The Children of God, Part 2
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Our Guests
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B.A. (Philosophy), Univ of MN
M.Div. Yale Divinity School
Ph.D. Princeton Theological Seminary
Senior Pastor - Woodland Hills Church (1992-present)
President/Founder - Reknew Ministries
Adjunct Professor - Northern Seminary (2017-present)
Professor of Theology - Bethel University (1987 - 2004)
Author/CoAuthor of 23 books
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Until recently, Dr. Layton Friesen was the Conference Pastor of the Evangelical Mennonite Conference (EMC). He is now the Academic Dean at Steinbach Bible College and is the author of Secular Violence and the Theo-Drama of Peace.
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Terry Hiebert is the Interim President at Steinbach Bible College.
Terry enjoys teaching theology, ethics, philosophy, and history. He believes that learning is more than just memorizing information or taking notes in class. Rather, the goal of teaching involves students actively engaging in loving God with their minds and hearts. He finds joy in mentoring students and young ministry leaders in pursuing God’s calling in life and ministry. In years as a ministry leader, he has desired a God’s presence for renewing persons and churches.
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Carol Penner teaches and writes in the area of practical theology and after many years as a pastor in various Mennonite congregations, she joined the faculty at Grebel. Her research interests include feminist theology and Mennonite peace theology, and abuse issues. She has a popular blog of her worship resources at www.leadinginworship.com.
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After studies at Fresno Pacific University, Mennonite Brethren Bible College, University of Manitoba (BA Hons), and Harvard University Divinity School (MDiv, ThD), Tom served as hospital and prison chaplain in Winnipeg, as well as pastor in Thompson, MB, and Boston, MA. He served on the MCCanada Christian Formation Council and is presently chair of the Faith and Life Commission of the Mennonite World Conference. His teaching and preaching have taken him beyond North America to Europe, Asia, and Africa. Tom is author numerous articles, both popular and scholarly, as well as books such as Guilt and Humanness: The Significance of Guilt for the Humanization of the Judicial-Correctional System, 1982; Put on the Armour of God! The Divine Warrior from Isaiah to Ephesian, 1997; Ephesians (Believers Church Bible Commentary), 2002); Christus ist unser Friede: Die Kirche und ihr Ruf zu Wehrlosigkeit und Widerstand, 2007; Recovering Jesus: the Witness of the New Testament, 2007; and Killing Enmity: Violence and the New Testament, 2011. Tom and his wife Rebecca are members of First Mennonite Church, Kitchener, ON.
Links and Resources
Books
The Crucifixion of the Warrior God, by Greg Boyd
Repenting of Religion, by Greg Boyd
Secular Nonviolence and the Theo-Drama of Peace, by Layton Friesen
Killing Enmity, by Dr. Thomas Yoder Neufeld
Organizations
Conrad Grebel University College
Music
First Communion, Dane Joneshill
(Spotify | YouTube Music)
Psalm 91, Poor Bishop Hooper
(Spotify | YouTube Music | Apple Music)
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbour’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Notable Quotes
How do we, as children of God, live out loving our enemies without becoming condescending and self-righteous in the process?
“I think sometimes the temptation is that when we have failed in the past to live this out, we just want to avoid this topic altogether and say, “okay, well, because we've failed at living this out properly, we're just going to go to a different theology altogether,” but I think it's actually important that we don't give up on this idea of loving our enemies and don't give up on this idea of nonviolent peacemaking, but rather that we learn to live it out in a way that's not condescending.” ~Kevin Wiebe
“It can also arise from some misconceptions that we have about what it means to be holy. Of course, we know that being holy means to be set apart, but I think the Bible does a very interesting thing with that “being set apart.” Jesus is the model for us of being holy, of being set apart. But what does Jesus do that sets him apart from the rest of humanity? What does being God, being divine, look like in the human life that Jesus lived? I think it means so identifying with sinful humans, coming so close to people, that all their poison, the toxin of their lives, that the venom in their lives pours over onto Jesus and Jesus dies with this toxin in his system. That is what sets Jesus apart from the rest of humanity.” ~Dr. Layton Friesen
“This is about so loving God that we are willing to love the world for the sake of God and to love the world in some very practical and human ways.” ~Dr. Layton Friesen
“Nations that cooperate extensively with each other in common projects, in common practices and initiatives tend to also make war less often. Being afraid of enemies and retaliating against them is actually the first step towards war.” ~Dr. Terry Hiebert
“Luke says be merciful, as your Heavenly Father is merciful. That's what it means to be perfect or complete, if you want to use that term. Holiness is seen in compassion to your enemies and mercy toward enemies and I think that's what he's getting at with loving your enemies here.” ~Dr. Terry Hiebert
“Our most fundamental task as disciples of Jesus is to agree with God about the worth of every human being that you encounter, and you know the worth of every human being you encounter by the fact that God thought they were worth dying for.” ~Dr. Greg Boyd
“When we're separated from God that's what we tend to do. We think that we are the king of the universe and that we are the arbiter of all good and that we have the capacity and the right to be judges of others. And we don't. We so don't. Only God has that right. And so we have to surrender that right and that's why the Bible repeatedly tells us ‘leave all judgment to God.’ God will square everything off in the end. Everyone will reap what they sow, and justice will be done so we don't need to be doing it, that's God's job. Our job is just to love.” ~Dr. Greg Boyd
“I don't think that we can expect as Christians the world, the states, the social organizations to be the Kingdom of God or to be disciples of Jesus. I think that's not a fitting expectation. But we should expect those who want to call themselves the sons and daughters of God to plug into the logic we were just talking about before, where you even give your own life to overcome the animosity.” Dr. Thomas Yoder Neufeld
