Dr Paul Allen

In the March 7, 1998, issue of the  Los Angeles Times , the Religion section featured an article entitled, "L.A.-Area Seminary Teachers Gather to Ponder the Truth." For the fourth year, the Skirball Institute on American Values drew five seminaries together for discussion: St. John’s Seminary of the Los Angeles Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church , Hebrew Union College of Reform Judaism, the University of Judaism of Conservative Judaism, Claremont School of Theology with liberal Protestant connections, and Fuller Theological Seminary with evangelical roots. The article quotes several participants on the positive character of the meeting. The comments of the moderator, Donald E. Miller of the University of Southern California , captured the spirit of the news report: “There is more similarity of religious views among what Miller called 'progressive' Jews, Catholics and Protestants than there is between orthodox and progressive believers within each fait...

Coat of arms of the Weimar Republic (1928-1933) and of the Federal Republic of Germany (1950 to date). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The fall of German Christianity leaves an emptiness that seems likely to be filled by a more multicultural and Islamic society. Germany today houses Europe 's largest Muslim community. Christians in Germany, Die Welt reports, will become a minority in 20 years. The falling birth rate will remove a piece of Germany larger than the former communist East Germany. It will result in a demographic loss equivalent to the population of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt combined. The German army just spent 428 million euros on various operations relating to migrants during the past year. It has been the costliest mission within German borders that the army of the Federal Republic of Germany has ever undertaken. In the decades after WWII, Germans have turned into hard-core pacifists, enjoying their role on the sidelines of global conflicts. The...

Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?  Or, more particularly, in states that have followed the democratic process to define marriage as exclusively between a man and woman, should judges intervene and nullify those laws? Where new elections are held, should Christians vote to allow LGBT couples to legally marry? I answered this question by saying that as much as it depends on voters, legislatures, or judges, that  no , marriage should not be redefined. There are three parts to this answer: Government rightly regulates marriage, and so  yes:  the government does need to decide what constitutes a lawful marriage ( you can read that post here ). God invented marriage, and the essence of marriage is seen in a commitment between two people of  opposite  genders. Thus same-sex marriage is an oxymoron, and represents a sinful attack on the identity of marriage ( you can read that post here ). Because what God commands is also good for s...

Memorizing the Bible resources Books : His Word in My Heart  by Janet Pope Flaming Sword  by Tai Ikomi Keep in Memory  by N.A. Woychuck You Need to Memorize Scripture  by N.A. Woychuck Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life  by Donald Whitney The Spirit of the Disciplines  by Dallas Willard Celebration of Discipline  by Richard Foster Scripture Memory Made Easy  by Mark Water Websites : Memverse.com  – A spectacular online memory tool Fighter Verses  – Memory verse system for children and parents through Desiring God Impress Kids  – Online memory tool that is a companion to your ongoing church discipleship, uses the verses you are already promoting as memory verses for the week or month Memlok  - Bible memory software Organizations or Other Resources : Scripture Memory Fellowship  – A complete infant to adult program with incentives for Bible memory An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture ...