JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri Baptist apologists Dave VanBebber and Adam Cochrun are engaging two professors at Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES) in a live-streamed dialogue April 27 about approaches to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. VanBebber and Cochrun, active members of the Missouri Baptist Apologetics Network, are scheduled to discuss this topic with Richard Howe, professor emeritus of philosophy and apologetics at SES, and Adam Tucker, director of recruiting and admissions for the … [Read more...]
The failure of analogies
This is the sixth in a series of articles on the Trinity, excerpted from “What Every Christian Should Know About the Trinity,” available by contacting the MBC or through Amazon. In seeking to simplify the complex truth of one God in three persons, Christians sometimes resort to analogies – the comparison of two things for the purpose of explanation or clarification. While analogies applied to the Trinity seem helpful on the surface, they fail to do justice to our infinite and eternal God. … [Read more...]
False views of the Trinity
This is the fifth in a series of articles on the Trinity, excerpted from “What Every Christian Should Know About the Trinity,” available by contacting the MBC or through Amazon. As we pursue a biblically faithful understanding of the Trinity, it may help to sort through a number of false views of this crucial doctrine. Some faulty definitions are grounded in misunderstanding, such as the Muslim view that Christians are polytheists for worshiping God, Jesus, and Mary. Others are subtler … [Read more...]
Is the Trinity a late invention?
This is the fourth in a series of articles on the Trinity, excerpted from “What Every Christian Should Know About the Trinity,” available by contacting the MBC or through Amazon. Some critics of the Trinity doctrine protest that it is a late invention, formulated only after the Roman Emperor Constantine, a convert to Christianity, decreed an end to all persecution of Christians in AD 313 and convened the first ecumenical council at Nicaea in AD 325. But the charge of doctrinal invention … [Read more...]
Three simple truths about the Trinity
Consider three simple truths the Scriptures teach about the Trinity: 1. There is only one true God. 2. The Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Spirit is God. 3. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct, but inseparable, persons who exist simultaneously. 1. There is only one true God. Christians do not worship three gods; that’s polytheism. We do not worship one God made up of three parts; that’s tritheism. Nor do we exalt God as a lone actor who wears three different masks; … [Read more...]
Defining the Trinity
How do we biblically define a term that never appears in the Bible? As Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, and others are quick to point out, the word Trinity is conspicuously absent from the pages of Scripture. Therefore, they argue, to embrace such a term goes against the Bible’s clear teaching. Not so fast. While it’s true the term Trinity is not found in English Bible translations, that doesn’t mean the doctrine is missing in action. We might point out that phrases such as “the second … [Read more...]
Why study the Trinity?
Would it surprise you to know that six out of 10 U.S. adults say the Holy Spirit is a force, not a personal being? Or, more shocking, that 78 percent of Americans with “evangelical beliefs” agree with the statement that Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God the Father? These views, part of Ligonier Ministries’ 2018 State of Theology survey of 3,000 Americans, expose the soft underbelly of evangelical Christianity in our country. If Jesus is God’s first and greatest … [Read more...]
Ready Conference at Midwestern Seminary equips youth to defend their faith
Midwestern Seminary welcomed over 1,000 students from more than 90 local and regional churches on Jan. 24-25 for its annual Ready Conference, which exists to equip the youth of the church to defend their faith. This conference—which is based off of Jude, verse 3—encourages students to be ready to defend “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints”—featured main sessions from speakers Sam Bierig, Cam Triggs, Jared Bumpers, and Noe Garcia, and included a number of breakout … [Read more...]
Host an apologetics workshop at your church
2019 was a busy year for Christian apologetics in Missouri Baptist churches. Not only did the Missouri Baptist Apologetics Network complete its fifth year of service with 16 certified pastors and lay leaders, but I was privileged to speak 65 times in 26 different locations throughout the year – including apologetics events in Florida and California. Just to be clear, Christian apologetics simply is offering a reasonable defense of the Christian faith. The English word “apologetics” comes … [Read more...]
Can we trust the biblical manuscripts?
Fiction writers like Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code) and popular scholars like Bart Ehrman (The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture) have convinced many people the New Testament is unreliable. We are led to believe that Emperor Constantine determined the New Testament canon in the fourth century; that Christian leaders, vying for power, changed the Gospels to suit their personal agendas; and that amateur copyists butchered early New Testament manuscripts. If these charges are true, the Church … [Read more...]
Hoffmann, Van Bebber elected officers of apologetics network
JEFFERSON CITY – Wil Hoffmann, pastor of Rising Son Baptist Church in Auxvasse, and Dave Van Bebber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Buffalo, have been elected officers of the Missouri Baptist Apologetics Network (MBAN). Network members elected Hoffmann president and Van Bebber secretary-treasurer at their meeting Oct. 29 in Branson, held in conjunction with the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting. The new officers serve two-year terms. Hoffmann and Van Bebber will lead the … [Read more...]
Have Jews, Christians corrupted the Bible?
In the previous column, we briefly examined several prophecies Jesus made concerning Himself. We presented the prophecies in the hope that our Muslim friends, who consider Jesus a great prophet but not the Son of God, would consider Jesus’ predictions, and their fulfillment, as evidence of His deity. The traditional Muslim response to the Bible, however, is that Jews and Christians have corrupted it, so it cannot be trusted. However, this claim poses problems that begin with the Qur’an … [Read more...]
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