Random Thoughts

Today as I was scrolling I saw a Facebook post from a well-known minister in my former organization. Normally, I try to keep the peace between us because I do still genuinely care for a lot of people within the denomination and I don't want to offend people for the sake of offending. However, as much as I love the people within the organization, my love for God and His Word is greater. This is what the post said, "Can you prove your case?  PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established according to Deuteronomy 19:15. In 2 Cor Chapter 13, Paul wrote "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." We know that the Scriptures bear witness to the truth. John 5:39 "Search the Scriptures; for in the YE THINK ye have eternal life: and they are they which TESTIFY of me." To bear witness is to show or to prove something is true.  THIS IS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT BEEN WATER BAPT...

I've heard a lot of different opinions and views on Scripture, theology, and church. Some are valid and others not so much. I do think it is great to look inward and challenge the things you believe, not because they are necessarily wrong, but because it helps you re-examine your theology to see if it matches the Scriptures. This helps strengthen your theology and it helps you see if there are any views that you have that aren't as in line with Scripture as you thought.  One of the views I've heard that I think is pretty problematic is the idea that God still gives special revelation outside of Scripture. Now, to be fair, nobody that actually does this will agree with that phrase but the concept is still true. These are quotes I have written down from sermons within the United Pentecostal Church, "It may not be in the Bible but it was handed down by our elders who heard from God in a prayer room." And this, "Be careful when you start messing with your traditi...

Whether you want to believe it or not, every single person who reads the Bible participates in Biblical Interpretation. When you read the Bible you are either intentionally or unintentionally interpreting what it is saying. The question is, are you interpreting the Bible correctly? Correctly interpreting the Bible is extremely important, especially today when there are all kinds of wild theories and opinions about the times that we are living in. Too often people want to have "revelations" or "special insights" into the Scripture that fundamentally changes the original meaning of the text.   Lots of people are running to the Book of Revelation to find answers to the news stories of today, questions like, “Could the COVID Vaccine be the Mark of the Beast?” I just stumbled upon a YouTube video that had almost 200,000 views where the guy was making that exact argument.   In the book "How To Read The Bible For All It's Worth" by Gordon Fee, it has this hel...

Righteousness is defined by the dictionary as, “behavior that is morally justifiable or right.” The Bible’s standard for human righteousness is God’s own perfection in every attribute, every attitude, every behavior, and every word.   Sometimes in our zeal to be pleasing to God, we can get a warped idea of righteousness. Sometimes we look at other believers and we measure ourselves against each other, and because we are human we tend to judge or measure their righteousness, or what we consider their lack of righteousness, against ourselves and tell ourselves that we are doing better than we actually are. This is exactly what Jesus told us in Luke 18 about the Pharisee and tax collector. Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week,; I give tithes...

In my previous blog, I wrote about faith and obedience. It stirred up quite the response some positive and some negative. I decided to do part two in order to further clarify my position. The most common argument I received against the doctrine of faith alone is found in James 2:14-17. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Now, I’ll admit, on the surface, this seems irrefutable. How can you disagree with Scripture? When we have disagreements in theology and we debate doctrine we must not fall for the trap of putting Scripture against Scripture. For example, in this topic someone points to this passage in James 2 my response cannot be, “well, in Romans 3, ...

Most Christians understand that we are saved by grace through faith. The disconnect occurs because we don't always understand what saving faith is. Are we saved by faith alone? or are we saved by faith plus obedience?   I can understand why we would think that salvation is predicated on our faith in Christ as well as our obedience to what He asks of us in his Word. It makes sense, Jesus offers us eternal life and all we have to do is trust him and obey. Right? We need to make sure that we have the right answer to this question because our salvation depends on us having a proper understanding of the gospel. Paul wrote to the church in Galatia astonished that they had so quickly been led astray into “another gospel”. He calls them out and corrects their false gospel. So I want to look at this book and see how Paul addresses this issue of the gospel. Galatians 1:6-9 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a differ...