loved me.”
The published piece below by Alex ...
Bargaining with God – by Greg Albrecht
The chief object of education is not to learn things; nay, the chief object of education is to unlearn things. – G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
The first serious conversation most of us ever have with God is when we realize we are in a world of hurt. Our back is against the wall – we have painted ourselves into a corner and we desire to have a heart-to-heart talk with God so he will get us out of the mess we’re in. Typically, the first time we wanted God to really listen to us was also when we offered him a bargain.
Do you remember? Perhaps the first serious ...
Two Types of Fathers – by Ed Dunn
One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters – George Herbert
Fathers, do not frustrate your children with no-win scenarios. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master – Ephesians 6:4, (The Message)
Every father should remember that one day his children will follow his example, not his advice – Charles Kettering
Fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man – Frank Pittman
There are so many joys to fatherhood. And, as I am learning now married for a second time, to step-fatherhood, as well. ...
Reflections Along the Jesus Way
June 14, 2025 - Quote for the Day:
“I believe that physical death is not the end of God’s pursuit of us, and I base that belief primarily on the full and complete (as I understand it) revelation of God within the pages of the Bible… My hopeful perspective of God’s pursuit of all of us – and I do mean ALL – is that he will do whatever it takes to win us. However, I also think he allows us to make choices and respects our choices – many biblical passages speak to this, perhaps none better than the Prodigal Son, when the father ‘lets’ the son ...
My Father and Your Father
As we celebrate Father's Day we celebrate earthly fathers and we worship our heavenly Father, giving thanks that 1) we have a heavenly Father who is God and 2) a God we know as Father.
He Wants You: Dead and Alive – by Greg Albrecht
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
For we know that our old ...
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