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The Bible

3 Things I Love about Evangelicals

Evangelicals often get a lot of flak…including from fellow evangelicals. And sometimes deservedly so. I don’t care to defend the stupid things evangelical Christians do. It’s safe to say they can be easy target.   Yet in spite of their problems, here are three things I love about evangelicals: 1. Evangelicals are all about the Bible. I want the sacred text of the Old and New Testaments to be the primary governing and shaping element in my life. So, I love that evangelical Christians are committed to the authority and truth of the Bible. They have it on their phones, attend home Bible studies, open it up on Sunday mornings, highlight its pages, get multiple translations, read it early in the mornings, put verses on their walls, etc. Evangelicals are uncompromising on their priority of Bible. 2. Evangelicals get that it’s about having a personal relationship with Jesus. In a religious world that can often be about empty rituals, endless doctrinal checklists, or emotional excitement, the mantra of evangelicalism that ultimately “it’s about having a personal relationship with Jesus” holds true. Evangelicals despise legalism and speak… Read More »3 Things I Love about Evangelicals

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Interview with Alex Varughese

SV: Sometimes as Christians, we don’t pay much attention to the Old Testament, or we have a tendency to think it is not as significant for us today? Why is the Old Testament important? Do the books of the Old Testament still have relevance for our lives today? AV: The Old Testament is important because it is an integral part of the Christian canon, the primary source of authority and standard for Christian faith and conduct. The 39 books of the OT provide the foundation for the faith proclaimed in the New Testament. The OT also provides the historical and theological setting of the NT. Without the OT, the NT will be incomplete and incomprehensible. In other words, the NT is only one half of the whole.  Moreover, there is nothing new in the NT except that it clarifies, interprets, and expands the message of the OT through the lens of Jesus Christ, his life, death, and resurrection. Every doctrinal issue or teaching in the NT has its foundation in the OT.  Every major event in the NT has some point of contact with the… Read More »Interview with Alex Varughese

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Interview with Adam Johnson

SV: When Christians talk about the atonement, what do they mean? What is the doctrine of the atonement about? AJ: Answering this question is a lot like asking: “when people talk about education, what do they mean?” As it turns out, there are lots of answers. Some folks think of education as a means to the end of getting a job. Some think of it as a form of daycare or imprisonment by society. Other think about it as a life-long vocation to grow in wisdom and understanding. When it comes to the atonement, there is a similar range of meaning. Some think of it primarily in terms of the Hebrew word kipper, used throughout the Old Testament in describing the role of blood within the sacrificial system. Others think about it as an explanation of the death or crucifixion of Christ. In this sense, the atonement answers the question: “Why did Christ need to die?” My own preference is to use this word to sum up the work of Christ: pulling together the incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, to explain… Read More »Interview with Adam Johnson

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The Last Days

Are we in the last days? Is the end drawing near? Will Jesus return soon? These are all important questions, and issues that seem to be popping up more and more frequently. I often hear Christians say, “You can tell we are in the last days…” or “It just proves we are in the end times…” It always seems to be in the context of the news… Christians seem to love talking about the end of the world. And not only Christians, even the broader culture does as well. (Just think of movies like 2012, Day After Tomorrow, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World…) It’s fascinating. It’s mysterious. It’s unknown yet still intriguing.  When I was in college, we had a chapel speaker who passionately declared to the student body that Jesus was going to return in our lifetimes. He boldly said to us, “I believe this generation has a special anointing! Because I believe your generation is the last generation!” Why he thought this? I’m not sure. Another recent end times prophet who got a lot of media attention was Harold… Read More »The Last Days

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A Self-Help Gospel

God has a plan for your life. You are meant to fulfill a purpose. God wants you to flourish. You don’t have to feel confused or despair… All of this is true, but when it becomes the entirety of the Christian message, then it is bad. A human-centered, me-centered theology is always a bad theology, and I see this take place in two forms. Many people with Charismatic inclinations seem to particularly  gravitate to this type of message. The message that says, “You can do it! “You’ve got it in you!” “Don’t give up!” “Don’t look back, God wants you to climb higher! He’s got good plans for you. And here’s a plan how you can know God’s plan for your life so you can be happy…” These are the voices that tend to be on Christian television or in popular Christian bookstores. And what is communicated over and over seems to be essentially this, “Is life hard? Does life have problems? Well you can fix them! God’s made you victorious. Don’t live a disappointed life. Be positive! It’s what God wants for you.” When… Read More »A Self-Help Gospel

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Why I Still Believe the Bible

The Bible is probably the most well–known book in the world. It’s read by all sorts of different people: men, women, young, old, rich, poor… And it’s also read for many different reasons: to bring hope, to reveal knowledge, to find comfort… Yet, at the same time the Bible is surrounded by an incredible amount of controversy. People discuss it, attack it, question it. And to make things more complicated, there seems to be as many interpretations of it as there are people who read it. As I read and study the Bible, I see it primarily as a means to an end. Before I explain what I mean, let me say a few other things first: There is no such thing as just reading the Bible. Everyone is interpreting the Bible. All the words, and verses are the same but everyone comes at it with a certain lens of interpretation. Simply pointing to “what the Bible says” is not quite enough. Take for example, John 6 in which Jesus says, “I am the bread of life…eat my flesh…” Protestants read those verses and think,… Read More »Why I Still Believe the Bible

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The Bible, Guns, And Peacemaking

I have never had an interest in guns. I’ve never found them impressive, attractive or anything like that. I have never owned a gun, and I have no plans on ever owning a gun. And yet for many Christians, being a patriotic gun owner is synonymous with being a Christian. And I think this view is troubling for a number of reasons.  Guns, violence, and patriotism all seem to be very interconnected in some Christian circles, so that is what I want to respond to as a whole.  But first let me say that if I were not a Christian, I think the arguments encouraging gun ownership would be very compelling. However, it is my Christian faith that leads me to believe what I do about guns. So, let me offer some reasons why I am not a gun enthusiast, first by giving a framework for it: I think that the Bible is very clear on the intrinsic value of human life. It is very grievous to me that we live in a culture that disregards the incredible weight and value of a human life,… Read More »The Bible, Guns, And Peacemaking

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