Parchment & Pen Blog

One theologian has said that there are two extremes when it comes to studying eschatology (the doctrine of the end times): Eschatomania and Eschatophobia. Eschatomaniacs talk about nothing else but the end times. With charts in hand they are ready to give the “Gospel of the end times” to whoever will listen. Their “Gospel,” however, is primarily [...]

UPDATE: Actually, this is due tomorrow. I was off one day. I want to thank all those who have been coming to our side at Reclaiming the Mind Ministries by responding to the blog post posted yesterday (copied below). Thus far, we have raised $3000 of the $21,000. You all are wonderful. Please be in [...]

Added to the “and other stupid statements series.” During my ordination, one of the questions that I was asked by a seminary professor was “Are all sins equal in the sight of God?” I hesitated. Not because I did not have a strong opinion on this, but because I was not sure what the answer [...]

Just because the Bible says something, this does not make it true. We follow the Bible in what it teaches, but not everything it records is intended to be teaching in the proper sense. Our goal as Christians is to be good interpreters of the Bible, being able to discern when something is being taught [...]

 (I thought I’d include something of a different nature on my blog—a sermon I preached on Christian slavery.) Galatians 5:13: “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” A lot of you may be familiar with the Andy [...]

The other day I was joking around on Facebook, noting that the problem with hermeneutical gymnastics is the unstable landings.  Jugulum, a frequent poster here, commented about judges holding up score cards during sermons.  Very tongue-in-cheek!  But it did get me thinking: What if delivering Christian truth were like an Olympics competition, where the presentation [...]

Being in the industry I am in, I get asked a lot of theological questions. Why does God allow bad things to happen? How do we know what books belong in the Bible? What is the difference between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholicism? What is the best version of the Bible? But over the last [...]

I received an email last night asking me a very good question. The sender is a Calvinist who is interested in a girl who is an Arminian. He asks, “Would it be wrong for me to date her and perhaps someday marry her, even though she is most likely an Arminian and I am a [...]

Many of you have heard of the “Evangelical Manifesto.” But a whole lot of you have not. The latter are the point of this blog post. I am writing this post to discuss why the Manifesto, in my opinion, did not “work.” I love the idea of the Manifesto. In fact, it represents so much [...]

One person has rightly said that all people are theologians, you just have to decide what type of theologian you are going to be. Are you going to be a good theologian or a sloppy theologian? The hardest thing about theology is not the big words, historical studies, philosophical arguments, or the exegetical rigor one [...]

The new Theology Unplugged is up. Here is a link to the Christians in Context trading cards I talked about. Take a look. As well, the book I mentioned: Did the Resurrection Happen? Visit your favorite podcatcher or iTunes or listen here: RSS iTunes Get TUP on the new theological toolbar (along with a lot [...]

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