Seeing Good Friday With New Eyes
If you had witnessed the Romans crucify Jesus, you would not have known the significance of what you saw. You would have seen a Jewish man, among several other men, being beaten, bruised, bloodied, and nailed to some wood by the despised Romans. You would have seen yet another criminal executed for His crimes. You […]
Christians and Civil Bravery in Hostile Societies
Thomas Kelly (1893-1941) was a Quaker philosopher and writer. Kelly’s son wrote a biography of his father (see here), in which he tells of what happened when Kelly was sent to Nazi Germany in the summer of 1938, out of concern for the welfare of Quakers who were feeling the oppression of life under Hitler. […]
A Berean Scribe (Mark 12:28-34)
Many Christians are familiar with the Bereans. These were the people Paul preached to on his second missionary journey (Acts 17:11). They were commended by Luke, the writer of the Book of Acts, because they were willing to search the Scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was true or not. We often hear […]
Is Receiving a Synonym for Believing?
D. A. writes, Hey Bob, I was a little confused with what you shared regarding receive. It seemed that you were saying that it is a synonym for believe. Yet you said to check a thesaurus to show that they aren’t synonyms. So, it left me wondering are they synonyms, or aren’t they? I checked […]
God’s Drawing and Spiritual Experiences
People sometimes challenge the claim that you must believe in Jesus for an eternal salvation to be saved by appealing to spiritual experience. They will say, “I know you don’t need to believe in Jesus for everlasting life to be saved, because I was born again years before I understood that salvation is everlasting. I […]
Will Most People Fail to Understand Acts 16:31?
D. E. asks, In your March 14 blog entitled, “Is It Wrong to Evangelize by Telling Someone to Confess His Sins And Invite Jesus into His Heart?” [see here], you write that the “Biblical answer” to the question “what must I do to be saved” is to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will […]
Elton Trueblood on the Ministry of the Pastor
What does it mean to be a pastor? The popular conception is that the pastor is the man who gets paid to do all the ministry—at least, all the important “religious” stuff. He wears special clothes such as a robe and collar. He has the unique authority to marry, bury, and preach. And he is […]
Can We Harmonize Faith Alone Saves with Saving Faith Is Never Alone?
A. H. asks, I read your post about the saying, “faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone” [see here] and that’s something I have heard, believed, and experienced in my own life–but, I think I’m interpreting that statement in a way that is in line with your theological views. I believe the first […]
What is the Keswick Movement? (Part 2)
In my previous blog (see here), I spoke about the history of the Keswick movement. Keswick theology is concerned about Christian living. Those in the movement have a desire to live godly lives. They want to please God. In this blog I want to address the positive teachings of the movement as well as the […]
Does Focusing on the Spirit Mean Ignoring the World?
Question Regarding your blog on being spiritually minded in Rom 8:6, how do you run a business and move forward without some thought to the earthly side of things? The Bible says: For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is […]