(This post is Part 2 in a series on “Understanding Weird Parts of the Bible”, read Part 1 “Old vs. New Covenant” here) The foundational understanding we need when approaching any part of the Bible is to figure out “What part of this text is the divinely inspired, authoritative message that can be applied in […]
Understanding Weird Parts of Bible: Old vs. New Covenant
I recently preached on Abraham and am realizing how when we approach Genesis (and the entire Old Testament), it is essential that we understand the concept of the old covenant vs. the new covenant. If we don’t, the weird texts of the Old Testament make no sense. It’s surprising to me as I look back on […]
Talking Points With Other Genesis Heretics Like Me
I’ve been preaching on Genesis at Crossroads and recently blogged on “Should We Read Genesis Literally?” While the response from people at Crossroads has been overwhelmingly positive, and we even saw a man put his faith in Christ because the roadblock he had surrounding Genesis was finally removed, the blog post received mixed reviews. This […]
Should We Read Genesis Literally?
I did a sermon two Sundays ago called, “Should We Read Genesis Literally?”, in which I feared some would throw me out as a heretic: Genesis, and the Creation account especially, can often make people feel like they have to choose between their faith or their rational mind when it comes to figuring out some […]
Why Don’t Protestants Believe in Purgatory, Penance & the Apocrypha?
(Source: Historical Theology by Dr. Gregg R. Allison, Chapter 2 “The Canon of Scripture”) 435 B.C. – the final books (i.e. Nehemiah, Ezra, Esther) of the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) were written 250 B.C. – this Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek (called the Septuagint) as Greek was becoming the dominant language The problem […]
Heaven & Hell. Book review of C.S. Lewis’s “The Great Divorce”
What I like best about The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis is how he makes my mind imagine that the afterlife will actually be something tangible. While the concepts of heaven and hell are very real to most of us on a theological level, we are typically hard pressed to live with the eternal perspective […]