There is a term I learned from a former pastor who used it whenever he was discussing phrases or statements made by well-meaning, but biblically ignorant church folk when challenged to believe something from the Word of God that is beyond their current level of faith. The term is “Religious Escape Clause.” The most prevalent example of such… Read More »
Historically, one of the most destructive and divisive controversies within Protestantism has been between the followers of reformer John Calvin, a French theologian who lived from 1509-1564, and the adherents of Jacobus Arminius, a Dutch theologian who lived from 1560-1609. The name-calling and propagandizing against one another by these two groups has been damaging our unity of the… Read More »
I cannot even begin to count the number of sermons, books, and other teachings I’ve encountered on this topic over the last 40 years. As I was listening to my wife quote the latest version from a best-selling Christian author’s book, it suddenly hit me that in every instance I can remember, the authors — while excellent teachers… Read More »
Merry Christmas! As we navigate the hoopla inherent to the season when we celebrate Jesus’ incarnation as God-in-Sandals, the Pew Research Center took a poll of Americans concerning Christmas. One of the questions asked was, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ was born to a virgin, or don’t you believe this?” 73% of those responding responded affirmatively, 19%… Read More »
Show me any inter-denominational meeting of church folk and somewhere along the line, one of the leaders will have the crowd present recite the Lord’s Prayer — regardless of its applicability or lack thereof to the actual proceedings. Why? Because of its universality among all denominations and everyone present knows it by heart. That’s the up-side. The down-side is… Read More »
When I taught on prayer awhile back and stated that there are models taught in the Bible on how to pray, one of those present challenged me, demanding: You mean to say we have to pray a certain way or we won’t get our prayers answered!? To which I replied: No, because that would be a legalistic recipe… Read More »
