When a congregation is unwilling and/or unable to react out loud to a sermon at all or interact with the speaker at all, that is a problem.   However, does this mean that the quality of a church increases as people shout things like Amen and Hallelujah more often?  What goesRead More

Though this verse is found in the middle of counsel in relation to support of widows, it gives a principle regarding financial support of family members who cannot support themselves and have no lawful source of adequate income- especially those of one’s own house.  1 Timothy 5:8 sets forth aRead More

One aspect of Gnosticism is the belief that the God who created the material world is not the Father of Jesus Christ.  The epistle of 1 John, which is a rebuke to Gnosticism, begins by rebuking the disconnection of Jesus from the God which created all things in the BookRead More

An important related question is whether altar calls accomplish anything good that could not have been accomplished if the altar call were not given.   It is also important to note what is actually being analyzed.  In speaking of altar calls here, this is dealing with calling people to come toRead More

The first half of 1 Peter 4:17 says: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:”   The word in the Greek text here for “judgment” is krima (the sentence of a judge or the punishment with which one is sentenced).  The word in the GreekRead More

2 Peter 1:4 speaks of those with authentic faith in Christ as “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”  This can rightfully be said of anyone who is presently justified through Christ.  Yet this is not the end of the Christian life.  It is rather theRead More

We are dealing with whether the Bible warrants calling God’s grace unmerited favor. Closely related to that is the issue of whether being undeserving is necessarily the same as being without merit. The norm among evangelical preachers and evangelical churches is to call God’s grace unmerited favor.  A simple GoogleRead More

This is a question which two people can debate about and both could be dead wrong.   One might say that man can save himself.  They might claim their own ideas of what they think the Lord ought to accept are all they really need to follow.  One hundred people whoRead More

In dealing with this question, it’s important to note that there is a lot of debate over whether the things said in Matthew chapter 24 apply to the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple AD 70 or to the second coming of Christ. These events are obviously not the sameRead More

Genesis 2:16-17: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Moving aheadRead More