bible

What is Dispensationalism?

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I’ve recently explained this to a few different people and thought, “I can just write a blog post about this to clear it up a little.” Before I get into this, let me refer you to the best book to understand dispensationalism called, appropriately enough, Dispensationalism by Charles Ryrie. This book is clearer and cleverer than I can ever be. However, if you’re looking for a shorter summary of the concepts, I suppose this blog post can suffice. Okay, what is dispensationalism? Here’s the outline of the post: (1) What it is. (2) The opposites. (3) What usually comes along … [Read more]

Doubting Thomas: Chapter 13

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The following is an assignment I had for my ST102 class (Trinitarianism). It is a hypothetical 13th Chapter to the book “Doubting Thomas” by John Cobb. (The book is out of Print, but I have linked a pdf copy of it here.) I highly recommend not wasting your time reading it. It’s what I would classify as trashy liberal theology designed to prey on those who have not studied historic orthodox Christianity. The author specifically excludes the viewpoint of orthodoxy in this adventure of “christology in story form.” The plot line is that Thomas, a young seminarian, runs into a … [Read more]

Christians Don’t End Up in Heaven

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  I said off-hand in a different blog post that Christians weren’t going to heaven, and I got some lip about it. But before I start explaining myself, let me narrow the audience for you. This post is directed at Christians. The “yous” in this post are “readers who have believed the gospel that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ of God, and by believing, have life in His name.” Okay, lets get back to the point. Christians don’t end up in heaven. “Of course we’re going to heaven!” you say. “That’s the gospel, Stephen! We’re going to go to … [Read more]

The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

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The following is an exposition of Habakkuk and the quotation of Habakkuk 2:4 in Galatians 3. It was written for my advanced hermeneutics class, thus the confusing big words here and there. Don’t worry if you find it boring. It’s not supposed to be particularly interesting, just jam-packed full of interpretive considerations. enjoy!  Theological Themes There are a few theological themes I glean from this text, and they all revolve around salvation, or to be more specific, sparing one from judgment. From Habakkuk’s point of view, he is pleading to God to be spared, with the other righteous people in … [Read more]

Do Babies Go to Hell?

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If you believe the true gospel, you have to have had this thought. Before we get going on this, please know that if this question is personal for you, you may be offended by my “callous” or “heartless” approach. Know that I feel deeply for you and weep with you. It’s personal for me to. But in this post, I am trying to give the most clear and logical answer that I can from the biblical text, and that may mean saying things that you don’t want to hear. Here’s the Dilemma Everyone is born sinful. All have sinned and … [Read more]