Dr Paul Allen

For the most part, the problem which moved Martin Luther to post his 95 Theses on October 31, 1517 had to do with indulgences. Much could be said about that issue. But the doctrine of indulgences is inextricably linked to the doctrine of purgatory. The word “purgatory” comes from the Latin word, “purgare,” which has the idea of “make clean,” “purify,” or “purge.” The doctrine refers to the purging of remaining guilt and unrighteousness after death. Purgatory is not hell, but the place of conditioning and preparation for heaven. It is unsure exactly what purgatory is like or how much time people spend there. It could be thousands upon thousands of years, perhaps. We could go many places in Scripture to address the Roman Catholic teaching on purgatory. But one favorite is the thief on the cross ( Luke 23:39-43). When the justice of God thundered upon his Son at the cross, two criminals happened to share a spot on Golgotha . Matthew’s account uses a word to speak of the criminals a...

The strangeness of the passage is easily detectable, but only careful Bible study makes its importance apparent. Numbers 5:11–31 describes a water ritual to determine the guilt or innocence of a woman suspected of adultery . A husband is to bring the wife under suspicion to the priest, along with a required grain offering that will “bring iniquity to remembrance.” The priest in turn prepares a jar of water mixed with dust from the tabernacle (5:16–17). To this mixture is added the curses against her written “in a book” (5:23). Either the curses were written and erased, so that the erasures are swept into the water mixture, or the ink is washed off into the water mixture. The woman is compelled to drink the concoction after saying “Amen, Amen” in response to the priest’s invocation of blessing or cursing upon her, depending on her innocence or guilt. If she is guilty, the ingested mixture will cause pain and sterility; if there is no such reaction, she is deemed innocent (5:27–...

Reformed from the doctrine of the Roman Catholic church  Among the twenty-odd persons martyred for their beliefs during the decades preceding Scotland 's official embrace of Protestantism (1560), there was only one woman: Helen Stirk. The only information we have about Helen Stirk's life comes to us, ironically, from accounts of her death. We know that she was married, that she was the mother of at least one child, and that she was a woman of rather remarkable faith and courage. Beyond that, her life and doings remain shrouded in mystery. Helen was arrested in Perth on the 25th of January, 1544, along with her husband, James Ronaldson, and three other residents of the town, Robert Lamb, William Anderson, and James Hunter. Perth, like most of Scotland's east-coast towns, proved to be a hotbed for reforming ideas, largely because its shipping industry guaranteed regular contact with the European continent (and thus continental books and ideas). Sensitive to the inroads ...

Nativity from Duccio’s Maestá, 13th century, a compromise shed-within-a-cave (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Mention “ Christmas ” and “controversy” together in the same sentence, and most evangelicals will assume you’re talking about Santa Claus , Christmas trees, or the secularization of the winter holiday season. But, from a historical perspective, a much more significant controversy surrounded Christmas for the first five centuries of church history; and its effects still linger in some circles today. It centered on the very essence of Jesus’ birth – the doctrine of His incarnation. There is, of course, an element of mystery in the incarnation. After all, how can one person be both fully God and fully man at the same time? Yet, that is precisely the miraculous truth that the Scriptures affirm regarding the Person of Jesus Christ . Nonetheless, despite the clarity of biblical revelation, the doctrine of Christ ’s incarnation came under attack from the very beginning. The Ebionites,...

English: Auguste Vaillants execution. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Does the sixth commandment , “ Thou shalt not kill ” (Ex. 20:13), abrogate the principle of capital punishment ? The verb used in this verse occurs forty-nine times in the Old Testament and in every relevant use means “to murder,” especially with premeditation. It is never used of animals, God , angels, or enemies in battle. The New Testament always translates the sixth commandment with phoneuo, which is never used to mean anything other than “to murder.” The penalty for breaking the commandment was death (Ex. 21:12; Num. 35:16–21). One can conclude that when the theocracy took the life of a murderer (i.e., one who violated the sixth commandment), the state (particularly those who actually performed the execution) was not guilty of murder.  Furthermore, God’s commanding Israel to kill their enemies during the conquest of Canaan could not have been a violation of this commandment either by God or by the ind...

Late 3rd century/early 4th century Christians depicted the fiery furnace in the Catacombs of Priscilla, Rome (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Hebrews 11:6 When we are facing a tough, extreme, or tragic situation, our faith is either strengthened or destroyed. Consider the intensity of a fire. Most things can’t withstand its heat, as it can consume entire forests and neighborhoods in a matter of days. But the same fire doesn’t burn up gold. Instead, it purifies it. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced the furnace, they confirmed they would praise only the living God . It was a death sentence . They could have decided to save themselves by doing what the king wanted, but their faith would have been unreliable—burned up in the midst of danger. Instead they went against the king by keeping their loyalty to the Lord . Their faith was purified. Whether God saved them or decided not to, their faith didn’t waver because the holy object of their faith never wavers. (And God did save...

Image via Wikipedia Christians in Iran have challenged news reports that the death penalty for pastor Yousef Nadarkhani has been annulled, saying that in reality the country's supreme court appears to have added a precondition requiring him to renounce his faith or face execution. "There has still been no written confirmation of the court's decision on Pastor Nadarkhani's appeal against a death sentence for apostasy, despite efforts to source this," according to a July 5 statement from Christian Solidarity Worldwide , a human rights organization. Nadarkhani was arrested in October 2009 while attempting to register his church. His arrest is believed to have been due to his questioning of the Muslim monopoly on the religious instruction of children in Iran , the CSW statement said. He initially was charged with protesting; however, the charges against him were later changed to apostasy and evangelizing Muslims .   "Our thoughts and prayers are with Pas...

Image via Wikipedia The doctrine of hell has recently come under vicious attack, both from secularists and even from some evangelicals. In many ways, the assault has been a covert one.  Like a slowly encroaching tide, a whole complex of interrelated cultural , theological, and philosophical changes have conspired to undermine the traditional understanding of hell.  A second issue that has contributed to the modern denial of hell is a changed view of justice. Retributive justice has been the hallmark of human law since premodern times. This concept assumes that punishment is a natural and necessary component of justice. Nevertheless, retributive justice has been under assault for many years in western cultures, and this has led to modifications in the doctrine of hell. The utilitarian philosophers, such as John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham argued that retribution is an unacceptable form of justice. Rejecting clear and absolute moral norms, they argued that justice dema...

Image via Wikipedia Though atheists may argue that the existence of a supreme being is impossible, their arguments often reveal a belief that God just doesn't behave as they think he should. In a debate, Christopher Hitchens complained about war and killing in the Old Testament . He said he wrote his book God Is Not Great in response to the murders in Muslim countries that followed the publishing of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad . None of these are arguments against God's existence, but rather arguments against how God and especially his followers act. Timothy Larsen, professor of history at Wheaton College and author of  Crisis of Doubt: Honest Faith in Nineteenth-Century England , says he has come to see doubt as a way in which we take our faith seriously: "If you haven't doubted, you haven't re-owned your faith." Many Victorian atheists, Larsen discovered, converted back to Christianity . "Some actually are really trying to answer questions. Th...