Fear and Trembling

This is part two of a multi-part series on “He Has Spoken,” a study published by The Colson Center .  This post discusses the first presentation and discussion in the five lesson DVD curriculum. This lecture revolves around a simple set of sentences: God is.  He exists. God is Personal. God has spoken, and therefore truth can be known. And, God speaks in the Old Testament and New Testament of the Bible. These are very weighty statements that cannot be completely elaborated on and defended in a short lecture and discussion, but the curriculum does a nice job of emphasizing the importance of these propositions and pointing you to resources that back up these statements.  The main resource cited is Stand to Reason , an apologetics ministry led by Greg Koukl.  This ministry has been of great help to me in my faith walk, and I am glad to see Stand to Reason endorsed by this curriculum.  As Stonestreet puts it in the lecture, “The work h...

Christian mission work involves the sharing of the gospel in places where it has not been shared before, or at least where most people do not understand it.  We can get guidance for Christian Missions from what some would consider an unlikely source: The Canons of the Synod of Dort. The Canons of Dort came out of the Synod of Dort, held from 1618-1619 in the Netherlands. Theologians wrote them in order to counter the teaching of James Arminius, and they outline the system of theology known by many today as the “five points of Calvinism.”  However, the Canons of Dort contain much more than five simple points (sometimes summarized by the acronym TULIP, or total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints). Turning to the Canons: This death of God's Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the...

The church has not faced this grave a situation in centuries. The newspapers scream at us: terrorism, mass murder, abortion, and many other ways that people made in God’s image are dehumanized and devalued. No person on this side of the Columbine High School shooting; the 9/11 attacks; the Virginia Tech. shooting, the Sandy Hook school attack; and Trevon Martin’s tragic death can deny this reality with intellectual integrity. We have rapidly become a society that can rightfully face the judgment of God for some of the values we hold most dear. The way to get to the ‘heart of the matter’ is with Christian ministry efforts. We must reach the people who make up our society to ‘turn the tide.’  To tell one story from a few decades ago: Early in the twentieth century, Baptist evangelists preached through rural Mississippi and Alabama with such effectiveness that moonshiners could no longer sell their whiskey: All their customers were getting converted! In desperation, the whisk...

I have come across a review copy of a Bible study.  It was offered to me in return for a quick review of the material.  However, after looking at the study, I have concluded that one review would not quite do the series justice, so this is the first of a short series of posts on the material.  I am impressed with the materials in this series of lessons. “He Has Spoken: The Worldview of Scripture” is a delightful study published by The Colson Center (A short summary of the study can be found here .).  The DVD-based study presents five video presentations presented by John Stonestreet.   The DVD also includes five discussions between Stonestreet and T. M. Moore on the materials.  There is an accompanying study guide written by Moore.  The basic idea is to use the study in a group format by working through the study guide individually, presenting the video lectures, discussing selected questions from the study guide, and then viewing the discu...

(An article for my local paper.) Politics is defined as “the theory and practice of government, especially the activities associated with governing, with obtaining legislative or executive power, or with forming and running organizations connected with government” (Bing Dictionary). “Politics” is a ‘loaded word’ for some people.  One prominent pastor, Mark Driscoll, became so frustrated in an interview about Christian involvement in politics that he exclaimed, “If you want to influence politics, go have a bunch of kids and teach them how to vote.”  (The other extreme would be the activism of Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority during the 80’s.) We should be involved in politics in ways that reach way beyond our family.  This article will suggest three very important ways in which Christians should be involved in politics according to the Bible: submission, prayer, and moral activism.    “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. ...