The Watchmaker Parable Revisited
Imagine you are enjoying an afternoon picnic in a high mountain meadow. Lush grasses stretch out from under your feet. Wildflowers add brilliant splashes of color to the scene. The distant mountain peaks still hold some snow. Most of last winter’s snowfall is still working its way out of the mountain springs and lakes into […]
Formation of the Old Testament Canon
How did we get our Old Testament? Who decided which books made the cut (and became “canon”)? Why are there differences between the list of books in Catholic and Protestant Bibles? Before we get into these questions, however, it is important to differentiate a couple terms: “Scripture” and “Canon.” “Scripture” can refer to any writing […]
The Sign I Missed: Reflections on John Donne
“You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, Lord, You know it all.” (Psalm 139:3-4, NASB) I sat in a grungy Exxon Gas station repair shop estimating the dollars remaining in my bank account. I’d come in for […]
When Standing for Truth Makes People Angry
Jesus totally alienated the religious leaders of His day during the final week of His life. He knew in advance that His bold actions and assertions would inflame hostility against Him, but He proceeded anyway. When He rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, He was clearly claiming to be the Messiah. When […]
Encountering the Latter-Day Saints: A Knock at the Door
On June 27, 2002, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS, sometimes called “Mormonism”) dedicated the newly rebuilt Temple in Nauvoo, IL. The original Temple had been dedicated in 1846 and abandoned shortly after that when the Latter-day Saints fled Illinois, eventually settling in Utah. One month earlier, I graduated from Bible College […]
Philosophy Questions: God Is in Everything?
Is God in everything? There is a sense in which, as the Catholic philosopher Thomas Aquinas put it, “God operates in all things. . . . Therefore God exists in all things.” To make this point, Aquinas quotes Isaiah 26:12b, which says, “All that we have accomplished you have done for us” (NIV). So far, […]
6 Types of Atheists
Recently, I listened to the first several episodes of a fantastic new podcast by Justin Brierley called The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God. I strongly recommend the podcast. In the podcast (which is inspired by a book with the same title), Brierley discusses the state of Anglo-American atheism today. The big takeaway is that […]
Church History Debates: What Books Make It in the Canon?
The New Testament wasn’t delivered to the church in a leather-bound booklet. When it came time for the early churches to determine which books made the “canon,” there were multiple pieces of literature in circulation. Which ones belonged in Scripture? Background and Summary As Christianity spread, it became necessary to identify what books comprised its […]
