Liberals too often see everything as third order issues while Fundamentalists tend to all matters as first order issues. Evangelicals commit themselves to the difficult task of doing theological triage–sorting out the hierarchy of doctrinal matters.
In this brief video I ask the question, “What was Moses doing when he penned the creation account in Genesis 1-2?” In day-to-day communications we typically recognize the difference between what a person says and what they mean, and intuitively interpret them accordingly. However, we often don’t notice a third component: what a person is doing with his or her words. Using…
Recently I was on Reason to Believe’s program, “28:19.” Krista Bontrager, the show’s cohost, asked about the best way to bring up old-earth interpretations to a young-earth church staff. When it comes to bringing up controversial issues to one’s pastor or youth pastor, how one approaches the subject is just as important as what one has to say. My advice:…
Ever heard of the Warfare Metaphor? It’s the claim that Christianity and science have been and always will be in a state of inevitable and irreconcilable conflict. History tells a different story. Here’s a clip of a conversation in 2015 that Jamie Dew and I had on the subject.
Here’s a third clip from the interviews I gave last summer in Turkey. I was asked about Old-earth creationism’s understanding of divine action in nature. By and large, Old-earth creationism accepts the consensus findings of the scientific community concerning the age of the universe (about 13.8 billion years old), the age of the earth (about 4.6 billions years old), and…
Imagine that you were called to minister to Nazi war criminals. That’s exactly what happened to Henry Gerecke, a Lutheran minister enlisted (at the age of fifty!) as an Army chaplain during World War II. At the war’s end, when other soldiers were coming home, Gerecke was called to the most difficult ministry assignment imaginable: to serve as chaplain to…
Here’s another video clip from my trip to Istanbul last summer. I’m being interviewed by an Islamic television crew. They were wonderful hosts. The question asked was: “There are a couple of versions for the explanation of the creation of the earth in Christian theology. As far as we know, you support the “old-earth creation” version. Can you please state…
Last Summer I was invited to Istanbul by A9 TV to speak about the Christian understanding of creation and evolution. Though A9 an Islamic organization, they encouraged me to present my views as an evangelical Christian. We made a number of brief video clips where I answered their theological questions. Here’s an example: “Question: We are aware that evangelicals like yourself…
This morning, you and I awoke to the same heartbreaking news: The worst mass shooting in modern US history. At the time of this writing, news reports indicate that Stephen Paddock, acting alone, shot and killed more than 50 people in Las Vegas, wounding some 200 others. Paddock then killed himself as the SWAT teams were arriving to arrest him. Killing…
In his Knowing God, J. I. Packer begins with a quote from the great Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon: “It has been said by someone that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’ I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian…