Tuesday, August 1, 2017, many of the Jewish people recently will observe Tisha B’Av. This phrase, strange to Christians, means the Fast of the Ninth. The observance “is a day of mourning to commemorate the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people” (Judaism 101). According to this source, five terrible events took place on […] via What do you know about Tisha B’Av? — Ferrell’s … Continue reading First and Second Temple Destruction on Tisha B’Av

Jeremiah gives us a ‘heads up’ of the self-destructive foe inside all of us whether Christian or not:  The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it? (Jer. 17.9) NET For Christians it is not our only foe but probably the one we are the least aware of, hence, Jeremiah’s last clause “who can know it” (as in another translation). The … Continue reading A Feature of an Unseen Enemy

Within proper limits Christians have always used many tools available to them since, in essence, all truth is God’s truth. Not only The Humanities but The Sciences are employed for textual analysis, archeology, and a host of other disciplines to inform us of facts. Christians have always been at the forefront of  legitimate research and were the ones who established most of the research institutions … Continue reading Science is Cool

shows how easy it is to scam scientific journals and get garbage published.  With thanks to James Spinti for the tip. A number of so-called scientific journals have accepted a Star Wars-themed spoof paper. The manuscript is an absurd mess of factual errors, plagiarism and movie quotes. I know because I wrote it. Inspired by previous publishing “stings”, I wanted to test whether ‘predatory‘ journals would publish … Continue reading Imposter Scientific Peer Review

Miracles, induction, and retrodiction According to the principle of induction, we can retroengineer the past from the present. There’s a chain of events leading up to the present. Antecedent states produce subsequent states. The same causes produce the same effects. Since that’s repeatable, if we’re familiar with the process, we can retrace an effect back through intervening stages to the originating cause. For instance, when … Continue reading Reconstructing the Past-by Steve Hays

I’ve been revisiting Richard Dawkins’ best-seller The God Delusion in preparation for an apologetics class I’ll be teaching next week. On opening it up, I fell upon the dedication “In Memoriam” to Douglas Adams, accompanied by the following quotation (presumably from Adams): Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to… via On Fairies and Gardeners — Analogical Thoughts Continue reading Dawkins Deluded

Three times Jesus uses the nature of the mustard seed to illustrate that something, though small as the mustard seed, can grow into something large. In Mt. 13.31-32 Jesus speaks of the mystery form of the Kingdom of Heaven, the church, starting small and becoming large in time. Two other times the mustard seed is featured when Jesus teaches that faith can accomplish extraordinary deeds. … Continue reading Mustard Seeds in the Gospels

Timothy Miller is an Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Maranatha Baptist Bible College. Here is a journal article published in 2013 by him tracing the order of salvation expressed in the bible. While being a Baptist myself, I recognized the position he argues for due, in part, to the usual Baptist perspective of biblical exegesis prior to doctrinal formulation. For the last ten years … Continue reading All the Benefits of Christ Obtain from Union with Him

A nod to old Tom Aquinas again featuring Thomistic Philosopher Edward Feser. According to Feser, Brian Davies’s The Reality of God and the Problem of Evil  treats this subject in a masterful way. In essence, it is the privileging of ethics from a human vantage upon God. I sort of have my own view from an ironic and rhetorical perspective which is developing but will … Continue reading The Best Book on Theodicy

Thomas Aquinas does get some things right obviously and The Map of the Soul may be one of them. Despite my disagreement with some of his philosophical views, I hardily stand with him on the immaterial part of humanity. Here are some observations and insights from a top Neurosurgeon.  https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/06/a-map-of-the-soul “Doctor, what’s that sound?” The voice startled me. I was performing brain surgery on a … Continue reading Is the Brain Like a Computer?

Part 1 of this topic sought to show the origin of wrong ideas about God. In this post, I endeavor to show how God is misconceptualized in the doctrine of the final dissolution of the wicked. Here, again, this touches on the Goodness of God, or, Omnibenificence. If God’s enemies can portray Him as unkind, he is less likely to be trusted. Overwhelmingly, in the … Continue reading Misconceptualizing God (Part 2)

  In a recent post I reproduced an interview of Richard Hays. Here is a review of his latest book which is very informative on its own and whets the appetite for further investigation.     One does not have to preach, teach, or even read the New Testament for long in order to discover how steeped its authors are in the Old Testament. The … Continue reading Echos of Scripture in the Gospels- A Review by Guy Waters

The Miracle Writer Craig Keener: A Scholar Who Pursued the Truth of Impossible Things by Terrell Clemmons Craig Keener was walking home from school one day when two young men in suits and ties stopped him. “Do you know where you’ll go when you die?” “Probably either heaven or hell,” Craig joked. His family was intellectual, but not religious. At that, the men launched into … Continue reading Scholar Profile: Craig Keener

The challenge of understanding the bible is similar to unassembled jig-saw puzzle pieces where the solution has been lost. Due to their shape and such, the pieces seem to fit variously if imperfectly. The Bible contains no ‘filler material.’ Attempting to read the bible as a means to derive only what one thinks is pertinent to themselves is folly. The bible is far more involved … Continue reading How to Read the Bible

In his fine study of Sin: A History (Yale, 2010), Notre Dame professor of theology Gary Anderson rendered an understanding of his subject richly textured by references to the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, intertestamental literature, early rabbinical writings, and patristics. In this new book, he offers a parallel look at charity. And that’s the problem. Anderson argues in Charity that good works—and particularly the good … Continue reading John Stackhouse reviews Gary Anderson’s “Charity”

2 Peter 1.5-7 For this reason expend all efforts to supplement to your faith excellence; then, to excellence, knowledge; then, to knowledge, self control; then, to self control, endurance; then, to endurance, godliness; then, to godliness, human kindness; then, to human kindness, love.   The goal Simon Peter wants his audience to experience is “the knowledge of Jesus Christ” (vs. 8). I mentioned previously that … Continue reading The Seven Christian Disciplines (Part 2)

Garrick V. Allen reviews Alan Mugridge’s study of early papyri to determine if aspects of the setting can found in the production of these copies. Mugridge’s work and Allen’s review highlight for the non-specialist the various areas under examination. Transmission studies have always fascinated and confirmed the historicity of the text for me.   Alan Mugridge. Copying Early Christian Texts: A Study of Scribal Practice. … Continue reading The Social Setting of Textual Transmission

2 Peter 1.5-7 For this reason expend all efforts to supplement to your faith excellence; then, to excellence, knowledge; then, to knowledge, self control; then, to self control, endurance; then, to endurance, godliness; then, to godliness, human kindness; then, to human kindness, love. These qualities or disciplines that Simon Peter lists are regarded as crucially important to the early Christians since he wants to repeatedly … Continue reading The Seven Christian Disciplines: 2 Peter 1. 5-15 (Part One)

James Anderson points out Elliot’s observation on what often affects us unwittingly. Both the Old and New Testaments of the bible tells us to watch our words and deeds. The only real way to do this is to consciously decide to observe the command. It is another matter entirely that when we try to do right that we fail. This is because we attempted righteousness from … Continue reading T. S. Elliot on Unconscious Influence

Leonardo De Chirico is a pastor in Rome, Italy. His PhD is from Kings College London. Here he examines the use of term by Roman Catholics which now carries new meanings. Words to those in Thessaloniki by Paul in the First Century seem appropriate:  Don’t suppress the Spirit, and don’t stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don’t be … Continue reading Subtle and Deceptive Terminology

Here are some resources holding to a young Earth. I am not sure exactly how old the Earth is but concede it may be relatively young. http://creation.com/is-genesis-history-doco-review   Continue reading Early Earth? Maybe

The philosopher introduces a book by his Christian friend and adds his own perspective. I want to state however, other existing formulas to Gal. 3.23-5. Helm portrays the plural variously: “protection, correction or discipline, destruction.” These do not seem to align neatly. Other commentators see a singular law being the guardian of many people. Believing the latter idea, I merely quibble a minor point which in no way … Continue reading Paul Helm Discussing Judgment

  Instead of trying to wax eloquent about my understanding of the empty tomb, here is Craig Evans contextualizing the scene. https://blog.logos.com/2017/04/understanding-ancient-history-uncovers-hope-easter/ So if the body of Jesus received proper burial late Friday afternoon, why did women visit his tomb early Sunday morning? The Gospels tell that the women brought spices with them (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1). They did this because of the Jewish custom … Continue reading The Burial and Empty Tomb of Jesus

Prof. James Anderson has conveniently listed his writings that help Christians “give reply” for the reason they hope in Christ’s work. “Apologetics” is a funny name to give to the study of defending the faith but initially, in the first Christian century, the use of that Greek word meant: “to give answer,” or “reply.” Some methods are better than others and by studying God’s word … Continue reading Resources for Reply

“Do not suppose that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what Moses wrote, how will you believe my words?” (NET)   For the longest time the clause: Indeed, he wrote of Me at the … Continue reading Indeed, He Wrote of Me (John 5:46)

Douglas Douma reproduces Nash’s review in which he points out some items which seem ‘loose ends’ in the theology of Cornelius Van Til. Gordon Clark was the most prominent and bitterest rival to Van Til in formulating Christian thought. These two theologians’ thoughts organize into Presuppositional (Van Til) and Evidentiary (Clark) Apologetic stances. https://douglasdouma.wordpress.com/2017/04/06/ronald-nash-on-clark-and-van-til/ No student of Christian theology and philosophy should regard his education … Continue reading Nash Reviews Van Til

Sometimes a question is asked and and the hearer learns items from how the question is asked or maybe the content of the question tells the one asking certain things about the questioner. For instance: a class of students may ask the lecturer questions about the lesson where the lecturer gauges the general and specific comprehension of the students. However, this is not my focus. … Continue reading Questions that Inform

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman (Gal. 4.4a) Here, Paul sets forth in a logical sense what needed to happen for the redemption of humanity. I stress this logical connection since no verbal connection exists explicitly. No argument is presented that would point to any nascent Gnosticism among the recipients as to why “born of a … Continue reading Hammer Strikes Anvil Moment: Gal. 4.4