“I have my own opinions about things in the Bible.” This was a statement my daughter noted to me...
Contending
Lessons From the Garden: Existence, Relationships, and Processes – The Tragedy of Sin
Something happened in Genesis 3 that shifted the course of history and impacted the entire...
Lessons From the Garden: Existence, Relationships, and Processes – State of Perfection in the Original Creation
In the book of Genesis, we find God as Creator. The first two chapters of Genesis outline God’s...
Calling Evil Good: A Lesson From the 2016 Super Bowl Halftime Performance
Another Super Bowl has come and gone. All the hype over the actual game and all the excitement over what company produced the most entertaining commercial will soon be a distant memory. What might remain somewhat vivid in our memories is the halftime show which again...
Resisting the Vitriolic Urge
A trend I have noticed over the past several years since social media has taken hold of society is the tendency for vitriol and biting comments. The unfortunate reality is some of the worst offenders are Christians or those at least professing faith in Christ. Usually...
Anyone Seen My Dictionary?
There exists today a rampant problem of biblical illiteracy. Dr. Albert Mohler, in addressing this grave issue, recently noted, “The larger scandal is biblical ignorance among Christians. Choose whichever statistic or survey you like, the general pattern is the same....
Lessons From the Garden: Why Did Cain and Abel Offer a Sacrifice to God?
While not an event that took place in the Garden of Eden, the offering of a sacrifice to God by Cain and Abel has nevertheless been a topic of interest to me for some time. Given its potential connection to the Garden of Eden, exploring the possible reason why Cain...
Lessons from the Garden: God’s Covering of our Nakedness
Over the past couple of weeks at a Bible Study I have been attending, we have been exploring some fundamental aspects of Scripture and theology in general. As a starting point, a necessary one I might add, the discussion has centered on Genesis 1-4 for it is in these...
Lessons from the Garden: Talking Snake or Anointed Covering Cherub?
There is one specific element of Genesis 3 that has recently fascinated me and that is the question as to why Eve is not portrayed as being surprised when the “Serpent” spoke to her. One of the traditional views can be found in the artwork that is often used to depict...
Lessons from the Garden: The Theological Importance of No Animal Death Before Sin
Other than the discussion over the issue of how long the days of Genesis 1 are, arguably one of the most heated debates among evangelicals on the issue of origins is whether there was any death and more specifically, whether the is a biblical case for animal death...
Thoughts from The Theocratic Kingdom: Proposition 3
In Proposition 3, George Peters states: "The meanings usually given to this kingdom indicate that the most vague, indefinite notions exist concerning it." I find this true regarding a number of theological terms, perhaps most notably the recent focus on naming...
A Relook at the “Lessons from the Garden”
Late in 2015 I began a series titled “Lessons from the Garden”. It is my firm belief that in order to understand Scripture, one must begin with the beginning pages of Genesis. If we are to understand sin, we have to look at how Genesis presents life before and after...
Matt Brown – How to Successfully Argue Your Point But Miss the Gospel
Why are Christians so unkind to one another and the world? Why do we criticize, degrade, and dismiss? Why do we act like jerks? I have experienced the sting of Christian criticism many times as I’ve posted Scripture or encouragements online. I’m sure you’ve...
Tony Reinke – Lecrae Confesses Abortion, Invites Others into the Light
As the forty-second anniversary of Roe v. Wade draws near, we are reminded of how large and formidable the abortion industry has become in the United States. Planned Parenthood survives with a heavy dose of government funding, even as overall abortion numbers are down...
Robert Gagnon – The Closing of Discussion in the Public Square: Bowing to the New Social Orthodoxy
Sadly, most Christians in the United States, when it comes to recognizing the dangers to their civil and religious liberties, sleep the sleep of ignorance that the disciples slept at Gethsemane before the arrest of Jesus. It ought to be obvious by now how “sexual...
Timothy Paul Jones – Reza Aslan and “The Jesus of History”
“The more I probed the Bible,” Reza Aslan declares in the introduction to his bestseller Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, “the more distance I discovered between the Jesus of the gospels and the Jesus of history” (xix). The result of this discovery—at...
Sinclair Ferguson – The Authority, Sufficiency, Finality of Scripture
If God has given us the Scriptures to be the canon or rule for our lives, it follows that we must regard them as the supreme authority for our lives. Paul tells us that they are ‘breathed out’ by God. There can be no more authoritative word than one that comes to us...
John Murray – Catechizing: A Forgotten Practice
It is surely an indictment of the Church today that in dealing with the subject of catechizing we have to begin by explaining the very meaning of the term. What was looked on as a necessary and beneficial practice by the early church and by the Reformers has now...
Tim Challies – 6 Great Reasons To Study Doctrine
I love doctrine. Doctrine is simply the teaching of God or the teaching about God—the body of knowledge that he reveals to us through the Bible. I guess I’m one of those geekly people who loves to learn a new word and the big idea behind it. But I hope I do not love...
Fred Butler – Hard Truths For Theistic Evolutionists (Part 3)
Genesis as absolute beginning out of nothing Christianity has historically affirmed that the first chapter of Genesis describes God speaking the material universe into existence for the first time out of nothing. What is traditionally called creation ex nihilo by...
Fred Butler – Hard Truths For Theistic Evolutionists (Part 2)
On Death, Dying, and Suffering Theistic evolution is the belief God brought about the present variety of life on earth by the process of evolution. In a manner of speaking, the very term “theistic evolution” is oxymoronic. A radical discontinuity exists between the...
Fred Butler – Hard Truths For Theistic Evolutionists (Part 1)
God’s Character and the Doctrine of Inspiration Theistic evolution has emerged in recent years as the “go to” explanation that attempts to accommodate the historical narrative of Genesis with the evolutionary theory of life. Even though theistic evolutionary...
Tim Ward – An Introduction to the Bible
When we say that the Bible is ‘the Word of God’, what we are actually claiming about it? It is to answer this question, which is both theological and also deeply practical and vital, that the branch of theology called ‘the doctrine of Scripture’ has been developed....
Thomas Watson – Christ’s Humiliation In His Incarnation
'Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.’ I Tim 3: I6. Q-xxvii: WHEREIN DID CHRIST’S HUMILIATION CONSIST? A: In his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the...
J. C. Ryle – Faith and Assurance
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His...
Book Review: Answering Mormons’ Questions: Ready Responses for Inquiring Latter-day Saints
The last Presidential election cycle saw a huge increase in discussion about Mormonism with Mitt Romney running for President of the United States. For some this conversation is new, but for many like me who live, work and minister around Mormons, Mormonism is nothing...