Answers that our churches have forgotten.It can be difficult to convince people on the other side of the ideological spectrum to take you seriously. But that is part of the challenge of being a Christian. Jesus told his disciples to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). Sometimes we have a tendency to limit that to… read more »
Secularists are sometimes surprised when they learn about the long-standing intellectual tradition of the Christian church. There are thousands of books that have emerged containing our different philosophies, theological points of view, critical reviews, and rigorous intellectual content. Today, Christians owe much of the way that they think to these great philosophers and theologians. Arguments… read more »
The doctrine of freedom of the will is a very important theme in Christian thought. For many, it is the primary method of explaining how there is evil and suffering in the world. However, many have pointed out that there are other core doctrines of the Christian faith that seem to compromise freedom of the… read more »
We live in a world that is full of despair, pain and suffering. Every day, there are tragedies across the world that take the lives of loved ones. People die unexpectedly. Sometimes the day after a wedding, when the bride and groom are looking forward to their lives together, one is tragically taken. When a… read more »
Ancient diversions from orthodoxy seem to sprout up throughout the generations of church history. Christians have classically maintained strict trinitarianism. Any departure from this has been looked upon by the historic church as a heresy. A non-trinitarian model of God would hence be seen as idolatry. Nonetheless, there are some Christian groups who maintain a… read more »
In a labored attempt to appeal to Christians, Muslims will often tell us that they believe in Jesus just as we do. They will tell us that they revere and adore Jesus as a prophet of God. They will tell us that there are two faiths that historically believe in Jesus and believe in what… read more »
Dan Barker issued the Easter Challenge a few years ago as an indicator of the demerits of the Christians’ Easter tradition. While we use it to commemorate that Christ had risen from the dead, there are serious flaws in the Easter story that many Christians do not realize. This aligns with what is known as… read more »
The traditional conception of God among monotheistic faiths is that God is utterly perfect in every way. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, all-present, all-good, and so on. But some Christians (hereafter referred to as open-theists) wrestle with these attributes and wonder how it is that they fit into their systematic theology. So when they come… read more »
People with views that oppose Christian doctrine often mount the accusation that Christians are mean-spirited and obnoxious. It is not necessarily so much that these groups are merely disagreeing with each other, but Christians are utterly disagreeable, unable to have a friendly conversation and listen to the beliefs of those with whom they disagree. I… read more »
I am not the judge. But I can ask what the Bible says. Evangelicals often take the stance that for a person to be saved, they must believe in the doctrine of the trinity. I can certainly sympathize with this, because the doctrine of the trinity is usually tied in so closely with the deity… read more »
Often referred to as the 5th Gospel, the writings of the Prophet Isaiah are very theologically loaded. I suspect that if it were part of the New Testament canon, liberal scholars would strive to post-date it as late as they could. There are affirmations of Christian theology that Isaiah just would not know, absent divine… read more »
What is the difference between Judas and Peter? When the time came, both of them failed Jesus. Judas sold him to his enemies, which led to his being nailed a cross. Peter denied even knowing him and fled when he was most needed. He fled when he promised that he would stay with him even… read more »
Suppose one of your friends tells you that they think that there is a ghost in their house. But it is a friendly ghost, who helps them find things and has an interesting sense of humor. Suppose another friend tells you that they lost their keys, but used an ouija board to locate them. Yet… read more »
In my view, the crowd of 5 point Arminians seems to be quickly dissipating. Most people who I am aware of do not think that it is possible for a true believer to lose their salvation. In fact, even Jacob Arminius thought that it was an open question and too difficult to answer. But those… read more »
Is atheist activism a religion? Sometimes believers like to suggest that atheism is a religion, and as such, atheists are religious believers. However I do not think that is true. Atheism, defined as just the position or view that there is no such being as God, is not a religion. In fact, even theism is… read more »
One of the most accomplished NCAA running backs of the day, Adam Muema, recently summoned the national spotlight when he left the NFL Scouting Combine just months before the draft. He did this because, he said, God told him to. Now one could expect that after such an endeavor, Muema’s intentions would be to leave… read more »
This is a discussion about science and evolution with an atheist. I will probably post the full discourse soon. For now though I will post the beginning of the exchange and a link to the Facebook post that the rest can be found. It is very interesting. We went into what it means to be… read more »
Non-Christians may feel that it is difficult to understand where Christians are coming from or relate to them, especially those who have no Christian background at all. They cannot understand our reasoning, why we do things or why it is that we believe in Christ. They cannot understand it. We clash with them when Christian… read more »
Many of my followers are aware that I have come from a Oneness Pentecostal background, and I often make harsh comparisons, in saying that they are similar to the Mormon church or the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Of course I went into this thoroughly in my subsection Oneness Pentecostal Heresy but I think it would be profitable… read more »
As Christians engage with non-believers and attempt to share their faith, they certainly come across a bit of resistance. People often do not want to hear the gospel message. They are gospel-hardened. So they will raise several objections to Christianity, and we just find ourselves in a debate. In such a scenario, Christians are often… read more »