Extra-Biblical Texts

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 by Dan Carrington posted in Bible & Scripture | No Comments »

For years, centuries actually, debate has gone on about the reliability of the biblical texts. Questions have been raised about whether the events in the gospels actually happened and how much, if any, of the related events are historically accurate. During that time, one key component of the nay-sayers has been this argument about a lack of what they call "extra-biblical texts." In other words, their claim is that the Bible amounts to circular reasoning because ...

Life and Death

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 by Dan Carrington posted in Bible & Scripture | 1 Comment »

Last week, I wrote about how the meaning of some of our words can change over time and completely depart from their originally intended definition. Sometimes it is because the words get misused. But sometimes, I think there is just too little understanding of the word itself. It is possible, also, that in some cases we are so far removed from the original meaning that we don't recognize that this has happened. One word that seems ...

Take This Body, Take This Blood

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 by Dan Carrington posted in Bible & Scripture | 2 Comments »

Having been raised in the Catholic church prior to disavowing all things church-related, I had always been taught certain things about communion, or the "Lord's Supper." In Roman Catholicism, as well as in Lutheran tradition, communion is thought of quite differently than much of the reformed Church. The word used for this distinction is "transubstantiation." That's a big mouthful of letters that, put together, relay the idea that the bread and wine served at communion, once ...

Spiritual Leaders

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 by Dan Carrington posted in Bible & Scripture | 2 Comments »

For years now, leadership expert and trainer John Maxwell has taught that "everything rises and falls on leadership." Many other books and training courses on management and leadership include the same concept. The leader is responsible for the success or failure of the team. On the flip-side of that, many marriage and relationship experts talk about a husband and wife as a team. As with business or sports or any other team, a marriage generally needs a ...

Koko Begat Bubbles Begat Adam

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 by Dan Carrington posted in Bible & Scripture | Comments Off

In writing this, an assumption is being made that the concept of evolution does not need a great deal of explanation. The basic premise that must be understood for the purpose of this post is the idea that human beings descended from apes (or ape-like creatures). There are a number of issues with this type of thing, though we see it taught in our school system as if it were an indisputable, proven fact. For now, ...

Might Makes Right…Or Is It Righteousness?

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 by Dan Carrington posted in Bible & Scripture | 7 Comments »

I'm always amazed at the timing of certain things. Based on some comments from one of my recent posts, I tought it curious that I was going to be writing about this today anyway. But now, it's probably going to really stick in someone's craw. While listening to some of the common types of feedback from skeptics, I often hear them deride the idea of a good and just God based on readings from the Old ...

It’s Not My Place to Say

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 by Dan Carrington posted in Bible & Scripture, Christian Living | 2 Comments »

Has this ever happened to you? You're talking with someone and there is mention of a situation where someone is choosing to do something you both agree is morally wrong. Yet, the person says, "Well, I've done the same thing, so I can't really say anything." Is it just me, or does this sound a bit like some sort of moral relativism or avoidance issue? It's odd to me that when it comes to certain things, ...

Creation or Evolution?

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 by Dan Carrington posted in Bible & Scripture | Comments Off

One of the things that Ken Ham, founder of the Creation Museum, often points out is the different starting points used by creationists vs. evolutionists when studying "observational science." Of course, the most obvious first question is, ""What the heck does that mean!?" Lucky you. An attempt to explain this idea is precisely the purpose of this post and hopefully will successfully make this less of a confusing mystery. Not being Ken Ham, myself, what I ...

Sifting the Evidence Part 2

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 by Dan Carrington posted in Bible & Scripture, Evangelism | Comments Off

Last week, I wrote about how we cannot simply ignore the written eye-witness testimonies regarding Jesus of Nazareth, the miracles He performed, His resurrection from the dead, etc. As in today's court system, such eye-witness accounts are, and should be, taken very seriously and are often cited as some of the most powerful evidence of any given case. This week, let's take a look at some of the actual physical evidence of the existence of God ...

Reporting or Condoning?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 by Dan Carrington posted in Bible & Scripture | Comments Off

There is a common occurrence that I have seen among both skeptics and Christians alike. This has to do with some of the things that the Bible says about certain things. Many people seem to read more into some Bible passages than they perhaps should. In this particular case that I'm referring to, people often make the mistake of assuming that just because the Bible reports a certain event or situation, that these events or situations ...