TOPICS » Biblical Studies

Sep 14
23

“How God Became Jesus” – Recommended Podcast Episode

Brothers and Sisters,

Do you remember how a few Sundays ago I spent a good bit of time introducing the Gospel of John, talking about different views concerning authorship and the dating of the book? All of that eventually lead to the comment, by way of application, that “we Christians need to learn to think critically about the ideas of those who think critically about the Bible.” In other words, we should not blindly buy into the ideas of these liberal scholars who seek to undermine the authority of scripture simply because they have written best selling books, or teach at prestigious universities, or appear on television. They may be brilliant, but that does not meant they are correct. They may have high IQ’s, but do not forget that their hearts may be at war with the living God, and their intellect used, not for the glory of God, but for the defamation of his name. 

I would like to recommend an episode on the Reformed Forum podcast in which a number of Christian scholars do this very thing – they think critically about the ideas of those who think critically (in this case, the ideas of Bart Ehrman). 

This episode will give you a glimpse into the kinds of debates that take place in scholarly circles in regard to the trustworthiness of the Bible and orthodox Christian belief. This episode is particularly timely in that it deals with the subject of the early churches view of the deity of Christ, John 1:1-14 being a central text in that conversation. 

I hope you can listen in. Enjoy!

Pastor Joe

http://reformedforum.org/podcasts/ctc351/

Posted in Good Thoughts from Others, Biblical Studies, Church History, Doctrine of Christ, Joe Anady, Posted by Joe. No Comments

Jan 14
22

Holy War

I always appreciate the insights gained from Michael Horton and the rest of the contributors on The White Horse Inn, but I found this episode to be particularly insightful.

I would imagine that most Christians have, at some time in their lives, puzzled over the texts in Joshua where God commands the people of Israel to utterly destroy all of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. How are we to interpret these passages? Should they be in the Bible? If so, how do these texts jive with the emphasis upon love and mercy that we see in Christ? And beyond that, what do these texts say to us today about war in general, or holy war in particular?

Certainly these are challenging questions. In fact, these are the texts that critics of the Bible will often go to first. Critics will claim that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New, or that the God of the Bible is, in fact, morally repulsive. In my opinion, Horton and the crew deal beautifully with this difficulty.

As you listen I would encourage you to take special note of the way that these men go about interpreting scripture. Among other things, they pay special attention to the context of the book of Joshua. Not only do they pay attention the cultural and literary context, but also the redemptive historical context.

I notice that there are also other episodes pertaining to this topic both before and after this one in the White Horse Inn archives. Though I have not listened to them, I’m confident in these men to recommend them to you as well.

Please have a listen!

Pastor Joe

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/holy-war/id356920632?i=234013247&mt=2

Web: http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2014/01/19/whi-1189-holy-war/

Posted in Good Thoughts from Others, Biblical Studies, Joe Anady, Posted by Joe. No Comments


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