Do Church-goers Really Get Salvation?
If you were to ask the average church-goer in Churches of Christ what salvation is all about what do you think they would say? Several things come to mind of what the typical response might include: Getting to heaven 5 steps of salvation Having our sins forgiven While all of these things have scriptural merit […]
Sin and Walking in the Light
I grew up with an in/out mentality of salvation. When you are baptized you are in. When you sin you are out until you repent of your sinfulness and then you are back in…until you sin again. I have been really thankful for 1 John 1:5-10 in sorting this out. 5This is the message we […]
Comforted or Disturbed?
Bob Bliss and I noticed that in a meeting we had yesterday the theme of being disturbed came up on several occasions. I got to thinking about this and I think there is a tension between being comfortable and being disturbed that is worthy of investigation. Look at the ministry of Jesus. Jesus spent time […]
The Problem With Culturally Defined Truth
A few things that were once considered culturally acceptable by various groups: Slavery The Crusades Killing infants by exposure (leaving them to die) Murdering Jews Segregation The list could go a lot further than that but the point is, at some point in time there were large groups of people found these things socially and […]
We Need More Finger Pointing…to Scripture
But instead of pointing fingers of judgment toward those we disagree with, we need more fingers pointing to scripture. When it comes to disagreements, especially among brothers, we have to keep pointing to scripture and keep personal attacks and agendas out of it as much as possible. When you point someone to scripture, they are […]
Randy Harris on the Importance of Epistemological Humility
Disagreement with me is not necessarily disagreement with God. If we are not humble about what we know, we are unteachable…For example, I’ve changed my mind on Romans 7. Once I was absolutely convinced that Paul was talking about his post Christian experiences….As I kept reading Romans 7, I became absolutely convinced that I had […]
Five Commands for a Dying Church – Revelation 3:1-6
1“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not […]
The Sacred and the Secular
In the Old Testament there was a view that things fell into one of two categories. Either it was sacred or it was secular, holy or profane. Those categories did not mean things were either good or evil but that they were either set apart for special purposes or that they were ordinary or common. […]
The Crucifixion of Christ
We don’t like to leave Christ on the cross for very long. Our theology often gets in a rush to the resurrection. But the resurrection lacks its own possibility if you exclude the crucifixion of Christ. Anyone who has watched the movie The Passion of the Christ was moved by the brutality of what Jesus […]
Tiger Woods Teaches Us Consequences Still Exist
If you watch any amount of tv you get a constant diet of what you do really doesn’t matter as long as it makes you happy. One of the things that has amazed me the most in the whole Tiger Woods debacle was the fact that society didn’t just give him a pass. Reality doesn’t […]