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‘Skeletons in the closet.’ You know the phrase. You’ve heard it before. You’ve said it yourself. Your friend is getting serious with their partner and you say to another person, ‘he or she seems like a great individual, I just hope there are no skeletons in his or her closet.’

 

A New Sermon Series

   We are launching a new sermon series at Calvary called Skeletons in the Closet. It might surprise you however, that we are not talking about confessing our sins or ‘living in the light’ during these messages. Rather, we are going to be discussing some potential skeletons in God’s closet.  We are going to investigate some of those Biblical doctrines or stories that contain ideas that we would rather avoid, that we can be afraid to fully investigate or pry too deeply into, all because we are worried that our view of God might change, or our belief in God’s goodness may be challenged.

   The title of our sermon series comes from a brilliant book written by Joshua Butler entitled, Skeletons in God’s Closet. Here is what he writes about these Skeletons,  

 

“We are faced with a dilemma: if we open the closet door, we might not like what we find. The God we thought was good might be a fraud. The Father we thought trustworthy, a felon; the Jesus to whom we gave our lives, a façade. If we pull these bones out of the closet and take a cold, hard look, the God we have come to love and serve might not be found worth loving and serving. And deep down we know our faith couldn’t handle the betrayal. Best keep the door shut. And yet, with the door shut we’re left wondering whether God’s goodness can really be trusted.”

 

    A faith that cannot tango with the more disturbing aspects of Biblical teaching is a weak faith; a faith that is extremely vulnerable to the intellectual attacks that arise from cultural critics of Christianity. In this series we will pry open the closet door and examine the skeleton’s in God’s closet; those elements of the Biblical narrative that critics of the faith tend to gravitate towards as potential ammunition to fire at Christians.

 

So, here are the topics we are going to cover in the first half of this series:

 

  • Be Ready to Reason: An introduction to the series (February 22nd)

  • Kicking the Hell Out of Earth: How can we believe that God is love, if hell exists? Or, on the other hand, are their negative consequences for our belief in God’s goodness, if we deny the reality of hell? (March 1st)

  • Only one way to God?: In a pluralistic world how can we believe that Jesus is the only way to God? Isn’t that arrogant, narrow and divisive? What if all paths do lead to God, but not in the way we normally think? (March 8th)

  • Why is the Bible so Bloody?: The Old Testament is filled with violent stories. Does God command Israel to engage in genocide by wiping out the Canaanites? How can we believe that a God like this is good? (March 15th)

  • Is God anti-gay?: Perhaps more than any message in this series, this topic strikes an emotional chord with us. This is a topic that is heavily debated in the church. So, as a pastor with gay relatives and friends, how do I wrestle with the Bible’s teaching on same-sex attraction?  (March 29th)

 

Part Two of Skeletons in the Skeptics Closet

 

    This series has two parts and in the second half of this series we are going to move from the defensive to the offensive but not, of course, in an aggressive way. Rather, we are going to examine the Skeletons in the Skeptics Closet; arguments and evidence for the truth of Christianity that skeptics may be afraid to look at, or deal with fairly, out of fear that it may change the way they look at Christianity and their own worldview. 

 

  • The Resurrection of Jesus: Going beyond myth, legend and folklore. (April 5th)

  • Clues for the Creator: It is common to hear from skeptics that we shouldn’t believe in anything without evidence. So, what is the evidence for God’s existence? Is there any? Is it okay to believe without evidence? (April 12th)

  • Friends or Foes: An investigation of faith and its interaction with science. Is science hostile to Biblical Christianity or vice versa? How should theology and science interact with one another? (April 19th)

  • Does Religion Poison Everything: Hasn’t Christianity caused so many social ills and problems? This message looks at the many good things that Christianity has brought about in our world. (April 25th)

  • Why the New Testament is Reliable: You can trust the Bible. It is not filled with myths or legends. But how do we know this is true? This message will explain why we can trust the New Testament. (May 3rd)

  • What now?: How to be an affective messenger of Jesus (May 10th)

 

    In the end, the purpose of this series is to equip you to be an affective minister of Jesus Christ in our culture where the criticism that often comes our way is intellectual and is intended to steal our joy, our hope and the vibrancy of our faith.