What did Jesus’ death accomplish, and how did it accomplish it? Although Christians regard Jesus’ death as tremendously significant, there’s some disagreement as to why and how that is so. This being Good Friday, it might be appropriate to reflect on the following C.S. Lewis quotation: The central Christian belief is that Christ's death has somehow put us right with God and … [Read more...]
Gnosticism 2.0 – Knowing that one knows God
Normally on this blog I focus on issues that should be of interest to skeptics, people who are not convinced that God exists or that Christianity is a belief system to be taken seriously. Today I’d like to instead discuss Christianity directly. Lately as I’ve read the Bible some interesting themes have popped out, particularly in the book entitled 1 John. To those who are … [Read more...]
Pneumatic Evidence
[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 apostle Paul writes, "hope [in God] does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Rom 5:5 NRSV). In his book The Severity … [Read more...]
Great Expectations and the Office of "God"
Does God exist? That, of course, depends on what you mean by “God”. Philosopher Paul Moser suggests, “Much contemporary discussion of God’s existence suffers from consideration of an inferior counterfeit.”[1] The search for God often aims too low. For example, one may look for the First Cause or Designer of the universe. One may instead wonder whether an all-powerful Sovereign … [Read more...]