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apologetics godhead israel salvation study the father

XX. Romans: God’s Word Stands -tmp(Rom 9:3-9)

The question “what about the Jew” is frighteningly important in it’s historic context. Paul immediately impresses upon the reader how important his kinsmen according to the flesh are since it directly impacts God’s good word.

Paul’s not referring to only blood relatives although he makes the blood relation with his countrymen that important. These are the Israelites who were formed as a nation by the very word of God. This group finds its origins in Abram, who was called out from the Gentiles, crossed over the river into Canaan and traveled up and down throughout the land. God gave irrefutable promises to Abraham and eventually to his sons…setting them apart children of promise.

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apologetics arminianism calvinism church eschatology godhead israel salvation sin the father

XIX. Romans: The Problem of the Jews (Rom 9:1-2)

Let me start an investigation of the third movement of Paul’s defense by directing attention to Russ’ series on Calvanism. There are many discussions that may arise based on very old arguments that I don’t want to spend (too much) time discussing. Not that the discussions shouldn’t be—but rather it detracts from my purpose of going through the book of Romans. Calvinists and Arminians would both agree that their respective stance is a systematic doctrine. These camps do not establish their doctrine solely on the grounds of these three chapters of the Bible so I will not limit my overview of these chapters to those doctrines either.

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apologetics church history human israel religion

Thanksgiving Day: Why Do We Do It

Every Halloween Christians argue about what they should do on Halloween (I dealt with that here). Every Christmas and Easter another group of Christians points out the pagan origins of those holidays and level a similar charge. But rarely has the same point been raised about Thanksgiving. “It’s a time to thank God for all He has done” are the usual words while any pagan relationship to the holiday is ignored. My main premise with this post is not to validate or deny the celebration of the day but rather to show how far spread certain practices and celebrations are across religions and how that’s not surprising in the least.

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apologetics calvinism quotes

Allow Some Alls to Mean All

In an effort to prove that God’s atonement is limited to elect individuals some Calvinists have taken to highlight the context of enemy camp proof-texts to show how the “all” contained in those verses refers to a limited group. That’s fine to do; context always defines a word so when I shout at the guests who have overstayed their welcome with “all people in my house; get out” I am not referring to all the people in the world nor am I including myself or my immediate family in the statement—I’m referring to the guests. The context restricted the meaning of the words and the fact that Calvinists point that out is to be applauded.

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apologetics church history study

Should A Christian Observe Halloween?

Years ago someone from my old church handed me a Chick tract on the “true meaning” of Halloween; it scared me (and it scared Joe Carter—let him link to it). Mind you, I saw The Exorcist when I was eight and the Lord saved me two weeks later—even so, Chick scared me. But as I grew older I came to see that many of the things Chick said were not sound and with Halloween specifically I had to draw (sorry) my own conclusions. After all, if I was to be a husband and a father I would have to have some solid convictions to share with the family. So should a Christian observe Halloween?