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Tristany

In Blog, Book Reviews, Systematic Theology on
March 27, 2023

Every Woman a Theologian

If you’re reading this blog, I hope it’s because you love theology as much as I do. I am a self-proclaimed theology nerd, spending many of my days looking for new books about theological topics I’m interested in and spending many of my nights writing about theology for you all to read. I attended Bible school for several years studying theology day in and day out, and I continue to read my Bible and learn more about God on a near-daily basis. Like I said, I love theology.

But maybe you don’t quite have the affection for it as I do. Perhaps, you tend to view theology with apathy, disdain, or confusion. You don’t like it, you don’t care about it, or you just can’t seem to understand it. Maybe you don’t see why studying theology would in any way be helpful or necessary in your everyday life—as a stretched-thin student, as an underappreciated stay at home mom, as an overworked employee.

As theologian R.C. Sproul once argued in a book of the same name, everyone is a theologian, and that includes all of us—sisters and daughters, wives and mothers, employed and unemployed. No matter our circumstances, theology is essential for our lives, which means we must ensure that our theology matches with what the Bible teaches. And this is exactly what Phylicia Masonheimer writes in her newest book, Every Woman a Theologian.

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In Blog, Common Questions, Theology on
March 13, 2023

Does God Choose Who Will Be Saved?

The topic of predestination has been a controversial subject in Christian circles for many years. Some Christians believe that God chose everyone who would be saved before He even created the world. Others, however, believe that human beings have free will and the ability to choose to come to Christ. While the former may have been the prominent view of the American church at one time, it appears the latter has risen in popularity. According to Ligonier Ministries’ 2022 State of Theology survey, forty-five percent of Evangelicals do not believe “God chose the people he would save before he created the world,” and seventeen percent were unsure if they agreed or disagreed with the statement.[1]

But like I’ve often said before on this blog—we must determine our beliefs from Scripture, not from the culture or our own personal feelings. After all, the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. It is God’s revelation of Himself and His will to mankind, and it is a far more reliable source of truth than our culture or our feelings.

So, what exactly does the Bible say about predestination? Does God choose who will be saved?

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In Bible Study, Blog, John on
February 28, 2023

The Light of the World

I do not have a green thumb.

My mom is a gardener, and she loves spending hours outside planting seeds, watering plants, pruning back leaves, and harvesting vegetables for the family to eat. The entire backyard is filled with fruit trees and wood planter boxes, and we’ve enjoyed many servings of green beans, corn, and sugar snap peas from the garden.

I, on the other hand, can barely keep a houseplant alive for a few weeks or maybe a few months, if I’m lucky. I can’t tell you how many succulents or snake plants I’ve killed over the last few years. I try to water them and take care of them, but over time they all slowly shrivel up and die. The only plant I’ve managed to keep alive is a small pothos, and he’s been going strong for a little less than a year and half.

One thing I’ve discovered throughout my houseplant woes is that I often don’t give my plants enough sunlight. Most plants need a good amount of light to grow and thrive. And this is also true with other living organisms—animals, insects, human beings. Light is a basic necessity of life on earth, and without it, most life would probably cease to exist.

Believe or not, the sun is not the greatest source of light there is. There is a more powerful and more beneficial source of light in existence. This better Light of the World is the Son.

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In Blog, Common Questions, Theology on
February 14, 2023

Are Humans Good by Nature?

Are most human beings inherently good? Most people would say yes. Of course, there are evil people out there: dictators, terrorists, rapists and serial killers. There is no doubt that these kinds of people are sinners, and very few, if any, would argue that they are “good” in any sense of the word. However, they would likely argue that the majority of humans are good by nature, and while we all have our shares of failures and foibles, most of us do not reach this level of evil in our lifetimes.

According to The State of Theology survey done by Ligonier Ministries in 2022, seventy percent of Americans believe that everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God, and sixty-six percent agree with the statement, “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.” Perhaps these are not surprising numbers when we consider our secular culture and its atrophied sense of what sin is. However, the survey also shows that professing Evangelicals share these beliefs. Sixty-six percent of Evangelicals agree that humans are born innocent in God’s eyes, and fifty-seven percent believe that most humans are good by nature.[1]

Like with everything else, Christians ought to root their beliefs and understandings of the world in the infallible truths of Scripture. What is the Bible’s take on this question? Are humans good by nature? To answer this, we must go back to the beginning.

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In Apologetics, Blog, Book Reviews on
January 31, 2023

Counterfeit Kingdom

Some of my most beloved worship songs from youth group and summer camp were created by Bethel Music, the music label that was birthed out of the music ministry at Bethel Church in Redding, California. Songs like “You Make Me Brave,” “No Longer Slaves,” “King of My Heart,” “Raise a Hallelujah,” and “Goodness of God” became some of my favorite songs to listen and sing along to. Despite not intentionally listening to these songs in many years, much of these lyrics are committed to my memory.

However, as I’ve grown in my faith over the last several years, I’ve learned more about Bethel Church and the doctrines she teaches. The more I’ve learned, the more skeptical I’ve become of their theology and philosophy. And within the last year or two, I’ve come to realize that the kingdom they preach is a counterfeit one.

Bethel Church subscribes to a belief which has been named the New Apostolic Reformation (or NAR for short). As Holly Pivec and R. Douglas Geivett argue in their book Counterfeit Kingdom, NAR is an extremely unbiblical and dangerous movement.

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