The beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount have always intrigued me. For one, when I first read them they seem so simple, but the more I reflect on them at a greater depth, more complex contours begin to appear. Blessed are the poor in spirit Why...
I love the story of when Jesus heals the paralytic in Mark 2:1–12. In this story, Jesus’ popularity has grown to the point where there are so many people coming to see him that the paralytic and his friends cannot get to him. The crowds are...
Often times in scripture (especially in the Old Testament), there is an altar associated with worship (Gen 8:20–22, 12:6–8, 13:18, 22:9, 26:25, 33:20, 35:1–3; Ex 27:1–8, 30:1–10; Deut 27:4–8; Josh 8:30–31; Judges 6:24–27; 1 Sam 14:33–35; Mt...
In times of difficulty, confusion, trial, or darkness the best thing to do, without fail, is focus on Jesus. I cannot count the number of times that I’ve said that salvation and Christianity are all about a personal relationship with Jesus. More...
Funny thing, I was going to write a post on John Wesley’s ordo salutis (Latin: “order of salvation“), then I found this (thanks Seedbed). I’m traveling at the moment (yes, again) and will be back to normal posting soon.
I’m a huge advocate of corporate worship and communal Christianity. My personal MO is shaped by the fact that salvation is for a people through a people. I make it a habit of pointing out that too often in contemporary mainstream Christianity we...
Jesus used a number of pedagogical methods for teaching his disciples (and the crowds). At times, he went into theological discourse (John 3, with Nicodemus), other times he used parables. There were even times still he taught using “act...
Deepak Chopra is becoming one of the most widely read teachers on spirituality in the Western world. Over the past two decades Chopra has produced more than 20 publications, whose teaching focuses primarily on holistic healing (physical, emotional...
The concept of the faithfulness of God (Gr. dikaiosyne theou) in Paul is a hot topic for the New Perspective vs. Old Perspective dialogue. The New Perspective argues (quite strongly) that Paul never talks about the faithfulness of of God in...
What does it mean to be “saved” according to the Bible? This is a tricky question for a number of reasons. To start, the Bible is a complex book. It has countless characters, historical contexts, and theological motifs. After all, full...