Blog
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It’s Not My Fault . . . !
Read Ezekiel 18 first! . . . We’re sinners. We want to avoid responsibility for our own sin. We’ll blame anybody; the dog, the cat, our spouse, the kids, the goldfish, our parents – anything convenient will do! God’s word makes it quite clear, however, that we are each responsible for our own sins before Him. It doesn’t matter who your parents are. It doesn’t matter who your brother or sister is. It doesn’t even matter if you’ve been going to church for decades – it does matter how you stand before God. That is on you. It is [...]
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The “Gospel” of Judas . . . ?
A news story about the so-called “Gospel of Judas” is starting to receive attention from the media. The Gospel of Judas is a fragmented Coptic (Egyptian)-language text that portrays Judas in a far more sympathetic light than did the gospels that made it into the Bible. In this version of the story, Judas turns Jesus over to the authorities for execution upon Jesus’ request, as part of a plan to release his spirit from his body. In the accepted biblical version of the tale, Judas betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. First, the document dates to 280 A.D., which is [...]
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Scripture is Authentic History!
I must draw everybody’s attention to the new work by Candida Moss, entitled The Myth of Christian Persecution. I will reserve judgment on her work because I have not read it; however, I encourage everybody to read a short article where she summarizes her views on the matter here – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/candida-moss/the-myth-of-christian-persecution_b_2901880.html There is a tendency with liberal Christians and non-believers to deny the authenticity, let alone historicity, of Scripture from the outset. No serious scholar, of any theological persuasion, would deny that the NT is the most widely attested document from the ancient world. We can be more certain about [...]
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Witnessing to a Godless Culture – Apologetics Class
We are increasingly living a world that (1) denies there are standards for anything, and (2) is Biblically illiterate. Join us as we watch the Apostle Paul deal with these very same issues on Mar’s Hill. The class video is below, along with PDF notes you can follow along with or print and save. At the very least, the notes will help you fall asleep tonight . . . ! Witnessing to a Godless Culture Gentiles and the Old Testament
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Intellectual and Moral Cowardice?
I purchased a copy of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion the other day. I wanted to actually read what one of the so-called “Four Horseman of New Atheism” has to say on the matter. My wife was horrified when I opened the package and held the tome aloft – she accused me of enriching a Godless heretic who seems content to remain on a path leading inevitably to the fires of hell. I suppose she has a point, so I retreated to pragmaticism – how can I know what the man says unless I buy the book? My wife reluctantly agreed [...]
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Biblical Illiteracy in Action – Apologetics Class
Below is a frankly disturbing article, written by a young mother, about why she raises her children without God. There is nothing “new” in her objections; indeed, there are really only two issues for the Christian to deal with in her entire letter; (1) She is Biblically illiterate and does not understand the God she is attacking; and (2) She has questions about how God could permit suffering These objections should prove no big hurdle for the average Christian. The fact that they do speaks volumes about the state of Christianity, even in more fundamentalist circles. I would not have [...]
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How We Should Pray
The Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6:5-14; Lk 11:1-4) is a shining example, from Christ Himself, on how we should pray. It is not something we should repeat endlessly in a liturgical fashion. It may more properly be termed “The Disciples’ Prayer!” If any prayer may be associated with Jesus Christ, surely it is John 17. It is not a literal prayer, but a model prayer. Christ teaches Christians how to pray, how to approach our Holy God and the proper heart attitude a believer must have before participating in the marvelous honor of intercessory prayer. This paper is a candid look [...]
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God’s Omniscience
This is a brief look at how a true understanding of God’s omniscience will affect our Christian life on a practical level. It is striking that many Christians give lip-service to the all-knowing God, but in actual practice they frequently deny this attribute, perhaps not even intentionally, but actions and words often betray a false view of God Omniscience refers to God’s knowledge – is He all-knowing or not? Baptist theologian Augustus Strong defined this as, “God’s perfect and eternal knowledge of all things which are objects of knowledge, whether they be actual or possible, past, present or future.”[1] Strong’s [...]
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Why Me!?
How often have we heard superficial statements like “bad things happen to good people?” We live in a materialistic age, and all too often we gloss over Scriptural realities and want to believe God would never permit us to suffer. Somehow, we always believe it will happen to somebody else. People suffer. Christians suffer. The world is a fallen place, and as Solomon proved in Ecclesiastes, living our lives for material possessions and for things “under the sun” is vanity and vexation of spirit. Whether we admit it or not, we tend to have a Burger King concept of God [...]
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Tarry ye here, and watch . . .
Matthew 26:38, “Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” Matthew 26:36-46 is a vital passage in Scripture. We see Jesus in his darkest hour, consumed with sorrow, praying to His father for deliverance from the sufferings which awaited Him. There is no contradiction here; Jesus was God’s son in the flesh, but he was also a man. Have you ever wondered why Jesus wanted His disciples with Him in the garden of Gethsemane? Why did Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, ask his disciples to wait, [...]