The Great Debate: Does God Exist? Bahnsen vs. Stein
In 1985 at the University of California in Irvine, Dr. Greg Bahnsen, a Christian theist, debated Dr Gordon Stein, an atheist, on the question of whether God exists. “The Great Debate,” as it was titled, provides a good example of presuppositional apologetics and the use of the transcendental argument for the existence of God or “the impossibility of the contrary.” Namely, one must assume the existence of the God of Scripture in order to make sense of reality (metaphysics), to justify truth claims (epistemology), or to have any cogent basis for morality (ethics). The YouTube video below provides the audio and text of the debate which lasts just under two hours. Enjoy! Read more
God Is Enough: A Theology of the Book of Job
The book of Job has rightly earned a place among the great works of classical literature. For over two millennia its dramatic language, powerful metaphors, elegant poetry, lofty ethics, and profound ideas have intrigued philosophers, theologians, and laymen alike. Yet the Book of Job is more than a great piece of human literature. As part of the canon of Scripture, the book constitutes divine revelation. Read more
Ancient Near Eastern Religion and the Old Testament
The discovery and publication of ancient Near Eastern literature has shed much light upon the religious beliefs and practices of earliest civilization. It has also generated much discussion about the relationship of Mesopotamian and Egyptian religion to that of the Old Testament. Indeed, many scholars view the similarities in cosmogonies, flood accounts, cultic ritual, legal texts, wisdom literature, and belief in the afterlife as proof that the Old Testament writers borrowed from or adapted the literary corpus of Israel’s Near Eastern neighbors. As a result, Old Testament religion is treated as essentially one more primitive religion among many, Read more 
Good But Not (Yet) Tame: A Theodicy for Animal Death Before the Fall
All Bible scholars agree that plant life was subject to “death” before the Fall since it was to serve as food for man and beast (Gen 1:29-30). Moreover, most conservative scholars trace the origin of human death to God’s judicial curse upon the human race as a result of the Fall (Gen 3:17-19). However, the Bible nowhere explicitly links the origin of all animal death to Adam’s sin. This leaves open the possibility that some of the creatures alluded to in Genesis 1 were carnivorous. If so, we should view the phenomenon of animal predation as creational rather than as curse. Yet, a challenge remains. How can we reconcile a world “red in tooth and claw” with a created world that God assessed as “very good” (Gen 1:31)? Read more
The Bible and Homosexuality
On August 26, 2012, my Senior Pastor, Bob Selph, preached to our congregation a message entitled “The Bible and Homosexuality.” The topic was especially relevant. President Obama had publicly affirmed his support for same-sex marriage in May. Not long after that, Dan Cathy, the president of the popular fast-food restaurant “Chick-fil-A” and a Bible-believing Christian, expressed his support for traditional marriage. Read more
The Baptist Confession on the Gospel
This chapter on “the gospel” is not found in the Westminster Confession. The Congregationalists added this chapter to the Savoy Declaration, and the Baptists incorporated it into their Confession. The Congregationalists call attention to this addition in their preface to the Savoy Declaration: Read more
Don’t Be Hasty: Dealing with Apparent Discrepancies in the Old Testament
Certain accounts in the Old Testament provide data that seem to contradict data found in other parts of the Scriptures. Bible critics frequently cite these apparent discrepancies in their argument against viewing the Old Testament as God’s inspired and inerrant word. Some evangelical Bible scholars affirm that discrepancies really exist but argue that their presence need not undermine our faith in the Bible as God’s word. Others, however, insist that such discrepancies are not real but only apparent. Read more
Molehills, Not Mountains: Resolving Some Tensions in the Old Testament
Certain statements, principles, and teachings in the Old Testament seem, at first glance, to contradict other data within the same Scriptures. How should we view such “tensions”? Peter Enns, a contemporary Bible scholar, believes these tensions are real and irreconcilable. They serve as evidence, argues Enns, of the human side or “messiness” of the Old Testament. But, as Gregory Beale notes, Enns’ approach makes “diverse molehills into irreconcilable hermeneutical mountains.” Read more
A Time to Be Silent: When and How to Stop Sharing the Gospel
One of the marks of a Christian is a desire to share the good news of the life-transforming gospel with others. In the words of the apostles, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). But what if a friend, fellow worker, schoolmate, or family member asks us to desist? Does there come a time when we should refrain from speaking to a person about Jesus and Christianity? Read more
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Fact or Fiction? Part 2
The New Testament presents the resurrection of Christ as historical fact. In the previous post, we examined two lines of evidence to support its historicity, and we sought to rebut common objections to Christ’s resurrection. Even so there are so-called Christian theologians who tell us that the literal, historical raising of Christ’s body from the dead is not essential to Christianity. According to these men, we can still have the Christian faith without the historical phenomenon of the resurrection! Listen to one of their prophets: Read more
