The Things Religious Leaders Focus on May Not Matter to God at All Modern church priorities look at attendance, offerings, and facility size. Perhaps this is because the world measures success by the number of people, amount of money, and size of buildings. We’re more like the world than we care to admit. More people […]
Some of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses Counter the Practice of Buying Salvation Martin Luther objected to the abuse of indulgences; you can’t buy salvation. Though he mentioned the Church and the pope in some of his theses, he focused on the unbiblical excess of this one practice. Here’s the background: In a creative, though misguided, […]
Discover What We Must Do to Be Saved A recurring theme in Jesus’s biographies is people asking him what they must do. What’s frustrating is Jesus doesn’t always give the same answer. Jesus tells different people to do different things. (For this discussion, we’ll understand “kingdom of God, “kingdom of heaven,” “eternal life,” “salvation,” and […]
John Baptizes with Water and Jesus Baptizes with the Holy Spirit The third chapter in the book of Matthew focuses on John the Baptist and makes the transition to Jesus, the star of the rest of the book. This chapter also contains some teaching from John. He quotes Isaiah and calls for the Jewish people […]
Nathan Takes a Wise Approach When Confronting David about His Sins King David, a man after God’s own heart, is far from perfect. After the Bathsheba affair and the subsequent murder of her husband at the hand of scheming David, God wants to deal with David and restore him to right relationship. This story provides […]
Pete’s Powerful Sermon The first sermon in the book of Acts: Acts 2:1-41 (specifically Acts 2:14-36). Setting: Jerusalem on Pentecost Speaker: Peter Audience: Jews from many nations Preceding Events: The Holy Spirit arrives and empowers the disciples to speak in other languages. Unable to comprehend what is happening, some in the crowd conclude that the […]
Paul Preaches in Athens The sixth sermon in the book of Acts: Acts 17:16-34 (specifically Acts 17:22-31). This one is to the people of Athens. Setting: In Athens, a meeting at the Areopagus Speaker: Paul Audience: The people of Athens (non-Jews) Preceding Events: The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, who were debating with Paul about his […]
But Luther Believed the Pope Had No Power Over Purgatory Martin Luther’s second group of ninety-five theses addressed the pope’s authority over purgatory, or to be more correct, the pope’s lack of authority. Martin asserted that the pope had no power when it came to remitting sins and their penalty in purgatory. Though some accounts […]
Martin Luther Worried That Buying Full Indulgences Served to Hinder Salvation What most raised the ire of the Church against Martin Luther and his ninety-five theses, however, was not his claim of salvation through Jesus alone or the pope having no power over purgatory, but his bold statement that full indulgences served to hinder salvation. […]
The prophetic book of Nahum is essentially a sequel to the book of Jonah. Both focus on the people of Nineveh. Jonah proclaims doom and destruction on them. They have a change of heart (repent). And God relents. A century or so later, they have forgotten all about that. This time Nahum proclaims doom and […]