“Put on the Full Armor of God …”

Paul’s paean to love in I Corinthians 13 is his most famous extended passage, I’m sure, but I also bet that second place goes to his “Put on the full armor of God” exhortation in Ephesians 6. Here it is: 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.11 Put on the full armor … [Read more…]

Jesus’ Prayer Parables

My NIV study Bible lists, among “The Parables of Jesus,” two “About Prayer”: “The Friend at Midnight” (Luke 11:5-8) and “The Unjust Judge” (Luke 18:1-8). I’ve set them out below, along with immediately subsequent verses for each, since they also seemed relevant to the parables. This is an important area, and we’ll see that Jesus’ … [Read more…]

Paul: Messenger and Message

At our church, last Sunday’s sermon — which was on a few verses in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (4:17-24) — made the point that we should not think ourselves unworthy of salvation because of shame for our past sinful behavior. It was noted in this context that it is unlikely that many of us … [Read more…]

Reasons To Believe Jesus Was Divine

This post will address a fundamental question: How do you persuade someone that Jesus was divine, was the Son of God? This is important, and I think framing this issue properly is a little more complicated than it first appears. Caveats. Consider: You can persuade someone to believe that God exists without persuading him that … [Read more…]

Some Letters to the Editor

Here are three published letters to the editor relevant to this blogsite. 1. From the July 18, 2011, Los Angeles Times (link here): Re “Imagine no religion,” Opinion, July 18 The fact that we have a hardwired moral sense can just as easily be viewed as evidence that God exists, as C.S. Lewis said. More … [Read more…]

Top Ten Bible Verses

Introductory Note The idea of this post is to list the Bible verses — or, more accurately, Bible passages — that are the most significant. The notion came to me because I find myself often going back time and again to particular passages, especially when arguing some point or wrestling with hard questions. A few … [Read more…]

Art Lindsley, “C.S. Lewis’s Case for Christ: Insights from Reason, Imagination and Faith”

I was prompted to read this enjoyable and useful book by Louis Markos’s good summary of it (250) in his Apologetics for the Twenty-First Century: An accessible overview of Lewis’s apologetic arguments that is also a practical guide for modern apologists. Lindsley demonstrates that if we combine the many and diverse books written by C.S. … [Read more…]

John R.W. Stott, “Basic Christianity”

This was named a “book of the century” by Christianity Today and is frequently acknowledged as a “classic.” In his short foreword to a recent edition, Rick Warren writes: “There are a few landmark books that everyone in the world should read. This is one of the rare few.” And he concludes: “John Stott’s Basic Christianity is … [Read more…]

Don Richardson, “Peace Child”

This book was highly recommended, and loaned to me, by a member of my small group at church, and I was not disappointed. The book is about the missionary work done by Canadian Don Richardson and his wife Carol among the Sawi people in the western half of New Guinea, now called West Irian or … [Read more…]