theology

The Dreaded “A-Word”

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It was asked of me recently, “Is the purpose of your blog to start arguments or conversations?” I said arguments. Let me explain why. What Arguments Actually Are I think arguments have a bad rap nowadays, and it’s because the word has been misused to mean “nasty screaming matches that are completely illogical where no coherent point is being made.” That’s not an argument. That’s a fight. An argument can, however, have a range of legitimate definitions. Here are two of them: An argument is a series of statements intended to build a case and make a point about reality. … [Read more]

Super Heroes Do What the Church Won’t

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Superhero movies are doing what the church won’t: teach theology. I really wish the general public got better theology than what’s taught in superhero movies. This is a thought I’ve had for a while, pretty much since The Dark Knight came out, but it hadn’t been blatant enough for the public until Batman vs. Superman. I saw the movie last night and my friend Sam Bennet, who we ran into at the theater, warned me, “You’re going to want to write a blog post about it.” He was right. Batman v Superman was the first one to make it unmistakable … [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]

Yes You’re a Sinner and No It’s Not “Okay”

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  There are two parts to this title and each reflects some common rhetoric I hear among Christians. I think the entire statement needs to be hammered into people’s skulls. Yes You’re a Sinner and No It’s Not “Okay.” It’s such a basic truth that I wonder why it needs saying, but we have to address the issues as they arise. Let’s look at the first half first. “Yes, you’re a sinner” Christians today usually fall into one of two camps on this, either they refuse to ever acknowledge sin, or they never get off of sin to talk about … [Read more]