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This week, we’re talking about what it means to love our enemies. This is something Jesus commanded in the Sermon on the Mount, and it is radically different from the attitude that is common in the world. But what does it mean to love our enemies? What does it look like in our modern society? We’re going to discuss that today.Continue Reading
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This week, we’re talking about the terrorist attacks from September 11, 2001. Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of that horrific event. A lot has changed since then. At the same time, many things are still the same, especially in terms of what the Bible teaches about the condition of the world and our responsibilities before God. So in this episode, I want to discuss some thoughts as we approach the 25th anniversary of this tragedy.Continue Reading
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This is the last episode for the month of February – time for our monthly news roundup. In this episode, we’ll be talking about the group who are most likely to still be missing from the local church, the number of babies born to unmarried mothers, and global persecution in 2021.Continue Reading
Islam is sometimes referred to as the “religion of peace,” even though violent attacks are regularly carried out by Muslims in the name of Islam. The reality is that the history of Islam is a history of violence in order to advance the religion. What we see happening across the globe in our generation is nothing new. A century ago in his book Plain Sermons, Daniel Sommer contrasted the religion of Christ and the religion of Mohammed (Mohamet). Even then, the violence inherent in Islam was evident.
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The adherents of Islam and their sympathizers spend a lot of effort trying to paint Islam as a “religion of peace.” The well-documented history of terrorist attacks carried out in the name of Allah make it difficult to defend this position. An examination of the Quran does not help either, as it calls for Muslims to “fight and slay the infidel wherever you find them” (Quran 9:5).
The latest black mark against this “religion of peace” comes in the response to Terry Jones burning a copy of the Quran. This man is a relative nobody in a tiny church in Florida. His actions in burning a copy of the Quran are so insignificant that it is an embarrassment that the media actually reported on it. Yet they did and word has spread far and wide about this event. Since then, Muslims on the other side of the globe in Afghanistan have responded by rioting and murdering dozens of people who are connected to Terry Jones only in that they are non-Muslims (infidels).
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A small church in Gainesville, Florida has caused no small disturbance with their plan to host a Quran burning this Saturday to mark the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Terry Jones, the leader of this church, has been urged by Muslims, religious leaders, and government officials to cancel the event for fear of violence that could erupt. The latest news, at the time of this writing, is that the event has been cancelled, but that Jones could still change his mind. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, happens.
But what about this? Is this something a church ought to be doing? Jones and his church are well within their legal and Constitutional rights to burn copies of the Quran (assuming they are their own personal copies and not stolen). But that’s not what we’re going to discuss here. Instead, we want to consider whether or not a Christian should burn copies of the Quran as this church had planned to do.
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Tim Haile of the Parkway church of Christ has done extensive study on Islam and the teachings of the Quran, particularly in regards to carnal warfare in the name of Islam. He has recently recorded two audio lessons about the development of teachings about fighting in the Muslim holy book.
In the lessons, he explains how a consideration of the Quran’s chapters in chronological order, rather than the order in which they have been arranged, shows how Mohammed’s teachings progressed. The progression occurred in four stages: advocating peace, allowing defensive fighting, requiring defensive fighting, and finally, requiring offensive fighting.
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What does “propitiation” mean? How is “justification” connected to salvation? What does “sanctification” look like in our day-to-day lives? The Bible uses some powerful words to describe God’s plan to save mankind. However, these words are not always easy to understand, especially when they are not part of our everyday vocabulary. This book explores key Bible terms that unlock the message of the gospel.
Big Words in the Bible examines five important words – Propitiation, Reconciliation, Sanctification, Justification, and Resurrection – using plain language to see how the Scriptures describe these concepts and how the apostle Paul employs them in his letter to the Romans. This book also contains an appendix with eleven additional articles to explore these topics further.
Whether you are new to the Bible and want to grow in your understanding or want a simple way to explain these core gospel doctrines to others, this book will be helpful. With a focus on the Scriptures, Big Words in the Bible helps break down these fundamental topics to shed light on the life-changing message of the gospel and the salvation found in it.
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