Archives for 2016

THE NINTH DAY OF OCTOBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. For several years, Sara Faye and I have requested absentee ballots in advance of election day (this November 8), enabling us to vote for our candidates of choice while avoiding the traffic jams and long lines that mark the day. I have carefully avoided stating my personal opinion regarding political candidates or parties, although many Christians consider their preferences to be not only clear and obvious but the only moral conclusion. I prefer to look for biblical principles equally applicable to all sides, an … [Read more...]

THE SECOND DAY OF OCTOBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. I was talking recently with a gracEmail subscriber who is using the Bible to teach some Chinese physicians conversational English. Must a reader know and ascribe extraordinary authority to the Christian scriptures in order to benefit from them? If so, how can one person convince another person of the Bible's unique authority? * * * As believers, our first task is not to convince people that they must follow the Bible; it is to introduce people to Jesus Christ. The Bible contains the story of God and his people, … [Read more...]

THE TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. A gracEmail subscriber writes, “Does God ever just give up on one of his children? Is it possible that we can continue to do something so evil that God finally decides that there is no hope for us and that we are not worth saving?” *** If God based his attitude toward us on what he sees in us, he would have given up long ago on us all. Our confidence is not in our ability to love God, or to obey him, or even to repent without sinning in the process. Our confidence is in God’s gospel promise that he … [Read more...]

THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. The third international Rethinking Hell conference will be held on October 7th-8th, 2016, at the Highgate International Church in Highgate, London. Hosted by Justin Brierley, this will be an occasion for evangelicals to consider the case for Conditional Immortality, and the movement's ongoing direction. This year, the theme of the conference is “Conditional Immortality: Past, Present, Future. Plenary speakers will be Roger Forster, David Instone-Brewer, and Chris Date. The conference will be held on … [Read more...]

THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. A gracEmail subscriber asks why the New Testament speaks of the Christian as God’s child in two senses-- by birth and also by adoption. *** Any answer we give to the question why scripture-writers do something must be speculative unless the text involved states the motivation. Furthermore, New Testament language is often richly nuanced and involves several layers of meaning. This is in contrast to much popular evangelical teaching, which tends to be overly-simplistic and overly-literalistic. The … [Read more...]

THE ELEVENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. Paul's perspective. We are familiar with the lists of instructions to various members of the household in Paul's epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. Paul is not writing in a vacuum but in a context. Preachers of various philosophies had been teaching their ideas of the ideal household for centuries before Paul. Following are excerpts from a recent posting titled 'Household Codes,' by David B. Capes, gracEmail subscriber and Academic Dean of Houston Graduate School of Theology. Dr. Capes looks at the … [Read more...]

THE FOURTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. The table is spread and the meal is served. Guests are united in the human race to which they all belong, resplendent as the rainbow of complexions that make their faces shine. Hues of black intermingle with tones of yellow, juxtaposed by shades of white and red and brown. Guests exchange pleasantries and self-introductions a sentence long, in the process discover diversity of a deeper quality. Their time on earth was marked by a range of social, economic, and professional positions: farmers, teachers, … [Read more...]

THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF AUGUST IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. This update is coming to you from Sara Faye, scribe, and me, "dictator." Following successful back surgery on Monday August 15, and three nights at Methodist Hospital West in Katy, I moved to Memorial Hermann Rehab Hospital Katy with expected return home on September 3. I am grateful to God for his presence with my surgeon whose skill has taken away my leg pain. I am grateful to you, my gracEmail family, for your prayers and emails expressing good wishes. Many thanks also, for prayers, cards, visits, and … [Read more...]