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Theology

In Blog, Easter, Theology on
March 17, 2024

The Evidence for Easter

Two thousand years ago, a man named Jesus walked on the earth.

This is a historical fact that even secular scholars will affirm. Jesus of Nazareth was a real person who lived in first century Israel. Even if they don’t believe that Jesus was divine in any way, even if they don’t believe that Jesus performed wonders and miracles during His earthly ministry, they do acknowledge and believe in Jesus’ existence. Even other world religions, like Islam and Baha’i, teach that Jesus was a great prophet and teacher in His day.

What keeps secularists and those who subscribe to other religions from believing in the true Jesus, from professing that Jesus was truly divine? Different people are likely to give different responses, but it really boils down to a disbelief in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. We live in a post-Enlightenment world, after all, that thrives on science and reason, a society that balks at the ideas of miracles or spiritual afterlives. Coming back from the dead is impossible, something that would quite literally require a miracle. So, for a people who don’t believe in the miraculous, they can’t bring themselves to believe that Jesus could have actually resurrected from the dead, especially three days after the fact.

While Christianity is a religion that is rooted in faith, it’s also based on fact—the fact that Jesus died for our sins and resurrected to give us new life. This isn’t something that we just blindly believe in; there’s evidence that points to the veracity of these claims. And when we review this evidence, we can become more confident in our faith and be emboldened to spread the truth about what really happened in Jerusalem two millennia ago.

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In Blog, Fruit of the Spirit, Theology on
January 15, 2024

Pursuing Peace

With the rise of the internet and social media, our world is much more connected than ever before. While this kind of technology has brought numerous blessings, it’s also been the cause of many curses. With just a tap or a click, we have access to more information that we can imagine—perhaps more information than we truly need. We watch scenes of political unrest unfold in cities across the country. We read articles about the devastation of wars happening halfway around the globe. We see aggravating posts and comments from people who we would never meet in real life. While some might say that this unhindered access to the world’s information is good for us, many others would argue that it is only causing us to be riddled with anxiety.

Regardless of how much time we spend perusing news sites or scrolling on Facebook, we all likely carry some anxiety about what is happening in our communities, in our cities, and around the world. We are a people who are in desperate need of peace. And thankfully, we have a God who can give that to us.

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In Blog, Jesus, Theology on
December 5, 2023

Jesus Came For Everybody

One of my favorite animated movies of all time is the 1959 Disney film, Sleeping Beauty. With its stunning scenery, iconic music, and a princess who dons a pink gown, it’s been a beloved movie of mine since childhood. In the opening scene, royalty, powerful fairies, and other important people in the kingdom are ushered into the palace to celebrate the birth and christening of Princess Aurora. And as we all know, things go awry when an uninvited evil fairy shows up to the celebration.

While Sleeping Beauty is a fictional fairy tale, the pomp and circumstance of this beginning scene is likely what we imagine when a new baby is born to a member of royalty or influence. Sure, we may not necessarily expect waving banners or hailing the new child in song, but we do expect the family to be surrounded by powerful and important friends and allies as they welcome their newborn progeny.

However, when the King of the universe came down to earth and was born in human flesh, there was no pomp and circumstance. Banners weren’t waved, and the newborn Son was not serenaded by a little drummer boy, despite what the song says. The little family was visited by two different groups of people during Jesus’ infanthood, but they were not exactly the types of people you might expect to show up for such an occasion.

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In Biblical Theology, Blog, Theology on
October 23, 2023

Pierced for Our Transgressions

Sometimes it’s the smallest of things that hurt the most. Brushing a hand along a page and getting a paper cut, feeling its sting whenever you flex your finger. Grabbing onto a piece of wood only for it to give you a splinter, leaving you sore and swollen with the possibility of infection. Hearing an unkind word from a friend that ruins your day or perhaps even ruins that relationship.

Reaching for a beautiful rose to only be pricked by a thorn.

These are all little things, but they all can leave us in significant pain, whether physical or emotional. When Adam and Eve took a bite of that forbidden fruit in the Garden, it probably seemed like such a small thing to them. After all, it was just a piece of fruit. It appeared to be delicious, something that would appease both their physical hunger and their thirst for knowledge. But their seemingly small act of disobedience brought the Fall, affecting the entire world and everything in it.

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In Blog, Salvation, Theology on
September 25, 2023

The Crucifixion: Substitutionary Atonement or Cosmic Child Abuse?

There are many areas of the Christian life that believers can disagree about in good faith. These secondary and tertiary issues, while certainly being important enough to discuss and debate, do not qualify any Christian to be thought of as a heretic or asked to leave a congregation. Things like modes of baptism, church leadership roles, or styles of worship music are certainly convictions that we can argue over, but at the end of the day, those we disagree with are still our brothers and sisters in Christ.

One example of an issue that Christians today disagree about is the atonement. Now, I do not mean whether atonement occurred as a result of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection (it did indeed, and that would be more of a primary, salvific issue), but rather what the atonement primarily accomplished. There are various theories out there about the purpose of the atonement: the ransom theory, the moral influence theory, Christus victor. Perhaps the most prominent theory today (and the theory I find the most in line with Scripture) is called penal substitutionary atonement, which is essentially the belief that Jesus died on the cross as our substitute, paying the debt of our sins and satisfying the wrath of God so that we may be forgiven of our sin and deemed righteous in the eyes of the Father.

However, there are some who fall in the progressive camp that hold a very different view of the crucifixion. Instead of believing that Jesus’ death on the cross was a ransom payment, a victory against evil, or even a good moral example, these progressive “Christians” argue that the crucifixion was merely an act of “cosmic child abuse.” But when we look to God’s Word, we will find that, unlike the theories listed above, this specific belief about Jesus is heretical.

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