Dr Paul Allen

John Piper - take one (Photo credit: Micah_68 ) Here are some other resources: Richard Baxter, “The Right Method for a Settled Peace of Conscience and Spiritual Comfort,” in  The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter  (23 vols.; London: Duncan, 1830), 9:1–287. Andy Farmer, “Peace and Anxiety,” ch. 5 in  Real Peace: What We Long for and Where to Find It  (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), 79–93. Robert W. Kellemen,  Anxiety: Anatomy and Cure  (The Gospel for Real Life; Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2012). 42 pp. John MacArthur,  Anxiety Attacked  (Wheaton: Victor, 1993). Wayne A. Mack and Joshua Mack,  Courage: Fighting Fear with Fear  (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2002). J. P. Moreland and Klaus Issler, “Defeating Two Hardships of Life: Anxiety and Depression,” ch. 7 in  The Lost Virtue of Happiness: Discovering the Disciplines of the Good Life  (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006),...

English: Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Doubt might be defined as uncertainty regarding God or our relation to Him. Questions arise in many forms, including factual or philosophical issues, assurance, suffering, or unanswered prayer. Doubt may be divided into three general areas. Factual doubt usually raises issues regarding the truth of Christianity . Emotional doubt chiefly concerns our moods and feelings, often posing questions pertaining to assurance of salvation. Volitional doubt is a category that ranges from weak faith to a lack of motivation to follow the Lord . Few subjects are characterized by more misunderstandings than this one. Contrary to popular opinion, doubt is not always sin. Neither is it necessarily the opposite of faith nor the product of weak faith. It is experienced by many believers in Scripture, such as Abraham, Job, David, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist. And almost all believers, as well as unbelievers, experience doubt at times. ...

Cover via Amazon It’s all relative .” “That’s true for you but not for me.” “That’s just your reality.” “Who are you to impose your values on others?” The relativist believes truth functions more like opinion or perspective and that truth depends upon your culture, context, or even personal choices. Thus evil actions by Nazis or terrorists are explained away (“We don’t like it, but they have their reasons”). Relativism , however, is seriously flawed. Relativism cannot escape proclaiming a truth that corresponds to reality. “The moon is made of cheese” is false because it does not match up with the way things are, with what is the case. As Christians, we claim the biblical story is true because it conforms to the actualities of God’s existence and His dealings with human beings. Truth is a relationship—a match-up with what is real or actual. An idea is false when it does not.  But what of those making such claims as “ Reality is like a wet lump of clay—we can shape it any...

ANGELICO, Fra Resurrection of Christ and Women at the Tomb Fresco, 189 x 164 cm Convento di San Marco, Florence (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Philosophical naturalists (including most evolutionists) believe that death is the cessation of being. In their view, humans are merely bodies and brains. Though they reject metaphysical realities such as the soul, there are convincing reasons to believe that humans have an immaterial aspect to their being that transcends the material and thus can continue to exist after death. From a legal perspective, if human beings were merely material, they could not be held accountable this year for a crime committed last year, because physical identity changes over time.  We are not the same people today that we were yesterday. Every day we lose millions of microscopic particles. In fact, every seven years or so, virtually every part of our material anatomy changes, apart from aspects of our neurological system. Therefore, from a purely material...

Bhagavad gita english (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Have all major religious teachers proclaimed approximately the same message? For example, have many of the religious teachers taught that they were God , as Jesus did? It may surprise many to learn that we have no reliable historical data that any of the founders of the world’s major religions—apart from Jesus—ever claimed to be God.  No early writings attest such a claim on behalf of these persons. For example, Chinese teachers Confucius and Lao-tzu exerted moral, social, and cultural influences on their students but were not theologians.  Many of their wise sayings are reminiscent of the Hebrew book of Proverbs. Strangely, Buddha may have been an atheist who did not believe in any kind of divinity! The Muslim holy book, the Qur’an, definitely does not elevate Muhammad to the place of Allah (God). While we are told that Muhammad is Allah’s chief prophet, there is no attempt to make Muhammad deity. To the contrary,...