Theology Archives - Page 3 of 17

In Blog, Common Questions, Theology on

May 22, 2023

Is Gender Identity a Matter of Choice?

The subject of gender identity has become one of the most hotly debated topics in today’s culture. Can a person “identify” as the opposite gender if they feel that is their true identity? Does a transgender individual have to medically transition before identifying as the opposite sex? How will this affect women’s protected spaces, like bathrooms, locker rooms, and jails? Is it fair to allow transgender individuals to compete against biological women? These are just a handful of the questions that are discussed in the media regarding gender identity, and they don’t even include the other 103 genders that are supposedly out there.^[1]

According to the State of Theology survey conducted by Ligonier Ministries in 2022, forty-two percent of Americans believe that gender identity is simply a matter of choice. This is probably not a surprising number, as the acceptance and approval of the transgender movement are higher than ever before in our secular society. However, what may be surprising is the large number of Evangelicals who also agree with this claim. According to the same survey, about thirty-seven percent of people with Evangelical beliefs agree that someone’s gender identity is their own personal choice.^[2]

This percentage is staggering. About one third of professing Evangelical Christians believe that one’s gender identity is based on their feelings rather than their body. This is a radically unbiblical belief, and if we’re not careful, it will continue to pervade and infiltrate churches all over America. When evaluating our answer to this question, we must rely on what the Bible teaches rather than what the world or our own feelings tell us.

So, let’s answer it. Is gender identity a matter of choice?

Tristany

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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.

Tristany

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?

Tristany

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.

Tristany

In Blog, Common Questions, Theology on

January 2, 2023

Can God Learn, Change, or Adapt?

There seems to be a growing number of people who believe that the God of the Old Testament is not the same God of the New Testament. This belief is not exactly new or revolutionary. It really has been around for centuries, ever since Marcion spouted ideas like this and got excommunicated from the church for being a heretic in the year 144 A.D. But as the years pass by, we are seeing more and more professing believers agree with this sentiment—that the loving and lovable Jesus who arrived on earth in the first century A.D. is not the same God as the fiery and vengeful One of old.

In Ligonier Ministries’ biennial State of Theology survey, they asked both believers and unbelievers whether they believed that “God learns and adapts to different situations.” Forty-eight percent of professing Evangelicals who participated in the survey agreed with this statement.^[1] This means that about half of supposedly Bible-believing Christians in this country believe that God is able to and does change over time.

However, this belief is not a biblical one, and as we’ll see in a moment, how we think about this issue has a great impact on our Christian faith.

Tristany

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