“Dispensationalism must be wrong” – Part II

A visitor posted the following comment on the first blog post concerning popular arguments against dispensationalism. For those of you who are eschatologically expert, I invite you to comment specifically on a Google article entitled “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty,” a photographic version of which is on the “Powered by Christ Ministries” site. Since some have given the impression that that article is full of errors, I would very much like to be informed as to which particular item in it is in fact erroneous. Thanks in advance. Karl The document to which he refers (Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty) was written by Dave

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Pondering the Incarnation: Was Christ really tempted?

Over the years Karen and I have engaged in a lot of ministry through the internet by interacting in a number of forums. It has been an amazing opportunity to share the gospel and other biblical truth about a wide range of topics. Over the last couple of days I have been involved in some discussions over at Grace Centered Christian Forums (note: this is not an endorsement of this website because I haven’t yet fully investigated their theological positions). One of the questions that was posted a couple of hours ago was related to the temptation that Christ experienced.

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Manhattan Declaration: Conclusions

(An article combining this post and the previous one on the Manhattan Declaration is available in downloadable and printable PDF, 2-column article format: Click here to download) This is the third and final post in a series concerning the Manhattan Declaration. I would encourage you to read the first two posts so you will have the context for understanding my final conclusions. Please take a moment to complete the ABI Manhattan Declaration Survey . . . The Nature of the Manhattan Declaration The Manhattan Declaration addresses issues that are a part of the current public debate and symptomatic of the

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Manhattan Declaration: A Response – Part I

(An article combining this post and the previous one on the Manhattan Declaration is available in downloadable and printable PDF, 2-column article format: Click here to download) . A week ago today, the Manhattan Declaration was released by Chuck Colson and almost 150 other signers at the National Press Conference. Since then there have been countless blogs and articles written about the 4700-word document and the response has been quite mixed. Predictably, it has been denounced by liberals of all stripes who support the LGBT agenda and who advocate “a woman’s right to choose.” But neither has it been received

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Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience

When I checked my Inbox on Saturday morning I found an email from Jimmy DeYoung (one of ABI’s co-founders) concerning the Manhattan Declaration. Because the Manhattan Declaration was still breaking news, Jimmy wanted to discuss it on his weekly radio program. So I quickly went to work trying to learn as much as I could before he called back to do the interview. The Manhattan Declaration is a 4732-word document which was made public at the National Press Conference on Friday, November 20. It was drafted by a committee that included Chuck Colson, Dr. Robert George and Dr. Timothy George

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Chatting with an atheist

For the past couple of weeks I have been in an ongoing chat conversation with someone who self-identifies as an atheist. He connected with me after a discussion concerning a recent ABI blog. Over the course of our discussion I have asked him a number of questions, including those below in one form or another. I have also added a few comments after the questions to provide some perspective and additional “food for thought.” Perhaps some of them will be helpful if you find yourself in a similar discussion. Question(s): If it could actually be proven to your satisfaction that

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Dispensationalism must be wrong – Part One

A number of arguments are regularly used to try to discredit dispensationalism and conclude that it is flawed and must be wrong as a theological system. Interestingly, two frequent arguments against dispensationalism are based on the history of dispensationalism, having nothing to do with theology or exegesis. One argument attempts to discredit dispensationalism with the charge that it is a “young” theological system. The other attempts to discredit dispensationalism with the charge that its development is suspect. However, neither is actually a legitimate argument against dispensational theology and both are relatively easy to refute. The Relative Youth of Dispensationalism Those

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“Pub Theology 000” by Pastor Larry DeBruyn

Larry DeBruyn, the guest writer of this ABI blog post, received his Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1974 and has been the Pastor of Franklin Road Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana for many years. Pastor DeBruyn has published two books; regularly writes articles as a guest contributor on several websites; is a conference speaker; and has taught internationally including at the Word of Life Bible School in Hungary. _____________________________ “Some thoughts on Sunday night church in a bar.” As he begins to rip into “a screaming guitar solo,” the band member yells out at the audience, “Let’s go to

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“Cheap Grace?” by Dr. Roy Zuck

This blog is by guest contributor, Dr. Roy Zuck. Dr. Zuck is Senior Professor Emeritus of Bible Exposition, Dallas Theological Seminary and the editor of the theological journal Bibliotheca Sacra. He is the author or editor of many books including Basic Bible Interpretation, Bible Knowledge Commentary, A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament and A Biblical Theology of the New Testament. Dr. Zuck is one of ABI’s endorsing theologians. __________________________ Must a person submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ in order to be saved?  If he did not make Christ Lord of his life at the moment of salvation,

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Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics

I am writing from Baptist Bible College and Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, in the middle of the second annual Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics. One of the first charges leveled against dispensationlists and dispensationalism is that this system of theology lacks all academic credibility and depth. It is further often charged that dispensationalism and particularly its eschatological aspects, such as the Rapture, the Tribulation and the Millennium are not found in the Bible and cannot be supported by responsible exegesis. If there is anything that one can learn from being here at this conference, it is that these charges as

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Worldviews: Born-Again and Unbiblical? – Part I

Several days ago, I posted a blog with questions / topics proposed by an ABI Facegroup member. This post deals with one of those topics – “worldview.” _________________________________ It would be natural to expect that Christians would have most of their values, morals, ethics – their overall philosophy of life – to be informed and shaped by principles found in the Bible. However, apparently such an assumption would be inaccurate based on the the results of a survey published by the Barna Group on March 6, 2009. The survey reports that only 9% of all Americans hold a biblical worldview

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Important Questions from a Reader

Today, I received an email from an ABI Facebook Group member with some questions and issues that this person would like for us to consider as topics to be addressed on the ABI website and/or blog. I have also encountered these myself in a variety of contexts including ministry situations, articles and books, blogs and forums, conversations and just during personal reflection. I have summarized the main issues below and plan to write on many or most of them in over the next few weeks (or have guest writers contribute, as well.) So, stay tuned. (As always, please feel free

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Church – For People Who *Do* Like Church

(This article is available in downloadable and printable PDF, 2-column article format: Click here to download) The following are examples of some slogans that are currently in use by churches in America (as reported on www.poetpatriot.com): “Real church…Real People” “The Church of Tomorrow…Today!” “Equipping People for Life” “The Small Church with a Big Dream” “The Fortified City” “A Church Where Miracles Happen” However, there is one slogan in particular that has gained broad usage in recent years: “A Church for People Who Don’t Like Church” Although I understand what is meant and why it is used, something about this slogan

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The Shack: “But it’s just fiction…”

(This article is available in downloadable and printable PDF, 2-column article format: Click here to download) Even though I just posted a review of The Shack on the ABI website by Glenn Kreider, I wanted to take a few moments to further discuss an issue that I have both read and heard in a sort of defense of the book – the “fact” that The Shack is fiction. Although The Shack was self-published by a then-unknown author, it ended up on Amazon.com, reached “critical mass” through word-of-mouth – and the rest is history. To put things into perspective concerning the

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Does “I am the way…” Teach Universalism?

This appears to be the essence of Brian McLaren’s claims concerning John 14:6 in one of the chapters of his upcoming book A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions that are Transforming the Faith (to be released in February 2010). On his blog, Mr. McLaren writes the following in response to a comment received from a reader concerning John 14:6: I reworked that material into an important chapter in my upcoming book, A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions that are Transforming the Faith. The passage is often used to answer the question, “How do we relate to people of

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The Problem of “Red-Letter” Bibles

(This article is available in downloadable and printable PDF, 2-column article format: Click here to download) I subscribe to Google Alerts because they are a very helpful research tool. If you’re not familiar with Google Alerts, when you subscribe, you can put in topics or names – and then, almost real-time, whenever these “hits” appear anywhere on the internet, you receive an alert into your email Inbox. One of these alerts just arrived in my Inbox concerning “Phyllis Tickle” – and it was related to one of my “pet” issues, so I decided to just go ahead and write about

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