Parchment & Pen Blog

I am conflicted. It was Muslim terrorists who flew commercial planes into the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon, killing 3000 people. It was Muslim terrorists who did another coordinated attack in eight different locations in Mumbai, India in 2008, killing 173 people and injuring at least 327. It was Muslim terrorists who [...]

I am teaching on this at the Credo House in just a bit. Here are my notes. I have this in PowerPoint as well if anyone is interested (forgive the typos as usual). Email Question I received Oct 26th 10:14pm “If God’s truth does not change, why is Jesus (presumably God in the flesh) so [...]

Left unchecked, experience is the most powerful source of belief in our lives. As the old saying goes, “You can’t argue with someone’s personal experience.” This is true in a limited yet real sense. Once someone has a personal experience, it becomes personal and it is very hard to take it away or argue against [...]

I know of only one person who I believed was being used by God significantly who had not been though some sort of faith crisis that caused them to doubt their beliefs at their deepest level . . . I am getting ahead of myself. As many of you are aware, I deal with many [...]

Absurd n. utterly or obviously senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense. Bizarre n. markedly unusual in appearance, style, or general character and often involving incongruous or unexpected elements; outrageously or whimsically strange; odd. The human mind can entertain bizarre things. I remember when I was young, I had this nagging and, [...]

I see myself as an evangelical (lower case) Christian (uppercase) apologist. I think every Christian is an apologist to some degree. No, not a “professional apologist” like Rob Bowman, William Lane Craig, or Mike Licona, but we all have formulated some degree of warrant or justification for our faith. Just like everyone is a theologian, every [...]

(Paul Copan) The former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca once said: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”  This simple advice has wide-ranging application—whether we’re settling personal disagreements, planning our schedules, or trying to build bridges with non-Christians. One area of bridge-building has to do with the creation-evolution “debate.”  In my [...]

Mr. Patton, I have been a believer for quite sometime – since I was eight. It’s a miracle, however, that I believe at all. I grew up in a Oneness Pentecostal home that was very legalistic and rigid. Since then I have changed a great deal in regard to my beliefs. I very much believe [...]