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 was that he was looking for. Are all sins equal in the sight of God? My ordination may have depended on the answer.

Although I posted on this before, it would seem that many remain unconvinced about this issue. Therefore, I thought that I advance my “thesis” a bit further with some more evidence.

It is very common within popular evangelicalism to answer this question in the affirmative. This was one of the main assumptions in a book that I just recommended last week. Most find this theological concept very appealing and accept it, I am afraid to say, without doing much homework.

I think this tendency to assume that all sins are equal in the sight of God comes by means of three influences. Continue Reading »

Our ministry is a partner based ministry. This means that the majority of our support comes from people like you. Please consider supporting Reclaiming the Mind Ministries as we make theology accessible. Donate today.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Sitting out on the back porch this evening with my mother, we watched a popular Baptist radio and television preacher teach on compromise. His lesson was a good lesson in principle. The basic thrust was taken from the story of Solomon. Solomon was given a promise that if he followed the Lord as his father David he would not lack a descendant on the throne of Israel. Yet Solomon compromised by disobeying God’s command and took many wives.

The preacher used this story wisely to explain the danger of compromise. Like any preacher, he had examples that would take the eternal principle of compromise and contextualize it for our day so that we might see the immediate danger that we face (since most of us don’t have the temptation to take too many wives!). Yet, the examples he gave evidenced the misplaced priorities of many in the church to misdirect the application of the principles to acts that in-and-of-themselves did not represent compromise. Continue Reading »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Hi Michael,

I’ve got a very devote Eastern Orthodox friend (he left evangelicalism and converted a few years ago…he is 24…) he goes on and on about all these fantastic miracles…about saints whose bodies do not decay and even omit “fragrance”…um…something about fire that won’t burn a bishops beard or something…I don’t know…sounds legendary…

What should we make of them? Deny them?

____________________________________

Dear Pastor,

I don’t know. It sounds like folk theology to me as well. As I said in a previous blog, this type of mindset is common no matter where you are. In other words, it is not an East or West thing, but a characteristic of the human conditions. People flock to where the “miracles” “signs” are. While I understand this mentality (since miracles and signs can and often do evidence the presence of God), it is hard to determine what the meaning of such miracles are. Continue Reading »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I am perfectly aware that apologetics as an intellectual enterprise does not produce faith. I am neither Pelagian nor Semi-Pelagian. I recognize the limitations of the human mind and, more importantly, the human will to understand and accept God outside of the sovereign movements of the Holy Spirit.

Having said this, I am a firm believer in the necessity of apologetics as an intellectual defense of the faith. I agree with Os Guinness who says that we don’t have any right to the culture if we cannot intellectually defend our faith. I believe that God often uses apologetics as a means to bring someone to the faith just as he uses the words of men to proclaim the Gospel. God does not really need either, but He uses both. I think it was Aquinas who said, “God has not only chosen the ends, but also the means of salvation.” Therefore, you and I are to be clear when we present the Gospel and intellectually compelling when we defend it. Apologetic sloppiness and intellectual laziness is not an option for the Christian. Continue Reading »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

 
You may be familiar with a book called 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life written by Don Piper (not to be confused with John Piper) and Cecil Murphey. It has been on the New York Times and Amazon best seller list since its release in 2004. In the book, Don Piper describes his experience of being in a car wreck where he was pronounced dead by the paramedics. During his death Piper describes the details of his “90 minutes in heaven.”

It is not my intention here to evaluate the validity of near-death experiences in general, but to ask some questions concerning this on in particular. This is not an easy thing for me to do as I believe Don Piper probably sincerely trusts the Lord and truly believes that his experience that evening was a miracle where the God showed him a glimpse of heaven.   Continue Reading »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

To REFLECT: “To think, ponder, or meditate; to think seriously.”

You are either 100% correct in doctrine or you are not correct at all. (I believed this for a long time. A pastor I loved and admired once told me this. But if this is the case, we are all up creek skubalon –pardon my French . . . I mean Greek) 

If you smoke, you must not be a good Christian. (Really? Is it the addiction or health problems that cause us to say this? If it is the addiction, are we ready to give up coffee? If it is the health, are we ready to exercise daily and stop eating fast food? Otherwise, I think we need to calm down.)  Continue Reading »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

What does it mean to use the Lord’s name in vain? This is a question that might seem self-evident to most people in western society. Whether you are religious or not, you would not even hesitate with your answer, “It means to say G-D.” I am sure that there are more people that can answer this than there are who can list the ten commandments, name the Gospels, or tell you the difference between the New Testament and the Old Testament. With all the talk about cursing pastors and the evolution of swearing going on in the blogsphere, I thought that I would try to contribute once more to this discussion by asking the question “What does it really mean to take the Lord’s name in vain?”

Continue Reading »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I found this on an atheistic website and thought that it was interesting. It is the top ten signs you are a fundamentalist Christian. (I think atheists believe that all Christians who believe the Bible are “fundamentalists.”) These kind of posts encourage and discourage me in an odd sort of way. They encourage me because they always display the lack of good honest arguments that atheists have available. They discourage me because this is the perception of Christianity, not only from hard atheists, but from most outside the church. I pray that Christians can put forth a better intellectual front so that comments such as these will become less frequent. Continue Reading »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I have heard this since I was a very young Christian. It seemed somewhat reasonable as it was explained to me by pastors in sermons and Christians as they explained the seriousness of sin. The claim goes something like this: All sin is so bad that even the smallest of sins deserves eternal punishment in hell. It does not matter if it is losing your temper at a lousy referee, not sharing your Icee, or speeding 36 in a 35, every sin deserves eternal torment in Hell. Why? Although it may seem unreasonable to us (as depraved as we are), it is fitting for a perfectly holy God who cannot be in the site of sin, no matter how insignificant this sin might seem to us. In fact, there is no sin that is insignificant to God. Because He is infinitely holy, beyond our understanding, all sin is infinitely offensive to Him. Therefore the punishment for all sin must be infinite. Continue Reading »