Why Care About History? Because History Defines Us Let’s listen to a typical conversation between two people who are meeting each other at a convention. Carl: Hello! My name is Carl Simpson. James: Hello! My name is James Cameron. Carl: Where are you from, James? James: Well, I grew up in the Miami area, but…
How do you make sense of the different denominations with everybody saying their way is right? Some distinctions to help you avoid quarreling about non-essentials. There are two different issues. First, if Christianity happens to be true in the broader sense, how do you make sense of the different denominations with everybody saying their way…
The October 2000 issue of The Atlantic Monthly featured a perceptive, and, to many, a surprising essay on the renewal of evangelical thought and scholarship. In “The Opening of the Evangelical Mind,” Alan Wolfe interviewed important evangelical scholars and others and found that many evangelicals and significant institutions have stepped up to the intellectual plate….
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17).(1) This familiar admonition was first spoken by John the Baptist and soon after it was echoed by Jesus. The phrase is certainly worthy of a great deal of attention; it provides a lot of food for thought. For the moment, though, let’s concentrate on…
The Early Church Fathers Some Christians are unnerved by the fact that nowhere does God itemize the sixty-six books that are to be included in the Bible. Many believers have at best a vague notion of how the church arrived at what we call the Canon of Scripture. Even after becoming more aware, some believers…
“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Romans 3:28 NIV). This paper (1) summarizes the biblical teaching or doctrine of justification (its nature)–of the believer, and some of the problems or concerns relevant to this teaching, (2) discusses how this teaching (justification) is contradicted in the culture…
Introducing Open Theism What does it mean to be free? It at least means that one is able to make significant decisions. What if you discovered that all the choices you thought you made freely were mapped out in advance Here’s another question. Does God know everything that is going to happen in the future?…
A List of the Key Elements of Christianity What are the essential doctrines of the Christian faith? There are differences of opinion throughout the history of the church on this issue. For example, you might find a different group of doctrines at different times from the Catholic Church than you might from a Protestant church….
Introduction There are those who deny the Deity of Christ. Of those, there are some who believe in the inerrant Word of God, yet allege that Jesus Himself never claimed to be God. Those who would make such a claim are simply wrong. Either they have never read the New Testament or simply refuse to…
There are many books today that claim to be the Word of God. The Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, The Book of Mormon, and other religious works all claim to be divinely inspired. The Bible claims to be the only book that is divinely inspired and that all other claims of inspiration from other works should…