Theology

September 26, 2017

Repent About Repentance #4 – Repentance and Ignorance

    What is the relationship between Repentance and Ignorance?   With several occurrences of the word “ignorance” being employed in close proximity with the terms “repent” and  “repentance” in the Bible, any serious student of the Bible would want to examine the connection between the two.  That is the goal of this installment in…

November 30, 2016

Repent About Repentance #3 – What Does Repent Mean in Greek?

  So far in this series we’ve looked at the occurrences where God repents in the Greek Old Testament, and how this is carried over into several English versions.  We’ve also examined how Josephus uses repentance, and how it is often employed in morally negative or morally ambiguous situations that do not result in people…

September 23, 2016

Repent About Repentance Part II – Repentance in the Writings of Josephus

With so many definitions for the word “repent” being widely accepted among Christians, it’s no  wonder that confusion reigns over the role of repentance in salvation. In Part 1 we looked at God’s repentance in the Greek Old Testament.  If the Greek words which are translated “repent” or “repentance” in the New Testament are also…

December 25, 2015

Real Meaning of Christmas

You’re probably aware that Christians everywhere recently celebrated Christ’s coming to earth.  But did you know that there are actually two competing views within Christianity as to why Jesus even came?  One essentially says that Christ came to make demands on us, the other that Christ came to free us from demands that already existed. …

December 14, 2015

Repent About Repentance Part 1 – God’s Repentance

In today’s post I want you to repent about repentance.   This is probably my greatest concern with the doctrine of evangelical and reformed churches today.  Nearly every church I have attended in the past several years defines repentance as “a turn from sin” or “a turn from sin and turn to God,” or something…

September 12, 2015

God and Triathlon Part I

by Matt Sheeks   We live in a “how” culture, and you may notice that many questions triathletes ask revolve around “how?” How do I improve my power on the bike? How do I pull more water?  How do I develop a forefoot plant?  Perhaps “what?” is just as popular a question, such as, “what…

November 27, 2014

Question from an Atheist

Every once in awhile I get a really good question from www.everystudent.com.  This one I thought was worthy of sharing, because it touches on some excellent questions related to the cause of the Universe and existence of God   Question:   I am an atheist who studied and practiced various forms of Buddhism for many…

December 2, 2013

Justice and Sacrifice as Represented in Les Miserables

The idea of sacrifice permeates western storytelling.  Hit films such as The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, 300, and the Chronicles of Narnia all have major sacrificial themes.  But have you ever noticed that the sacrificer only sacrifices themselves for the “good guy” in the film, the one who is on the right side…

September 22, 2013

Not About Me

The most significant message I could ever share… Part One:  God’s love   First of all God loves you with an unconditional love.  It is much the same kind of love that we would imagine that parents should have for their children; that is, not how parents behave all of the time, but what we…

April 1, 2013

Did Jesus rise from death?

  Discover the Evidence, Decide for yourself. Can you discount the resurrection of Jesus?  I can’t.  The trouble is, if the resurrection did not happen, one has to answer the following questions regarding Jesus death and the subsequent founding of Christianity with a better explanation than the resurrection:   1. Who was Jesus? – All historical…