Tag: Bible
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How Do We Respond to Calls to Discuss Justice in the Church?
How do we respond to calls to discuss justice in the church? Not only is this a hot issue right now, but it is a critical issue to discuss. Because it is crucial, we need to address it in the church. Approaching the Conversation Primarily, we need to be intentional about how we approach the…
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Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
In this post, I explain what is my current view of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper in the life of an individual believer (sanctification) and in the life of the church (ecclesiology). I defend my position exegetically, theologically, and historically, where appropriate. Baptism When it comes to baptism, my view is baptism should be practiced…
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A Christian Perspective on Guns
In respect of the gun control debate, there are both common goods and competing goods. The common goods are safety, a decrease in violence, and death reduction. The competing good is protecting the Second Amendment rights of the United States Constitution. However, I do not think these goods ought to be competing. In this post,…
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Don’t Follow Your Heart!
The culture today has moved over to complete relativism on a great number of things. Identity, morality, and purpose have all been divorced from objective reality and are based largely upon one’s feelings. But theprophet Jeremiah warned us, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” (Jeremiah 17:9). What did Jesus have to…
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Taking a Deeper Look at the Problem of Evil: The Cross
Finally, I end by covering the cross and our eschatological hope as Christians. Jesus agonized the nastiest evil that can be thrown at him: denial by his own adored people, in the streets of their capital city; abhorrence from the authorities in his own religion; unfairness at the hands of the Roman court; unfaithfulness…
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Taking a Deeper Look at the Problem of Evil: Evil is a Privation
The “problem of evil” is famous. If you believe in a God who is all-powerful and sovereign over the world and together is impeccably good and just, then the presence of evil and suffering creates a problem. This timeless report of it was provided by David Hume, in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. “Epicurus’s old…
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Salvation and Why it Matters
BRIEF STATEMENT ON SALVATION I believe that, due to worldwide sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God lest they be born again; and that no grade of improvement however countless, no accomplishments in goodness however great, no ethos however admirable, no ordinance of any kind, can bring the sinner one inch closer to…
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Defending Theism: A Response to Hume, Russell, and Dawkins
In this post, I look at anti-God arguments from three prominent philosophers, showing why belief in God is more reasonable than their objections to His existence. Theism, broadly defined, is the belief in the existence of a supreme being or other deities. Believers in Jesus Christ would say we follow Christian Theism, believing in and…
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Is transgenderism appropriate for a Christian?
In respect of the growingly popular issues of transgenderism (just think of NCAA women’s swimming), what I subscribe to and will defend is the integrity and acceptance of God’s creation and intention of only two sexes, which decide gender identity. The competing good is a complex package of “sympathetic recognition of their lived reality, full…
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Celibate Gay Christian?
In the episode titled “Celibate Gay Christian Bridget Eileen Rivera” of the You Have Permission podcast, the host, Dan Koch, is joined by Bridget Eileen Rivera, a sociologist completing her Ph.D. at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Thirty-one-year-old Rivera has come to be a prominent influencer on gay celibacy in the church,…
Surrendered and Free 