Many may be surprised to learn that in the Old Testament, God expressly forbids the slave trade, commanding that anyone who steals a man is to be put to death, whether he has sold the victim yet or not (Exodus 21:16). Naturally, this raises the question of why God had laws on slavery. It must be understood that there were different types of slavery in the ancient days. One was … [Read more...]
Outing fundamentalists
As a Christian I risk being labeled a fundamentalist. I risk having my honest reasoned opinions summarily dismissed as fundamentalism. Fortunately in my case this has been rare, perhaps only because I’ve kept my mouth shut for the most part. Nevertheless, certain authors and thinkers who I respect have been so labeled. But what does it mean? What is fundamentalism? Should … [Read more...]
Taking the Bible Literally (On Genre)
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: The Bible is written by many human authors confluently with the Holy Spirit, across over 1500 years and three languages, using various literary genres. Some of these genres include selective biographies of Jesus’ … [Read more...]
Importance of Bible Reading
Most Christians realize that the Bible is very important to the Christian faith. So much so, in fact, that this often leads to handling the Bible in some strange ways. For example, we might take a particular sentence (verse) and memorize it, yet use it out of context. There are sometimes strange views of how the Bible was produced (ie: dictation). Christians might venerate a … [Read more...]
Biblical Epic: Escapist Fantasy or Private Interpretation?
In addition to music, I am a huge movie buff. All types of movie genres are in my collection. One genre I despise, however, is the genre of the Biblical Epic. Why do you hate Biblical Epics when you love to study the Word? You might ask. The answer boils down to man’s basic spiritual problem, the integrity of the Word. Mankind simply doesn’t believe the Word to be true. This … [Read more...]
What is True Christianity(tm)? (part 3)
In part 1, I talked about how skeptics and atheists often complain when I (or another apologist) make the comment that such-and-so Christian is wrong. The skeptic usually says it means I have found “True Christianity™” and every other Christian who disagrees is going to go to hell. In part 2, I discussed degrees of wrong, using a traffic light as a guide. Green light is 99% … [Read more...]
The Correct View of Creation? – part 2
In part one, I discussed four different elements of the debate surrounding views of creation. Depending on the question you will find two of the views under consideration (young earth, old earth, and framework) agreeing with each other. Also, again depending on the question, you will find different combinations of views that agree with each other. This observation occurred to … [Read more...]
How Do You Read The Bible?
The Bible: Learning How To Read It It’s sad to say but quite a few people within the body of Christ are not that Biblically literate, which just shouldn’t be so. It’s apparent that far too many rely on their pastor’s sermon, a seminar, retreat, etc to understand it. Those means are all beneficial but should never take the place of our personal study and meditation on the Word … [Read more...]
Archangel: Jesus of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught that Jesus is archangel Michael (Jude 9) since He speaks “with the voice of archangel”. Watchtower’s “Aid To Bible Understanding? ” claimed: Scriptural evidence indicates that the name Michael applied to God's Son before he left heaven to become Jesus Christ and also after his return. Michael is the only one said to be the "archangel” […] At 1 … [Read more...]
The Correct View of Creation?
In a previous post, I addressed how the rhetoric and views of some young earth creationists pose a threat to the task of an apologist. Some young earth proponents contend that the message of the Bible itself is in jeopardy if their hermeneutic [1] is not followed. Such an exclusionary view makes it impossible to consider any other view of the creation narratives. To even … [Read more...]