Resources by Topic: Doctrine and Theology

It’s become increasingly popular for people to share their “de-conversion stories,” talking about how they moved from belief in Christ and the Bible to a design-it-yourself type of spirituality, or even out right atheism.

This is a big question in the center of a big debate that I don’t think can be answered from just one perspective, including John Piper’s. He makes a strong case, as does Henry Alford whom he cites. This portion, I think, is particularly strong.

There is great comfort in acknowledging and embracing Scripture’s teaching that God is sovereign over human events, including the outcome of elections.

"Much of the history of Christianity has been devoted to domesticating Jesus—to reducing that elusive, enigmatic, paradoxical person to dimensions we can comprehend, understand, and convert to our own purposes. So far it hasn’t worked." —Andrew Greeley

Question from a Reader: Do you believe that Jesus taught immortal earthly life for the saved, universal salvation, or something else? What passages can you cite as proof of Heaven as the eternal destination for the saved, and Hell as an eternal existence for the ungodly?

Question from a Reader: I’m a deep thinker, and like to research and understand things. My friend tells me I shouldn’t rely on only my intellect as my ultimate authority, but if not, then what should I rely on? At the end of the day aren’t we all kind of stuck in terms of relying on whatever intellect is available to us? 

If "believe" and "repent" and "come" don’t actually mean what those words mean, at least in some sense, it would be misleading and even heretical for Scripture itself to use them, which in fact it does. We should ask ourselves why. And we should not object to believers using the very words Scripture does.

I listened to Sean McDowell’s interview with Lee Strobel, talking about how he as an atheist journalist came to believe in Jesus, through studying whether the resurrection of Jesus ever happened. I think it’s all great, but even if you don’t have time to watch it all, the first 11 minutes or so are terrific.

I believe Jesus will always have those scars on His hands and feet. In Revelation, in His glorified body, He is repeatedly called the lamb who has been slain. The continuity between His risen body and His glorified body once He ascended to Heaven seems to be there.

This is an expanded version of a book review I did for The Gospel Coalition a few weeks ago. This is more than a book review—it is a reflection on a battle of worldviews that many churches and individual Christians are sadly losing. It’s also a call to take greater efforts to teach our young people to understand and defend their faith in Christ in a culture that is increasingly hostile to the teachings of Scripture.

Randy writes, “Death is not a natural part of life as God intended it. It is the unnatural result of evil.” Would it be too Calvinistic of me to say, “I disagree”? Saying death was outside God’s plan would suggest He did not have control, and that something could thwart His plan.

Just as God went to great lengths to reach Cornelius with the gospel (see Acts 10), I believe God goes to great lengths to give people an opportunity for response, especially to any who genuinely seek Him.

The widely stated notion “all sin is alike to God” is not grounded in Scripture. Yes, all sin is bad, separates us from God, and is deserving of God’s wrath. All sin crucified Jesus, and He freely offers His grace because no sin is beyond the reach of God’s grace. But it’s a myth that every sin is exactly the same to God.

While I doubt anyone this side of Heaven will ever manage to fully “explain” how God’s sovereignty and human choice fully fit together, I believe Scripture provides us with many examples of how the two work symbiotically.