Parchment & Pen Blog

Considering how the issues of prophecy continue to be one of the most popular and interest gaining subjects in theology (not to mention this being the year 2012!), I thought it well worth my time to write a short primer on how to look at eschatological schemes. Eschatology refers to the “doctrine of the end [...]

This is the fifth (and long overdue) installment in my series responding to Dan Peterson’s recent article, “Joseph Smith’s restoration of ‘theosis’ was miracle, not scandal.” As explained in the first part of this series, Peterson quotes from the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, an unnamed Jewish source, and a few church fathers to [...]

One of the most irritating things in the world is to be ignored. My kids are in the “ignoring phase” of their lives. They have discovered its power of irritation. However, Kylee is the one who stands out the most. When she is in a bad mood or has her attention set on something else, she [...]

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 by 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 [...]

Credo Clips: Theology in Three Minutes

I have never seen Heaven. I can’t tell you from experience what it is like. The best I can do is tell you what limited information the Bible has. Well, limited in the details I mean. That is why I, like so many other people, are very intrigued by stories of people who have claimed [...]

The following is the latest post in my “Questions I Hope No One Will Ask” series. Check out all the posts in this series here. Thus far in human history, outside of Jesus Christ (and possibly Elijah and Enoch), one out of every one people die. We are all painfully aware of this fact and [...]

Roger Olson is my favorite Evangelical Arminians. He has a unique ability to be an anchor of doctrinal stability and a provocative juggernaut of theological inquiry that causes us to scratch our heads and, many times, reshape our paradigms. I have used his The Mosaic of Christian Belief in The Theology Program for over six [...]

Years ago I worked out my view of the whole Dispensationalism/Covanentalism thing. Well, “worked out” is not the best way to put it. I put down a position flag that was somewhat tentative and have not revisited it in some time. If you are not familiar with this issue, let me attempt to help. There [...]

My tenth installment into the “. . . And Other Stupid Statements” Series. Premise: We often make heaven such an esoteric place that no one really wants to go there. Since I was young, I was excited about getting to heaven. We all were. I remember when my mother told my older sister, Kristie (yes, my [...]

Continuing with my series — “. . . And Other Stupid Statements” — I would like to register a complaint. In truth, I would like to register many complaints about the common Christian view of the afterlife, but I start here. This complaint is important because it not only represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the [...]

Here is something that you may yet to have heard of. It is the supposed worlds in in 2012 predicted by the Mayan calendar. There is a 200 million dollar moving coming out at Christmas about this. It is something about which pastors and, indeed, all Christians need to be aware. Mark was invited to [...]