Ten years ago, when I moved from rural North Carolina to uber-urban Tokyo, Japan, I brought with me a lot of baggage – and it wasn’t the kind immigration likes to rifle through. It was the baggage of a small minded boy who thought he had a grasp on God. Narrow views of religion are [...]

“I believe in justice: but I am not a preacher of the gospel of justice, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to justice. I believe in love, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of love, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to love. I am committed to peace, [...]

Walking through the mall last night, I visited a favorite outdoor supply shop of mine. Which one isn’t important, but they carry lots of great stuff, emphasis on the stuff because not one item in there is really essential for life. Which I find somewhat entertaining as it considers itself a ‘nature store.’

This is the transcript and PowerPoint presentation of a session I gave at the Associated Christian Schools Annual Conference in July 2010.  The files are in pdf format for ease of use. The session was only an hour in length, so my goal was to present a thumbnail sketch of current scholarship surrounding the life, [...]

Christians need to be aware that the outside world does not understand the most basic of things when it comes to the spiritual world. Those eyes have been blinded and therefore they are incapable of comprehending things believers take for granted. In order to understand exactly where these misunderstandings or misconceptions lie, we must listen [...]

We’ve been away for a while. Sorry about that. We’ve had a wedding in another country, a move to a new town, three cases of bronchitis and a pregnancy (twins) which has kept our schedule pretty full. As wonderful as all that has been (except the bronchitis, thank you) we’re very glad to be back.

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Good, good. (say it like the Emperor, you know you want to!) Okay, so JC makes a good point. I just say, check and see if that is based or contradicted anywhere else in the Bible. It is in fact found else where. Here is what I found. In the Greek, (the modern Koino anyway) [...]

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, [...]

(English) 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.

“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 [...]

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 [...]

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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 mouth.WP-Bible plugin, [...]

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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. [...]

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 [...]

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) [...]

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 hundred [...]