This article puts flesh onto my skeletal God’s foreknowledge: Does God plan the end and only foreknow the means? Why did God create the world? ( Also the title of a sermon by John Piper). This question implies that God always plans what he does. The Bible say that the reason why God created the […]
In the Appendix of the book “The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, Documented” by David N. Steele and Curtis C. Thomas, the authors describe two opposing interpretations of “foreknowledge: “Did God look down through time and see that certain individuals would believe and thus predestine them unto salvation on the basis of this foreseen […]
Where in the US or Western Europe would the mainstream media publish the letter below? Envy my freedom in South Africa (it’s a country, not a region)? My letter (culled from my longer Our fatalism pacifies us as Muslims: God’s decree and free will). “Our fatalism pacifies us as Muslims” (Weekend Post, Port Elizabeth, South […]
A Muslim who calls himself “an activist, a change agent and a social commentator who reflects upon reality,” finds it difficult to reconcile the sovereignty of God in Islam and Christianity – who decrees all events and actions – with human freedom and responsibility. In “Our fatalism pacifies us as Muslims” (Weekend Post, Port Elizabeth, […]
Related: See my ISIS, politics and Islam and Documentaries on Understanding Isis and Al Nustra. Rhetorical question: If my title is meaningful, what meaning do you give to it? We’re all ignorant until God gives us light. Does that mean we’re off the hook? Not at all. Acts 2:22-24 “Men of Israel, hear […]
Those who believe scripture is God-breathed (theo + pneustos – breathed out by God; divine “expiration”) also believe that there are no deeper meanings lurking below the surface text. So, if one differs in the interpretation of a text, the interpreter is at fault. I was visiting a Christian friend who loves God and talking […]
When Calvinism is contrasted with Arminianism, what first comes to mind is God’s role and man’s role in coming to faith. The Calvinist says that man plays no cooperative or contributive role in coming to faith, while the Arminian says that man cooperates with God in that man turns his heart to God, that […]
Here is typical question in a sermon: “Does this world want Jesus because of your loving yet uncompromising testimony?” Sometimes. But this loving and uncompromising testimony is only a means, one among many possible means God uses to save his elect, that is, those upon whom he had decreed to show mercy; for example, the […]
The word of God cuts deep but also comforts (Martin Luther) For many professors of Christianity, God may get a bit of attention for an hour or two on Sundays. The rest of the week, God vaporises like the morning dew: “Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto […]
Originally posted on OneDaring Jew:
? God can use a crooked pencil to write straight ? From the moment that Jesus entered his public ministry, people were divided. No surprises there; the human condition by nature is partition. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians writes: 10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in…
Kenneth Copeland on stage: Aahhl say Aaaaaahhhhl. All in the world: Aaaaaaaahhhl. The Roman Catholic Church considers Thomas Aquinas as its supreme theologian. Here is Pope Leo XIII: “This point is vital, that Bishops expend every effort to see that young men destined to be the hope of the Church should be imbued […]
Nathan Betts in God’s final word writes: “The cross of Christ shows us the enormity of evil that needed to be dealt with but it also shows us a God that cares. The theologian, N.T. Wright beautifully calls the cross, “God’s no to evil”. [ N. T. Wright, Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, […]
About five years ago, I gave a sermon in a church, as part of my practical for a Bible diploma. Previously, I had asked the pastor of the church why he never preached on sin. He told me that sermons on sin were the old days and people need to be encouraged rather than be […]
C.S. Lewis wrote that God takes risks, therefore he is what is known as an “open theist.” Here is Lewis: “The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most […]
Some prefer the spelling “crucifiction”; I prefer “crucifixion” because I believe it really happened The term “martyr” is often attached to someone who is perceived to get killed in a religious cause. For some, there are at least two ways of getting killed: being hit by a drone or blowing up bodies – yours included, […]
The concatenation of all his counsels is not intelligible to us; for he is as essentially and necessarily wise, as he is essentially and necessarily good and righteous. (Stephen Charnock, 1632 -1680. “A discourse on the wisdom of God”). Introduction If only the earth were not so full of evil. The question before us, though, […]
Introduction In Begin at Jerusalem, to the Jew first? Yes and no, I argued that Jesus’ admonition to his disciples to witness first at Jerusalem (to the Jew first) does not apply today. In this article, I present a talk by a Messianic Jewish missionary from Israel. Our little grasshopper of a church – we’re in […]
I couldn’t resist posting this piece from Alpha and Omega Ministries Apologetics Blog: Amazing Free Will 06/15/2011 – Alan Kurschner Amazing Free Will how sweet the sound, That saved a neutral soul like me. I once was sickly not even drowned, Was seeking then given opportunity. T’was a soft voice that taught my Will to […]
I received the following comment on my Yin Yang, God and the devil: A cosmic chess game? He writes: My issue is this: If “God” created and allows all things… then “God” also created Satan and the potential to become Evil. The potential must have existed within “God” at least as a thought/possibility or it never […]
Being a dutiful Jewish Calvinist (do you have any such friends?), I posted a question on Wintery Knight’s blog regarding the debate between Michael Brown, a Jewish Arminian, and James White, a non-Jewish Calvinist. Wintery does NOT- as is the situation with most professing Christians – believe that a person is so dead (in sin) […]
