“to borrow from Samuel Johnson, an AI writing an article is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It’s not done well, but you’re surprised to find it done at all.” - TGC

Last time, we saw how the very first promise of the Messiah proclaimed Him to be the “Seed” of the woman (Gen. 3:15). But before we can go any further into understanding the characteristics of this coming Savior, we certainly must realize that He was also to be the “Seed” of “Abraham” (Gal. 3:16).

During this time of Advent, we are looking at some of the lesser-known prophecies of Christmas, and we will continue going in chronological order—realizing that we could never exhaust this subject in one Christmas season.

“If there’s to be a healthy next wave of evangelicalism, foundation stones will need to be set in place, or perhaps simply cleared and used again. Packer has left at least four of these stones.” - TGC

“The [Pew Research] study further divides the end-times believers into two groups: those who believe Jesus will return to Earth someday and the world situation will worsen until then (14% of Americans) and everyone else who believes these are the end times (25%).” - Lifeway

“The opinion, which relies on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ever-more-robust embrace of religious rights, begins by citing a range of religious beliefs — Jewish, Muslim, Episcopalian, Unitarian Universalist and pagan — to the effect that human life or personhood begins well after conception.” - RNS

“How evangelical computer programmers changed the way we read Scripture.” - CToday

“No reporter brought up the fact that this case cuts both ways — it can support an artist on the cultural left who, as a matter of conscience, does not want to be forced to articulate conservative views.” - GetReligion

This article by Dr. Myron Houghton first appeared at Sharper Iron in June of 2005.

I. INTRODUCTION

The primary purpose of this paper is to present the major points of the open view of God as found in Dr. Gregory A. Boyd’s recent book, God of the Possible¹ and to respond to those points with an exegesis of relevant biblical passages. While I am not impartial, I intend to be fair, both in the clarity with which the major points of the book are explained and in the manner in which I respond to its major ideas.

“In 2020, the British Social Attitudes Survey used a more precise question about Christianity…. In that survey, 53% of UK respondents claimed no religion and only 37% claimed Christianity” - CPost

“Perceived demographics may not match actual demographics. You may think you know your community, but in many cases, church leaders have a skewed view of who lives around the church.” - Sam Rainer

“The new December 2022 issue of Themelios has 211 pages of editorials, articles, and book reviews. It is freely available in three formats: (1) PDF, (2) web version, and (3) Logos Bible Software.” - TGC

“December 6 [was] the anniversary of the death of St. Nicholas in 343, a leader in the ancient Church in the city of Myra in Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey.” - Breakpoint

“In an episode of his podcast… said Trump’s posting on social media Saturday was ‘a direct contradiction of the oath of office for the president of the United States.’” - CPost

Related: “A president’s most important promise is to defend the Constitution” - Al Mohler at World

Reposted from Rooted Thinking. This post originally appeared at GFA’s blog Commissioned. Read Part 1.

The whole discussion of food offered to idols in 1 Corinthians 8-10 is still immediately relevant to billions of people in our world today. The applications of the passage are very important for all Christians. For now, we will focus on the immediate context of these chapters.

The Corinthian believers were asking:

“we have absolute certainty that the Holy Spirit has spoken and is speaking in the Bible, whereas we don’t have the same level of certainty in the other ways in which the Spirit does move, act, and guide” - Ligonier

“only God accomplishes everything he sets out to do. He’s the only one with the wisdom and power to complete his work according to his plan and in his intended timing.” - TGC

“the Southern Baptist Convention has no authority over state Baptist conventions or their entities. Any policies and procedures established by the national Convention govern neither state Baptist conventions nor local Baptist associations.” - BPNews

“BCIs are currently being tested in people with severe neuromuscular disorders to help them recover everyday functions like communication and mobility…. patients can turn on a light switch by visualizing the action and having a BCI decode their brain signals” - The Conversation

“While he acknowledged his sinfulness again on Sunday, Chandler didn’t offer any more details about the situation that led to his leave of absence.” - CToday

“The justices heard oral arguments for more than two hours in a designer’s challenge of a Colorado policy that requires her to create custom websites for same-sex weddings in violation of her religious beliefs.” - BPNews

“I have seen people make unwise and even catastrophic decisions who told me they prayed and felt good about it.” - Randy Alcorn

This passage is not about circumscribing women’s roles in church life.

“In other words, a person who seems as though he is criticizing his ingroup is often actually criticizing the outgroup he looks down on the most—the one closest to him.” - Ben Edwards

“Contextualization is good and necessary. Syncretism is dangerous and should be avoided.” - Kenneth Berding

“chief operation officer of The Association of Theological Schools, noted that overall enrollment at ATS schools has remained stable and that the master of divinity degree isn’t dying. Instead, he said, the M.A. degree is appealing to more students.” - RNS

“Several million people did not randomly, suddenly have several million individual changes of heart in the space of 40-odd years. Kudos to Bullivant for his cultural history, summarized in six clear statements at the end of the chapter.” - CToday

See also: Why Americans are leaving their churches - RNS

Read the rest of the series here.

Paul has spoken about the right way to understand the Mosaic Law. Now, he presses the point home with an analogy about Abraham.

Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case (Galatians 3:15).

“He is never between a rock and a hard place. His holdings are never decreased by the advance of enemy armies. He is not moved; he is not threatened; he is not set back; he is not frustrated in any of his purposes.” - Olinger

The Fundamentals of Sanctification and Cultural Fundamentalism - Don Johnson

“… a new study found that medical marijuana may just have the same pain-relieving effect as a fake pill.” - Relevant

More at The Conversation