The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth
Review of Ben Witherington’s book published by IVP. This is an excellent overview from the conservative perspective. See also Bibliography for the Search for the Historical Jesus.
A review and response to “The Invisible War” by the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse. I discuss some serious issues of Biblical interpretation in looking at Dr. Barnhouse’s approach to scripture.
Biblical Inspiration – My statement on Biblical inspiration. For all those who wonder how I can be a Bible teacher and not believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, neither in translation nor in the autographs, this is my answer.
Revival – Benefits and Dangers – A thought paper on revivals with particular focus on Brownsville Assembly of God.
Stand on the Mount Before the Lord
A short essay on prayer and listening to God.
My Personal Testimony
This isn’t a general, technical article, but rather my personal expression of religious faith. Fair warning!
A Passion for the Passion
March 10, 2004:
Yesterday afternoon I finally went to see “The Passion of the Christ” with my wife. (Since we had different, but complementary reactions, I’m including her e-mail devotion from this morning as part of this response.) I’m going to keep this fairly low key, even though the experience of the movie itself is quite emotional. That’s a good reason to wait until the morning after to write my reaction! Please read to the end before responding to my response. You won’t find the whole thing in any one paragraph.
Dance Floor Worship
January 13, 2004:
A few days ago I attended a wedding reception. It was a very joyous occasion, celebrated by eating and drinking and yes, being merry! It should surprise nobody that much of the joy was expressed on the dance floor.
Live it!!
December 8, 2003:
I had been told about Kaieteur Falls in Guyana. It’s a 400 foot wide river plunging from a plateau to a gorge 822 feet below. The sound was said to be amazing, the view incredible. I could almost hear the sound and see the water plunging over the cliff. Almost!
Are Seventh-day Adventists Christians…
October 8, 2003: . . . ran the title of a web page I found today. I was innocently surfing looking for Seventh-day Adventist media outlets to publicize a book written by an SDA author (Thompson, Alden. Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God? Pensacola, FL: Pacesetters Bible School, Inc., 2003).
Monday Morning Devotion
September 8, 2003: Guest Essay by Jody Neufeld: I have been troubled by the choices we as Christians make for what we will stand up and be recognized as Christians. There are principles of Christ about which I must stand and not waver. I believe Jesus told me clearly what are the most important…
A Fruitful Faith
July 29, 2003: There are many views in Christianity on the details of salvation and the various terms, events or processes that go into it. I would like to survey some Biblical material which I believe suggests that one always becomes right with God through a relationship mediated by faith, i.e. by the grace of God, but that the faith must always be a faith that bears fruit. No simple set of words, no transaction, no non-productive faith will do. A few of the texts that I will quote go a little farther than that, but I am interested right now in a broad survey rather than the details.
The Danger of Assurance
July 21, 2003: As a general rule we like confident and decisive people. We often respond negatively to the person who is wishy-washy or is afraid to make decisions or to take decisive actions. In American politics, the one charge that one must avoid is the charge of inaction. In fact, it seems we can even change convictions, provided that we state the new convictions forcibly enough. “He sounds like he knows what he’s talking about,” is a standard comment on the person who expresses himself with confidence and assurance.
Evolution and Faith
June 26, 2003: In the current issue of Charisma magazine (June 2003), one of the lead articles is about Dr. Hugh Ross, who heads the ministry “Reasons to Believe” and is probably the single most famous proponent of old earth creationism. … Now I personally have some disagreements with Dr. Ross.
The Hand of God: Prayer
May 28, 2003: A hurricane was approaching the gulf coast, and thousands of Christians began to pray. “Lord, we need your protection,” they said. “Let the hurricane not come ashore where we live. Bless our homes and businesses and protect them from destruction.” And indeed, the hurricane moved back out to sea.
Unfortunately, it went ashore further along the coast, where thousands of other Christians, who had also been praying, lost their homes and businesses.
The Hand of God: Miracles
May 12, 2003: In the previous “Threads” (The Hand of God) I discussed the idea of the supernatural, and concluded that everything is natural, and yet everything is an act of God. Does this leave any room for divine intervention? Is everything simply the result of general laws, or is there anything personal about the universe at all.
The Hand of God
April 24, 2003: It was a fine Easter Sunday morning, but my Sunday School class was focused on disaster. A week earlier, during Palm Sunday services, a church in neighboring Alabama had been hit by a tornado. A number of church members were killed, including the pastor’s four year old daughter. The expected questions were flying around the table. “Couldn’t God protect his church?” “Why would God allow such a thing to happen?”