Category Archives: Theology

A Shot Across the Bow: Coming to Terms with Death

Posted on May 28, 2022 by salooper57

Death, like a Victorian era visitor, often sends a calling card to announce its arrival. But death is no gentleman. It sometimes comes silently, like a robber. At other times, it delivers a warning. It fires a shot across the … Continue reading →

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The Reason Art Got Ugly

Posted on May 21, 2022 by salooper57

The performance arts have also become enamored with ugliness, preferring darkness to light, and antiheroes to heroes. Today, antiheroes are artistically interesting, but heroes are boring. Antiheroes represent truth. Heroes are a fantasy. These days, no one is making films with “High Noon” plots or Will Kane-like heroes. Darkness – think of the recent Batman films – is in vogue. Continue reading →

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The Cross: Biblical Theology Class #17

Posted on May 15, 2022 by salooper57
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God Loves You Just the Way You Are

Posted on May 14, 2022 by salooper57

Another common Christian cliché is this: “God will never love you any more than he does right now.” This, it seems to me, is also true. If God’s love is not conditioned on the worthiness of its object, then neither is it conditioned on that object’s unworthiness. Hence, the correlate to this claim is also true: “God will never love you less than he does right now.

While these avowals of God’s love are true, they are also incomplete … Continue reading →

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The Baptism of the Spirit (Wide Angle)

Posted on May 11, 2022 by salooper57

Reading time: Approximately two minutes. There are some things in Acts 2, regarding the coming of the Spirit, which we would do well to note. The first is the meaning of the word baptism as it is applied to what … Continue reading →

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The Kingdom of God: Biblical Theology Class 16

Posted on May 8, 2022 by salooper57

Everyone who read the Bible looks at it through some interpretive lens. The lens of kingdom – provided by the Scriptures themselves – allows us to look at the Scriptures and see truths we might otherwise miss. The kingdom of … Continue reading →

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The Holy Spirit and the Church (Wide Angle)

Posted on May 5, 2022 by salooper57

The Catholic Church has created a great deal of controversy, but is surely right, when it says, “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus – “Outside the Church there is no salvation.” That is because no one outside the church is inside Christ. Continue reading →

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Family – Blessing or Curse

Posted on May 1, 2022 by salooper57

(Excerpt) And this is a message for all us children whose parents did it wrong—and whose didn’t? I realize that, in some cases, parents did it horribly wrong. The parents who were given you to protect you, have harmed some … Continue reading →

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Biblical Theology Class #15: The Kingdom Is Near

Posted on May 1, 2022 by salooper57

In this class, we explore what Jesus meant when he said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” The Bible cannot be understood apart from “kingdom.” It is the lens through which so many other things come clear. Enjoy … Continue reading →

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God Speaks Your Language

Posted on April 30, 2022 by salooper57

What the Gospels do best, however, is offer a captivating portrait of Jesus. Albert Einstein, when asked about Christianity’s influence in his life, answered: “I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.” He went on to say, “No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.” Continue reading →

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