Q&A
What is the significance of 2 Peter 3:9–12?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
Verse: 2 Peter 3
Peter says that the Lord has delayed his coming because “he is patient with you, not wanting any to perish” (vs. 9). We are encouraged to be “looking for and hastening the coming of the…
What is the significance of Revelation 3:5?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
Verse: Revelation 3
“If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life…” If God is only the God of certainties, it is…
What is the significance of Revelation 22:18?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
Verse: Revelation 22
“If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city…” For God to “take away”…
What is Open Theism?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism What it is and is not
Open Theism is the view that God chose to create a world that included free agents, and thus a world where possibilities are real. The future is pre-settled, to whatever degree God wants to pre-settle…
Is homosexuality a sin?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Q&A, Sexuality, Sin, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues, Sin
There are three passages in the Old Testament (Gen. 19: 1-13; Lev 18:22; 20:13) and three in the New Testament (Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; I Tim. 1:10) that have traditionally been read as prohibiting…
Does the Bible forbid interracial marriages?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Christian Life, Church, Diversity, Q&A, Racism, Relationships, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues, Relationships
Absolutely not! Racist Christians used to argue against interracial marriage by quoting Old Testament passages that prohibited Jews from marrying non-Jews. This prohibition had nothing to do with race, however. In fact, there was no…
Is the Bible against body piercing and tattoos?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Christian Life, Q&A, Sin
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Some Christians argue against body piercing and tattoos on the basis of a couple of Old Testament verses that prohibit them (Lev. 19:28). Several years back an aggravated lady tried to get me to preach…
Is it true you’re an “Open Theist” and that you don’t think God knows the future perfectly?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism What it is and is not
I am an “Open Theist” – though I honestly don’t care for the label, because as I’ll show, the uniqueness of this view isn’t in what it says about God but in what it says…
Isn’t Open Theism outside of historic orthodoxy?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism What it is and is not
The Church has never used one’s view of divine foreknowledge as a test for orthodoxy. And while the open view has always been a very minor perspective, it has had its defenders throughout Church history…
What is the right way to interpret Revelation?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Bible, End Times, New Testament, Q&A, Revelation
Topics: Biblical Interpretation, End Times
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…
Isn’t it true that God doesn’t know the future in the open view?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism What it is and is not
This is the single most common misconception people have about the open view. Open Theists and Classical Theists disagree about the nature of the future, not about how much God knows about it. Both sides…
Why do you argue that discipleship and politics are rooted in opposite attitudes?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Politics, Q&A, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question. At a recent conference I heard you argue against the idea that there could ever be a distinctly “Christian” political position by contending that political disputes are premised on a claim to superiority while…
Don’t Wilberforce’s achievements refute your stance on the separation of faith and politics?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Politics, Q&A, Social Issues, Wilberforce
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question: William Wilberforce was a Christian whose passionate involvement in politics almost single-handedly brought an end to the slave trade in 19th century England. Don’t his achievements show the importance of Christians being involved in…
Are you a pietist?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Politics, Q&A, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question: Soon after the publication of your book The Myth of a Christian Nation, I heard Chuck Colson charge you with being a “pietist.” Since then, others have repeated the charge. They all claim you…
Shouldn’t preachers rally Christians to fight political injustice?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Politics, Q&A, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question: My pastor has publicly supported your book The Myth of a Christian Nation. But he’s recently called on the church to take a stand against the injustice of our local government cutting funding for…
What do you think of the left wing Christians who are calling on Christians to stand up for “biblical justice”?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Politics, Q&A, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Yes, we’ve been hearing a lot of this recently, especially from more “progressive” (left-tending) Christians calling on people to vote “God’s politics” and stand up for “biblical justice.” On the one hand, I along with…
What did Jesus mean when he said he came not to bring peace, but a sword (Mt 10:34)?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Christian Life, Q&A, Social Issues, Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
Verse: Matthew 10
Given Jesus’ uniform teaching about loving enemies and abstaining from violence, and given that his followers were known for their refusal to engage in violence for the first three hundred years of church history, it’s…
Why is the Bible so strict on prohibiting pre-marital sex? What’s the big deal?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Christian Life, Marriage, Q&A, Relationships, Sexuality, Sin, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues, Relationships, Sin
Today in western culture people tend to have a rather “recreational” view of sex. It’s just a pleasurable physical activity we engage in. Even people who don’t consciously believe this are influenced by it ,…
Are Christians supposed to tithe?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Bible, Christian Life, Finances, New Testament, Q&A, Social Issues, Wealth and Responsibility
Topics: Following Jesus
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…
What do you think of the “Penal Substitution” view of the atonement?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Atonement, Jesus, Q&A
Topics: Atonement and The Cross, Christology
If asked what Jesus came to do and how he did it, most contemporary western Christians would automatically say something like, “Jesus took the punishment from God that I deserved.” This is what’s usually called…