A continued discussion from three gentlemen in one of the men’s Bible studies online here. This is, in part, a discussion between Catholics and Protestants, though I will not take sides, though it surely seem I do. We are simply looking at the language and hermeneutics as a backbone for our discussion. I let the [...]

Someone asked a group of us what we thought the opposite of love is. Hate, Selfishness, Rebellion, Apathy, and Fear all came up as possible answers. Good answers. Even some fairly interesting theology shuffling around in there. I prayed on it a bit and thought it over and after a while I decided perhaps LOVE [...]

Q. What makes you think Christianity is true?

A.Now comes the difficult part, as Chesterton said; to put all these things down. It would take a book that others have written(1), so I suggest you read those and I will say only this:
When one knows something so completely and believes it so fundamentally, it is more [...]

The law is essentially a reflection of who God is. When we try to reach God by obeying the law though, we try to reflect a reflection and hence become ever more distorted. Like fun-house mirrors, reflections on reflections, twisted and misshapen. Following a law in order to be like God is nothing short of [...]

I have built my house to my specs and now, in order to fit the building code of the Kingdom I attempt a little reform. Knock a wall down here, a wall down there, put in a window, a garage for my SUV that I’m praying expectantly for.
This is merely adherence to the law, and [...]

Are the existence of God and the presence of evil mutually exclusive? Does the death and suffering we witness in the world around us every day somehow speak against God? In these posts I argue that not only is it possible for God to have a morally sound reason for allowing suffering, but without God evil could not even be said to exist.

Haiti
As many people know by now, Haiti has been devastated by an earthquake that registered 7.0 on the Richter scale. Many are wondering what can be done, how can we help, what do they need, how bad is it and is it getting worse. Photos here. Be warned, it is somewhat graphic. CNN’s IMPACT YOUR [...]

“Do you have any tips for finding a good church?”
Short Answer:
Well, there is only ONE church, as stated in the Apostles’ Creed, “sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam” or “the holy catholic church,” that is, eternal and universal. The gathering of the people of God throughout time and space. When you profess faith in Christ, as the Apostles’ [...]

Humans strive for balance but tend to extremes. In fact, we all strive for balance precisely because we know we tend to extremes. Extreme right, extreme left or extremely center.
Front of the bus, middle of the road, back of the church.

Living in Japan has given me a view of the world geographically, politically and culturally [...]

Is it heretical or even irreverent to represent The Creator God, The Father, as a woman?
It’s not that Young makes The Father figure of the Trinity into a black woman that reeks of blasphemy, but that he makes Him into anything at all. We create graven images when we do such; we must allow God [...]

The white snow, the holly, mistletoe and plaster nativity. Christmas trees and Christmas cake. Lots of presents and eggnog! Yay! Sleigh bells jingle, a ring jing jingle away.  Such warmth and love! Chestnuts by the fire, as we sing with ones we know and love, cozy and friendly. So this is Christmas!
Wait… how did we [...]

Question
Short answer: No.
Longer answer:  No. At least, probably not. We have an idea that He may have been born sometime in the late Spring or early Summer given the likely time of the census. But we really have no idea. A lawyer in the States using astronomy software probably (at least in my book) found [...]

Sept 17th, 1948 – Dec. 11 2009.
We shouldn’t suffer Del’s life to be reduced to that tiny “dash” between dates. His passing was quite sudden and that certainly never makes it any easier. He turned 61 just a few months back and once said that he planned to live to a [...]

A Call of Christian Conscience
Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.
We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths [...]

Someone asks, “What’s it mean, ‘But the lukewarm I will spit out of my mouth’?” By itself this statement has no certain meaning. Probably this is an allusion to Revelation 3:16Revelation 3:16English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – CEV16 But since you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my [...]

Amazon.com Widgets

Neil Cole,
“Organic Leadership”

Gregory A. Boyd,
“The Myth of a Christian Nation”

Shane Claiborne, Chris Haw,
“Jesus for President”

R.Bauckham,
“Jesus and the Eyewitnesses”

F. Schaeffer,
“How Should We Then Live?”
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The hardest people to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ are arguably “nice people.”
There are so many who see “religion” as simply a way to make the world ‘nicer,’ to make people ‘good’ or to keep society from, as the Joker put it, ‘eating itself’ instead of simply the response required of Man to [...]

From C.S. Lewis
In space you can move in three ways-to left or right, backward or forward, up or down. Every direction is either one of these three or a compromise between them. They are called the three Dimensions. Now notice this. If you are using one dimension, you could draw only a straight line. If [...]

Intelligent Design
A lot of people allege that the ID movement is nothing more than the old God-of-the-gaps idea, dressed in new clothing.  But is this the case?  I don’t think so, and I’ll tell you why.  IDers aren’t merely waiting for evolutionists to say “We don’t know” so that they can jump in and say [...]

Not only is suicide a sin, it is the sin. It is the ultimate and absolute evil, the refusal to an interest in existence; the refusal to take the oath of loyalty to life. The man who kills a man, kills a man. The man who kills himself, kills all men; as far as he is concerned he wipes out the world. His act is worse (symbolically considered) than any rape or dynamite outrage. For it destroys all buildings; it insults all women.

Some one asked the other day, ‘Can a person be saved living a life of sin?’
Possibly two things they could have meant by this: Is a sinful person ever able to be saved? or, is one who is saved ever going to sin again and are they in danger of loosing their salvation? For the first one, most definitely. Otherwise, none of us would have a chance, for we are all sinners.

“Why it is necessary that we be able to choose evil for us to have free will, while it is not necessary that God be able to choose evil for Him to have free will?” was the actual question.
For starters, I must admit my limits and refer my readers (all one of me) to Lewis or Augustine, Bonhoeffer or Athanasius for a detailed answer. Dr. Craig is certainly well thought out, but I always like to think things through myself.

Short answer: Good is defined by who God is, His very nature. Evil is turning from or disobeying God, and as we are like but separate entities, we have that choice. A choice that God does not have. God cannot turn from Himself, though He may do as He pleases.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”(Romans 3:23Romans 3:23English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – CEV23 All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.WP-Bible plugin)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23Romans 6:23English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – [...]

“Make sure you floss regularly and brush your teeth after every meal.”Floss

That was a rule in my parent’s house that I heard every day growing up. Before bed, “Did you brush your teeth?”
“Yes.”
“Tonight?”
“… no.”

There was no real discussion; it had to be done in our house as I am sure it was so in others.
My own daughter denies it as vehemently now as I once did (and sometimes still do when my wife asks). “Brush your teeth” is not a rule for the discomfort and anguish that children imagine, but to instill in us the good habit of keeping our teeth clean; one that responds to the natural inclination of teeth rotting and falling out.

The same may be said for the Law of Moses. God’s Law is not intended as the Ultimate Party-pooper, but simply a check to the fallen nature of Man; Laws that show us the reality of the world around us, meant to protect us from our teeth falling out: to keep us from harms way.

I’m currently reading “The Challenge of Jesus” by N T Wright, and he makes an interesting statement on p21. He says, “The Enlightenment notoriously insisted on splitting apart history and faith, facts and values, religion and politics, nature and supernature, in a way whose consequences are written into the history of the last two [...]