The most recent version of this post is available here.
“Love often manifests itself in giving people what they can’t appreciate and don’t want, and
in demanding from them precisely what they most want to retain for themselves.” — Tom
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Sunday, July 20, 2014
Saturday, July 19, 2014
How Not To Be Forgiven
A more current version of this post is available here.
Forgiveness is the great equalizer. In extending Christian forgiveness, we acknowledge our own ongoing sins and failures and accept back those who have sinned against us in the knowledge that we, too, will fail them tomorrow and will go on failing them until the Lord returns.
Forgiveness makes every person my equal and everyone my brother or sister in the only sense that equality can ever be attained on earth and in the only sense that, from a human perspective, really matters.
But some people will not be forgiven.
Labels:
Apostle Paul
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Forgiveness
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James
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Progressivism
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Assumptions and Loaded Conversations
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Apologetics
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Proverbs
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Why Can’t God Just Let Us Alone?
A good friend’s struggle with her child has taught me a
little bit about theology.
If that sounds odd, let me explain. This particular friend
has only one child, a girl, born late in her life when it is statistically considerably
more difficult for a woman to conceive and carry to term. It was exceedingly
important for her to have children; she and her husband tried many times over
more than a decade to conceive, to very little effect. On the rare occasions of
success, she always lost the baby early into and sometimes even well into the
pregnancy.
So far this is the story of many women, sadly.
Labels:
Christ
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Colossians
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Can A Loving God Send People to Hell?
Hell is a terrible place. It is described as an everlasting
fire which was created for the punishment of the devil and his angels.
Christ told the story of how one man in hell was in such torment that he begged
for just one drop of water to cool his tongue.
Some want to know how, if God is love,
he could send people to eternal judgement ‘just because’ they did not put their
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The problem is that we do not realize the seriousness of sin.
Labels:
Calvin Miller
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Character of God
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Hades
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Hell
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Love
Monday, July 14, 2014
The Snare Is Broken
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Apostle Paul
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David
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Freedom
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Lies
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Psalms
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Temptation
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Repent or Perish
Most people understand (or intuit) as they read a Bible that
its chapter and verse divisions are a choice made by translators or copyists.
They may be good choices or bad ones, but they are not part of the revelation
of God. They are not ‘inspired’ in the sense the word itself is.
Usually they are pretty decent. However, I probably would’ve
broken up the Lord’s speech in Luke 12 and 13 a little differently.
Just saying.
Labels:
Judgment
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Luke
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Parables
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Repentance
Friday, July 11, 2014
Baptism and Freedom
So, after three posts on the subject of baptism and a look
at the striking contrast between the works-based ritualism of Catholicism and the freedom characteristic of faith in Christ,
we come at long last to the point of the exercise.
We have established that the act of being baptized in water
does not secure the believer’s eternal destiny. It is not a required component
of salvation. It does not admit one to the church, either the ‘church universal’
or any local gathering.
It is, instead, a reminder, a testimony, an act of
obedience, and a means of identification with Christ himself. It is merely a
symbolic act, not the spiritual reality it represents.
So then, what exactly is this greater ‘spiritual reality’ I
keep talking about?
Labels:
Apostle Paul
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Baptism
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Freedom
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Romans
Thursday, July 10, 2014
‘Sola Fide’: Can It Be Enough Just To Believe?
Many denominations and sects teach that putting faith in Christ is not enough to save.
They claim that in order to gain or to keep one’s salvation it is necessary to try and keep at least part of the Old Testament Law.
So what does Scripture say?
Since the beginning man’s pride has driven him to try and
please God by his own efforts. The Bible says that man must cease wanting to
boast of his own righteousness and recognize that he can do nothing to merit
God’s favor: salvation is by God’s grace alone.
Wednesday, July 09, 2014
Is Your Faith Boring You?
A more current version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Luke
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Meditation
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Psalms
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
I See Dead People
I saw one today, in fact. Propped in a coffin, fully and
expertly made up and ready for viewing. She had passed away in her nineties and,
while she certainly looked ‘peaceful’, as we say, no amount of makeup could
disguise the ravages of nine decades.
And no amount of makeup could conceal that she was dead.
Dead people don’t look like living people. They don’t even
look like the wax sculptures in Madame Tussaud’s. In life, there is always
motion: the twitch of an eyebrow or the corner of a mouth; the alertness of the
gaze, or the finger drumming absently on a tabletop. The person in cardiac arrest in the emergency room is thrumming with life by comparison. Even the most naturally
calm person cannot for a second imitate the profound absence of vigor of a body
in which the blood has stopped flowing, the synapses have stopped firing and
every natural process that maintains life has irrevocably and eternally shut
down.
Especially a week after the fact. They just look over, done, kaput. The End.
Especially a week after the fact. They just look over, done, kaput. The End.
Except it isn’t.
Labels:
Death
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Rapture
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Resurrection
Monday, July 07, 2014
Sunday, July 06, 2014
Does Baptism Save?
Along with many others, Dwight Longenecker, the ex-evangelical Catholic priest referenced in
a previous post, teaches that it is
a critical component of salvation:
“In addition to believing and confessing with our lips, we
need to be baptized. At the beginning of Romans 6, St. Paul actually explains
how we share in the death and new life of Christ: It is through baptism.
The beginning of Romans 6 he says, ‘Don’t you know that all
of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were
therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may
live a new life.’ ”
On this basis, Catholics teach that faith is
not enough for salvation; the ritual of water baptism is a must.
But are they right?
Labels:
Baptism
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Catholicism
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Dwight Longenecker
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Ritual
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Symbolism
Saturday, July 05, 2014
Friday, July 04, 2014
The Symbol Is Not the Point
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Catholicism
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Dwight Longenecker
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Ritual
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Symbolism
Thursday, July 03, 2014
How Much Does It Have To Hurt?
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Apostle Paul
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Corinthians
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Forgiveness
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Luke
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Wikipedia vs. Baptism
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Baptism
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Colossians
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Galatians
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Romans
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
An Islamic Court Finally Gets Something Right
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Monday, June 30, 2014
The Missing Ingredient
What is understanding? Here’s what they think at Harvard:
“In a phrase, understanding is the ability to think and act flexibly with what one knows.”
In other words, understanding is putting information into
action, applying what we have learned in a practical way to our lives.
So did something go wrong with the 2008 presidential
election? Because everybody agrees President Obama is a pretty smart guy. Surely he had lots of “information” to put into action.
Labels:
Intelligence
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John the Apostle
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Obedience
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Psalms
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