Gospel of Thomas

Anything titled ‘new’ in regards to views on the Bible should be dealt with cautiously. Of course, throughout history it was necessary that some doctrines be revised (e.g. the Earth as center of the universe***) and in such cases, ‘new perspectives’ were quite beneficial. While the New Perspective on Paul is certainly thought provoking and even brings up some good points in regards to Judaism, the Church should treat it with caution and not regard it as a replacement for the traditional views of…

Scot Mcknight speaks about how Western evangelicals have lost touch with the gospel. He says we’ve reduced the gospel to making a decision for Christ. Mcknight argues that it’s been reduced to a 4 point presentation that’s a surefire way to salvation. Telling people that “God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life” is one of the most dangerous things you can tell someone. When you assure someone that they’re in God’s love when in reality they are an enemy of God and stand under his…

Evangelism is the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness. When practiced by Biblical standards/method, it is ‘supposed’ to be an act of persuasion using reason, evidence, scripture and the Holy Spirit to show non believers the Gospel. This is confusing to me, because it would seem today that every Church of every denomination, based on this definition alone, is Evangelist. Every church you go to has their priest, pastor, preacher, what have you. Every sermon…

largely due to their high view of God’s sovereignty and belief that evangelism represented an assault against that sovereignty. These high-Calvinists created a theological system that went well beyond the five-point Calvinism. The need to preach the gospel to unregenerate sinners was minimized in favor of a deterministic view of God with regards to salvation.…

Righteous B and His Ministry of Dirty Vagabonds There are many people who have made an impact when it comes to Youth Ministry. Pope John Paul II comes to mind when thinking about leaders in youth outreach, but I always think of someone who works on a much smaller scale. Someone who affected my life personally when it came to my religion. I always think of the Catholic youth minister and rapper Bob Lesnefsky aka Righteous B. With his wife, and a large number of young missionaries…

The Gospel of Luke and Jesus in Our Lives Today The Gospel of Luke shows significant relevance to all aspects of our daily Christian lives whilst successfully reinforcing the teachings and actions of Jesus Christ. Through Luke’s Gospel, we can encounter Jesus firsthand and understand his teachings in depth in order to extensively implement them to live a God-fearing life and inspire others to do the same. Jesus is the bringer of salvation, good news and the Kingdom of God. He was the first to…

What is the gospel? The gospel is how god can communicate with man, without the gospel there is no bridge to god and man. What does the bible say about the gospel? In 1 corinthians 15:1-2 it states Now I would remind you, brothers,[a] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. The gospel is hope and is something by which we stand by we are saved. Being a…

late 1800’s in London England. In one word Mr. Booth describes The Salvation Army is about taking care of others (The Salvation Army, 2016). Prior to starting The Salvation Army, Mr. Booth was a preacher who roamed the roads of London to preach the Gospel to whomever would listen. Mr. Booth’s preached a message of hope and salvation to thieves, prostitutes and the poor. One day during a disagreement with the London church leaders Mr. Booth’s integrity of the message he was preaching was…

A renowned American author, John Steinbeck, once said, “power does not corrupt...fear corrupts.” To twist Steinbeck’s words, perhaps it is the fear of losing power that corrupts an individual’s morals. Many works of art and literature represent the ideas of power and corruption; such works include the painting Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Massacre of the Innocents is based on a biblical scene in which the Roman King Herod learns that a new…

“And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). One aspect of the Ephesians' verse that is applicable to William Golding's Lord of the Flies is the idea of righteousness and the character who represents that idea is Simon. In the story an all boys British school crash lands on an island. With no adults to supervise them many of the boys went into their savage tendances because there is no order for them to follow. Out of all of them,…