“Matthew Vines’ “God and the Gay Christian,” released April 22 by Convergent Books, also cites Augustine, John Chrysostom, John Calvin and C.S. Lewis in the course of arguing that Scripture allows monogamous same-sex marriage. Vines admits that Christians throughout history condemned homosexuality, but he writes that most did not understand the modern concept of homosexual... Continue Reading

“Jesus has already outlined his plan for how he will manifest his glory in the world today. He said, “I will build my church” (Matt 16:18). Jesus Christ died to save his people from their sins, and as the Spirit applies his work in the world, a new creation body is growing up into Christ.... Continue Reading

“We can easily recognize why such an elder must be theologically astute: he is making decisions in song choices concerning what kind of doctrine is taught to the minds of the congregation. So many theological problems have been perpetuated in churches because musicians with no theological education were making all the song choices. But we... Continue Reading

“Sex has the unique power, almost like nothing else, to either bless or to harm and exploit. There’s usually no in-between. When used to bless your spouse, it’s a beautiful picture of Christ’s relationship with His church. When it takes on a life of its own, used for one’s personal satisfaction to meet one’s own... Continue Reading

“George Gallup Jr. famously declared 1976 the “Year of the Evangelical.” Subsequent commentators often pluralized “evangelical.” They might have done the same for “year,” too. In many years hence—1980, say, or 2004—it was 1976 all over again, to judge from the headlines. Those election years highlighted the Christian Right, a force that was not on... Continue Reading

“According to Justice Tom Parker, who wrote the majority decision, “It is impossible for an unborn child to be a separate and distinct person at a particular point in time in one respect and not to be a separate and distinct person at the same point in time but in another respect. Because an unborn... Continue Reading

“Critiques of Benny Hinn can span a multitude of areas—his Word-Faith theology, his “little god” theology, his claim that each person of the Trinity is actually his own trinity, his outright lies about his accomplishments, and much more besides. But for our purposes, we will recognize him as the world’s most recognized faith healer.”   A... Continue Reading

“Multi-ethnic ministry flows from the gospel as we are first redeemed to God and then to one another. With the picture of Christ’s multi-ethnic bride in Revelation 5:9-10, the Lord stirs our affections in such a way that we desire to see shadows of that glorious day now.”   Observing young children play any sport... Continue Reading

“What if your congregation never got another member? What if you could no longer afford to wait for somebody to join and finally make of you what you’re convinced you ought to be? How would that change what you do, and how you understand what is required of you, given what you already have?”  ... Continue Reading

“The argument is sometimes made that Christian opposition to homosexuality is grounded solely in the Mosaic (Old Covenant) civil laws and thus, if Christians oppose homosexuality they must also seek to enforce the rest of the Mosaic civil and ceremonial legislation. If, however, there is clear teaching against homosexuality in the NT, that argument fails.”... Continue Reading