Many Christians appear to agree with philosopher Jerry Walls that “NDEs have given many people fresh reason to hope for life after death.” Although these experiences are not an essential ground for believing in the Christian doctrine of heaven, he argues, they do supply glimpses of “realities we know about from the revelation of Scripture... Continue Reading

Despite the abrogation of the national covenant by the obedience, death, and resurrection of Christ (Col. 2:14), the NT church has not “replaced” the Jews. Paul says that God “grafted” the Gentiles into the people of God. Grafting is not replacement, it is addition.   Recently I had a question asking whether “covenant theology” is... Continue Reading

Mr. Controller lacks self-control. This is his weirdest characteristic. You’d think that such an addiction to control would produce a deeply disciplined person. Not at all. Most controllers have major deficits in the self-control department. Perhaps it’s because they are so busy interfering in other people’s lives that they neglect their own. Maybe it’s because they... Continue Reading

Let me share my perspective as to when it did actually begin, how it grew, and how and why patriarchy jockeyed its way into control of Christian homeschooling. (This is so important because, again, some people believe that, in fact, the patriarchs were the founders of modern homeschooling.)   In part one of this series, I... Continue Reading

I would suggest that the other ANE flood stories are in fact almost no help in understanding Genesis 6-9. The Genesis Flood account is shorter and simpler than the ANE accounts. The fuller context of the Flood (Genesis 1-11 differs in profound ways from the ANE accounts. As noted previously, the ANE accounts are polytheistic.... Continue Reading

You see, God’s grace is the most powerful force in the universe, so I would have to argue that it’s the most beautiful word in the universe. It reaches you where you are and takes you where God wants you to be. It has the power to do something that nothing else can do: transform... Continue Reading

For starters, there are no groups in our denominations whose raison d’etre is the celebration of divorce. People are not advocating new policies in our churches that affirm the intrinsic goodness of divorce. Conservatives, in the culture and in the church, keep talking about homosexuality because that is the fault line right now. We’d love to talk... Continue Reading

Many people wouldn’t put Taylor and me together.  In high school, we probably would not have been friends.  She probably would have thought that I was a nice, boring, judgmental Christian kid; I probably would have thought that she was a nice, lost, party-scene girl that guys like me are supposed to stay away from.... Continue Reading

It may surprise you, but in the New Testament there is no process for canonizing saints. To become a saint, you did not have to die, then be nominated, then go through a judicial inquiry, where people look for proof of your worthiness and check to see if you have done miracles. That process came much... 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