Ryan Barkley > Recent Status Updates

For the very fact that God creates man and endows him with freedom, with his own "power", which as such is the image of God (Sir 17:3), shows clearly enough how free the Almighty is...And although man can ask to participate in this wisdom (Wis 9), there still remains a limit: at the level of being, God's freedom somehow penetrates human freedom, but man is not granted any inner access to divine freedom.

"The only thing that could protect the Thessalonians from deception in Paul's time & believers in our own time is to remember vigilantly the Word of God. This is evident from recalling that Paul says this is what they should "remember" (2 Thess 2:6) and "stand firm" in and "hold to" (2 Thess 2:16)..."

Yet: 2 Thess 2:15 stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter

It's a mark of infinite freedom that it does not use force:For there is no compulsion in God's side, but good counsel is always available'.Exposed in this way, however, is human freedom not doomed to let man down?.because finite freedom must experience its finitude&poverty-explore the whole area of its possibilities in order to learn by experience that it can only fulfill itself by following the advice&counsel of God

Book is ok, but some takes are just meh:

"Since Gentiles become part of end-time Israel through faith alone, his message is obviously a stumbling block to a Jewish audience, which could be the reason for his imprisonment."(214)

Oh boy...this is just reformation concerns being read back into the text.

Preaching the resurrection of a crucified Messiah who is Lord and not Caesar may be a revolutionary concern?