Parchment & Pen Blog

I learned something really important on day two of the Greer-Heard Forum: fried fish and dark beer taste even better when you’re sitting around a bunch of theologues. Thoughts of blood barely trickling through my arteries were squeezed out by images of Martin Luther engaged in his famous "table talk" enjoying a catch from Katie’s [...]

HT: Vassel of the King

Chuck talks about self-control at the Dallas Seminary chapel. I found this helpful considering my series on Christian attitudes. Listen to the end. This has a particular relevance to those in ministry.

It’s been a couple of weeks since you all heard from me, largely because I was preparing for the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum, which took place the first weekend of April at New Orleans Baptist Seminary. The topic for the fourth annual Forum was the reliability of the NT manuscripts. The topic was not specified more [...]

In the last blog in this series, I talked about how to engage in theological conversation or controversy, especially on the internet. In this blog post I want to take this one step further in talking about our attitude. In my opinion, one cannot underestimate the importance of having the right attitude. Chuck Swindoll says that life is about one-percent [...]

The Greer-Heard Forum is an outstanding stage for dialogue between evangelical and non-evangelical scholars with opposing views on controversial subjects. It got off to an interesting start in 2005, when Dom Crossan and Tom Wright debated the reality of the bodily resurrection of Christ. This year’s event kept the tradition—high-powered speakers and a highly-charged atmosphere—alive. [...]

Life is a precious gift of God. Christians see life as something that must be preserved, enjoyed, and celebrated. Yet Christians—evangelical Christians—are often among those who support the death penalty. How can this be? Isn’t there an inconsistency with the Christian witness of life, grace, and mercy and support of the death penalty? Isn’t there an [...]

Rewards in heaven. I hope to have some, but the idea of rewards in heaven is difficult to fit into my theology. My mother used to say, “As long as I make it, I don’t care if I am riding a tricycle.” Christ taught that there will be rewards in heaven. Each person will receive [...]