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Salvation: How Do We Get It?
Now that we have a better idea of what Salvation is and why we need it, let’s stretch our spiritual muscles a little further as we learn how to appropriate this wonderful gift for ourselves through something called the New Birth. Although some may consider the “head” knowledge of Salvation we gained in our previous workout session to be sufficient, that mere intellectual knowledge will prove to be woefully inadequate in providing us with the foundation we will need for our upcoming exercises in practical Christianity. For the purposes of this program, then, we can gain an experiential knowledge of Salvation (if it hasn’t been done already) through an active participation in each of the…
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Salvation: What It Is and Why We Need It
When it comes to thinking about Salvation, there seem to be two vastly different approaches to the subject. Although both of these are very broad generalizations… To the “Unsaved,” Salvation is often regarded as either– an antiquated theological doctrine, designed to rob life of its happiness and any sense of personal fulfillment; or, a religious crutch for those who lack the intelligence, sophistication, attractiveness, or success necessary to do life well on their own; while… To the “Saved,” it is often regarded merely as the means by which— their sins are forgiven and their lives are made right with God; and, their eternal destination is changed from Hell to Heaven.…
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A New World, An Old Nature
In our recent critique of Vignette #8 in Act 1, Scene 1 of God’s One Big Story, we talked at length about the many changes thought to have been brought about by the Flood which occurred in Noah’s day. The ones we discussed were… The change in climate; The change in the landscape; The change in man’s diet; The change in the way society was to be governed; The change in the configuration of the continents; and, The beginnings of the formation of fossils and fossil fuels. With so many innovations having taken place in such a relatively short space of time, I think that it is safe to say that when Noah and…
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Obedience Doesn’t Come Cheap
The curtains here at Stage #1, where God’s One Big Story is currently in production, are now opening on Vignette #6 of Act 1, Scene 1 of the Story. As they do, they reveal a set which, in the absence of any light, appears to be completely empty. However, when we begin hearing angry shouts, screams, and cursing, as well as the unmistakable sounds of fighting—as unseen fists are meeting with unknown faces in what surely sounds like unrestrained fury—we immediately become aware of the presence of a great many people on the stage, even though they continue to remain invisible to us. Given the volume of this din, and…
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Searching for Truth in the First Book of Begats
Although I now use the English Standard Version as my study Bible, when I first started out so many years ago, I used the King James Version—a translation that I loved because of the more poetic language it used in the presentation of the Bible Story. The one aspect of that translation that I did not care for, though, was its use of the word “begat” in the many genealogies recorded for us in scripture. “Begat” always sounded so harsh and impersonal that its use made those already tedious and uninteresting passages all the more difficult to get into and to appreciate. And yet, when I was finally able…
