Test, Discern, and Righteous Judgement

Everything we are taught about the Holy Scripture needs to be tested against Holy Scripture.  We do not blindly believe everything every preacher or religious teacher states; but why?   God calls us to test everything and rightly judge.  This leads us to truth and emboldens our faith; but how?  This article will go over all the who, what, when, where, and why of testing, discerning, and rightly judging.

Can Someone Come to Faith by Apologetics?

Can someone come to saving faith by philosophical, logical, and rational argumentation?  Can you give such amazing arguments for God that someone gives up and then concedes to your arguments of God; does that save?  Or is there something more and deeper than philosophical, logical, and rational argumentation that must occur?  Does something supernatural still need to occur outside of rational thought?  In this article we will discuss the necessity of apologetics, what leads to salvation, and priorities in apologetics.

Disputable Matters

There are some things in the Christian faith that are essential absolute truths; such as Jesus is the One and Only begotten Son of God who is also Lord God and Savior.  Another is that we are saved by Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ.  But there are some matters that are of a relative nature; what food we eat, the day we worship, what we wear to church, what kind of church music is played, having a beer, and getting a tattoo.  Those are examples Disputable Matters.

What is 'Death'?

This is an event that every single person who ever existed and will exist, has or will experience.  Everyone experiences friends or family pass away; eventually even themselves.  But what is it, and what happens to our consciousness and our bodies when we die?  More importantly, what will happen after we are dead? This article attempts to navigate through the issue of our bodily death, our consciousness outside of our bodies, and understand what God has promised us in death.

The Test of Visions and Dreams

There has been, and will be, people to claim they have had experiences, visions, and dreams from God.  How would you know if this is true or false?  This is why we are commanded to test everything with Holy Scripture (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22; Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1).  These simple questions help reveal the truth in any of these type of claims:

Has Anyone Been to Heaven or Hell and Returned?

There are all kinds of popular books and movies based on 'true stories' of people who have claimed to been to Heaven or Hell and returned to earth to tell people about it.  All claims must be compared to what God has made known in His Word.  What does scripture say about these claims?  Through this we can determine a if these experiences and visions are true or hallucinations and vivid imagination.

Does Heaven have Pearly Gates with Gold Streets?

There are three things we need to understand when approaching this issue.  Present material matter vs future matter,  in-time vs eternity, and The Heaven vs 'heaven'.  Grasping the differences in these will help us understand the issue of the appearance of heaven.  First we will look at matter and discuss our earthly and heavenly bodies.  Then we will get into language symbolism and limitations to better understand what we can hope for; and finally answer the question of what will have  Pearly Gates with Gold Streets.

The Transfiguration of Jesus

What is The Transfiguration and why is it such an important event?  This has been studied by theologians for ages. Through scripture we can understand what happened that day on the mountain and what the significance is.  

How Holy is God?

Understanding the Holiness of God is one of the greatest and deepest attributes of God himself.  Man can not fully grasp his holiness because we ourselves will never experience the absolute holiness of God until we are in his presence.  Through Christ and what he has revealed to us, can we better understand how Holy he truly is.

God and Vegetarianism

This is an age old question for the religious and non religious.  In regards to the Christian faith, this issue is tackled directly in scripture and through scripture we can understand this issue of eating meat.   Is it morally wrong?  Are we free to eat any food?  Why some meat was forbidden and what changed.  What does God reveal about killing animals and eating meat?