Posts from March 2023

The gun shots are still echoing from the halls of Covenant School in Nashville. Innocent lives have been stolen and all those connected to them are turned upside down. Mothers and fathers will never hug those children again. Teachers will never impart another lesson to them. Our nation rightly mourns in sackcloth and ashes as we collectively embrace a heartbroken community. Instinctively, we wonder what can we do? Or more precisely, how can we stop mass shootings in our communities…

Often, we hear critics claims the bible is unreliable of the Bible. They point to contradictions and textual variations between manuscripts. Such disparaging the word of God is anathema. However, honesty demands Christians be aware the claims, and be ready to give answer. We don’t have to be textual critics, but we cannot be ignorant. In this article, I want to look at the textual variant claim and examine an example. What is a textual variant? There are thousands of…

From the 4th century BC, Athens had been the cultural center of the western world. Many classical philosophers started schools in Athens, including Zeno, the father of Stoicism. Born in 342 BC, Zeno arrived in Athens about 313, and taught in the Stoá Poikílē or painted porch of Athens (Stoic is derived from stoa, Greek for porch). By 294, Zeno had established the school of the Stoics. In the 2nd century BC, stoicism was carried to Rome by Panætius of…

Philosophy is the love of wisdom. As Christians, we sometimes view philosophy as a tool of the devil. In fact, Paul urged, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Col 2:8). However, such a simplistic dismissal of philosophy is foolish. Understanding the basics of philosophy helps us better understand the Bible and the culture out of…

In most modern cultures, the idea of “gospel” has become broad, fuzzy, and vague. As Christians set out to evangelize, they will quickly run into the confusion surround this concept. How can the idea of the gospel be refined to present a clearer understanding of its theological impact. The confusion derives from its use more than its definition. Gospel (euangelion) was used in classical Greek to refer to good news or the reward to the bearer of good news. For…