Here in Sydney I’m currently co-teaching a seminary class on the doctrine of the Trinity. We’ve spent the first few weeks of the course reading and discussing some sermons by Gregory of Nazianzus. The next section will focus on parts of Augustine’s De Trinitate. In the...

“For this we labor and strive…” God is a giver. So much of Christian belief and action rests on this elementary observation that it is almost shameful to put into words. God’s gifts of grace and mercy are daily refreshed (Lam 3:22-23), and the gifted grace of Christ...

I recently got into my first Twitter battle – and it was epic. Sometimes, when I am done pouring through old books and ancient citations, I do searches in Twitter for various subjects that I had been reading about. A few days ago that subject was Apollonius of Tyana. I quickly found a...

Allow me to introduce myself. First and foremost, I’m a sinner saved by grace. I’m a husband and a father. I’ve been a youth leader, Sunday school teacher, deacon and elder. I served in the Air Force for thirty years. I was a three-sport letterman in high school, played college football,...

This last week, I learned about Earthing. If this sounds like a hippie-influenced, granola-society type of activity… you’re probably right. Though it’s proponents claim that there is scientific research to validate the claims of this practice, the basic gist is that we as humans...

People wonder if I’m gay. I know because kids in school used to ask me. When I replied with silence, they called me a fag and went on their way. If bullies wondered about my sexuality, then so did family, friends, people at church. They were probably just too afraid (or too nice) to ask....

Sound hermeneutics requires an understanding of how communication works. The Bible, after all, is God’s authoritative communication to us. There are three components of communication: words, genre, and message. “Words” refers to what we say; “genre” to the way we say it; and...

I know it’s the 21st century, but here’s the thing: I’m a Christian. By definition, I have old-school beliefs. That might be a newsflash to the critics, who often react to biblical, traditional and altogether unsurprising beliefs with dropped jaws, as if Christians haven’t preached...

Near the top of my New Earth wish list is that God will set up a 3D IMAX theater where we can watch the real-life Bible movie. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see Moses part the actual Red Sea instead of Charlton Heston part a tray of jello? I want to see Adam formed from the dust, the fall of...

As we find ourselves in another Christmas season, it is always good to return to the Gospels and remind ourselves why it is we celebrate. For me, that means returning to Matthew’s account of the birth of Christ, reading and pondering Matthew’s side of the story. But this story of...