Undeception

I am aware that a few of my theological positions are considered by many of my evangelical readers to be “liberal” (e.g. my beliefs on origins and biblical inerrancy). But this post will (unfortunately and unintentionally) be likely to cause controversy due to its blatant conservatism. More conservative, it turns out, than most modern evangelicals.
Anyone [...]

[Read more →]

This post is prompted by two recent comments, from two different commenters on two different issues. But their answer, it seems to me, is related.
I was asked, “Why wouldn’t Jesus say that evil would be forever dead instead of having this eternal fire to go to? Even if it was recognized as an exaggeration at [...]

[Read more →]

As my regulars probably know, I like podcasts. One I listen to regularly (it comes out daily) is Renewing Your Mind with Dr. R.C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries. He is well-known as a partial preterist, but, as you will see here soon, posits a future consummative coming of Christ. This is what he said in [...]

[Read more →]

Elsewhere I have blamed futurist eschatology for minimizing the Church’s call to focus on social issues and address the needs of the poor. But there are more causes than that alone; for instance, Derek Webb of Caedmon’s Call.
Josh Horne at the Smoak House has posted a dissent from Webb’s solo album, Mockingbird, which he finds [...]

[Read more →]

Mick found a great quote from N.T. Wright’s book, Evil and the Justice of God (pp. 138-139). Wright, a highly esteemed Anglican bishop, is not a full preterist, but what he says is very much in line with stuff I have written. One of the many books I’m going to eventually get around to reading [...]

[Read more →]

Preterists who deny a physical Resurrection of the Dead have been accused of being gnostic (because we supposedly believe that only spiritual reality matters and that the physical world is evil). Yet those who demand a destruction of the physical universe and the replacement with a spiritual new heavens and new earth are surely closer [...]

[Read more →]

The heavens and the earth have passed
The new has dawned, the night complete,
The day of judgment come. At last
The rule of Death dies in defeat.
The fear, the tears our fathers knew
Awaiting the Redeemer’s call
Have dried, has fled. The Life broke through;
Death’s victory was snatched withal.
All hope fulfilled and joy made whole
By overflowing life within,
Those purchased [...]

[Read more →]

Sometimes money makes the world go round — at least a few more revolutions for a few people.
Someone known only as “Anonymous Friend” has given $100 million dollars to the Erie Community Foundation. This organization “is a collection of charitable endowments operating under the administrative umbrella of a single public charity.” The anonymous donor apparently [...]

[Read more →]

When the Church of Jesus
When the church of Jesus shuts its outer door,
Lest the roar of traffic drown the voice of prayer:
May our prayers, Lord, make us ten times more aware
That the world we banish is our Christian care.
If our hearts are lifted where devotion soars
High above this hungry suff’ring world of ours:
Lest our hymns [...]

[Read more →]

Josh’s blog has something important to say on this.
‘Nuff said.

[Read more →]

I’ve always rolled my eyes when I encountered the “Revelation” nuts in the church: obsession with the day’s headlines, thinking that they elucidate the details of the fulfillment of end-times prophecy, this bugs the ever-loving stew out of me.
I realize I’ve been talking a lot of eschatology lately. I don’t want to give the impression [...]

[Read more →]

Generally speaking, I am of the opinion that, all time and culture considerations aside, the political philosophy held by most of the Founding Fathers matched the basic ideals of the modern libertarian philosophy. The core belief of libertarianism, ignoring the distinctions of all the various permutations of it as well as the whole anarchist strand, [...]

[Read more →]

What would it take to wipe out hunger and give all poor nations a chance at development?
Better yet, why aren’t more Christians asking this question?
This is something that’s been in my mind of late. Thoughts of children suffering and dying and their parents helpless to prevent it are so burdensome that only my strong defense [...]

[Read more →]

It having recently come to my attention that a surprising number of my intimate acquaintances are uninformed of the specifics of my eschatological beliefs, and owing to my conviction that the opposing views most frequently encountered are deficient both in their ability to be supported Scripturally and in their effect on various doctrines, both abstract [...]

[Read more →]

King Alfred the Great of England (r. 871-899) was truly one of the most remarkable men in history. The fifth son of the previous king of England, he was a man of deep Christian faith, a man of learning, and a great warrior king, the first king of an England he united and rescued from [...]

[Read more →]