Bible

Isn’t the Gospel of John unreliable compared to the Synoptic Gospels?

Category:
Tags: , ,
Topics:

Question: The Jesus Legend  persuaded me that the Gospels are generally reliable. But I remain very skeptical of the reliability of the Gospel of John. It was written long after the Synoptics, and its view…

Read Post

Pre-Modern Readings of Genesis 1

Category:
Tags: , , ,

Biologos posted a three part reflection on Pre-Modern readings of Genesis 1 that are worth a closer look. And no matter what your particular way of reading this portion of Scripture, let’s pay attention to…

Read Post

For the Bible Tells Me So?

Category:
Tags: ,

Oh, those pesky fundamentalists are at it again. Should it be legal for parents to execute their rebellious children based upon Deut 21:18-21? This guy thinks so. And he’s a Bible-believing Christian who is a candidate…

Read Post

One Word

Category:
Tags: , , ,

While I’ve lately been pretty distracted finishing up Benefit of the Doubt (Baker, 2013), my goal is to sprinkle in posts that comment on the distinctive commitments of ReKnew a couple of times a week….

Read Post

Reflections on the Supremacy of Christ (Part 2)

Category:
Tags: , , ,

Whereas most Christians place the revelation of God in Christ alongside of other portraits of God and end up with an amalgamated image of God, we at ReKnew encourage believers to base their understanding of…

Read Post

Reflections on the Supremacy of Christ (Part 1)

Category:
Tags: , , ,

In my previous post I argued that the Bible tells a story in which the culminating event – the coming of Christ – reframes everything that preceded it. Though it is all inspired, not everything…

Read Post

When the Last Few Moments Changes Everything

Category:
Tags: , , , ,

One of the central things ReKnew wants to accomplish is to challenge followers of Jesus to accept that the self-sacrificial love Jesus revealed on the cross is the definitive, and even the exhaustive, revelation of…

Read Post

Conflicting Pictures of God

Category:
Tags: , , ,

In my ongoing reflections on the ReKnew Manifesto, I’ve spent the last two posts (here and here) arguing that nothing is more important in our life than our mental images of God. If so, then…

Read Post

If the violent depictions of God in the Bible are not completely accurate, isn’t all of Scripture up for debate?

Category:
Tags: , ,

Question: I’m very intrigued by your cruciform hermeneutics and can’t wait for your book (Crucifixion of the Warrior God) to come out. But I have to say that it strikes me as dangerous. You’re basically…

Read Post
Bible in the shadow of the Cross

Answering an Objection to a Cross-Centered Approach to Scripture

Category:
Tags: , , , ,
Topics:

Through Greg’s Facebook and Twitter, we’ve been getting some great feedback and questions regarding his cross-centered approach to Scripture. Several have voiced questions similar to the reader’s (below), so we thought it would be helpful to post Greg’s answer here on his blog.

Read Post

Why Did Jesus Curse The Poor Fig Tree?

Category:
Tags: , , ,
Topics:

 Why Did Jesus Curse The Fig Tree?  One of the strangest episodes recorded in the Gospels is Jesus cursing a fig tree because he was hungry and it didn’t have any figs (Mk 11:12-14; Mt…

Read Post

When Did Jesus Bind the Strongman?

Category:
Tags: , ,
Topics: ,

Question: In Luke 11:21-22 Jesus said: “When a strong man, with all his weapons ready, guards his own house, all his belongings are safe. But when a stronger man attacks him and defeats him, he…

Read Post

Gospel “Contradictions” and Orality Studies

Category:
Tags: , , , , ,
Topics:

* This essay has been adopted from G. Boyd and Paul Eddy, Lord or Legend? (Baker, 2007). One of the standard tests historians put to ancient documents to assess their veracity is self-consistency. Generally speaking,…

Read Post

Old Testament Support for the Warfare Worldview

Category:
Tags: , , , ,
Topics:

Rebuking Hostile Waters Satan plays a minor role in the Old Testament relative to the New Testament. Instead, the warfare worldview in the Old Testament is expressed in terms of God’s conflict with hostile waters,…

Read Post

New Testament Support for the Warfare Worldview

Category:
Tags: , , , ,
Topics:

Warfare in Jesus’ Ministry The theme of God striving to establish his sovereign will (his Kingdom) on earth over and against forces that oppose him is prevalent in the New Testament. In keeping with the…

Read Post

What is the right way to interpret Revelation?

Category:
Tags: , , , ,
Topics: ,

Few biblical topics have captured the imagination of contemporary evangelicals like the book of Revelation. The recent unprecedented success of the Left Behind series is evidence of this popular fascination. Many evangelicals don’t realize that…

Read Post

Are Christians supposed to tithe?

Category:
Tags: , , , , , ,
Topics:

Question: I and my husband have become increasingly uncomfortable with the many sermons on tithing we’ve been recently hearing at our church. Our pastor insists we tithe 10% to the church regardless of what else…

Read Post

Revelation 13:8 refers to “everyone whose names have not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life.” How does that square with open theism?

Category:
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Topics: , ,
Verse:

Three possibilities exist in terms of reconciling Revelation 13:8 with open theism. 1) First, the “from the foundation of the world” clause can attach to either “everyone whose names have not been written” or to…

Read Post

Revelation 17:8 refers to people whose names haven’t been written in “the book of life from the creation of the world.” Doesn’t this conflict with open theism?

Category:
Tags: , , , , , ,
Topics: , ,
Verse:

As in Revelation 13:8, the clause “from the foundation” (apo kataboleis) need not mean “from before the foundation” but simply “from the foundation” (= since the foundation). It’s not that names either were or were…

Read Post

How do you respond to Bart Ehrman’s book, “Misquoting Jesus”?

Category:
Tags: , ,
Topics:

Question: I just read Bart Ehrman’s book Misquoting Jesus and it’s sort of rocked my world. How can we believe the Bible is God’s inerrant Word when we don’t even know what the original Bible…

Read Post
Search Tips

Simple Search

Detailed Search

  • Category

  • Filter by Tag:

  • Show Only Posts Related to Verse:

  • Filter by Topic:

  • Clear all filters