Are Christians Hypocrites?, Part 4: What Christians’ Believe About Themselves is Terrifying Previously, we posited that Christians, though not righteous in and of themselves, possess the vicarious or imputed righteousness of Christ through faith. Not only are the sins of believers paid for and forgiven, but Christ’s own righteousness is credited to them, thus restoring a […]
Are Christians’ Hypocrites, Part 2: What is Required of Christians? (Note: Previously, we discovered that genuine believers never claim to be perfect — indeed, their sinfulness is what draws them to Christ. So, if they don’t or can’t obey God’s laws, what is expected of them?) Make no mistake: Jesus commands moral perfection. He says: […]
(Developing a relationship with your Creator is a bit different than getting to know a new neighbor, co-worker, or classmate. Duh! But there are some similarities. For instance, openness to and tolerance for differences, not to mention humility and sincerity, can help grease the relational skids. The following is offered in the sincere belief that […]
Don’t Bite the Book that Feeds You, Part II: Go Woke, Wind Up Spiritually Broke The profundities of scripture are unlikely to be unlocked through the lens of 21st century wokeness. Examining scripture in light of woke sensibilities tends to result in finger-wagging at God and concluding that He falls miserably short of one’s own […]
Don’t Bite the Book That Feeds You, Part III: The Exclusivity Bugaboo In the pluralistic West, aversion to the Bible’s insistence on “one true God” is endemic. Our democratic mindset as regards governance is partially to blame. The American Constitution, a transcendent breakthrough in governmental architecture, guarantees the right to worship or not to worship […]
Don’t Bite the Book That Feeds You, Part IV: “Your Family and Culture Made You a Christian!” If you reject Christianity’s exclusivity because it is the dominant system of belief in your culture, as that presumably would encourage you to look down upon non-Christian cultures, you won’t have avoided the charge of ethnocentrism. Tim Keller […]
Don’t Bite the Book that Feeds You, Part V: Don’t Assume Grace and Judgment Can’t Co-Exist Many refrain from reading the Old Testament because of a mis-impression it is all about God’s wrath, and devoid of any mercy and grace. Some folks reject a God of judgment out of hand, without considering whether a God […]
Don’t Bite the Book that Feeds You, Part VI: Conclusion Bible critics may reject its inspiration and authority, but then where do they get their ideas of justice, human dignity and rights, compassion, and so forth? If you were raised in America, such ideas unavoidably were drawn from the bible, the foundational book of Western […]