Dr Paul Allen

The fall of Adam and Eve is quite possibly the most forgotten, under-appreciated, and misunderstood event in history. For this reason, many in our day preach “salvation” but neglect to preach sin; many talks about Christ but fail to talk about conviction; many offer testimonies about renewal but forget to mention repentance. In our post-postmodern society, our colleges and universities, you might get away with talking about Jesus with a Muslim; you might be able to have a great conversation with a Jewish friend about Christmas; you might be at liberty to say “God bless you” to an atheist; but don’t you dare mention a word about that awful, three-letter word sin.  SIN THE FORBIDDEN WORD It is certainly true that sin, Satan, and spiritual death are among society’s dirty words, and you dare not speak them in polite company lest you incur the wrath of the most outspoken, self-appointed, religiously correct person present. To the gospel’s great misfortune, if it could know such misfortu...

“For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly. For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face.” – 2 Corinthians 11:19–20 – The Corinthians had a tolerance problem. Earlier in the chapter, Paul said something similar. “For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.” They bear with false teaching. They tolerate the intolerable. A Redefinition of Tolerance In the last 10 to 15 years, the worldview of postmodernism has come to dominate the collective intellectual consciousness of western society. And perhaps the pinnacle virtue of postmodernism is tolerance. Now, contemporary postmodern tolerance is not what English-speaking peoples have always understood the word tolerance to mean . A person was judged to be tolerant if,...

If Christians are to communicate the gospel truth to today’s postmodern generations, we will likely have to do more than simply state the truth. In many cases, it will not suffice to hold forth our Bible and walk friends down the famous “Romans Road” series of evangelistic verses.  In addition, and often beforehand, we will need to answer questions such as, “Why should I accept that the Bible is true?” and, “That may be true for you, but why should it be true for anyone else?” These are questions concerning epistemology, that is, our beliefs and assumptions about knowledge and truth. Prior to giving our witness to Christian truth, we will often have to present clear Christian views about truth itself. “Truth” is always held by actual persons, and those persons are deeply shaped by culture, language, heritage, and community. There will be differences, involving both strengths and weaknesses, in how a Westerner will read a certain passage of Scripture and how a sub-Saharan A...

Evangelicalism is a movement in Protestant Christianity that began in the twentieth century as a response to changes in the beliefs, or doctrines, of some Protestant churches, especially with regard to the Bible ’s authority. Modernism, and more recently postmodernism, have influenced the thinking of many and cast doubt in their minds about some scriptural teachings. While there is a broad range of belief within Protestantism, some see the Bible as an ancient, error-filled human record of religious experience rather than a divinely inspired revelation from God. As a result, they reject one or more foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. For example, some dismiss “ Jesus as the only way to salvation” as arrogance. Some consider the need for salvation at all from “God’s wrath” to be an abhorrent myth. They might say Jesus is a remarkable human teacher, but not the divine-human Son of God. They deny his miracles and his resurrection and, in the extreme, question whether he a...