Parchment & Pen Blog

Michael, Thanks for your careful approach to this question. I appreciate your desire to properly honor our common heroes of the faith throughout these past 2,000 years of church history. But I have to say that I remain utterly unmoved and altogether unconvinced by your appeal to this argument from the life of the church [...]

The question to which we now turn is this: “If the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:7-10 are valid for Christians beyond the death of the apostles, why were they absent from church history until their alleged reappearance in the twentieth century?” My answer follows. 1)         They were most decidedly not absent. They were at [...]

Sam, There is so much in your arguments that I agree with. In fact, I think I would be safe saying that I believe, when taken by themselves, the biblical arguments for the continuation of the gifts in question are slightly stronger than the arguments for their cessation. Now, don’t take that too far; as I [...]

Michael, thanks for your post on why you believe the gifts have ceased. Once again, I think that much of what I would otherwise say in response can be found in my post defending continuationism. So, I hope it won’t annoy you or our readers if I simply refer everyone to something found there. I’ll [...]

It is my job to make a biblical argument for cessationism. Though I have not necessarily identified myself as a cessationist, I think the label fits in most cases. However, I am not very comfortable saying something like “the Bible teaches cessationism.” I don’t think it does; however, just because the Bible does not teach something [...]

 In order to bring this massive subject down to manageable proportions, I’m going to articulate what I believe are ten bad reasons for being a cessationist, followed by ten good reasons for being a continuationist. Ten Bad Reasons for being a Cessationist (1) The first bad reason for being a cessationist is an appeal to [...]

Sam, There is a running joke in my family (especially between my sister, Lindsey, and myself) that I don’t know the words to songs I sing. Unfortunately, this is often the case. I have in my memory, ready to be called upon at any moment, hundreds of butchered songs that I love to sing. Now, [...]

Michael, After reading your article it seems to me that most of what I would say in response is already found in my earlier treatment of the gift. I don’t want to be unnecessarily repetitive here, so I would first ask our readers to go back and read yet again my initial treatment of the [...]

I think that the gift of tongues is the gift that I am most distanced from. I don’t only mean this from a personal standpoint (as I have never spoken in tongues), but also from a biblical standpoint. My research into this issue often leaves me with less certainty. This time around is not much different. [...]

Sam, It would seem that you and I are getting closer and closer. With each issue, I am sometimes left scratching my head wondering how different we really are. From a certain perspective we seem to be but a “hair’s breadth” apart. I would imagine that many of those who are engaged in this conversation [...]

The following is part of a discussion (not debate) between two friends, Sam Storms and C. Michael Patton, about the charismatic gifts of the Spirit. Sam is a Charismatic. Michael is not. If you have come in late, you can access the entire series here. Michael, each time I begin the “Response” part of our [...]

The following is part of a discussion (not debate) between two friends, Sam Storms and C. Michael Patton, about the charismatic gifts of the Spirit. Sam is a Charismatic. Michael is not. If you have come in late, you can access the entire series here. The other day, I was at the Credo House in [...]