Next month the MBC releases What Every Christian Should Know About Same-Sex Attraction, a new resource that offers a Biblical perspective on homosexuality and how Christians can express Christ-like love for our LGBT friends. A series of columns beginning today features excerpts from the book, available in print and Kindle formats. Last month Ireland became the first country to legalize gay marriage by popular vote after a referendum found that 62 percent of voters favor … [Read more...]
How can 5 billion people be wrong?
The world’s population stands at more than 7.1 billion people. According to Adherents.com, this number includes 1.5 billion Muslims, 1.1 billion nonreligious people, 900 million Hindus, nearly 400 million Buddhists, and millions of followers of other faiths. The website also reports there are 2.1 billion “Christians,” a broad category that includes Catholics and Protestants, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and so-called “nominal” Christians. If the exclusive claims of Jesus are true, … [Read more...]
Is the Holy Spirit like electricity?
A recent survey by LifeWay Research, as reported in Facts & Trends magazine, reveals that 59 percent of American evangelicals believe the Holy Spirit is a force, not a personal being, and another 10 percent are not sure. This lack of understanding of the divine and personal nature of the Spirit is more at home in counterfeit forms of Christianity like the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, whose adherents are known as Jehovah’s Witnesses. Our JW friends promote a “holy spirit” that … [Read more...]
What do Scientologists believe?
This is the last in a two-part series on Scientology. Some of Hollywood’s brightest stars are dedicated followers of the religion L. Ron Hubbard founded more than 60 years ago: Scientology. What do Tom Cruise, John Travolta and other Scientologists believe? Below is a brief comparison of key biblical teachings and the beliefs of the Church of Scientology. Note: The Baptist Faith and Message, available as a free download from sbc.net, features a fuller treatment of Christian doctrines … [Read more...]
What is Scientology?
A recent HBO documentary on the Church of Scientology has brought the religion L. Ron Hubbard founded 61 years ago back into the headlines. “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” profiles eight former Scientologists and is based on a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright. The film highlights the church’s origins and traces its meteoric rise in popularity, largely through the embrace of A-list Hollywood celebrities. It also shines a light on how the church cultivates … [Read more...]
Seven words that reveal Islam’s worldview
Sharing our faith with Muslims requires Christians to know at least something about the religion Muhammad established 14 centuries ago. Particularly enlightening are seven words that expose Islam’s view of the non-Muslim world and help us understand why Muhammad and his followers have consistently treated Christians with disdain. Kafir. A kafir is “one who covers or conceals the known truth; an unbeliever.” In other words, a kafir is any non-Muslim. Since kafirs reside outside the … [Read more...]
Was Saint Peter the first pope?
This is the last in a four-part series on Roman Catholicism. After Simon Peter makes his famous declaration that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” Jesus tells the apostle, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it” (Matt. 16:16, 18). Jesus further states, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already … [Read more...]
What do Roman Catholics believe? (Part 2)
This is the third in a four-part series on Roman Catholicism. To view the first two columns, click here. Roman Catholics embrace at least seven doctrines that evangelical Christians reject as unbiblical. In the previous article, we explored five of these doctrines. This column examines two more. Sacramentalism The Bible reveals that salvation is a gift of God received by faith in Jesus Christ. The Christian partakes of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as acts of obedience, or … [Read more...]
What do Roman Catholics believe? (Part 1)
This is the second in a four-part series on Roman Catholicism. To view the first two columns, click here. While Roman Catholics and evangelicals agree on a number of Christian doctrines, as we learned in the last column, there are profound differences between the teachings of Rome and the revealed word of God in Scripture. As Protestant theologian Harold Brown once warned, while Catholicism holds to key fundamental articles of the faith, the church “so overlays them with extraneous … [Read more...]
Who are Roman Catholics?
This is the first in a four-part series on Roman Catholicism. The Roman Catholic Church traces its beginning to the apostle Peter, claiming he is the rock upon whom Jesus built His church (Matt. 16:18). Following Peter is an unbroken line of successors stretching to Pope Francis today. Non-Catholics, on the other hand, establish the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church at A.D. 590 with Gregory I, who consolidated the power of the bishopric in Rome. In any case, the Catholic … [Read more...]
Christianity without hell
John Shore recently authored a commentary for Patheos entitled, “What Christianity Without Hell Looks Like.” Patheos is a website providing information about various religions. Reprinted in TIME Ideas and complete with a photo of a dove soaring in the sunlight, the article’s main point is that Christianity without hell “would allow Christians to point upward to God’s love.” Shore is a popular Christian blogger and author, yet his column features a string of shockingly bad theological … [Read more...]
Original sin and the Imago Dei
In Colonial days students learned to read from The New England Primer, which featured a number of Christian maxims such as, “In Adam’s Fall, we sinned all.” This statement, like others in the Primer, incorporated biblical truths into basic education. From childhood, students came to understand that all human beings are sinful and fallen creatures. While many schools today abandon these truths in favor of relativism, syncretism, and multiculturalism, many Christian parents instill in their … [Read more...]
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