Archive for September, 2006
Is Baptism Essential for Salvation?
To establish where we are going the answer in a word is: NO.
Some who believe in works salvation assert it is an essential act of obedience in order to receive salvation.
Scripture declares salvation is by the grace of God not of works (Ephesians 2:8,9). We are not saved by works but to work (Ephesians 2:10). [...]
Church Discipline
MATTHEW 18: 15-17
The church community needs to know how to deal with failure and sin. This necessitates a pattern for reconciliation. If action is taken the person “sinned against” is to initiate the action of restoration. The goal is to win and restore relationships.
A surface reading of the passage is much more legalistic than anything [...]
Calvinism and Non-Calvinism
The Acrostic “Tulip” Has Long Been Used to Identify the Five Points of Calvinism. Following Is a Response of a Position on These Same Five Points Based on an Acrostic of “Roses.” Belatedly I Have Come to Understand Dr. Timothy George Previously Used “Roses” As an Acrostic Giving Meaning Other Than Is Applied Here. With [...]
Foreknowledge and Predestination
ROMANS 8: 29, 30
“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
In the beginning God said, [...]
Calvinism
John Calvin (1509-1564) was a prominent theological figure of the 16th Century in Europe.
He is best known for his “Institutes of the Christian Religion” in which he advocated a church state, imprisonment of heretics, infant baptism, and that the lost were created to go to hell. Not all Calvinists believe all these tenets. Many don’t [...]
Islam’s Claim To The Land Of Israel
Have you ever wondered how the Jews and Muslims both justify their claim to the same land?
Christians and Jews understand the Bible clearly identifies the land to have been given to Abraham and his descendants.
A lecture was delivered in early August in Jerusalem by an instructor in Islam explaining the “Claims [...]
Our Right To Know
In 1450 BC a colony was established on the lovely Island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea. It flourished and developed into a major trade and cultural center. Over the years its industrious inhabitants and natural terrain made it a viable military fortification. Its massive walls made it at times virtually [...]
Hezbollah In Our Midst
Let’s start with a disclaimer. Not all Baptists are alike. There is the understatement of the year. Against the reality of that background it is time we acknowledge not all Muslims are alike. Some want to live peacefully with non-Muslims.
There are over one billion Muslims. A significantly large number of them are [...]
America’s War Dead
We are each diminished by the death of any of our military personnel. Abhorrence for war, which we all share, has led some to become critical of what many feel is an essential military struggle against terrorism. We don’t want it but it won’t go away by itself.
Our grievous casualties were put [...]
How Little Can A Person Be
Who is the smallest person you have ever known? I don’t mean small like the littlest man in the Bible. It wasn’t Nehemiah (Knee-high-miah) or the Bildad the Shuhite (Shoe-height). It was the Roman soldier who slept on his watch. Now that is small.
Not that kind of small. The reference is to [...]
Thomas Jefferson & Religion
In Philadelphia on a hot summer day in 1776 five men met in a stuffy room over a stable plagued by horseflies. What they wrote was published July 2, but dated July 4. Fifty-six signatures were affixed later. That document is revered as our Declaration of Independence. With those signatures the channel [...]
Quotes Worth Remembering
The wisdom of others condensed in succinct thought is worth incorporating in our memory bank. There are many compact concepts worth putting on the marque of our mind. Some I like I don’t know the source but respect their laconic insights. Here are a few.
“Your lack of proper prior planning does not [...]
What Is Jihad?
There is no war on terror. There can’t be. Terror is an abstract. During World War II, or as my Cajun friends call it World War Two Eye, no one made reference to a war on blitzkrieg.
Blitzkrieg was a form of combat used by the Nazis. The allies were up front [...]
