An Open Letter with Eight Hard Questions for Progressive Christian Apologist Randal Rauser
Thinking Christian
by Tom Gilson
1y ago
Dear Mr. Rauser, You and I have been trading videos, articles, and tweets over the past several weeks. The latest round, other than tweets I’ve sent (which you haven’t answered) was your video criticizing my Stream article about you. I wrote an answer to your criticism, but when I finished I realized it was missing the point, the “central issue” — not the “central issue” you’ve chided me for “avoiding,” but one that’s even more central than that. So I’m not posting that response. I still could, but this comes first. I have some questions for you. First, though, what is the real central issue ..read more
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Follow-up on My Exchange with Randal Rauser
Thinking Christian
by Tom Gilson
1y ago
Last week I got involved in what I would have hoped to be a dialogue with Randal Rauser regarding a handful of tweets he’d put up on Twitter. It turned out to be pseudo-dialogue, with him refusing or abstaining from answering my questions, yet insisting that I answer his, after he tried changing the subject on me. I know some folks on Facebook were aware of this going on, after I posted this blog post on it, but not all of them would have followed it on Twitter. I’m putting this here to tie a bow on it for them and for myself. I thought it would be interesting to count how many times he demand ..read more
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How Not to Do Apologetics: Dark Example from the ‘Tentative Apologist’ Randal Rauser
Thinking Christian
by Tom Gilson
1y ago
A video from the self-styled “Tentative Apologist” Randal Rauser has roused me to wake up this website again. I think he thinks he’s defending progressive Christianity. I’m no progressive Christian myself, but if I were, I would ask him to quit. It isn’t just that I disagree with Rauser’s conclusions. This video is riddled throughout with objectively identifiable failures in logic, a complete disregard for evidence, and a reprehensible rush to condemn a follower of Christ based on (I’ll say it again) objectively identifiable misrepresentations. Let’s note right at the outset: This video thumbn ..read more
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Ministry Update, November 2022
Thinking Christian
by Tom Gilson
1y ago
Greetings! Some missionary newsletters might start with “Greetings from the other side of the world.” I was thinking of starting this one with, “Greetings from the other side of … ,” but  I wasn’t sure quite what to enter in the blank. I have definitely come through what seems like a ‘far side of the world’ experience lately. Some of it has been unusually good. It should have been unusually enjoyable. Instead it brought me to the edge of burnout. Not quite over the edge, but close enough that I could see it from where I stood. Yet I’d say again, almost all of it was really, really good. E ..read more
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God Heals — Amazing Good News! (Tom Gilson Ministry Newsletter, May 2022)
Thinking Christian
by Tom Gilson
1y ago
I have good news. Lots of it. I’ve been holding out on you too long, and I need to pass it along. It’s about bad news getting better — amazingly better. It happened slowly, and gradually, but in retrospect it was an amazing answer to prayer. The Bad News That Started It It does start with bad news, though. I had disk surgery on my back in December, and I was recovering just fine, even traveling with Sara to visit our daughter and her family in Oklahoma. I took another trip in March to the home office of The Stream, where I’m a senior editor, and it was there in my hotel room that the bad news ..read more
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Ministry Progress, April 2022
Thinking Christian
by Tom Gilson
2y ago
Photo: snapshot I took during Christian leadership meeting mentioned below, led by James Robison, in the Life Today TV studio. (It was not televised.) It’s happening — at last! Step by step, this past year or two, I’ve been building toward an equipping ministry for pastors. Now it’s moving into its next phase, and I’m excited to see it coming to fruition. It’s still not easy — see the prayer requests below — but by God’s grace, it’s coming together. It’s a service ministry, helping pastors handle the toughest questions our confused culture sends their way.  I’ve been studying these issues ..read more
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The Very Alien Question of Marriage (from The Stream’s Pastors’ Corner)
Thinking Christian
by Tom Gilson
2y ago
(Also published at The Stream.) What is marriage? What is it for? Why does marriage matter? Ten years ago, those were the hottest questions on the planet. Now they’re … nothing. No one even asks anymore, at least not in public. That’s okay to a certain point: I don’t mind the public debate going silent for now until a more strategic time arrives. I just worry that things are equally quiet inside the churches, where we dare not let the marriage question die, and where we dare not give in to wrong answers. You probably think I’m talking about same-sex marriage. No, not this time. Our culture got ..read more
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Find Your Authentic Self, or Find an Authentic View of God?
Thinking Christian
by Tom Gilson
2y ago
Everyone’s in a rush to find their “authentic self.” We’re going about it the wrong way, though. We find our true selves by giving up false gods and finding the true God. We’ve missed his reality, however.  Even Christians have, in my view. That’s why I say in this message to The River Church in Liberty Township, Ohio, delivered last month, it’s time we hit a big reset button on our view of God. Image Credit(s): The River Church. The post Find Your Authentic Self, or Find an Authentic View of God? appeared first on Tom Gilson ..read more
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2021 in Review: God Shows Up in Spite of All
Thinking Christian
by Tom Gilson
2y ago
I’m writing this during the winter storm of February 3, 2022. So far it’s turning out less disruptive than what we’d prepped for, when earlier forecasts had said we could get nearly half an inch of freezing rain. That would have caused power outages everywhere. Another disruption would almost feel par for the course, though. I look back on the past twelve months, and I can hardly believe what we’ve gone through — or what God has done in it. Just yesterday an old acquaintance who’s becoming a new friend here in Dayton how our new ministry has encouraged him. It is totally God at work. Honestly ..read more
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Pastors’ Equipping Series: Sample Sermon on Christian Exclusivism vs. Pluralism — Christmas Themed!
Thinking Christian
by Tom Gilson
2y ago
Christians aren’t supposed to say we have the one truth, right? So goes the opinion around our culture, anyway. We’re supposed to be “humble” about our beliefs; to give equal worth and respect to all other beliefs. That’s what culture tells us, but what does God say? Clearly Jesus claims to be the one way, the one truth, and the one life, through whom alone we can come to the Father. But how does that square with Christian humility? How do we live that out without arrogance? And why isn’t God like an elephant? You weren’t expecting that last question, I’m sure! That’s okay, it’s just a teaser ..read more
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