Perpetually Carnal, Yet Eternally Secure?
Bob often mentions the name of R. B. Thieme, a pastor from Houston, who had an unusually influential ministry. Bob considers Thieme one of the first Free Grace theologians. Several Thieme-influenced churches, and many Thieme-influenced people, are very friendly to our ministry. So I thought it was about time for me to become familiar with […]
Do We Need a New Vocabulary?
I’ve been reading through R. B. Thieme’s Reversionism. (I’ve been reading through Thieme’s booklets for the last couple of months, which are available for free from his ministry’s website, rbthieme.org.) It’s too soon to say whether it is good or not, but I will say the opening paragraph, where he describes the possibility of a […]
No Returns
“I no longer wish to parent this child. He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues. I am returning him.” The flight attendant read the note in disbelief. A seven year old boy had it. His adoptive American mother wrote it. Things didn’t turn out the way she wanted, so she sent little Artyom Savelyev […]
Grace, Necessity, and Metaphysics
A Roman Catholic once told me he believed that salvation was by grace, because doing good works is only possible because God makes it possible. God is the ground of our being. So even though works are part of the condition of salvation, salvation is by “grace” because the fact that we exist at all […]
Superheroes, Easter Eggs and Biblical Literacy
By Shawn Lazar Who’s that?” “Black Widow,” I explained to my wife. “What can she do?” “Martial arts.” “And?” “And she’s good with weapons.” “That’s it?” “Yeah, pretty much.” “But she’s fighting hundreds of robots,” my wife noted. “I know.” “So Hulk is super strong, Iron Man has his suit, Thor has all kinds of […]
Suffering and the Search for Meaning: Contemporary Responses to the Problem of Pain
Suffering and the Search for Meaning: Contemporary Responses to the Problem of Pain. By Richard Rice. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014. 170 pp. Paperback, $20.00. This book is about how you can respond to real suffering, to “a sense of loss so huge and irreparable that the mind balks at taking its measure” (p. […]
Word Fast
Have you ever heard of a “Word fast”? It’s when you cut out TV, movies, newspapers, radio, and every other kind of teaching from your life, and just read the Word of God. In other words, you fast from eating up the world’s message, and feast on God’s message. I used to waste far too […]
How Much Do You Bench?
Imagine someone came to you and said you could be saved if you bench pressed 750 lbs, but you only had one chance to do it. Could you? You might try, but I doubt most of you could even lift the bar off the handles. Now imagine if they came back to you and made […]
Triune Love
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. he who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 (NKJV) The prominent Roman Catholic theologian, Hans urs von Balthasar, was once asked why there was a […]
Why You Need Basic Bible Knowledge
I was speaking about John’s Gospel to a man who was a life-long Baptist and had attended Church for over fifty years. At the time, we were discussing John the Baptist’s Aaronic heritage and how that fit into the meaning of John 1, when I casually mentioned that John was killed before the end of […]