One of the major negative phenomena which has occurred since the inception of the World-Wide Web is that of the “Internet troll.” For those of you unfamiliar with this particular item of techno-jargon, a troll is a cyber-bully, a person who gleefully and/or angrily comments on various articles and discussions on all sorts of websites in the most… Read More »
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 »
Back in the fourth article in this series, I presented the 9 gifts of the Spirit as listed in 1 Corinthians 12. In subsequent articles on this topic, we have discussed 3 of those gifts, the ones commonly referred to as the “utterance gifts:” Unknown tongues Interpretation of tongues Prophesy Now, after a lengthy hiatus, we will hit the remaining… Read More »
Awhile back, I tackled the topic of marijuana. In this post, as the title indicates, we’ll discuss alcohol. What triggered my writing this post was a Facebook friend who posted a link to another blog article in which the writer was making a case against Christians imbibing alcohol in any quantity at any time. The second and third… Read More »
Now that marijuana has been legalized for either recreational or medical use in numerous states, the issue has remained one of the hot buttons in the culture and political wars, with frequent mentions in the news. Many pro-marijuana folks have tried to support the idea that the Bible is silent on the issue of recreational drug use and… 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 iteration 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 »
One concept linked to prayer in the New Testament on multiple occasions is the giving of thanks to God. Earlier in this series, I cited a pair of Scripture verses concerning prayer which also mention thanksgiving and I want to reiterate them for this article: Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it Colossians 4:2 Rejoice always, pray… Read More »
