Thoughts on ethics, society, politics, religion, philosophy, theology, and everything in between
One of the most prominent contemporary theological debates among Christians who believe Scripture is the Authoritative word of God revolves around the inerrancy of Scripture. According to the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture, the Bible is completely free of any errors on any topic, including science, history, and so forth (This is to be … Read more
In recent decades, some Christians have claimed that the Authority of the Jesus of the Gospels is greater than the authority of the apostle Paul. Since Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, is the ultimate revelation of God, they argue, the example and teaching of Jesus in the Gospels is of higher Authority than the … Read more
The Bible is a collection of various writings that make up the Scriptures of Christianity. But what does it mean to call the Bible “Scripture”? At the risk of oversimplification, I will distinguish between five basic Christian positions on this issue: Scripture is an expression of the human religious experience of people in the past … Read more
In a previous post, I addressed a popular interpretation of the Protestant principle of sola scriptura (“Scripture alone”), arguing that Protestants still must acknowledge church tradition to be to some extent authoritative, even if Scripture is their highest theological authority. In this post, I will address a popular interpretation of the Protestant principle of sola … Read more
In my last post, I examined how paying close attention to some key Old Testament citations in the Gospel of Mark can help us better understand the theological teachings of Mark’s Gospel. In this post, I will examine how paying close attention to how the New Testament uses the Old Testament to talk about Jesus … Read more
Most Christians understand the point of the Gospel of Mark to be this: Jesus is God, and He came to die on a cross as a sacrifice for our sins so we could be forgiven (while giving us some good moral teachings along the way). All of this may be true as far as it … Read more
God is omnipresent. Many Christians understand this to mean that God is always equally present at all places at all times, and that God is not locally present at any particular place. There is certainly a sense in which God is present in all places (Psalm 139: 7-10). However, a careful study of Scripture reveals … Read more
“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” Such is an example of an evangelistic message frequently used by contemporary Christians. There is a sense in which this statement is true. It is true that God loves us. And there is a sense in which it is true that God has a … Read more
Violence, Force, and Coercion Jesus calls His disciples to follow Him on the way of the cross. He calls them to love as He loves, to love their enemies even if it means they must suffer and die as He did. This means that violence is always incompatible with the demands of Christian discipleship. Many … Read more
Most American Christians assume it goes without saying that it is acceptable for Christians to vote in state and federal elections. Most American Christians would even go farther and say that Christians have a responsibility to vote in state and federal elections. American Christians spend a lot of time discussing how they should vote (usually … Read more