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In Blog, Salvation, Theology on
February 7, 2022

Real Repentance

“Say you’re sorry!”

We’ve all seen it. A child hits a classmate, says something mean to a friend, or steals a toy from a sibling, and the offended child runs to tell an adult. Then, the parent or teacher goes over to the offending child with, “Say you’re sorry!”

But how many children who mutter a begrudging “I’m sorry” are actually sorry? How many of these children will turn around and do the exact same thing again? These children may say that they’re “sorry,” but they’re often just sorry that they got caught, not that they did a bad thing. Because they are not truly sorry, they will go right back to hitting classmates, saying mean things, and stealing toys.

Adults do this, too. We confess to God and say we’re sorry for doing things like gossiping about a co-worker, putting ourselves first, and being envious of what others have. But then we turn around and do these exact same things the very next day. Why do we do this? Why do we continue to commit the same sins we just apologized for? Because we have not really repented.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Luke on
January 31, 2022

Jesus Draws Near to the Powerless

I cannot imagine what it must be like to never be able to walk or run. I cannot fathom what it must feel like to never be able to stand up and stretch and move around. As a person who likes to be in control of her life, I can’t conceive how frustrated I would be and how powerless I would feel that I couldn’t do normal, everyday tasks, like buying groceries, or putting on clothes, or going to the bathroom.

It can be easy for able-bodied people to take these things for granted, to forget how many things we need our legs for. I thank God that He has blessed me with legs that can run, walk, bend, stretch, skip, jump, crouch, and squat. But the unimaginable, the unfathomable, the inconceivable, the frustrating powerlessness is a reality for many people, including the paralyzed man in Luke 5.

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In Biblical Theology, Blog, Book Reviews on
January 24, 2022

God of All Things

Have you ever walked outside at sunset and reflected on the glory and majesty of God? Have you ever hiked on mountain or canyon trails and pondered His omnipotence and grandeur? Have you ever observed wildflowers growing along the roadside or birds flitting about in the sky and meditated on God’s sovereign providence and His care for His creation? If so, you have greatly benefitted from general revelation, which refers to how God reveals Himself to mankind through nature (Romans 1:20).

It’s easy to see who God is and what He is like through the beautiful things of this world, like sunrises, waterfalls, oceans, flowers, and rainbows. But is it possible to learn about God through ordinary things, like dust, salt, or livestock? Can we learn who God is through even dangerous and destructive things, like storms, earthquakes, and viruses? Andrew Wilson, author of God of All Things, says the answer is yes.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Genesis on
January 17, 2022

Savior of the World

I am very thankful that I had the privilege of attending Bible college. I know it’s not an opportunity that many Christians have, and I’m glad that I was able to spend five years of my life studying theology and the Bible on a more academic level. Those five years made me into the theology nerd, Bible student, and writer I am today. During my bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, I learned about a lot of fun topics, like exegesis and hermeneutics, aseity and theophanies, cessationism and special revelation, double imputation and substitutionary atonement.

One of my favorite theological topics I learned about was typology. Theopedia defines typology as “a method of biblical interpretation whereby an element found in the Old Testament is seen to prefigure one found in the New Testament.”[1] Essentially, a type is someone or something in the Old Testament that foreshadows a greater someone or something in the New Testament, and many of the types found in the Old Testament point forward to Jesus and the salvation He provided for us. One such type was a man named Joseph.

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In Bible, Blog, Theology on
January 10, 2022

A Brief Guide to Bible Translations

Did you know that there are about 900 English translations of the Bible? Granted, some of these translations are simply revisions of older ones and some translations are only one book or a group of books.[1] But that’s still a lot of translations of God’s Word! When we see all of these different translations that exist, we may begin to wonder why there are so many versions of the Scriptures and whether or not all of these versions can even be trusted.

To help answer these and other frequently asked questions, I have written this brief guide to Bible translations so that you will be equipped to not only understand but also to appreciate the number of English translations we have today.

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