Most of us were raised in churches where the “Five Step Plan of Salvation” was preached nearly every Lord’s day. The five steps make for an easy way to teach why baptism is needed for salvation. The temptation, over time, is to argue the five steps against the “Five Points of Dordt” to the point… Read More »
Command, Example, and Inference: A Case Study 3/3
Welcome to our third and final article dedicated to understanding and applying Command, Example, and Inference (CENI) in a quest to better understand the Bible. CENI is not a hermeneutic in the scholarly sense. It is better to think of the historical-grammatical method (HGM) as the dominant process for understanding the Scriptures within churches of… Read More »
Command, Example, and Inference: A Case Study 2/3
Welcome to part two of a three-part series on Command, Example, and Inference. The first lesson of our study focused on the Enlightenment. This intellectual movement in Europe believed truth could be known by an application of observation, the scientific method and common sense. The United States government is a product of Enlightenment thought applied… Read More »
Command, Example, and Inference: A Case Study 1/3
This week’s Bible class centered around personal convictions about the faith, work, and practice of the Lord’s church. I was a little unsettled with the response or lack thereof to questions about baptism, congregational singing, and weekly observance of the Lord’s supper. It was a startling red light for me. It suggests the preacher at… Read More »
If Not At Baptism; When?
The religious world teaches many confusing things about baptism. Who is the proper subject to be baptized (infants or repentant believers)? What is the Scriptural mode of baptism (sprinkling, pouring, or immersion)? But the doctrine most discussed in our part of the world has to do with the “when” of baptism. When does someone become… Read More »
Don’t Leave God Out Of Baptism
In discussions with our religious neighbors, no subject comes up more than the issue of baptism. When is a person saved; at the moment of faith or when a believer submits to baptism? Does baptism save? What about faith alone? Where is God in this kind of deliberation?. Let me say clearly. I believe a… Read More »
What Will You Do With Jesus?
It’s a simple question some people find difficult to answer. Will you believe he is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Peter confessed he believed just that in Matthew 16:16. It is the bedrock of our faith. The answer to the question you give will determine your eternal fate. “for unless you believe… Read More »
Truth Matters
I have always been impressed with this quote from author, apologist, and thinker C.S. Lewis, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” It reminds me that talking about spiritual things is not about winning an argument or convincing someone to… Read More »
A Boat, Oars, & A Man Standing on the Shore
Alexander Campbell lived in the early 1800’s and was very influential in guiding Christians back to the Bible as the only source of teaching and authority in the church. His views on baptism led to a reclaiming of the apostolic ground on the subject. Campbell was very fond of a story about a shipwrecked crew… Read More »
What’s Wrong With Calvinism?
[Editor’s note: This was published prior to 2021. It is republished here so it can be accessed.-JS] I believe a person can be a Calvinist and still be a Christian…I just don’t know how. Calvinism (named after John Calvin 1509-1564) teaches a person must be chosen by God for salvation and has no free will… Read More »