Hollywood in the pulpit
How do you determine the quality of a sermon or devotional thought? I know some Christians who assess the preaching content based upon the level of humour used; others measure its success by the inclusion of illustrations and anecdotes. Some pre-judge the message based upon the preacher's personality; others gauge the success of a preacher's message on the number of people who respond to the invitation at the end of the service. It is my
A magnificent repentance
I used to think that legalism was externally imposed. I had recently read Bridges' Transforming Grace and had begun to see the grip that legalism had on my life. My security in God's love was not based solely on Christ's imputed righteousness, but in my ability to meet a certain standard of performance in a given day or week. If I was obeying God and faithful in the word, I felt secure. If I had
A community-focused Christianity
One of the indicators of genuine conversion is the presence of a desire to reach others with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This reality is seen in the life of the Apostle Paul (Acts 9:20), the woman at the well (John 4:29), the demoniac of Gedara (Mark 5:20), a couple of unnamed blind men (Matthew 9:31) and many others. "I am just one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread" is a well-known phrase
Why TR-onlyism is necessarily rooted in Ruckmanism
Those who hold to a TR-only position like to think that they hold a moderate position. They typically repudiate the extremes of Ruckmanism in the strongest terms while repudiating the "extremes" of contemporary texts/translations just as firmly. It is my intention in this post to explain why I believe it is impossible to build a reasonable TR-only position without rooting it in 1611. In other words, I want to show why you cannot distance yourself
But that’s so dogmatic…
That's how my friend responded to my gospel assertion. "How can you be so absolute?" he continued. "There are no absolutes." His pluralistic confession came as we sat on the concrete chatting in the car park after a long day's work. Without getting too philosophical, pluralism which is similar in many respects to relativism, is based on the word plural (as opposed to singular) and refers to an epistemological system (a conception of the nature/structure
Bridging the emotional gap
One of the challenges Christians face is the "now, but not yet" reality of our salvation. We know that we have been bought by Christ, redeemed by his blood, forgiven by his grace, and set free from the power of sin. Yet we also know that we still live in a fallen world and we struggle with temptation, sin, and the daily grind of life. In our minds we know that we are declared righteous
Why the approval of God or the wilderness is a false dilemma
In Mark 1:11, Jesus rises from the waters of baptism and is greeted by God the Holy Spirit and God the Father who states simply his deep pleasure in his son: You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. The struggling, faltering believer hardly dares to hope for a similar approval from God, and yet Romans 8:38-39 is direct: I am sure that... [nothing] will be able to separate us from the
How to disagree without falling out
A life principle I try to live by is to not burn bridges. You never know when you will need to cross them again. However, we often live life so pig-headedly that when we have a disagreement, we often go out in a blaze of glory, to accentuate our position. Who can forget Steven Slater's dramatically quitting his flight attendant's job at Jetblue. In the Christian ministry realm, this blaze of glory is often more
Euthanasia
Since the fall, we are all destined to die. However we were created to live, not to die. Death is not how God intended this world to be. In creation, death was not natural, but now it is an ugly reality. Anyone working in nursing or aged care can tell you graphic and regular stories of end of life care. With the aid of drugs and other medical equipment, we have extended our ability to
“The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren
Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Life. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. 319 pages plus appendices. I picked up this book because I love the idea of being deliberate. Anything that can help me to live my life more deliberately is a worthwhile investment of time. Additionally, I'd read another one of Warren's books and found it to be insightful in many areas. I was profoundly disappointed. Warren structures the book into forty chapters to fit the