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...]
Mormons grappling with their history
SALT LAKE CITY – Leaders within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are speaking more openly about Mormonism’s controversial history and teachings. Even as Mitt Romney’s presidential bid drew the national spotlight to Mormonism in 2012, leaders of the nearly 180-year-old religion expressed concern about its future. “We’ve never had a period of – I’ll call it apostasy – like we’re having now,” Marlin Jensen, an official Mormon historian, told a group of Mormon students in … [Read more...]
What you should know about Chrislam
Christians sharing the gospel in Muslim-dominated countries take incredible risks. And converts from Islam to Christianity are routinely banished, imprisoned or murdered. So, how do Christian missionaries teach Muslims about Jesus when Islam denies His deity and death on the cross? And how do new converts from Islam to Christianity worship Jesus without inviting severe persecution? One answer is Chrislam, the bringing together of Christianity and Islam. Proponents of Chrislam say that … [Read more...]
Americans & the Bible
Americans need God’s Word just as much as they ever have; yet research shows they are reading Scripture less. Just like so many in the Church, we long to see a renewal of Scripture engagement in America. Four years ago, American Bible Society embarked on an annual survey of American adults to gauge their beliefs about the Bible, their knowledge of Scripture and their time spent in God’s Word. The State of the Bible research shows some alarming trends in the past four years. For example, … [Read more...]
Christians in Iraq ‘facing extinction’
WASHINGTON (BP) – Islamic militants have eradicated virtually every trace of Christianity from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, said July 23. “There are no Christians left in Mosul,” Shea told CBN News. “They have all been driven out. They have been told to convert to Islam or die, or to leave.” Mosul has been the center of Iraq’s Christian community for two millennia, but it is also a site with a … [Read more...]
Why are there two Qur’ans?
The Qur’an is Islam’s most holy book. While Muslims believe Allah has revealed many written works, including the Old and New Testaments, these revelations ended with the Qur’an, which supersedes all others. For all practical purposes, Muslims accept only the Qur’an as the Word of God. They believe Jews and Christians have corrupted Allah’s earlier revelations in the Bible, although they honor the writings of Moses, who was given the Tawrat (Torah); David, the Zabur (his Psalms); and … [Read more...]
When Christians killed & why Muslim violence continues
David Roach/Baptist Press NASHVILLE (BP) – Rising death tolls in Iraq and Syria, where Muslim extremists are killing in the name of their faith, represent a stark contrast to the relative lack of religiously motivated killing among modern Christians – a contrast that seminary professors say is attributable to the principle of religious liberty. Religious violence declines wherever religious liberty “has been preached and practiced,” Rick Durst, professor of historical theology at … [Read more...]
Does God have a body?
Mormons (LDS) teach that God the Father has a body of flesh and bones. And Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) say Jehovah has a “spiritual body” that prevents Him from being omnipresent. While these unbiblical views from our LDS and JW friends are not surprising, it may come as a shock to hear that some leaders of the Christian Word-Faith movement hold a similar view – and quote the Bible to support it. A case in point: Kenneth Copeland and Isa. 40:12. Copeland, perhaps more than any other … [Read more...]
Southwestern admits Muslim
Gary K. Ledbetter/Southern Baptist Texan FORT WORTH (BP) – A Palestinian Muslim who assisted Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Gezer archaeological project in Israel was admitted to the school’s Ph.D. in archaeology program, in an apparent exception to the seminary’s admissions policy. Seminary President Paige Patterson told the Southern Baptist Texan that the student enrolled at Southwestern last year because “he had no other options for Ph.D. work in his field” and because … [Read more...]
How Islam makes and defines peace
In the wake of 9/11 and subsequent acts of terror in the name of Allah, many Muslim leaders labor to buff the tarnished image of the religion Mohammad founded nearly 1,400 years ago. Their key message: Islam is a religion of peace. No doubt many of the world’s Muslims prefer peace to the sword, decrying the acts of Islamist terrorists as perversions of true Islam. And to be fair, Islam is a religion of peace, as long as peace is defined in Muslim terms. A case in point: … [Read more...]
Is Mormonism really necessary?
As the official version of the story goes, in 1820, 14-year-old Joseph Smith went into the woods near his home in rural New York to pray. There, God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. Caught up in the Protestant revivalism of his day, Smith inquired as to which of the Christian denominations he should join. None of them, he was told, because they were all wrong. “The Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight,” Smith later … [Read more...]
Does the Bible prove preexistence?
Our Mormon friends teach the doctrine of eternal progression. Among other things, it means that all people were born into the spirit world – through sexual relations between God and one of his wives – prior to taking on earthly bodies. As Mormon.org puts it: “Your life didn’t begin at birth and it won’t end at death. Before you came to earth, your spirit lived with Heavenly Father who created you. You knew Him, and He knew and loved you. It was a happy time during which you were taught … [Read more...]
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