29Aug 2022 by Post

Why The Bible Depicts God As Jealous

Al Serrato, Apologetics, Bible, Christianity, God, jealous god, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Al Serrato In my last post, I tried to make the case that God neither “needs” nor “demands” our praise. I acknowledged that he does, however, expect it, because praise naturally flows to a perfect being. But, the skeptic may counter, doesn’t the Bible describe God as “jealous?” Don’t the Ten Commandments include prohibitions on having “other gods” as well as threats of punishment for those guilty of “iniquity?” Does this not, in fact, amount to God instructing us to worship him, and explaining how angry he will become if we don’t? We come back to the question – why would a perfect being demand worship?” These are good questions, and they deserve an answer. But as we embark upon an answer, it’s worth noting that the questions themselves…
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22Aug 2022 by Post

Does Isaiah 9:6 Affirm the Deity of Israel’s Messiah?

Apologetics, Christianity, Isaiah, Isaish 9:6, Jesus, Jesus Deity, Jonathan McLatchie, Messiah, The Book of Isaiah, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Jonathan McLatchie  This past weekend, I had the privilege of participating in a moderated panel debate with my friends Dr. Shabir Ally, Yusuf Ismail, and Samuel Green. The topic was focused around the question of whether Isaiah 9:6 affirms the deity of Christ. Isaiah 9:6-7 reads, 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of…
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17Aug 2022 by Post

Fertility Matters

birth rate, Bob Perry, Christianity, Fertility, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, marriage, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Bob Perry Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, is a demographic expert. He has identified some sobering trends that are cause for concern for the future of America. In his article, “Can America Cope with Demographic Decline?”, Eberstadt points out that the traditional attempts to address those worries through government policy and financial incentives “vastly underestimate the challenge they wish to address.” ​Going Lower The birth rate required to support a society’s population stability is 2.1 births per woman. Eberstadt’s research found that in 2019, the birth rate in the U.S. was 1.71, the lowest rate ever recorded up to that point. Then, COVID-19 hit. In 2020, the rate fell to 1.64. Projected estimates for the as-yet-unreported first quarter of 2021 point toward…
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15Aug 2022 by Post

What You Might’ve Missed About the Mount of Transfiguration

Apologetics, Bart Ehrman, Christianity, Erik Manning, Jesus, Mount of Transfiguration, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Transfiguration
by Erik Manning  Does John’s Gospel give us a much higher view of Jesus than what we find in Matthew, Mark and Luke? Bart Ehrman certainly thinks so. He says: If Jesus went around Galilee proclaiming himself to be a divine being sent from God…could anything else that he might say be so breath-taking and thunderously important? And yet none of these earlier sources says any such thing about him. Did they (all of them!) just decide not to mention the one thing that was most significant about Jesus? Almost certainly the divine self-claims in John are not historical. How Jesus Became God p 125 In other places, Ehrman admits that the Synoptic Gospels don’t depict Jesus as a mere man. But he isn’t pre-existent and he isn’t the same…
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27Jul 2022 by Post

Undesigned Coincidences in the Scriptures: An Argument for Their Veracity (Part 1) — Old Testament Examples

Apologetics, Bible, coincidences, Jonathan McLatchie, Old Testament, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Veracity
By Jonathan McLatchie The principle of undesignedness was first identified by the famed Christian philosopher William Paley (1743-1805), in his book Horae Paulinae. Therein, he highlighted example after example of undesigned integrations between the epistles of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles. The principle of undesignedness refers to cases where two or more sources dovetail with each other in a manner that cannot be attributed to the design of the author. In 1850, J.J. Blunt published his book Undesigned Scriptural Coincidences, in which he took Paley’s argument further, documenting examples in the Old Testament, as well as between the gospels, and between the gospels, Acts, and Josephus. The principle of undesignedness is a forgotten but brilliant argument which can be used to corroborate Biblical history. In this article, I…
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19Jul 2022 by Post

The Pendulum Problem: A Warning of Extreme Beliefs

Are Christians Extreme?, atheist, beliefs, Bible Thumper, Christian Pendulum, Hermeneutic, Melissa Dougherty, Pendulum, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Melissa Dougherty I have a dog and a cat. Max is my dog whose personality is likened to a lovable, furry, hyperactive toddler. As an anxious dog, nobody is safe from his “watchful” eye. When the doorbell rings, my ferocious dog barks an explosive cry so loud that it vibrates throughout the entire house. His hair stands up, and he aggressively pushes his nose to the door to somehow intimidate his arch nemesis: the poor Amazon delivery dude. “Don’t you hoomans see the problem!? I’m protecting you from the bomb just delivered to our door!” Is a mom walking her baby down the street? A kid riding their bike? Oh, he must inform us about this potential threat by alerting us with all the gusto he can muster because…
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11Jul 2022 by Post

Is the Law of First Mention a Proper Biblical Hermeneutic?

Apologetics, Bellator Christi, Bible interpretation, Brian Chilton, Christianity, Gospel, Hermeneutic, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Brian Chilton Recently, Curtis Evelo (Bellator Christi Podcast co-host) told me about a conversation he had with an individual about biblical interpretation. Apparently, the individual held that the wine that Jesus miraculously brought forth out of water in John 4 was merely unfermented grape juice. When asked why he held this view, he contended that to hold that the wine held fermented content was to argue that Jesus was a sinner because wine is said to be a mocker in Proverbs 20:1. Curtis asked him what this had to do with Jesus’s miraculous transformation of water into wine. The unnamed individual then said that he used the law of first mention. According to the law of first mention, the interpreter first examines the initial place where the term or…
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06Jul 2022 by Post

Daniel Prophesied the Timing Of The Messiah

Apologetics, christian, Daniel, Erik Manning, Gospel, Jesus diety, Kingdom of God, Prophecy, Theology and Christian Apologetics, video
By Erik Manning How did Jesus see himself? As we learn about Jesus’ Jewish context in the first century, we find that he made some staggering claims. First of all, Jesus spoke constantly about God’s kingdom. The phrase kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven appears more than 100 times in the Gospels. Jesus begins his ministry in Mark by saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near.” (Mark 1:15) Okay, so what’s the big deal about that? And what does Jesus mean when he says the kingdom of God is “near”? Jesus was assuming that his audience would pick up on the ideas he was laying down. When a first century Jew heard the phrase “the kingdom of God,” their minds likely turned to a…
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23Jun 2022 by Post

Mass Shootings & Pro-Choice Hysteria: Three Questions that Show the Insanity of Modern Moral Outrage

Adam Tucker, Apologetics, Christianity, Culture, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Politics, pro-choice, Roe v. Wade, school shooting, Southern Evangelical Seminary, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics, What is a Right?
By Adam Tucker As I sit at my computer thinking about the incomprehensible evil of yet another mass shooting, this time in Uvalde, Texas, the floods of outrage, sadness, fear, and uncertainty grip me as I’m sure they do many of you. Ironically, news of the tragedy broke just minutes before attending the end-of-year ceremonies at my kids’ school. Tears filled my eyes as I watched the boys and girls sing and receive their awards knowing that so many parents will not get to experience such joys after this latest tragedy. I truly cannot imagine. Yet, while the news coming out of Texas is very disturbing, there is something else I can’t get out of my mind. Just over a week ago, my family and I had the opportunity to…
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22Jun 2022 by Post

Can a Christian Lose Their Salvation? An Analysis of the Warning Passages in Hebrews

Apologetics, Christianity, Gospel, Jonathan McLatchie, salvation, soteriology, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
A significant point of contention in regard to the book of Hebrews is whether a genuine believer can lose their salvation, or whether falling away from the faith merely evidences the fact that one had never truly come to share in Christ. At the center of this controversy are the warning passages, which are found in Hebrews 2:1-4, 3:7-4:13, 5:11-6:12, 10:19-39, and 12:14-29. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the Biblical evidence on whether a professing Christian who walks away from the faith forfeits their salvation, with a particular focus on the book of Hebrews. A fundamental principle of Biblical hermeneutics is that the unclear passages should always be interpreted in light of clearer texts. This follows from the premise that the Biblical texts, being divinely inspired, though…
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