The Bible in Context
I recently heard a Christian talking about the war in Iran: You have to know who you are negotiating with. You can’t trust them. He continued, Didn’t God even say in the Old Testament to kill everyone—men, women, and children? It sounds bad but if we don’t wipe them out, what will they do to us? … Read more
I started reading the Old Testament and the New Testament backwards—not literally from the last page to the first, but book by book. So I began with Revelation and Malachi. So far, I have been struck by the repeated references to a future divine judgment. As Nahum says, “the LORD will not leave the guilty … Read more
Christians believe God spoke to the Hebrew prophets and we affirm that the New Testament books were divinely inspired. But did God speak directly to people after the New Testament era? And does God speak directly to people today? If so, who has heard from God? This is the tricky part “because many false prophets … Read more
Some biblical texts have caused much dismay within the Christian community. For a small group of texts this concern can be seen throughout Christian history. One verse that fits this description is 1 Peter 3:19. I will quote it in its context: 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you … Read more
Predestination is one of the most contentious topics in the history of Christianity. In previous posts, I highlighted the New Testament statements on predestination and the major views throughout church history. This post will focus on the specific doctrine of double predestination: God predestines certain individuals for heaven and others for hell. Hence predestination is … Read more