Dr Paul Allen

“That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9b). In Judges 18, we see the idolatry begun by Micah take root among the people of the colony established by the Danites on Israel’s northern frontier. Doing what was right in their own eyes, they veered away from the true worship of the God of Israel and fell into apostasy. We might say they established their own “cult.” Nowadays, there is vast disagreement over what is true about God and how He is to be worshipped. To make matters worse, the various groups that weigh in on spiritual matters often classify themselves as “the one true church” and their opponents as cults.  How can we tell the difference between an orthodox church and a cult? What makes a cult a cult? What are some of the significant cults today?  The word cult comes from the Latin cultus, which means “to care for” or “to take care of.” The word cult initially referred to a group of people who had sim...

Empires shape religions, whether by spreading faiths, or particular forms of belief and practice. Much of that critical work occurs in the great cities that empires usually (not always) develop. Empires generally need capitals, seats of royal authority, and hubs of military and bureaucratic power. Those cities quite rapidly become very populous, and economically critical. We think of Babylon and Baghdad, London and Paris. Often too, empires develop very sizable and powerful cities that are great regional capitals. In each case, all such cities attract diverse migration, so that cultures and ways of thought interact in ways they could not have done if individual societies had remained isolated from each other. Those interactions are crucial to religious development. In the Western tradition, Rome is of course the best-known example of this. Rome early became a very influential center of the emerging church and a magnet for Christian thinkers from around the enormous empire. In the 130sA...

Skeptics sometimes argue that Christianity in its early years looked different than modern-day Christianity. Specifically, the question of whether Jesus claimed to be God or if he was deified by a band of disappointed followers after his crucifixion.  Christianity is grounded on the view that the claims of the New Testament are true. The gospels describe historical events, accurately recorded. The Apostle Paul wrote, “if Christ is not [truly] raised… our preaching is in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:14). Did Christianity “evolve” as skeptics claim? If the truth of Jesus of Nazareth has been radically changed; if his message has been altered, and the truth of the Resurrection changed, Christianity itself would collapse even by its own standard. New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman suggested the claims of Christianity had changed over time in a 2014 interview with NPR, stating: “During his lifetime, Jesus himself didn’t call himself God and didn’t consider himself God, and… none of his disci...

On May 14th, Pope Francis joined with Muslims to encourage all people on earth who believe in God, to pray to their God to end the Coronavirus. I think that when we hear of things like this an obvious question comes up in our minds, does God listen to every type of prayer or does he only listen to a specific type of person? Does He listen to people who are part of false religions? Psalm 145:18 says this, The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth Psalm 145:18 In a section of this psalm devoted to pondering the grace of God in our lives, the psalmist declares the nearness of God to those who call upon Him. This pondering clearly propels David towards praise. The sheer notion of the nearness of God should cause our hearts to exult in praise to Him for stooping down towards sinful man. There is nothing more comforting than knowing that the Lord is near to us when we call out to Him. That no matter what we are facing and no matter how di...

Have you ever wondered why there's a universal phenomenon of religion? You can go anywhere on the globe and you'll find evidence of cultic practices of sacrifice. Why is that?  I suggest that it is because the original program and prescription for the worship of the living God was sacrifice. Adam told it to Cain, Abel, and Seth. Seth told it to Enoch, and he told it to his sons and they to their sons and so on. It was taught to Abraham. It was taught to Isaac. It was taught to Jacob. It was taught to Joseph. It was taught to Moses. It was also taught to Ishmael and to Esau, and so the idea of the requirement of sacrifice in faith pervaded the whole human race. But today the need for sacrifices to be made in faith is forgotten—we hear that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere. In fact, the basic requirement of sacrifice is unknown—it doesn't matter what your religious practices are. It doesn't matter what you worship. It only matte...

Another scientific study claims to show that the smarter you are, the less religious you’re likely to be. The PsyPost article on it leads with a headline saying there’s “‘very strong’ evidence for a negative relationship between intelligence and religiosity.” This study compiles the best information from dozens of previous research projects and pretty much puts the question to rest. “Intelligent people find religion irrational.” the study’s authors say; and there’s “evidence suggesting that more religious people are not as intelligent as less religious people.” Looks pretty ugly for believers, right? Wrong. This study has at least three strikes against it. Their definition of “religiosity” is so vague, it’s practically meaningless. Their conclusions quoted in the second paragraph above are wrong. I mean, really wrong. They’re the kind of mistake you’d get corrected on in your Statistics 101 class. Even if they had proved in some meaningful way that more intelligence m...

Is Christianity bad for our mental health ? Popular atheists often say so. Some go as far as to say that teaching children religion is really a form of abuse — at least any religion that teaches a doctrine of sin and divine punishment. They claim such teaching heaps a load of guilt on people and then traumatizes them with the terrible fear of the threat of hell. How could this not psychologically damage people? I’m glad the question is being raised, especially by those whose own worldview demands that people come to terms with their ultimate existential meaninglessness: that life is fundamentally a brutal fight to survive and pass on one’s genes. That love, compassion, and psychological well-being are at root naturally selected adaptations to encourage one to preserve DNA . That good and evil are only human psychological constructs. That all our frenetic activity and gene-passing is ultimately futile since sooner or later homo sapiens will undergo species extinction. And th...

Syncretism - The term comes from the Greek sunkretizein, “to unite,” and in the ancient world it seems to have referred to the alliance of cities for political purposes. Since the Reformation, however, Christian writers have come to use syncretism to refer to the dilution or corruption of Christianity through the blending of orthodox doctrines and practices with alien philosophical and/or religious elements. The sin of which Israel was guilty, and which is always a danger for contemporary Christians, was and is not simply an impersonal, technically incorrect mixture of contradictory religious doctrines or rituals. Rather, it is what the Bible calls religious adultery, which is, as Jesus put it, the failure to love, worship, and serve the true God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). You see, there is a kind of syncretistic blending that is relatively innocent and even productive. Our culture loves to mix things up, but that might not be an altogether ba...

Image via Wikipedia "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and be thou perfect." ( Genesis 17:1 ) This is the first of 48 occurrences of the designation of God by the term "Almighty," in the Old Testament . There are also nine times in the New Testament where God is called "Almighty" plus once where He is called " omnipotent ."  The last time it occurs is very near the end of the Bible, telling us that there is no special temple in the holy city, "for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it" ( Revelation 21:22 ). Thus, in the first and last books of the Bible , and often in between, we are reminded that our God is an omnipotent God.  As Jeremiah prayed; "Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee" ( Jere...

English: Religious symbols from the top nine organised faiths of the world according to Major world religions From left to right: 1st Row: Christian Cross, Jewish Star of David, Hindu Aumkar 2nd Row: Islamic Star and crescent, Buddhist Wheel of Dharma, Shinto Torii 3rd Row: Sikh Khanda, Bahá'í star, Jain Ahimsa Symbol (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In the first chapter of Romans , the wrath of God is revealed against distortions of God that culminate in various religious practices called idolatry . God is by no means always pleased with the operations and functions that we call religion. I would say that Christianity first and foremost is not a religion, even though we use that term to describe it from a sociological perspective . The term religion describes human practices—practices of worship , of cultic involvement, of belief in a god, and of obeying certain rules that come from the god or gods. There are various kinds of religions in this world. There is a religious aspect ...

A. W. Tozer (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) ...and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a still small voice.— 1 Kings 19:12 "The accent in the Church today," says Leonard Ravenhill, the English evangelist, "is not on devotion, but on commotion." Religious extroversion has been carried to such an extreme in evangelical circles that hardly anyone has the desire, to say nothing of the courage, to question the soundness of it. Externalism has taken over. God now speaks by the wind and the earthquake only; the still small voice can be heard no more. The whole religious machine has become a noisemaker. The adolescent taste which loves the loud horn and the thundering exhaust has gotten into the activities of modern Christians. The old question, "What is the chief end of man?" is now answered, "To dash about the world and add to the din thereof."... We must begin the needed reform by challenging the spiritual...

Symbol of the major religions of the world: Judaism, Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "All religions are true." "All religions lead to God ." "All roads lead to the same destination." While I can understand the sentiment of inclusivity, this idea pictures an evil God. Religious pluralists often reject exclusivist positions for positing a cruel God who only made one way to reach him. But if all religions are true, then God is cruel. And not just cruel—God is an incompetent, cosmic child-abuser. If religious pluralism is true, then God is the father in the second scenario. He saw the train coming, yet he decided to pull the first lever and kill his son, rather than pull the second lever. Is God Cruel or Incompetent? If Islam , Buddhism , Zoroastrianism , and all the other world religions are true paths to God, then why did God kill his Son, Jesus , in order to make a way for men to come to him? The very no...

English: Richard Dawkins giving a lecture based on his book, The God Delusion, in Reykjavik (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) 20% of Americans who describe their religion as “none.” It isn’t that the “ Nones ” (not to be confused with “nuns”) don’t believe in God , necessarily. 64% of them do. They just don’t want to affiliate with any “organized religion.” The statistics about “Nones” probably don’t include the number of self-described Christians who feel the same way. I know of some who haven’t found a church they can agree with or that is up to their high standards. So they don’t go to church at all. After all, with their “me-and-Jesus” theology, why do they need a church? But they do. The good news is that 40% of those raised as “Nones” drop out of their non-religion to join an actual religious institution. Hey, isn’t that about the same drop out rate, according to one measure, for young people raised in churches ? From Michael Gerson: An America that is losing faith with r...