Theology / Doctrine

We’ve been looking this month at some historic distortions related to the nature of God the Father, Jesus and Salvation. These heresies often resulted from a non-critical examination of the canonical texts (in fact, some emerged as the result of key leaders embracing non-canonical documents of one sort or another). …

Christians have historically relied on the canonical Scripture as the source of all truth about the nature of God, man and salvation. There have been times throughout Christian history, however, when leaders emerged with competing ideas and motivations, coloring the way they read the New Testament. We’ve been examining historic …

Over the course of Christian history, sincere men were sometimes on the wrong side of the truth. Sincere believers have been sincerely wrong; misinterpreting the scriptures for one reason or another. Peter warned us to be careful in our interpretation so we might come to a correct and true knowledge …

Christianity describes a God who sovereignly calls believers to repentance. Does this mean humans are mere puppets under the direction of an all-powerful Being who controls all decisions and dictates the final outcome? Does the Christian God allow humans any freedom to choose for themselves? The relationship between God’s sovereignty …

The “exclusivity” of Christianity is a stumbling block for many skeptics. How can Jesus be the only way to heaven? A claim such as this seems arrogant and intolerant in the pluralistic world in which we live. How can Christians believe millions of devout people from other religious traditions will …

I’ve been investigating murders for over 20 years, and along the way, I’ve learned to appreciate the importance of language selection. Consider the following three statements: “The Nuggets killed the Lakers last night. They beat ‘em by 25 points.” “I love this comic; he always kills me!” “I deeply regret …

Every world view takes a position regarding eternity. Even those who don’t believe in God, still believe something about death and the possibility of heaven. To disbelieve a claim requires a belief in something contrary. When I was an atheist, I believed something about eternity and the possibility of life …

A recent study revealed 63% of young Americans (age 18-29) believe in demon possession. Even though fewer people in this age group claim any affiliation to organized religion, their belief in demons is actually increasing. While there are good reasons to believe in the existence of angelic beings (even apart …

We often describe God’s gracious offer of Salvation as “good news”, and while this makes sense, given the magnitude of God’s gift to us, there are actually good etymological reasons for describing Salvation in this way. The word “Gospel” is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word, “godspel”, or “good story” and …

Over the centuries, believers have sometimes struggled to understand the nature of God and the great mystery of Jesus. The Bible describes Jesus as having the nature and power of God, and the Gospel of John tells us that He existed before the universe began (He was, in fact, the …