Essays Advocating Christ-Centered Reform

By Calvin L. Keeler Sr.

The Christian church is increasingly less relevant and less influential in modern culture. As a result, Christian leaders are no longer important to the dialogue of culture, and the message of Jesus Christ is now presented in a sterile and non-offensive manner. What the church is doing is not working, and a reform is imperative.

Essays Advocating Christ-Centered Reform offers seven individual essays that have been written and compiled to challenge the leaders, the theologians, and the students of the Christian church with some new ideas about some very established traditions. Some of these ideas might be provocative or disruptive, addressing topics related to the essence of the Christian faith, the church and contemporary culture, the nature of worship, and other important theological concerns about the Bible and the traditions of the church.

If we permit Him, then God does intervene in our lives with revelations and inspirations anew each day. Without reform the church will continue to decline. Each of us needs to be inspired to fully commit ourselves to the reform of Jesus and his unchangeable gospel. The desired goal is that these essays might initiate a dialogue in the church about reform.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973651987

Calvin L. Keeler Sr.

Calvin L. Keeler Sr. is retired and currently divides his time between writing, teaching in a church setting, and being an active minister of visitation for his church, visiting with those who are seriously or terminally ill. Calvin received his bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in 1951 and his master’s degree in mathematics from Harvard University in 1953; he then spent two years in divinity school, with the goal of teaching theology. Family illness required a change, and he spent fifteen years as a professional mathematician before going on to spend twenty-seven years in information processing systems, though his lifelong avocation has always been the study of theology and church work.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 Calvin L. Keeler Sr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

All scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible All rights reserved.

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is copyright © National Council of Churches of Christ in America and distributed to registered users (see User Agreement) with their kind permission. The HTI is grateful to NCC and the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Computer Analysis of Texts (CCAT) for their permission to provide this WWW-accessible version.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-5197-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-5198-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019900822

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/11/2019

CONTENTS

Preface

Essay 1   The Essence of the Christian Faith: A Search for the Meaning of Life

Essay 2   The Church and Contemporary Culture

Essay 3   Worship

Essay 4   A Christian Perspective about Life and Death

Essay 5   Theological Problems with the Old Testament

Essay 6   A New Approach to the Doctrine of the Trinity

Essay 7   Jesus

PREFACE

THESE ESSAYS HAVE been written and compiled to challenge the leaders, theologians, and students of the Christian church with new ideas about some very established traditions. Some of these ideas might be provocative or disruptive. If we permit Him, then God does intervene in our lives with revelations and inspirations anew each day.

God is constantly creating and changing the universe and this world. Nothing ever remains constant. He is active today, and His creativity is ongoing. We must accept that God continually creates new ideas and challenges us to grow in new directions. These essays are not the final word, as new ideas and constructs emerge continually.

If one has chosen to accept the traditions of the Christian church without study and challenge, then that individual has limited God’s creativity. Be assured that many passages of the holy scriptures are filled with timeless, outstanding, inspirational, and symbolic meanings and revelations. The Bible contains the spiritual wisdom of the ages and is the best source of inspiration to meet the challenges of life. It is a record of humanity’s interpretation of God’s revelations throughout the ages.

Even so, God is never silent, and if we do not hear Him, it is our fault and our inadequacy, and not His. His revelations have and always will be the daily source of our inspiration. Let us accept new ideas and new interpretations. Please consider that the Bible might not be the complete and final word. God might have moved beyond what was written between 1000 BC and AD 100. Let us open our hearts to hear Him. Behold, I make all things new (Revelation 21:5).

These essays are an extension of and a rewrite of some of the theological concepts presented in the author’s recent book Why Are We Here? (Author House 2013).

ESSAY 1

The Essence of the Christian Faith: A Search for the Meaning of Life

WE ARE ENTERING unfamiliar territory as the contemporary culture of the twenty-first century emphasizes hedonism, self-fulfillment, self-centeredness, greed, and materialism. Children are being taught to experience