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 »

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Mark Hitchcock on why Christians suffer.

 

 Mark Hitchcock - Why Christians Suffer: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (428)

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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?

Tabloid journalism. You know what this is. It is sensationalistic journalism. It is a billion dollar business. It preys on our naivety to believe something unbelievable. It exists because we like to let down our critical guard and indulge our minds by believing that which naturally would be rejected. From alien abductions to pregnant men, the tabloids have it all.

Tabloid theology is the same. It is sensationalistic theology. More than this, it describes the attitude of much of our religious culture today. It is the result of a culture that dichotomizes between the intellect and faith. It is fueled by peoples uncritical methodology. A tabloid theologian is one who constructs his or her theology based upon naivety. In the Bible, this is called a “simpleton.” In Christianity, as long as something tags their message with the name “Jesus,” with a prayer, or a Bible verse, tabloid theologians will believe it. 

Some examples of tabloid theology:

1. The pancake with Jesus’ image proves that Jesus is real.

2. Stories of miraculous healings need to be believed without question. Continue Reading »

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How can Protestants justify their belief in sola fide (salvation by faith alone) when it does not seem to be existent prior to the sixteenth century? How do Catholics explain their belief in the Assumption of Mary when it was not dogmatized until the twentieth century? How do Orthodox justify their under-developed and often unbiblical beliefs concerning the atonement? 

During the recording of Theology Unplugged today, Greg Cromartie (the ”muddying the water guy”) asked me a very difficult question that I have yet to make any definitive decision about. This should not surprise many of you knowing that there are many issues which I have yet to decide upon and many about which I assume that I, out of necessity, must be comfortable concerning my indecision until Christ comes. But the question touched on something that I feel is very important. Therefore, my indecision is an uncomfortable one. The issue has to do with the “doctrine of” the development of doctrine. Continue Reading »

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Well, this is quite a question. Are you orthodox or a heretic? Let me offer you my thoughts and then open this up for some discussion.

The term orthodox can be defined in a few ways:

1. Historic Christian Orthodoxy: This refers to the sine qua non (the “without which not”) of Christian belief. This belief is held, to paraphrase Augustine, “by all Christians, of all time, everywhere.” In other words, it is not limited to time or geographical region. Therefore, it would be found very early in some sort of articulated fashion, though not necessarily in formal document, in the early church. Historic orthodoxy did take a few centuries to articulate in thought and word. It is unthinkable that in the first few centuries Christians would have developed in their understanding beyond a seed form of the basics below. They were too busy trying to stay alive, legitimize themselves to hostile Jews and Romans,  and encourage the local congregations. These basics were handed down in tradition (the regula fide) and Scripture. Continue Reading »

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In a previous post I put this question forward: Would Christ have died had he not been killed? The question is brought about by our pondering upon Christ’s identification with humanity and humanity’s identification with sin and death. Since Christ did not sin, and death is a result of sin, then wouldn’t it be systematic to believe that Christ would have lived forever in his unresurrected body had He not been 1) killed or 2) relinquished His spirit from His body? Continue Reading »

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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 »

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I briefly covered the question “How bad can a Christian’s theology be?” in a previous post. While I admitted that we must be somewhat agnostic to this question, using the illustration of the Corinthian’s apparent polytheism as evidenced in 1 Cor. 8, I concluded that Christian’s can and do have bad theology. Now I want to deal with a different yet similar question. How sinful can a Christian be? Continue Reading »

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Theology Unplugged Broadcast #63

 Question/Answers Segment: The unnecessary assumption of the Bible’s uniqueness in comparison to other ancient sources; Emerging dialogue: does it get anything accomplished?

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One prominent objection that people often raise about the Christian faith concerns the radical idea of grace. Grace, according to the Scriptures, is a gift that is not earned, deserved, or to be paid back. When God offers salvation He is offering His undeserved gift of forgiveness and mercy. Any and all sins committed are forgiven and will never be brought to the mind of God (Ps. 103:12; Jer. 31:34; Mic. 7:18). The judgment that we deserved is not simply swept under the rug, but is mysteriously atoned for by a transaction that took place in time and space as Christ hung on the cross. The radical idea of grace is that all our sins, the bad, the ugly, and the shameful, are forgiven without any judgment, present or future, for those who have trusted in Christ. Continue Reading »

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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 »