Bible, theology, culture, etc.
https://youtu.be/8Voll-QTS5g How many times a day do you blink? 100? 500? A thousand? You blink 14,000 times a day, so much that your eyes are shut for 23 minutes every day. Yet, you don’t even think about it, even though if you stopped blinking you would irreparably damage your eyeball in short order. Our body … Continue reading God, the Body, and Sex (1 Cor 6:12-20)
(In my second article on “The Best Arguments for Cessationism” I mentioned that I would address the argument for the continuation of the gifts based on 1 Corinthians 13:8-13. I addressed this matter directly in a sermon I recently preached, Heaven Is a World of Love. The following is an excerpt from that sermon.) Love never ends. … Continue reading When Do Tongues and Prophecy Cease?
This is part three of a summary of the best arguments for cessationism. You can read part one and part two, and the best arguments for continuationism here. Experiential Arguments Experiential arguments are not terribly persuasive since they are limited to the experiences of the individual, and those experiences themselves must be interpreted. Yet, while lacking deductive power, they … Continue reading The Best Arguments for Cessationism (Pt. 3)
This is part two of The Best Cessationist Arguments (See The Best Arguments for Continuationism) (More) Biblical Arguments First, when considering whether or not we should expect miracles, healings, and exorcisms to be performed today in the same way it was performed in the time of Jesus and the apostles, we should realize (1) how … Continue reading The Best Arguments for Cessationism (Pt. 2)
In my previous article I attempted to provide what I thought were the best arguments for continuationism—a view that states that all or most of the spiritual gifts practiced in the New Testament continue today. While I am not finally persuaded by those arguments, I admit they are very strong. This is a difficult subject to be … Continue reading The Best Arguments for Cessationism (Part 1)
Our church has been going through the book of 1 Corinthians for some time now and we are just rounding the corner on 1 Corinthians 12, leading us into a lengthy discussion of spiritual gifts (charismata). Anyone who reads these passages (and other similar ones in the NT) are left with many questions. Should we expect … Continue reading The Best Arguments for Continuationism
https://youtu.be/cOwqXuUyL8U What is the difference between “forced” religion, and true faith? I have found no better summary than the writing of Henry Scougal’s The Life of God in the Soul of Man: “Force and artificial religion,” he writes, “is commonly heavy and languid, like the motion of a weight forced upward: it is cold and spiritless, like … Continue reading You Are God’s Temple (1 Cor 3:1-17)
https://youtu.be/ghpcBXlH3uk And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and … Continue reading A Demonstration of the Spirit (1 Cor 2)
When I was in high school, out of a desire to please my dad and take extra classes, I signed up for a zero hour class. I am not naturally an early-riser by any means, and prefer to leave my bed in a slow series of stages in the morning, like a little bean sprout … Continue reading The Weak Are Welcome (Rom. 8:26-27)
Marc Sims 