January 13th, 2008 by Bradley Hagan
Star Wars is a complex movie, but after you strip away the music, the monsters, the Millennium Falcon, and the multitude of other characters, special effects, gadgets, and space ships, you are actually left with a very simple concept, good versus evil. George Lucas made this very hard to miss, right down to the good guys wearing white and the bad guys black. However, now that I am a believer in Christ, I have a radically different view of who is evil (depraved) and who, if anyone, is good. This is vital to understand if we are to know our position before a holy God. So, for the purposes of this blog, I am going to judge the morality of Star Wars’ characters by Jesus’ standard. (more…)
January 4th, 2008 by Bradley Hagan
In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker crash lands his X-wing fighter in Dagobah and begins his training with Yoda, the Jedi Master. His training comprises various physical and mental conditioning including using the Force to move rocks without physically lifting them. Later on, Luke needs to use the Force to lift his X-wing fighter (weighing several tons) out of the swamp it has sunk into. Luke, recognizing the feat required, says doubtfully “All right, I’ll give it a try.” Yoda emphatically retorts “No! Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” As a Christian, I now think of this statement in terms of what it takes to be saved from God’s wrath. My Christian modification is “Do (trust in God’s grace), or do not (trust in God’s grace). There is no try (to trust in God’s grace). (more…)
August 3rd, 2007 by Bradley Hagan
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is my favorite book of the bible. It’s an amazing God-breathed epistle that is a gold mine of deep theology. At different times in my life, dozens of verses and passages have greatly encouraged me. I especially like the “chains” found in this letter, verses that link thoughts together through words. For example, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called, those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” – Romans 8:29-30. Let’s look at another one, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our suffering, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” – Romans 5:3-4. Maybe that is why a certain warning from Yoda in Empire Strikes Back resonates with me. During Luke Skywalker’s training, the wrinkled green Jedi cautions Luke, “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” (more…)
July 9th, 2007 by Geoff Volker
In one of those rare moments of self-awareness I became convicted of the seriousness of one of my common practices. My “common practice” is that of getting irritated at others. It can be while I am driving the car, waiting in line at the local grocery store or any other qualifying situation. I can just get easily irritated by those around me and I have up to this point not seen it in the light that scripture puts it. Then… as it often seems to be, the Spirit brought me to the point where I see more clearly what I was doing. When I indulged in petty irritations I was embracing a mindset of unbelief. Let me explain this in more biblical terms. (more…)
June 6th, 2007 by Bradley Hagan
It seems like I have heard a lot of talk lately about how bad television is for you. The attitude often being that if you have the choice to do anything besides watch TV, then by all means do it. However, like any other of God’s gifts, TV can be greatly profitable if used wisely. So, what is wisely? Some would say that a few channels like the History or the Discovery are somewhat beneficial, but even time dedicated to these should be in strict moderation. But what about the Sci-Fi channel? Can anything of value possibly come from there? It can if it starts with the phrase “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”! (more…)
January 19th, 2007 by Geoff Volker
The following is a set of notes that Geoff just finished that I thought might be helpful in explaining how to teach theology or at least how we approach teaching theology, that is, our methodology. These are just notes, so if you have questions, please ask me to clarify or expand. (more…)
December 4th, 2006 by Geoff Volker
Our conference begins tomorrow and goes the rest of the week. The topic is New Covenant Hermeneutics. I have already posted my notes and thoughts on the subject as it relates to interpreting the prophets and typology. The rest of this week I will be posting notes done by Geoff Volker and Mike Feather. Today I am posting Geoff’s notes on handling Old Testament Narrative. We all love the stories of the Old Testament but they can be rather difficult to teach on without moralizing or becoming fanciful in our application in the New Covenant era. In these notes, Geoff has attempted to give us some clear guidance on how to apply Old Testament narratives in a way that honors God and encourages His people. (more…)
August 19th, 2006 by Matt Sutton
James 1:2-4 says: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Historically, I must admit, I’ve basically blown off this verse. I would never admit this to fellow believers, but deep down the idea of having a perspective of “pure joy” when facing a trial seemed like complete nonsense to me. I rationalized the verse away by assuming that perhaps James was just simply using hyperbole to make a point. Maybe we shouldn’t curse God when facing trials of many kinds. I can buy that, but have joy; better yet, have pure joy? Right. (more…)
July 24th, 2006 by Matt Sutton
Let’s play a little hypothetical game and assume for the moment that you are a real believer sure of your salvation. Not only are you sure, but other folks, for whom you respect, see evidence in your life and think your salvation is a pretty sure thing too. So with that detail out of the way, let’s move on and next assume that in your heart you have a real desire to be used by the Lord. Hopefully this is not a huge hypothetical leap for you! Now, the question is, how do we go about being “used” by the Lord? (Please bear in mind that I am in no way trying to trivialize salvation by relegating it to a mere “detail”. However, for the sake of this blog, certainly you will agree that salvation is, by definition, a profoundly obvious prerequisite.) (more…)
June 19th, 2006 by Matt Sutton
Several years ago my father began to have difficulty swallowing. He didn’t experience any pain, or at least he didn’t communicate it to me if he did, but he described his experience with swallowing as being similar to eating a peanut butter sandwich really fast with no glass of milk to wash it down. He said it felt like everything he ate was sticking in his throat and no amount of effort would make it go down. He wasn’t just imagining this, however. An examination by our family physician revealed that he had developed esophageal cancer. (more…)
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