Are We Really Together for the Gospel?
We live in an age of conferences, seminars, and mp3 downloads. Evangelicalism bulges with an excess of venues for pastoral education and encouragement. In the past, the majority of these events focused on new tools or particular programs that a pastor or pastoral staff might implement in their church. And while some of these suggestions were helpful, an awareness of their inability to solve our problems grows [1]. Partly because of...
Lessons from Mars Hill
by Dr. Jeff Cockrell A recent survey suggests that a question once firmly identified with American evangelism is no longer pertinent: “If you were to die tonight, do you know for sure that you would go to heaven?” [1] While societal ideology may be changing somewhat, people are searching for truth [2]. The myriad of voices offering their views and opinions makes it difficult for the credulous person to know what to believe. Thus, they...
Desire: A Missing Link In Our Theology
What happens when right beliefs don’t lead to right behavior? Using New Testament language, we might simply call this “hypocrisy.” In my previous essay, I addressed the problems with separating theology (doctrine) from ethics (practice). Because these two belong together biblically, effectively divorcing them renders Christianity incoherent. They flow in and out of one another. Once we accept this, it is only reasonable to ask, “Why...
When Theology Gets Practical
One of the bestselling books of the 1990s was Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. In it, author John Gray attempted to help couples better understand their differences so that their relationships might improve. But by no means was this project original to Dr. Gray. We often gain understanding by comparison and contrast: men and women, darkness and light, the objective and the subjective, and countless other relationships. There...
Theology or Scripture: Why Must We Choose?
“All I need is the Bible. Theology hinders interpretation.” This is unfortunately the mindset of many who approach the interpretation of Scripture. In modern scholarship, entirely too much focus has been given to a historical-critical reading of Scripture in the academy [1], effectively divorcing theology from Scripture. Of a similar mindset, pastors and laymen have taken a somewhat different approach. They have prevented the Church...
Chuck Colson: A Life Remembered
A Message from Helwys Society Forum Evangelicalism in America experienced a great loss just one week ago. Born on October 16, 1931, Charles “Chuck” W. Colson passed away at the age of 80 on April 21, 2012. Many Christians in America know Colson for his years of educating and equipping believers to confront the moral decay growing within many intellectual, social, and cultural institutions. Yet it was Colson’s own pre-conversion life...
Recent Comments