Paul’s Letter to the Romans–Chapter 2: “Hey you! Yeah you, Hypocrite! Take a Look in the Mirror!” (Part 5)

After that opening salvo of Romans 1:18-32, one thing would be sure: Paul’s fellow Jews would be saying, “Preach it, brother!” (For that matter, given the topic in Romans 1:18-32, a whole lot of Evangelicals share that very sentiment). After all, what Paul put forth was the standard Jewish view of the Gentile world. Every…

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Paul’s Letter to the Romans: Chapter 1:18-32 (Yes, the section that talks about homosexuality) (Part 4)

Romans 1:18-32: Paul’s Condemnation of the Pagan World Romans 1:18-32 begins Paul’s actual argument that runs throughout Romans. It cuts to the heart of the Gospel itself, highlights the implications the Gospel has for living together as a community. Simply put, as I ended the last post, Paul isn’t talking about how one gets saved….

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Paul’s Letter to the Romans: Chapter 1:1-17 (Part 3)

Today, I start actually going through Paul’s letter to the Romans. In order to really simplify things, I’m breaking this post into two sections: (A) Paul’s normal “introductory” material he uses in many of his letters (1:1-15); and (B) the “thesis statement” for the entire letter (1:16-17). So get ready to take some notes, we’re…

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Paul’s Letter to the Romans: The Jewish Dilemma in the 1st Century, and the Christian Dilemma in the 21st Century (Part 2)

If you want to even begin to understand anything in the New Testament, be it the gospels or Paul’s letters, you need to make sure you have a handle on what was going on in Judaism in the first century. The Jewish Self-Identity First of all, you have to remember that the Jews viewed themselves…

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The Apostle Paul and His Letter to the Romans: A Mini-Commentary (Part 1)

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to turn a corner and focus on something actually biblical. When I was at Regent College in Vancouver, I was fortunate to take classes from Dr. Gordon Fee, one of the foremost experts on the apostle Paul. Since then, I have taught Paul and his letters numerous…

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Ken Ham’s Visit to My Home Town: My Concluding Thoughts and Observations (Part 3)

Since I’ve already devoted two posts to my experience at the AiG conference, for your sake and mine, I will keep the rest of Ham’s comments short, with a brief comment after each one. There were a host of other rather disjointed things Ken Ham said during his presentation, but they all fell under the…

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Ken Ham’s Presentation, Part 2: Noah’s Ark, Evolution, and Psalm 104

Yesterday, I discussed the first part of Ken Ham’s talk to the high school kids at the Answers in Genesis conference this past weekend in the town where I live. Today, I’d like to discuss the second part. Noah’s Ark After making his case that atheism was the same thing as evolution, that evolution was…

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Better Watch Out! Better Not Cry! Ken Ham is Coming to Town! (Part 1)

This past weekend, Ken Ham came to my hometown for an Answers in Genesis conference at a local church. I knew he was coming as far back as last May, when it was announced to the faculty at my former school that the whole school was going to get to attend the conference. Needless to…

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How Answers in Genesis is Really Good at Confusing You When it Comes to Discussing How We Know the Bible is True

In my final post of this week dedicated to Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis, I want to focus, not on science or Ken Ham’s Twitter trolls, but specifically on the truly muddled and confusing way Answers in Genesis even presents the Bible itself. The Evangelical Dilemma with Genesis 1-11 and the Book of Revelation…

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Adventures in the Subterfuge of “Answers in Genesis”: Andrew Snelling and the Skeptics

As we continue in our Answers in Genesis Week on my blog this week, in anticipation to the appearance of Ken Ham at the up and coming AiG conference in my town this weekend, I want to share a short article by Dr. Andrew Snelling, a contributor to the AiG enterprise. The February 2, 2016…

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