Recently a number of prominent evangelical figures have made waves by signing the Manhattan Declaration, an ecumenical *(On a side note; one of the signers, Peter Kreeft has an excellent sermon titled, Ecumenism Without Compromise.)*and rather terse (in scope anyway) statement consisting of three points: the sanctity of human life the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife the rights of conscience and religious liberty. While these may seem pretty vague and readily agreeable to by a wide range of people (in fact, the deceleration is implicitly inclusive of even non-theists) and rightly so. The goal of this declaration is not to form yet another creed or charter or statement of faith. The goal is simply to come together with others of like mind over a very limited set of issues. It’s an old and wise tactic, pool resources and efforts in order to accomplish a common goal. In this case it’s the cessation of threats (real or imagined, you be the judge) to religious liberties by government encroachment, combating abortion, and combating the constant assaults to the traditional family prevalent in our times. ...

I’ve used the phrase " causal determinism" quite a lot recently when talking about the doctrine of Middle Knowledge/Molinism and one of it’s chief competitors, the Calvinistic notion of soverigenty which posits God as being the one who “decrees all that comes to pass”. Since this isn’t a phrase that isn’t often used outside of philosophical circles, I figured it would be helpful to take a minute and define this term and how it has a significant bearing on the philosophical presuppositions we filter everything, including our interpretation of Scripture, through. ...

Recently our small church decided to take on the controversial topic of homosexuality. Not in spite of the controversy, but because of it. Now I realize that many of you will read that and think that we are intentionally trying to be divisive and unloving but the reality is that our goals are quite the opposite. Our aim in discussing this topic is to learn how to handle conflict in a more Christlike manner. How to maintain unity in the midst of sharp differences without compromising our deeply held beliefs but, at the same time, while still loving each other and maintaining a humble and teachable spirit. ...

To answer the question of whether Christians can, with honesty and clarity of conscience (not to mention with Biblical warrant) support and even promote the death penalty we must first make a distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. Greg Boyd calls them “the kingdom of the cross” and the “kingdom of the sword”. He derives the second from Romans 13:4 which states that the government doesn’t bear the sword in vain. Jesus also says in John 18:36 that his kingdom wasn’t of this world. ...

What it means Greek ἀφίημι Transliteration/Pronunciation aphiēmi/ä-fē’-ā-mē Strong’s G863 Definition This word has a rather broad range of meanings (well, broad from our western perspective) as it can mean “I let go”, “leave”, “permit”, and “forgive”. The broad range of meanings this word has permits for some interesting word studies, particularly when it comes to the cases where it is translated as “forgive”. Where it’s found Matthew 3:15; Matthew 4:11; Matthew 4:20; Matthew 4:22; Matthew 5:24; Matthew 5:40; Matthew 6:12; Matthew 6:14; Matthew 6:15; Matthew 7:4; Matthew 8:15; Matthew 8:22; Matthew 9:2; Matthew 9:5; Matthew 9:6; Matthew 12:31; Matthew 12:32; Matthew 13:30; Matthew 13:36; Matthew 15:14; Matthew 18:12; Matthew 18:21; Matthew 18:27; Matthew 18:32; Matthew 18:35; Matthew 19:14; Matthew 19:27; Matthew 19:29; Matthew 22:22; Matthew 22:25; Matthew 23:13; Matthew 23:23; Matthew 23:38; Matthew 24:2; Matthew 24:40; Matthew 24:41; Matthew 26:44; Matthew 26:56; Matthew 27:49; Matthew 27:50; Mark 1:18; Mark 1:20; Mark 1:31; Mark 1:34; Mark 2:5; Mark 2:7; Mark 2:9; Mark 2:10; Mark 3:28; Mark 4:12; Mark 4:36; Mark 5:19; Mark 5:37; Mark 7:8; Mark 7:12; Mark 7:27; Mark 8:13; Mark 10:14; Mark 10:28; Mark 10:29; Mark 11:6; Mark 11:16; Mark 11:25; Mark 12:12; Mark 12:19; Mark 12:20; Mark 12:22; Mark 13:2; Mark 13:34; Mark 14:6; Mark 14:50; Mark 15:36; Mark 15:37; Luke 4:39; Luke 5:11; Luke 5:20; Luke 5:21; Luke 5:23; Luke 5:24; Luke 6:42; Luke 7:47; Luke 7:48; Luke 7:49; Luke 8:51; Luke 9:60; Luke 10:30; Luke 11:4; Luke 12:10; Luke 12:39; Luke 13:8; Luke 13:35; Luke 17:3; Luke 17:4; Luke 17:34; Luke 17:35; Luke 18:16; Luke 18:28; Luke 18:29; Luke 19:44; Luke 21:6; Luke 23:34; John 4:3; John 4:28; John 4:52; John 8:29; John 10:12; John 11:44; John 11:48; John 12:7; John 14:18; John 14:27; John 16:28; John 16:32; John 18:8; John 20:23; Acts 5:38; Acts 8:22; Acts 14:17; Romans 1:27; Romans 4:7; I Corinthians 7:11; I Corinthians 7:12; I Corinthians 7:13; Hebrews 2:8; Hebrews 6:1; James 5:15; I John 1:9; I John 2:12; Revelation of John 2:4; Revelation of John 2:20; Revelation of John 11:9 ...

In a stimulating discussion with a friend of mine following my earlier post on homosexuality I was asked to provide further support from a wholly secular standpoint to substantiate my position against homosexuality. Here’s my response: My secular argument against homosexuality mirrors my secular argument against abortion and that is: Population. Human capital is the greatest asset any nation has. This has been true for all nations at all times in all places. In fact, there is almost nothing that can’t be solved with a brute force application of people (just ask the Chinese). ...

Our simple church group recently took up the rather controversial topic of homosexuality. It is a prevalent issue in the public square as well as among the Christian community ( Here is an example of an entire denomination who is becoming more vocal about their belief that Christ not only accepts homosexuality but somehow promoted it. They are currently running an ad campaign using bilboards along highways in Texas to get their message across. Here is another example of a blog run by someone who honestly claims that homosexuality is compatible with Christ’s teachings.) and we decided that the topic was worth perusing in order to know where we all stood on the issue (and, more importantly, where we are supposed to stand on this issue according to the Scriptures) and how to respond to those inside as well as outside of the Church who are struggling with this issue. ...

My daughter’s recently had a week where the emphesis was on “being thankful” before Thanksgiving this year. Curiously, or typically rather in our politically correct society, she and her classmates weren’t told who they were supposed to be thankful to. Just to have a general attitude of thankfulness. But that raises an interesting question: Thanks to whom? My wife immediately recognized the problem such an ungrounded view of “general attitude of thankfulness” presents. We’ve been teaching our children to pray and they typically begin “Thank you Jesus…” Right from the start we’ve tried to make them understand that what we have is not our own (That is, not of our own making. We may earn the physical things we buy but the existence of those things is beyond our control. In fact, even the ability to gain the resources needed to obtain the things we are thankful for are beyond our control. So while we work hard and want to teach our children to do the same, we also want to teach them that every moment we’ve been given is a gift from above and we should be thankful for even the very breath in our lungs.) and that the thanks we offer has a specific object in the form of Jesus Christ, the creator and sustainer of all things Colossians 1:16-17. ...

What it means Greek ἀσθενέω Transliteration/Pronunciation astheneō/ä-sthe-ne’-ō Strong’s G770 Definition This word means weak, sick, ill. It’s a pretty common phrase that can indicate either physical or spiritual sickness/weakness. Where it’s found Judges 16:7; Judges 16:11; Judges 16:17; I Samuel 2:4; I Samuel 2:5; II Samuel 3:1; II Kings 19:26; II Chronicles 28:15; Job 4:4; Job 28:4; Psalms 9:3; Psalms 18:36; Psalms 26:1; Psalms 27:2; Psalms 31:10; Psalms 58:7; Psalms 68:9; Psalms 88:9; Psalms 107:12; Psalms 109:24; Proverbs 24:16; Isaiah 7:4; Isaiah 28:20; Isaiah 29:4; Isaiah 32:4; Isaiah 44:12; Jeremiah 6:21; Jeremiah 18:15; Jeremiah 46:6; Jeremiah 46:12; Jeremiah 46:16; Jeremiah 50:32; Lamentations 1:14; Lamentations 2:8; Lamentations 5:13; Ezekiel 17:6; Ezekiel 21:15; Ezekiel 34:4; Daniel 11:14; Daniel 11:19; Daniel 11:33; Daniel 11:34; Daniel 11:35; Daniel 11:41; Hosea 4:5; Hosea 5:5; Hosea 11:6; Hosea 14:1; Hosea 14:9; Nahum 2:5; Nahum 3:3; Zechariah 12:8; Malachi 2:8; Malachi 3:11; Matthew 10:8; Matthew 25:36; Matthew 25:39; Mark 6:56; Luke 4:40; John 4:46; John 5:3; John 5:7; John 5:13; John 6:2; John 11:1; John 11:2; John 11:3; John 11:6; Acts 9:37; Acts 19:12; Acts 20:35; Romans 4:19; Romans 8:3; Romans 14:1; Romans 14:2; I Corinthians 8:11; I Corinthians 8:12; II Corinthians 11:21; II Corinthians 11:29; II Corinthians 12:10; II Corinthians 13:3; II Corinthians 13:4; II Corinthians 13:9; Philippians 2:26; Philippians 2:27; II Timothy 4:20; James 5:14 ...

I was recently asked on twitter about my view of salvation and how I viewed it in light of my recent postings on Molinism. My simple, twitterish, response was: “I believe that the Holy Spirit moves on, prompts, and draws all men to Christ. This prompted an email from one reader who wanted to probe deeper. Here’s my response. Going deeper The first place I would probably point for this verse is John 12:32 which is in reference to the golden snake from the Exodus which was fashioned for all the people of Israel, not all of whom chose to look upon the symbol for salvation. ...