As a little boy, I was blessed to grow up in the small country of Austria, the land of “Silent Night, Holy Night” and of The Sound of Music. Christmas was truly a special time of the year, and many Christmases were in fact white. My sister and I would leave our wish list for… Read More
Community and Mission
As we read at the beginning of the book of Acts, the early church was devoted to fellowship, koinōnia (sharing things in common; koinon = common): “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. … And all who believed were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:42). The… Read More
The Gospel: What’s Our Message?
The Bible tells a beautiful, compelling story from creation and the fall to redemption and new creation. But as beautiful and compelling Scripture’s story is, a story doesn’t save you – Christ’s death on the cross does. The gospel is a message grounded in history. It’s not just a fable or a fantasy. It’s historically… Read More
What Do Roman Catholics Believe?
There’s often a difference between official Roman Catholic Church dogma and what regular Catholics believe. This is why it’s impossible to read Roman Catholic statements of faith and on that basis alone conclude what most Catholics actually believe and practice. Nevertheless, it’s a good start to look at some of the major Roman Catholic teachings…. Read More
Contradictions in the Bible
My years as a Ph.D. student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School were certainly a very mind-stretching experience. I took classes with D. A. Carson on the use of the OT in the NT, with Doug Moo on the Second Temple period and on the Septuagint, with Grant Osborne on apocalyptic literature, and many more. In… Read More