PART FOUR: THE TREATMENT OF THE NT Let it first be said that Richard’s treatment of the Gospels does indeed place the emphasis in the right place in terms of God’s mercy and compassion as expressed in Christ’s various teachings and healings and acts of fellowship. The problem with these chapters is the important topics they fail to address. Examples are Christ’s views on marriage, sexual sin, the eternal consequences for rejecting the Good News, and Christ’s call of sinners... Read more
PART THREE: OT Teaching on Sexual Matters Chris’s presentation of the relevant OT evidence is well written and addresses an audience of clergy and laity. It is not meant to be a scholarly monograph, but it is to be taken seriously as written by two seasoned scholars who have read the academic discussion and reflected deeply on the relevant matter. His treatment of Ezekiel 20.25-26 is another example of his suggestion that God changed his mind. Chris thinks this... Read more
PART TWO: God’s Unchanging Nature At the very outset of the book Chris presents us with an example from 1 Sam. 15.11-35, Exhibit A that God does indeed change his mind, and that Samuel is telling a lie when in 1 Sam. 15.29 the prophet says the following, “The Glory of Israel does not recant or change his mind! He is not mortal that he should change his mind!” Now this theme is not an isolated statement found only in... Read more
C.B. Hays and R.B Hays, The Widening of God’s Mercy (Yale U. Press, 2024) 272 pages PART ONE: Preliminary Thoughts In the beginning of The Widening of God’s Mercy we are given personal stories from both Chris and his father Richard Hays as to why there has been a change in mind about what we should think about the Scriptures’ prohibitions of same sexual activity (in both the OT and NT), as well as related matters, such as gay... Read more
Preston Sprinkle has been involved in ministry to and with the LGBTQ+ community for a very long time indeed, so he is worth listening to in his critique of this recent book which involves the Hays changing their views about ‘full inclusion’ of the LGBTQ+ in the church, presumably including accepting their sexual behavior, ordaining them, and apparently allowing them to have Christian marriage ceremonies as well. Here is the you tube link to his critique— And here is the... Read more
Please see the pdf attached below. We will be taking just one bus load (42 or so), so I encourage you to sign up early for this extravaganza. Grace and peace, Ben W.BEN-W-ITALY-TURKEY-2025 Read more
Fred Craddock has always been one of my favorite southern preachers…. and here’s a good sermon with lots of heart, teaching us not to be ‘listless’. My only objection to this sermon is that he calls Junia, a woman, Junias, which while a male name, did not exist at all in Roman times. You don’t name a boy after the female deity Juno. Read more
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