Before You Lose Your Mind: A Response To The Gospel Coalition

Last updated on: April 30, 2021 at 8:56 pm By Keith Giles

Recently, our friends at The Gospel Coalition released a book by various authors called “Before You Lose Your Faith” which was intended to provide guidance for those going through Deconstruction and/or to educate those who just don’t know what it’s all about. Sadly, The Gospel Coalition doesn’t really understand what Deconstruction is all about, either. So, their book includes tone-deaf statements like these: “Whatever your struggle, it gets better with more—not less—Christianity. It might be tempting to leave the church... Read more

Why Jesus Doesn’t Fix It

Last updated on: April 26, 2021 at 5:06 pm By Keith Giles

Evangelical Christians [and many Atheists] tend to expect God to make everything better. Evangelicals cling to the hope that one day [soon?] Jesus will return to fix everything. Atheists have given up that hope and use God’s lack of intervention as proof that God isn’t real. Either way, you end up with a situation where God either fixes all the suffering and pain in our World, or no one does. But, consider this. Jesus could turn stones into bread and make... Read more

Who Cares What God Wants? Most Christians Don’t.

Last updated on: April 20, 2021 at 5:37 pm By Keith Giles

I’m starting to realize that so much of what Christianity is focused on has absolutely nothing to do with anything that God actually wants. For example, Christians are all about growing the Church – which is primarily about the size of the building – even though God never asked anyone to build a Temple for God. When King David gets this idea God’s response was this: “This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell... Read more

Your Reconciliation Ministry: How’s It Going?

Last updated on: April 15, 2021 at 4:07 pm By Keith Giles

“And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” In 2 Cor. 5:19-20, the Apostle Paul tells us that we have all been given a ministry of reconciliation. My question to you is: How is that going so far? I mean, what do you do every day to bring reconciliation to those around you? Who have you reconciled with recently? How many people in your community... Read more

Good News For Non-Christians: Jesus Isn’t Like Most Christians

Last updated on: April 12, 2021 at 8:15 pm By Keith Giles

A few days ago I posted this meme on my Facebook page: Per usual, I received an equal number of comments in favor of the meme as disagreeing with it or questioning it. The one reply that really made me stop was this one by my dear friend, Ruth, whom I’ve known since Junior High and who married my best-friend. She said: This reminded me of something I had written about almost a decade ago: “It’s... Read more

How Much More?

Last updated on: April 9, 2021 at 8:00 pm By Keith Giles

There’s a verse in 1 Corinthians 15 that most Evangelical Christians really wish wasn’t there. If you ever want to be entertained, try asking them to explain what this verse means and then just sit back and marvel at the gymnastics display. Here’s the verse: “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” 1 Cor. 15:22 There’s a companion verse to this on where Paul says much the same thing here: “For as by... Read more

SUNSET OR SUNRISE? by Amy Chumbley

Last updated on: April 5, 2021 at 3:22 pm By Keith Giles

[GUEST POST] It seemed strange, somehow even wrong, to be decorating a house while someone I loved was in pain and nearing death. Yet that’s what I did. My grandmother was dying in a nursing home in Kentucky and I was moving into a new home in Georgia. We didn’t know how long she had, only that her death seemed imminent. Her 89-year-old body was tired and thin. She’d lost her appetite and her desire to live along... Read more

The Greater Commission

Last updated on: April 2, 2021 at 5:01 pm By Keith Giles

Barna Research posted recently their survey results to the question: “What is the Great Commission?” and – not too surprisingly – more than half of Christians had no clue. A few could say they had heard that phrase before but weren’t sure what it was in reference to. Even less were aware that it was something Jesus told his disciples to go and do. So, to refresh your memory, the “Great Commission” is in reference to the command given by... Read more

Our Humanity Has Always Been One With The Trinity

Last updated on: March 25, 2021 at 7:18 pm By Keith Giles

I love when this happens: I’m talking to my students in the Square 1 or Square 2 sessions over the weekend and someone says something that just blows my mind. It happened last weekend and I can’t wait to share it with all of you here. So, we were talking about the Incarnation of Christ introduced a human into the Trinity, but when my friend Craig phrased it this way a cascade of scriptures started popping into my mind in... Read more

Jesus Saves (From What?)

Last updated on: March 19, 2021 at 6:16 pm By Keith Giles

After reading and re-reading the New Testament, I’m now fully convinced that our view of salvation isn’t what the authors of the Gospels or the Epistles had in mind when they used this term. As I’ve mentioned in a previous article, the phrase “He saved others but he cannot save himself” was spoken about Jesus as he was hanging on the cross. But those Pharisees couldn’t have meant “Jesus helped others get to heaven, but he cannot help himself get... Read more