Dr Paul Allen

Jesus was pretty stern in his treatment of the Pharisees. In contrast to his usual gentleness, he rebuked them in the hardest, most offensive terms on multiple occasions. Matt 15, 7-9: “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:  ‘“These people honour me with their lips,  but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain;  their teachings are merely human rules.” Matt 23, 15-33: “Woe to you, law teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are…Woe to you, blind guides…you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness…You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel…You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of t...

Truly understanding someone you deeply disagree with is exhausting. It’s a labor of love. A friend with different politics recently brought up a subject about which I know “my side’s” position but not my own. I sensed he was attacking my tribe, but I couldn’t speak intelligently enough about the topic to have a worthwhile debate. I found my mental energy flagging as soon as this friend brought up the topic. The same fatigue occurs sometimes when it comes to biblical and theological questions. I sometimes sit staring at myscreen wondering whether I have the energy to tackle a given question. I take comfort from two proverbs: Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent. (Prov  17:27 –28) In other words, I don’t always have to have an answer. I cannot have a well-considered and widely-read case for every view in my c...

What is your mission? As described in the introduction, BioLogos was founded by Francis Collins, a world leader in genetics and an evangelical Christian . The mission of BioLogos is to invite the church and the world to see the harmony between science and biblical faith as we present an evolutionary understanding of God ’s creation. We hold to these core commitments:   •      We embrace the historical Christian faith , upholding the authority and inspiration of the Bible .   •      We affirm evolutionary creation , recognizing God as Creator of all life over billions of years.   •      We seek truth, ever learning as we study the natural world and the Bible.   •      We strive for humility and gracious dialogue with those who hold other views.   •      We aim for excellence in all areas, from science to education to business practices. What do we mean by the Christian faith?...

David Berlinski ’s book  The Devils Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions . Berlinski, despite himself being an atheist, cannot tolerate the intellectual arrogance demonstrated by today’s atheistic evolutionists. While I don’t want to review the whole book, I will pass on its main point: a scientific theory should only claim what it can prove. The problem with evolution is that it claims to explain  everything , while it actually is able to prove  nothing .  But this gulf doesn’t slow atheistic evolutionists down at all. Its not even a speed-bump for them. They write and act as if the entire burden of proof were on the Christian. That’s why I like these books ( The Devil’s Delusion   and  The Kingdom of Speech ). They serve as reminders that when it comes to evolution, it is not the Christians who have to prove or disprove anything, because we are not the ones making substantive claims. Rather the burden of proof is on those postula...

A. W. Tozer ’s discerned the decline of theology in the typical evangelical pulpit many years ago. T ozer (d. 1963) points back to the dumbing down of youth ministry as the moment that the cancer of non-doctrinal preaching entered evangelicalism. When youth pastors began to fancy themselves as professional entertainers, they prepared the students to disassociate theology from church:   We have the breezy, self confident Christians with little affinity for Christ and his cross. We have the joy-bell boys that can bounce out there and look as much like a game show host as possible. Yet they are doing it for Jesus ’ sake?! The hypocrites! They’re not doing it for Jesus’ sake at all; they are doing it in their own carnal flesh and are using the church as a theater because they haven’t yet reached the place where the theater would take them. (T ozer on Worship and Entertainment ). He then watches that cancer work its through the body as those youth pastors became pastors, ...

Of the 47 statements included in The State of Theology study for 2016, undertaken in partnership with LifeWay Research , the responses to one statement stood out. Most of the responses tended to even out over the spectrum. Each statement tended to garner slight majorities. The results show slight majorities either getting a belief right or, in most cases, getting a belief wrong. But not statement 17, "Even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation ." This one sparked a reaction. Glancing at the graph of the data shows this response not to be a simple majority , but rather a whopping majority. 61% strongly disagree. Another 12% disagree somewhat and 7% are not sure. That leaves only 21% agreeing with this statement. We need to interpret this data. Eight out of ten Americans have an incorrect view of sin. As an implication, we could say that eight out of ten Americans do not know the biblical God. More on that later. The responses on this particular statement get even mor...

Reviewed version of Eastern Orthodoxy in Europe (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The author, Daniel Clendenin, writes to introduce Western Christians to the mysterious world of Eastern Orthodoxy . He describes his approach as “not uncritical, but … nonpolemical.” Translation? He takes a rather friendly view of Eastern Orthodoxy, lumping it together with Protestantism and Roman Catholicism as “three siblings of the same family.” Given that foundational caution, however, the book can be a helpful introduction to Eastern Orthodoxy. The first two chapters list reasons why Western Christians ought to study the Eastern church and provide a brief sketch of Eastern church history. The next four chapters are the heart of the book, each one focusing on a main area of Eastern theology and tradition that Western Christians often find to be strange. The first is the apophatic approach to knowing God , which derides logic and rational analysis and exalts unknowable mystery. The second is icons, ...

Paul the Apostle, Russian icon from first quarter of 18th cen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” ( 1 Timothy 6:6 ) In this day of internet sales pressures and an ever-increasing array of technological gadgets and creature comforts, the Christian virtue of contentment is a rare commodity. There is even a widespread error among born-again Christians that material prosperity is a token of spirituality and divine approval on an affluent lifestyle. Instead of a blessing, however, such affluence (if it comes) should be regarded as a testing, for Jesus said: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” ( Luke 12:48 ). Paul was perhaps the most faithful and fruitful Christian who ever lived, yet he died penniless in a Roman dungeon. His own testimony concerning material possessions and standards of living was this: “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how...

We make a distinction between knowing it is true and showing it is true . We know Christianity is true primarily by the self-authenticating witness of God ’s Spirit. We show Christianity is true by demonstrating that it is systematically consistent. What, then, should be our approach in apologetics? It should be something like this: “My friend, I know Christianity is true because God’s Spirit lives in me and assures me that it is true. And you can know it is true, too, because God is knocking at the door of your heart, telling you the same thing.  If you are sincerely seeking God, then God will give you assurance that the gospel is true. Now to try to show you it’s true, I’ll share with you some arguments and evidence that I really find convincing. But should my arguments seem weak and unconvincing to you, that’s my fault, not God’s.  It only shows that I’m a poor apologist, not that the gospel is untrue. Whatever you think of my arguments, God still loves you and ...