The Early Church Fathers Series: Polycarp of Smyrna (Part 3)

In this third installment of my blog post series on the early Church Fathers, I am going to look at Polycarp of Smyrna. Along with Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp was among the earliest Church Fathers after the age of the actual apostles. He was born in AD 69, right around the…

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The Early Church Fathers Series: Ignatius of Antioch (Part 2)

Shortly after the Jerusalem council of AD 49, the Apostle Peter relocated to Antioch to help lead the Church there. When Peter left for Rome, presumably at some point during the mid-50s, a man name Evodius became the new leader of the Church in Antioch. Then, in AD 70, the same year that Titus’ legions…

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My Conversation with John Griffin about the Recent Attack by Answers in Genesis on BioLogos…(and evolution, creation, and how to read your Bible)

I recently sat down with John Griffin for a discussion about the recent attack on BioLogos from Answers in Genesis, where AiG calls BioLogos a “house of heresy” all because it doesn’t embrace YECism. It’s a short 25-minute video. Enjoy!

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The Early Church Fathers Series: Clement of Rome (Part 1)

Clement of Rome is considered to be the first Apostolic Father of the Church, or more properly speaking, the first major figure in Christian history after the time of the apostles themselves. No one is sure about when he was born, but it is believed he was born around AD 35 in Rome and eventually…

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Something New: Joel’s Music Sharing Time (Music that has impacted my life: Bob Bennett’s “Matters of the Heart”)

This post is the start of something different I will occasionally do on my blog. Having grown up in the Evangelical world of the 70s-80s, I was deeply influenced by some truly great Christian music that came out of that time. And so, I thought I wanted to share that music that I love so…

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Let’s Start a Series on the Early Church Fathers! (Introduction)

Having grown up within Evangelicalism, even though my family went regularly to church and even though I went to a Christian high school, I really knew nothing about Church History. Sure, I knew the names of Martin Luther, John Calvin, maybe Saint Augustine—but I didn’t really know anything about them. And, quite obviously, beyond those…

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Calvin Smith of AiG has BioLogos in his Crosshairs (Part 3 of my look of his recent attack on BioLogos…with Steve Martin and Derek Zoolander making a guest appearance!)

Here in my last post about Calvin Smith’s (of Answers in Genesis) two-part series on the “heretical” BioLogos, I want to focus on the last part of his second article, where he takes specific aim at Peter Enns, Denis Lamoureux, Karl Giberson, Kenton Sparks, and Joseph Bankard. I’ve read quite a bit of Enns and…

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Answers in Genesis has a Whistle, and no one is to stone anyone until they blow it (Part 2 of my look at Calvin Smith’s attack of BioLogos as a “House of Heresy”…yes, he’s blowing the whistle)

Last week, Calvin Smith at Answers in Genesis wrote an online article entitled, “BioLogos: House of Heresy and False Teaching, Part 1,” in which he lambasted the BioLogos organization for spreading heresy and false teaching. Earlier this week, I wrote my own post on Smith’s invective. Well, he has now come out with “Part 2”…

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AiG Fancies Itself the Grand Inquisitor (but everyone expects the AiG Inquisition!)

Last week, Calvin Smith at Answers in Genesis started a blog series about BioLogos, the organization started by Francis Collins that, in a nutshell, tries to ease the fears of many Evangelicals regarding evolution by trying to show that the scientific theory of evolution does not conflict with the Bible and the Christian faith. Smith’s…

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A Book Analysis of “We the Fallen People” by Robert McKenzie… (my own commentary)

It has been a week, and I now am getting around to writing my commentary and thoughts to Robert McKenzie’s book, We the Fallen People (which I summarized in Part 1). At the beginning of his book, McKenzie spoke of the need to think critically about core issues involving American democracy if we want to…

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