Dr Paul Allen

Dick Harfield writes answers to theological questions on Quora. As a self-declared atheist, his responses follow a recognisable pattern: vague where precision is needed, occasionally accurate, but consistently thin on detail. He habitually invokes the phrase "most theologians today believe" without attribution, and on the rare occasions he does cite sources, they tend to be liberal, non-believing scholars who share his sceptical presuppositions — a kind of circular credentialing. His approach to engagement is equally revealing. He disables debate on his answers, insulating himself from challenge, and his followers tend to reinforce rather than interrogate his conclusions, often using his answers as a platform to sneer at orthodox Christianity rather than examine it seriously. The question below is a good illustration. It is a genuinely interesting theological question — but Harfield misreads its context entirely, arriving at a confident conclusion while missing the point th...

Why does the KJV Bible contain references to such mythological creatures as the ‘unicorn’ (Num. 23:22) and the ‘satyr’ (Isa. 13:21)? How can such allusions be harmonised with the claim that the Bible is the infallible word of God? The “Unicorn” of the Bible The term “unicorn” is found nine times in the King James Version of the Bible (Num. 23:22; 24:8; Dt. 33:17; Job 39:9-10; Psa. 22:21; 29:6; 92:10; Isa. 34:7). However, unicorn does not appear at all in the American Standard Version, nor in most other modern versions. This should be a signal that the “problem” is one of translation, rather than a problem with the original, biblical text. In ancient mythological literature, the unicorn was a horse-like animal with a prominent horn protruding from the centre of its forehead. There is no evidence that this creature is alluded to in the scriptures. In the Hebrew Old Testament, the word that is found in the texts referenced above is re’em, which is translated “wild ox” in the later version...

In 1976, Carl F.H. Henry published God, Revelation, and Authority, one of the most significant works of theology in the twentieth century. Five years later, Gordon Clark released A Christian View of Men and Things. In the same tradition, David Noebel’s magisterial Understanding the Times covered 10 different areas to which a worldview speaks, from theology and philosophy to economics, ethics, sociology, and history. And all on his own, the late Christian philosopher Ron Nash covered almost every other conceivable topic from a Christian worldview.   Missing in the long line of Christian worldview books is one that would have been especially helpful last week when the Pentagon released a slew of documents, some of which were formerly classified.  The Christian view of UFOs, Aliens, and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (or UAP) remains to be written. NPR described this move by the Trump administration, “In all, the Pentagon released more than 160 records, citing President Tr...

Sinful acts always have their origin in some form of unbelief. Behind every sin is a lie. The root of all our behaviour and emotions is the heart—what it trusts and what it treasures. And people are given over to sinful desires because “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Rom. 1:24–25):  Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (Eph. 4:17–19)  Humanity’s problem is futile thinking, darkened understanding, and ignorant hearts. We sin because we believe the lie that we are better off without God—that his rule is oppressive, we will be free without him, and sin offers more than God. This is true of every sin.  We can often identify...

Biblical literature portrays Satan as a powerful adversary operating across multiple dimensions—spiritual, moral, and relational. Satan is depicted as “the ancient serpent” who “leads the whole world astray,” (Rev 12:9–10) while his character centres on deception, as “there is no truth in him” and “he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44) Satan’s methods reveal a calculated strategy. He “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour,” (1 Pet 5:8) yet he “masquerades as an angel of light,” (2 Cor 11:14) suggesting his deceptions operate through disguise rather than overt force.  In the Old Testament, Satan appears as one “roaming throughout the earth” seeking to cause harm, opposing God’s people by inciting disobedience, and accusing the elect before God’s throne.1 New Testament writers describe him tempting believers to sin, ensnaring the naive, delighting in harming believers, blinding the minds of unbelievers, and masquerading as an angel of light.1 The...

A very common definition of sin is “to miss the mark.” This comes from one proposed lexical definition of the Hebrew word חטא. This definition is catchy, but it is partial and can give a misleading impression. After all, the Bible does not use just one or two words to refer to sin. Commentators have actually located around twenty different terms in the Old and New Testaments.1 Each of these terms may have somewhat different lexical domains, and their particular individual meanings must be determined by their context. For most of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, the authors assume that their readers already know what sin is. Finding a single comprehensive definition for sin requires more than focusing on the words themselves. It must instead come from the use of the term and the larger concept that emerges across the whole of the Scriptures. One important way to define sin is what might be called a metaphysical perspective. This approach is common in the early church and in the ...

  Biblical literature portrays Satan as a powerful adversary operating across multiple dimensions—spiritual, moral, and relational. Satan is depicted as “the ancient serpent” who “leads the whole world astray" ( Rev 12:9–10 ) while his character centres on deception, as “there is no truth in him” and “he is a liar and the father of lies". ( John 8:44 ) Satan’s methods reveal a calculated strategy. He “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" ( 1 Pet 5:8 ), yet he “masquerades as an angel of light" ( 2 Cor 11:14 ), suggesting his deceptions operate through disguise rather than overt force. In the Old Testament, Satan appears as one “roaming throughout the earth” seeking to cause harm, opposing God’s people by inciting disobedience, and accusing the elect before God’s throne. New Testament writers describe him tempting believers to sin, ensnaring the naive, delighting in harming believers, blinding the minds of unbelievers, and masquerading as ...

 

 

 

 

The Greek word used to refer to the Spirit by John is paraklētos , often translated as Counsellor . It is not used by any other NT author but was widely used before John. Given that the word is capable of several translations, it may be more appropriate to use the transliteration of the Greek ( paraclete ) rather than offer a translation.  Nevertheless, several translations could help define characteristics of the Spirit. Fundamentally, the metaphor is intended to leave the reader awestruck by the comprehensive nature of the conscientious compassion of the Spirit for believers. The term paraklētos is made up of two elements that may provide an insight into its meaning, referring to one who has been called ( kaleō ) alongside ( para ) another. Although the breakdown of a word and its etymology may not necessarily reveal its best translation in a given era or context, it can provide some insight into its meaning.  The word paraklētos was used in various ways in the first cent...