Stuart Johnson

25Feb 2020 by Stuart Johnson

The Trinitarian Gospel and Human Rights

Theology

Some of the views expressed in this post are the views of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Perichoresis Australia as a whole. The Trinitarian gospel and human rights go hand in hand. The cry for justice is not just between human beings, which is certainly very important, but it also includes a whole spectrum of issues confronted by humanity. Not caring for the environment affects human beings. Interfering with fragile ecosystems for the sake of progress has reverberating effects and in the end are unjust acts against ourselves. Questionable legal decisions can affect human beings. Underpaying wages to people is also an injustice and it appears to be happening all too frequently in this country. Injustices usually occur when there is inequality of some kind…

27Oct 2019 by Stuart Johnson

What is “Tradition?”

Theology

Ignatius speaks about conducting ourselves in the unity of our flesh and spirit in the same manner that Jesus Christ conducted Himself in the Spirit in unity with His own humanity. The Incarnation indicates to us that God cherishes our humanity by embracing it and making it His own. Because there is union between God, His own humanity in the Person of Jesus Christ, means our humanity is united to God and fully sanctified in Him. Human activity was grounded in the love of God towards us enfleshing Himself in Jesus Christ. His human activity was the outward expression of His own Divine Being towards the human race He loved. In receiving His love, we can live out in His incarnate reality and love others as we are loved. So…

01Jun 2019 by Stuart Johnson

Through Unholy Eyes

Relational Theology

Warning: This post has contains strong expletive language which might offend some people. I want to try and make a very specific point here which means I will not gloss over anything while trying to make it. It has been 28 years since I had my encounter with Jesus Christ which is nearly half my lifetime. As a Christian now, in the most true and sincere sense of the term, I always have in mind the way my world views were and my attitude towards Christianity before I became a believer. The vast majority of people I know have been brought up in a Christian family and have known nothing else except to see things from the Christian worldview. There are some who cannot imagine what it is like for…

13Feb 2019 by Stuart Johnson

Why Tradition?

theology

Who cares about tradition? This is a very important question. In the previous post, I highlighted the importance of both scripture and tradition. In the ancient church, the two worked harmoniously together and one did not contradict the other. The gospel was spreading long before the New Testament Scriptures became widely available. There was a manner of speaking and knowing that began to take shape. When Scripture became more widely available, the tradition that was well established in many communities with many handed onto them by the apostles themselves was confirmed by the scriptures as they became readily available to them. As the different, gospels, such as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John along with the epistles became readily available, those who held firmly to what was first handed to them…

28Jan 2019 by Stuart Johnson

Scripture and Tradition

Uncategorized

For the sake of trying to be more specific, rather than referring to Trinitarian Theology as the term used to describe what it is Perichoresis Australia and the USA are declaring, more specifically, what we are trying to bring to modern Christianity is the gospel that was understood in the mind of the Ancient Church which is the foundation of Trinitarian Theology. Some people may not realise that what they assume to be the gospel they may hear from the pulpit in their local fellowship is far removed from what it is those early Christians believed in those first few centuries. Many times in the early church writings the Apostolic and later fathers of the ancient church made their appeal to Scripture and Tradition. When we use the term today,…

17Jan 2019 by Stuart Johnson

Keeping it simple

Uncategorized

The message of the gospel is plain and simple and it has always been this way from the very beginning. At the Incarnation God united Himself to humanity. So simple in fact that the academically elite at that time were astonished that such lowly people were said to be included and claimed to be united to God. The spiritual elitists put themselves through blood, sweat and tears over many years to be included among their peers showing they had really tapped into the truly spiritual matters. They were often made to jump through all sorts of hoops and live to a set of self-determined moral standards. They were astonished about all the things the gospel claimed by people who appeared to have no knowledge of such matters. It appeared as…

22Sep 2018 by Stuart Johnson

Albert Einstein, Christianity and Science Pt 8

T F Torrance

The ancient church were so awestruck by the incarnation. When the Word became flesh they realised people were now face-to-face with God. God in Himself in this Person of Jesus Christ is our Mediator between God in Himself, who is in eternal union with the Father, and humanity. There is no distance between human beings and God. They only distance are ones that are mythologically imposed by human beings. God in Jesus Christ has eradicated any obstacle that stands in the way and has completely united Himself to all human beings. The apostles have written down this event and has left us first-hand accounts of what happened as they laid eyes on the Lord of glory and held and touched Him with their own hands. In Jesus Christ is the…

16Sep 2018 by Stuart Johnson

Albert Einstein, Christianity and Science Pt 7

T F Torrance

Why is this method so important for us today? The ancient church can give us a truly Christian frame of mind. This community can show us how they understood the way of seeing and the way of knowing God. It helps us to stay on course as we pursue an understanding of Christ in us. In the Patristic era, they had a clear understanding of God who acts, particularly in His great act of becoming Man and drawing close to us bringing humanity into His presence. It can help us to stand on our own two feet with confidence knowing that what we believe will be faithful to all the Apostle's taught. The one thing they were certain is this: the nature of God equals the nature of Jesus Christ. …

15Sep 2018 by Stuart Johnson

Albert Einstein, Christianity and Science Pt 6

T F Torrance

Therefore to understand the Scriptures is to respect what they testify of Jesus Christ, firstly that He was always God and the Son, being the Word of the Father, secondly, to understand that He took the flesh of Mary, the bearer of God, and was made man. In this way, we remain true and faithful to God Himself and allow our whole mind, body and soul to by transformed by this reality. Any watering down of this account of the Gospel means a betrayal against the Incarnation and all that is spoken through Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ speaking as the true God speaking on His own behalf, what follows is nothing but a figment of our own imagination. We become familiar with nothing. The unity of being between the…

13Sep 2018 by Stuart Johnson

Albert Einstein, Christianity and Science Pt 4

T F Torrance

When we receive His Truth and let His truth reside in us as the ground of all truth, then out of the overflowing of our souls our mouths speak Godliness. Godliness in this sense is the same as Christliness which is saying the same thing that God, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, has already said. John 8.12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” This verse here corresponds with the above verse, Ps. 36.9. The fountain of Life, Jesus Christ, is the Light that we are able to make our own by abiding in it, allowing it to shine out of us and be personally guided by it. The Light speaks and acts in a…