Category Archives: Christian

James Dobson describes the straight life for men: “The straight life for a working man is not much simpler. It is pulling your tired frame out of bed, five days a week, fifty weeks out of the year. It is … Continue reading →

After two back-to-back posts with comments turned off, I thought I would have a more open topic to discuss. I recently disparaged the idea of running a church as a business. I don’t want to get into that, but I … Continue reading →

Here are some more thoughts about my recent post, Church is a Family, not a Business. One reason it’s important to maintain this distinction, and to realize that we have – consciously or not – adopted the business mindset, is … Continue reading →

Aside from Matthew 5:13-16, I am hard pressed to think of many passages of scripture that have been more abused by the modern American church than 1 Corinthians 12. That passage teaches us that the church functions as a body. … Continue reading →

If I were to get in a time machine and go back, say, 10 years and meet myself, my 20 year old self would not like me very much. Ten years ago I was a premillenial dispensationalist and an Arminian … Continue reading →

The most common arguments I get against Calvinism have precious little to do with Scripture. People very rarely say “so, what do you make of this verse here?” It happens sometime, but it is not that common. Instead, I get … Continue reading →

One of the clearest examples of God acting sovereignly and freely is in His bringing Israel out of Egypt. God was very clear that His plan was to harden Pharaoh’s heart so that God could glorify Himself by visiting judgment … Continue reading →

There are two main points that both demonstrate the “Calvinist” view of soteriology is correct. First, God is absolutely sovereign over all creation. God has ordained the future, which must include one’s salvation or condemnation. Second, man is so depraved … Continue reading →

I have written previously about the fallacy of focusing only on so-called “practical theology”. But it might be helpful to discuss why I think theology in general, and Calvinism in particular, is important enough to teach. It is hard to … Continue reading →

My “Intro to Calvinism” class is off to a pretty good start. There are 9 students (counting my wife, but not our baby!). At least 5 of them are Arminians, so we get some good discussions. One of them is … Continue reading →