Penitence as Realism 5/2/24 Christians are sometimes accused of looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Everything is supposed to be joyful, positive, upbeat. Nothing ever goes wrong. Much of our current culture in the Western world says that Christians should deny any concerns - sickness, sadness, sorrow, suffering. It's all supposed to go away. After all, Christ has risen from the dead, redeemed us from the curse of sin and death, and presented us as his victorious people with an eternal hope. It's true that our Christian theology recognizes an eternal hope. In one sense, the Ch ..read more

Wednesdays are for the New Testament 5/1/24 Bruce, F.F. (1988). "Cyprus "(13:4-12)." In The Book of Acts (Revised). (246-249). William B. Eerdmans Publishing,      As Barnabas and Saul go toward Cyprus in Acts 13:4, Bruce observes that the location has been documented as early as the 18th century B.C., called Elishah (Genesis 10:4) (Bruce 1988, p. 246). The area was colonized by Greeks as well as Phoenicians before becoming a Roman territory in 57 B.C. At the time of Acts, it was a separate province. Baranabas and Saul were accompanied by John Mark (v. 5), who may have be ..read more

Tuesdays Are for the Old Testament 4/30/24 Lessing, R. Reed, & Steinmann, Andrew E. (2014). "Chapter Seventeen: Psalms." In Prepare the Way of the Lord: An Introduction to the Old Testament. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. (297-314).     Lessing and Steinmann introduce Psalms as the songbook of Israel, noting that there are numerous different forms of songs present (Lessing & Steinmann 2014, p. 297). The New Testament references Psalms more than 400 times. While the book is generally thought of as a collection of songs by David, there are numerous other authors ..read more

Mondays are for Church History 4/29/24 Schaff, Philip. (2014). "Chapter III.Alliance of Church and State and Its Influence on Public Morals and Religion." In  History of the Christian Church. (The Complete Eight Volumes in One). Volume 3, Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity A.D. 311-600, from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great. (pp. 1856-1908). (Original work published 1889).  Amazon Kindle Edition. (Personal Library). "§23. Worldliness and Extravagance." (pp. 1889-1891). Schaff continues his discussion of detrimental effects of state recognition of Chrsitianity by descri ..read more

4/26/24 Scholarly Reflections Koukl, Gregory. (2019). "Chapter Ten: Suicide: Views That Self-Destruct." In Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions (updated and expanded). pp. 143-156.. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. In this chapter, Koukl discusses the fact that many views are self-refuting. They do not hold p to any examination before they collapse (Koukl 2019, p. 143). A self-refuting statement is easily dismissed. Koukl gives several examples, including "There are no absolutes," "you can't know anything for sure," and "Talking about God is meaningless" (Koukl 2019, p. 144 ..read more

Praying with the Apostles' Creed 4/25/24 We recently visited praying through the Lord's Prayer. The same kind of tactics can be applied to just about any passage of Scripture, and even a few works which are not part of Scripture. Wait - "just about any part of Scripture"?? Not all of it? While we confess that all Scripture is valuable, some parts don't lend themselves to close meditation and prayer. For instance, we are a bit limited when praying our way through a genealogy. We recognize God is preserving a record of His people, but unless we know a lot about the named people, we are a bit l ..read more

Wednesdays are for the New Testament 4/24/24 Bruce, F.F. (1988). "Barnabas and Saul (12:25-13:3)." In The Book of Acts (Revised). (pp. 243-246). William B. Eerdmans Publishing,  Acts 12:25 brings us back to Barnabas and Saul, last seen in 11:30 taking famine relief funds from Antioch to Jerusalem (Bruce 1988, p. 243). Now, in 12:25, they have joined with Mark while in Jerusalem and have returned to Antioch. In Acts 12:1-3, the prophets in the church at Antioch are told by the Holy Spirit to send Barnabas and Saul on a mission (Bruce 1988, p. 244). Bruce considers the named prophets, but ..read more

Mondays are for Church History 4/22/24 Schaff, Philip. (2014). "Chapter III.Alliance of Church and State and Its Influence on Public Morals and Religion." In  History of the Christian Church. (The Complete Eight Volumes in One). Volume 3, Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity A.D. 311-600, from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great. (pp. 1856-1908). (Original work published 1889).  Amazon Kindle Edition. (Personal Library). "§22. Evils of the Union of Church and State. Secularization of the Church." (pp. 1887-1889). While Schaff has noted many benefits to church and state base ..read more

4/19/24 Scholarly Reflections Koukl, Gregory. (2019). "Chapter Nine: Turnabout: Defending against Columbo." In Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions (updated and expanded). pp. 126-139. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Koukl observes that there are others who know how to use questions to navigate an issue skillfully. When another person uses questions and you think there is an effort to trap or humiliate you, Koukl notes that we should welcome the first two uses of the Columbo tactic, which seek to clarify and give reasons for beliefs (Koukl 2019, p. 127). However, leading ..read more

Evangelism Questions 4/18/24 I don't entirely know why I field some questions. Maybe it's because I seem non-threatening. Maybe it's because of a presupposition that someone in a clerical collar probably isn't really a Christian. Whatever the case, here we go. The young man, taking a "theology of the gospel" class at a local church, asked me two questions. First, "Do you believe in God?" I told him that was a foregone conclusion. I am a Christian pastor, and my belief is not only in some sort of divine being but specifically in the Christian God, who is eternally existent as one God in thre ..read more