Parchment & Pen Blog

I remember back in seminary, there was a small yet militant movement of students who were evangelists of the anti-birth control movement. They were not against it because the believed it was an attempt to control God’s plan, but because they believed that all birth control, save “fertility awareness” and condoms, caused abortions. This put [...]

On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, an earthquake that measured 7.0 on the Richter scale did unspeakable damage to Haiti, leaving at least one and a half million people homeless and tens of thousands dead. The total numbers at this writing are unknown. On Wednesday, January 13, Pat Robertson declared that this devastating earthquake was God’s [...]

Added to the “. . . And Other Stupid Statements” series The other day I was listening to a radio program. The speaker is someone who is very popular in Evangelical apologetics. He is someone that I have learned a lot from and whom I respect a great deal. However, he propagated something that I [...]

One of my students graduated recently from Palm Beach Atlantic University, and he is heading into seminary and then the pastorate. He took a full platter of classes from me, and we had excellent discussions in and outside the classroom. As a graduation gift, his girlfriend asked another professor and me to write him a [...]

The more I study and discuss theology, the more I realize that passionate discussions concerning diversities of positions can quickly grow into the necessity of proving the point regardless of the discussion’s redemptive value.   When disagreements abound, I am increasingly asking the question of how significant it is and is it worth proving the point.  [...]

Brett Favre  does the best commercials. I love them. I especially like the one that came out just after the new NFL season began. Brett Favre was trying to decide on a television to purchase. Right when he finally makes up his mind and expresses it with certainty saying, “I’ll take this one”, he changes it [...]

I have often heard it said that the problem of evil (why does God allow so many bad things) is the biggest problem of our generation. Watching the news lately, I have been overwhelmed by the burdens of bad news that I had to take on within just a few moments. There was a shooting and [...]

I am excited to announce that we are now taking orders for P66/Bodmer II facsimile. This is the earliest manuscript of John 1 that we know of. It is a great piece to have with so much essential theology. The first line reads, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God [...]