In Apologetics, Blog, Book Reviews on
October 4, 2021

Surviving Religion 101

Most college students raised in a Christian home leave the church after going off to college. In a study that was released in 2019, Barna reported that sixty-four percent of 18-29-year-olds who were active in church as a child or teen have withdrawn from church involvement.[1] There are a plethora of reasons for this exodus, but one big one is an inability to answer doubts.

Children and teenagers who grow up in church are often told what to believe, but they’re not always told why they should believe it. Many are never exposed to other belief systems, and they have blindly believed what their parents and Sunday School teachers have taught them (which is not necessarily a bad thing). Some have even been scolded for asking any kinds of questions about their faith.

Then, they go off to college and enroll in a religion or philosophy course, and that’s when things go south. Their entire belief system is challenged by older and seemingly wiser professors, and they have no idea how to rebut the arguments. Instead of searching for the truth, they go with the flow and accept the theories and philosophies of the sacred texts of their universities (aka college textbooks). They leave true, biblical Christianity for a pseudo-Christianity, atheism, or another religion altogether.

This is obviously a big problem, and to help solve this problem, scholar Michael J. Kruger wrote a book called Surviving Religion 101.

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In Attributes of God, Blog, Theology on
September 27, 2021

He is True

Do you believe in absolute truth? Do you believe that something can be true no matter what? If you do, you’re in the minority! According to a 2020 Barna Group research study, 58% of American adults believe that truth depends on the individual, and that even includes people who claim to be born-again Christians.[1] The majority of Americans believe that moral truth is relative. They believe there are no absolute truths, which is ironic because by saying there are no absolute truths, one is admitting that there actually is at least one. We, as Christians, should believe that there are absolute moral truths because we have the Source of absolute truth-

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In Bible Study, Blog, Genesis on
September 20, 2021

Did God Really Say?

As the popularity of progressive Christianity rises, it appears that more and more “believers” are questioning what God has commanded in Scripture. They ask questions like, Did God really say that homosexuality is a sin? Did God really say that only men can be pastors? Did God really say we should pursue modesty and purity? Did God really say there’s only one way to heaven and those who don’t go to heaven will go to hell? And when those who claim to be Christians continue questioning the Word of God, they tend to move further and further away from the faith until they leave Christianity altogether.

While this questioning of Scripture may seem like a fairly new phenomenon, it’s actually a very ancient temptation from the lips of the devil himself. It goes all the way back to the very beginning, to the story of the Fall in Genesis 3.

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In Blog, Common Questions, Theology on
September 13, 2021

What is God’s Will for My Life?

Discerning the will of God is something I think every Christian has attempted to do at one point or another. It’s definitely something I’ve prayed for and longed for and tried to figure out. I’ve often asked that God would reveal His will to me about different decisions or situations, but most of the time I never get a clear, solid answer. Honestly, I sometimes wish I could be like Gideon and put out a fleece to get some answers from God (please, do not do this the next time you need to make a decision).

God’s will can be a tricky thing to understand. We’re told that nothing happens outside of God’s will. But does that mean it’s God will for a family member to be diagnosed with cancer? Is it God’s will for a friend to get in a serious car accident? Is it God’s will for a child to tragically die at a young age? And how are we to understand His will well enough to make decisions that won’t fall outside of it?

All these questions stem from a misunderstanding of God’s will. There are actually three aspects of the will of God: His sovereign will, His moral will, and His personal will.

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In Blog, Book Reviews, New Age on
September 6, 2021

Deceived No More

Several years ago, my mom worked at a Christian school, and the leadership decided that all the teachers would participate in a brief yoga session after their weekly morning devotions. My mom was extremely uncomfortable with this and decided not to participate, but they justified the decision by saying they would incorporate Christian-y phrases or ideas into the session.

Thankfully, these weekly yoga sessions didn’t last long, but they do reveal just how easy it is for New Age practices and teachings to slip into Christian settings, especially the Church. I’ve seen yoga classes held in church buildings, pastors teaching the law of attraction (if you declare something, it will happen), and sermon series based on the Enneagram.

We must be careful to not allow these practices and beliefs to enter the Church because, as Doreen Virtue writes in her book Deceived No More, New Age and Christianity cannot mix. A church’s acceptance of New Age can only lead to apostasy.

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