"Stand in the place where you live, now face north. Think about direction, wonder why you haven't before." -R.E.M.
Blog articles are great. They can be short, pithy, humorous, off-topic, off-the-wall, quick to read. They can even take deep theological concepts and blow through them quickly in the name of brevity and space.
But sometimes more space is needed.
Occasionally more research is needed, more words are needed to explain a position, or more time is needed to do justice to the topic at hand. This essay section is for those topics. Though it won't be updated more than a handful of times a year, the content will be much deeper than what's found in the Blog section of the website.
Think of it as going from the kiddy pool and diving into the deep end.
Christus Victor: A Holistic Approach to the Incarnation and Atonement of Jesus Christ
How the incarnation of Christ, coupled with his life ministry, death and resurrection, accomplished multiple objectives in one fell swoop: satisfying the wrath of God, freeing humanity from the bondage of sin, restoring the world to its rightful owner, serving as an example for us to follow, and defeating Satan and his demons.
There's a very strange passage found in 1 Corinthians 15:29—"Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?" What is the baptism for the dead?
The redemption of all of mankind came through the death of God’s one and only son. When the narrative of Jesus is read before an audience of Christians it is always looked upon approvingly, often with a great emotional attachment. However, when a similar story is read from Genesis 22 it brings about questions of God’s character and eternal plan. Perhaps very few passages of scripture are more disturbing in the minds of some Christians and non-Christians alike than the ones found in this chapter.
Thinking Out Loud: Open Theism
The following essay was written in 2001 while I was a sophomore college student at East Texas Baptist University. I had just learned about a systematic understanding of God's sovereignty called "open theism" (also known as "free will theism" or "neo-Molinism"). This essay was one of my first attempts at working out my thoughts on it. I get several things wrong in the essay, but I felt it would be beneficial for others to see my beginning thought processes on a challenging new pursuit.