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Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up (Book Review)

Straight off, this Book will challenge you in your thinking and quite possibly in your practice and outworking of life as a Christian—especially if you are from an evangelical/Baptist/non-denominational background. Will the Real HereticsPlease Stand Up The Book starts of taking you carefully through some of the practices and beliefs of the early church and those who knew the Apostles personally. It all feels very hopeful and like you're being led onward in a journey towards a certain goal, much of which I'm sure you'll find agreeable in what Bercot points out as discrepancies between early Christianity and today. Then we get to a few points about the Re...

Book Review: Four Views on Hell 2nd edition

...ersma, ‘Book Review’, McMaster Journal of Theology and Ministry, 17, 2015-16, R2, italics his [↩] Stackhouse, Four Views, 46 [↩] Sprinkle, Four Views, 192 [↩] Stackhouse, Four Views, 47, 78 [↩] http://rethinkinghell.com/2012/06/19/eternal-punishment-and-the-polysemy-of-deverbal-nouns/ [↩] Sprinkle, Four Views, 194, italics his [↩] Sprinkle, Four Views, 193 [↩] C. Quarles, “The ἀπὸ of 2 Thessalonians 1:9 and the Nature of Eternal Punishment,” Westminster Theological Journal, 59, 1997, 204 [↩] Parry, Four Views, 122, ftn. 51, italics his [↩] D. Moo, ‘Paul on Hell’, Hell under Fire, Zondervan 2004, 105, bol...

Rob Bell's “Love Wins” (Review)

...Book Review on Rob Bell's “Love Wins” (originally written March 2013) This Book was quite openly condemned by some prominent Christian leaders when the Book was first announced back around Spring 2011, mainly mainly accusing Bell of being a universalist and denying the existence of hell. Lots of leaders formed opinions about the Book and thus lots and laypeople took on various opinions as their own without much insight or research. The problem was that these leaders hadn't even READ the Book! It wasn't released yet at the time. They decided their opinions based on the blurb and promo video which posed provocative questions about the doctrine of hell. Th...

The Coming of Jesus: Revelation Fulfilled?

...Don’t let the title put you off, we’re about to go on a mad journey through the annuls of history and the Roman Empire, contrasting what John saw in his vision with what has already played out on the “world’s stage” and what we possibly have to look forward to! First though, let’s look at a little history concerning the Book itself before delving into its contents. Why do this? For a couple of reasons really: one, Revelation has some dispute over the year in which it was written, which can impact on the interpretation. Two, at various points in early church history, the Book was held in suspicion of being spurious and almost...

The Reformation: A Sound-Bite History (Book Review)

...This short little Book on the Reformation and some of the leading men who helped to kick-start it and continue to fan its flames has been very enjoyable to read. It really is a “sound bite history” as the chapters are short and snappy, and really only cover the absolute basics of each of the Reformers lives. The Book has seven chapters, with six of them dedicated to an individual who had a pivotal role in the beginnings of the Reformation: Martin Luther, John Wycliffe, John Huss, John Calvin, Hugh Latimer and George Whitefield. The Reformation:A Sound-bite History I found it to be very educational and easy to read and digest; gleaning just enough info...

Was there death before the Fall?

...It is often said and believed by many that our souls are immortal - that God gave us a spirit/soul that cannot die when he created us, and that death was not even a concept or reality before Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Despite this idea being a fairly "recent" concept (in terms of history and theology), and it stemming from Greek philosophy, it's also not supported by the Biblical text - especially in Genesis. Lets look at the creation account in Gen 2:7— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. The word "being" in that verse, or "sou...