*For other installments from this series, see here. Introduction In previous installments, we considered the relationship God had with Adam in the garden, Adam’s breaking of the covenant, the fact that Adam represented his natural seed, and the state in which Adam’s sin brought man into. The next question focuses on the sinfulness of that […]
Many have wondered how we got the Bible. Most Christians know the Bible came from God, yet He did not just drop it out the heavens or it just appeared out of nowhere. There have a been many classes in seminaries and Bible colleges on this as well as bo…
Originally written in 2014 at Beggar’s All. I have edited it some and added some. Be Careful the way you communicate the issue of the canon in the early church Andy Stanley, Pastor of NorthPoint Community Church outside of Atlanta, … Continue reading
Note: Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. Passage of Focus: Galatians 4:4-5 (cf. Psalm 22:22-24) It has been well said that one of the central themes in Scripture could be summarized as follows: “God is redeeming a people by His Son, for His Son, to His own glory.”[1] When contemplating the totality of […]
*Note: Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this series can be accessed here (insert links to articles). During the first half of the twentieth century, few Christian figures were more active in contending for the faith than J. Gresham Machen (Jude 1:3).[1] When confronted with the face of theological liberalism in the Presbyterian Church […]
Note: Parts 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this series. Barring anything unforeseen, the United States of America was forever changed on June 26, 2015. In the wake of Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court formally legislated every state to license marriages between same-sex couples, and to recognize all marriages that were lawfully performed out of state.[1] […]
Introduction Last time we left off talking about sin. Namely, whether our first parents sinned, the definition of sin, and the nature of that sin our first parents committed. Now we begin to look into the effects of the preliminary sin committed by our first parents. This will take up a few articles, including this […]
Passage of Focus: Matthew 1:18-25 (cf. Isaiah 7:14) Are you content with being regarded as a fool for Jesus Christ? This question gets to the heart of what it means to be a Bible-believing Christian while dwelling in the midst of an unbelieving world. From the earliest days of the church age, followers of Jesus […]
*Note: Parts 1 and Part 2 of this series What is truth? For the human race, few questions are more recurring—and few pursuits are more elusive—than identifying absolute truth in reality. Even the most intellectually astute philosophers seem no closer to satisfying this inquiry in the twenty-first century than during the era of the Pre-Socratics. […]
Introduction In the last article, we considered the covenant made with Adam. In the next few articles, we will consider how Adam broke that covenant, in addition to reflecting on the effects it had upon the world and his natural offspring. Body Question 16 Q. 16. Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein […]
*Note: Part 1 of this series can be accessed here. Christians have a history of being misunderstood in the public square. Within just three decades after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, a paradigm would be concretized for how the majority of believers in the West would experience life over the next two millennia. […]
Introduction Generally speaking, God providentially preserves and governs all that He has made. In a particular way, however, God has providentially condescended and entered into covenantal relationships with human beings to establish and regulate kingdoms. The first covenantal arrangement between God and man is the subject we will consider in this installment. Question Q. 15. […]
Introduction God has decreed all things that come to pass, and He carries out His decrees in two distinct, yet related ways. The first is creation, God’s external work of initiation. The second is providence, God’s work of continuation. In this session, we will cover divine providence in general, and next time we will look […]
Q. 13. How did God create man?
A. 13. God created man as male and female in His image, in knowledge, righteousness, holiness, and with dominion over the creatures. (Genesis 1:26-28; Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24).
Introduction In this article, we move from God’s internal act of decree to His first external act of creation. Specifically, we will consider creation in general, and next time, we will look at the creation of man. Question Q. 12. What is the work of creation? A. The work of creation is God making all […]
“Living out a distinctively Christian ethic is not contingent upon the government implementing Old Covenant civil law, nor does the furthering of God’s kingdom entail infringing on the religious liberty of unbelievers.”
Scripture Over the Church and the Devastating Results of Not Following that Rule An Evangelical Introduction to Church History, Part 4 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Barbarian Invasions after Augustine died in 430 AD up until Islam came in … Continue reading
Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of the Reformation, by R. C. Sproul From the Council of Orange in 529 AD to the Council of Trent (1545-1563) – An Evangelical Introduction to Church History, part 3 See Part 1 An Evangelical … Continue reading
In Modern Day “Konya”, known as “Iconium” in Acts 14 – ” The Tomb of the Sufi Mystic known as “Mowlana” (Persian) or “Mevlana” (Turkish) The Tomb of “Mevlana” (Turkish) or “Mowlana” ( مولانا – Farsi), the Sufi mystic, Jallal … Continue reading
A Short Summary View The Amplitheatre in Ephesus mentioned in Acts chapter 19 Photo by Ken Temple (Ephesus, Turkey) This article is by no means exhaustive, but here are some highlights from early church history with references and sources … Continue reading
Contending for Our All Part 1 Contending for Our All Part 2 Where Biblical Truth, Theology, Church History, Missions, & proper Contextualization come together. We continue our series on Athanasius (lived from around 300-373 AD) statement “Contending For Our All”, … Continue reading
For Part 1, see here. I would encourage you to go back and read Part 1 and refresh the issue in your mind. Piper shows how the things that Athanasius stood for in his day, are amazingly relevant for today’s … Continue reading
Contending for Our All, by John Piper This book is about three famous Christians who took Jude 3 “contend earnestly for the faith” seriously – about the Apologetic ministries of Athanasius (died in 373 AD – against the Arian heretics), … Continue reading
Just over two years ago, I began the Dismantling Dispensationalism series with the intent of highlighting problematic distinctives of Dispensationalism. In the opening article, I forecasted the series to be divided into the following nine installments- Part 1- “Dismantling Dispensationalism: My Journey Out of Dispensationalism” Part 2- “Dismantling Dispensationalism: Examining the Historical Origins of Dispensationalism” Part 3- […]
This series is titled: Praise God for Christianity: No Intellectual Progress Without It! Part 1 can be found here and Part 2 here. What is the most compelling evidence that could be presented for validating the Christian worldview? Throughout church history, apologists have done their best to earnestly and persuasively contend for the faith which was once […]
This series is titled: Praise God for Christianity: No Intellectual Progress Without It! Did Christianity slow Western intellectual progress by replacing rational thought with mystery and authority? In post-Enlightenment generations, this question has received ample attention in academic and popular level contexts. As encapsulated in his seminal work, The Closing of the Western Mind: The […]
(Photo of ancient church ruins in Philadelphia of Revelation 3:7-13 & a Mosque in between) Even Philadelphia eventually left it’s first love. (see Rev. 2:4-5) The ruins of columns of an ancient Byzantine church in the ancient city of Philadelphia, now … Continue reading
***This article serves as a foundational, macro-level overview of the history of First Baptist Church-Edna. In order to eventually accumulate a more exhaustive record of FBC-Edna, it is the prayer of the author to devote more analysis into the history of this local church in the future. As such, the content of this article is […]
This article will analyze the New Covenant, as understood within Dispensational and Particular Baptist theological frameworks. In keeping with the pattern of this section of the Dismantling Dispensationalism series, each of the three main classifications of Dispensationalism will be categorized with the primary source that corresponds thereto. Moreover, relevant citations from a Particular Baptist (1689 […]
