I moved on from our recent, very brief Facebook exchange, thinking it would never come to mind again. I thought, “He’s not even trying, why bother?”

But it keeps circling back. You made me think about how my beliefs might look from your point of view, and you asked a couple of questions that deserve answers.

I’ve decided this, though: I’m not going to try to answer your questions in the messy, more-heat-than-light environment of social media. Instead, a friendly open letter.

One disclaimer: I’m not good at finding things on Facebook once they’re no longer in my face. So I’m answering what I remember as the gist of your questions.

1. Can you prove that there is a God?
2. If there is a God, why should I think I owe Him obedience?

Read the series.

Cybersecurity is a subject about which I know almost nothing, and would certainly never give advice.

Yet this is an issue that affects all of us—in our communications, finances, and now, especially, ministries.

So, along with many other people, I am dependent upon the expertise, advice and assistance of those who really live within this realm of technology.

I am thankful, especially, for the help of Steven Lee, the founder of SermonAudio, who visited with me in a video that is posted to SermonAudio.com/pscharf.

In last week’s column, I covered The Vault that SermonAudio is constructing on the campus of Bob Jones University.

“The Vault is going to be playing...

Read the series. This and the previous installment use material from my article “The Eschatology of Covenant Theology,” originally published in the Journal of Dispensational Theology, 10:30 (Sep 2006).

The Eschatology of Covenant Theology (2)

The millennial options available to those who filter their Bible interpretation through the Covenant of Grace are, Amillennialism; Postmillennialism; and, what is sometimes referred to as Covenant (or Historic) Premillennialism. These options will now be reviewed below.

Option One: Amillennialism:

Amillennialism is the eschatological viewpoint which, among other things, insists that there will be no literal thousand-year Messianic...

As humans, we have a strong bias toward the practical. It makes sense. Even before the Fall, Adam was given responsibilities that required problem-solving, outcome-oriented, cause-and-effect thinking.

Naming the animals was a puzzle to solve (Gen 2:19-20). How do you name them all without using names twice? How do you name them in a way that is orderly? You don’t have to be Linnaeus to notice that the characteristics of animals follow patterns. Adam would have had some interest in categorizing animals as he named them, and that would have required problem-solving thought.

Then there was the job of tending and keeping the garden of Eden (Gen 2:15). We’re still pre-curse, but the language implies...

Many people yearn to make sense of their lives and this world. Why do things happen the way they do? Is it part of a plan? Is there no plan? Using the analogy of a train plodding its way along, there are at least three ways people often think of this world and their place:

1. The runaway train. It hurtles down a track without a controller at the wheel—whatever happens happens. This is the way of scientism and secular humanism. There is no plan, no purpose, no guiding hand—malevolent or otherwise. There is just random meaninglessness.
2. Fate. The train that is this world is controlled by an impersonal, uncaring, disinterested, and faceless controller we don’t know, can’t see, can’t fathom. This is “blind luck,” Fate, Destiny....

Read the series.

I began this series this past March, in which I set out to look back at how we have responded to the events of 2020.

I am not going to focus on the medical or political aspects of the pandemic or the shutdowns. Rather, I am concentrating on local church ministry—zeroing in on how this has affected their outreach, both locally and online. Certainly, coronavirus and all that surrounded it has left a lasting mark on numerous aspects of our ministries.

I am also persuaded that we need to look back at this past crisis only long enough to learn from it and prepare for the next similar crisis. I do not believe that it is a matter of if—but, rather, when—that will occur. Specifically, are...

McDonald’s sells more than burgers, Amazon sells more than books, and a AAA membership offers far more benefits than just roadside assistance. We easily associate a brand name or well-known company with a limited sample of its products or services when it actually produces or offers much more. If we’re not careful, we do the same thing in the church when we view or portray worship as the musical part of Sunday morning gatherings. I say this because worshiping God encompasses so much more than music.

We often describe the musical part of church gatherings as though there’s worship (i.e., music), then there’s everything else: announcements, giving, preaching, prayer, and so on. We inadvertently give the impression that when we’ve finished singing, we’ve transitioned from worship...

Reprinted with permission from As I See It, which is available free by writing to the editor at dkutilek@juno.com.

I recently completed a series of Sunday Bible lessons on Acts of the Apostles. It was begun in October 2019, and the concluding lesson was taught in mid-June 2022. Even accounting for the hiatus in class from mid-March to early October in 2020 due to government-imposed public meeting restrictions, this proved to be the longest single series I have ever taught (Acts being the second longest book in the New Testament—Luke beating it by a slight margin—was no doubt a major contributing factor!). I did previously teach...