Good and evil are determined by the conformity of a thought or act to God’s character. When we bring principles of good and evil into our concrete world and apply them to particular behaviors we tend to call good “right” and evil “wrong”.  In everyday thinking, we judge right and wrong in two key places:  morals and law.Let’s discuss morals by which I mean those behaviors judged by the individual ...  Read More

Some people equate the law of Moses with the eternal law of God (true good and evil).  But the New Testament makes clear that the Law of Moses (or at least a portion of it) is not eternal—and was never intended to be.  Jesus declared all unclean foods “clean” (Mark 7.19 cf. Acts 10.15).  Paul says the cross “abolish[ed] the law of commandments expressed in ordinances” (Ephesians 2.15) and that “[G...  Read More

When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.  (Deuteronomy 22.8)Here’s an unusual law that makes no sense to us upon first reading.  A parapet is a small wall built at the edge of a roof.  Why would we want to add a small wall to the edge of the roof of our house?  It makes no sense to ...  Read More

Good and evil are absolutes determined by God’s character.  Christians should always seek to align character and behavior with God’s character, with that which is good.Christianity, however, throws a monkey wrench into that endeavor.  Catholics called it “original sin”.  Protestants called it “total depravity”.  Christian theology in general refers to it as “spiritual death”.  When God said “In th...  Read More

If God is good and everything He created is good (Genesis 1.31), then God did not create evil.  What, then, is evil, and where did it come from? The answer is simple: evil has to be a good that has somehow “gone wrong”.  This is consistent with the opening chapters of Genesis.In Genesis 2.18, God says “it is not good that man should be alone”.  In the midst of the creation process where everything...  Read More

In the last blog I introduced six spectrums that we use in moral thinking: good/evil, right/wrong, holy/common, legal/illegal, moral/immoral, and wise/foolish.  I’d like to discuss each of these, and I’ll start with the one I believe is foundational to all the others: good/evil.What do we mean when we say that something is good? That seems like it should be an easy question to answer, but the more...  Read More

Pharaoh’s law commanded midwives were to kill all baby boys born to the Hebrew slaves. The midwives disobeyed and would not kill the babies.  Saving the babies was good, but illegal.  A thing can be good and illegal at the same time.If a teenage son has a bad temper that is always getting him into trouble, the father who always rescues his son from the consequences has good intentions but his acti...  Read More

When you insist that VBS songs have too many hand motions coming too rapidly for normal human being to learn—and then you see the entire row of early elementary school girls in front of you performing the motions with ease—you know it is no longer “your day”. People detest prophets because they warn of danger when everything seems to be going rather well. I’ve learned from umpiring baseball tha...  Read More

To allow coffee in the church service, or not to allow coffee in the church service—that was the question!  I chose not to prevent people from bringing beverages into our services. Here’s why.First, there are no divine commands prohibiting beverages in a service in a church building—in large part because there are few instructions about church services and none about church buildings.Some may clai...  Read More

Over my years of ministry, I have often found myself between two groups of sincere, committed Christians—one wanting to change a church practice that the other wants preserved.  Everything from paint colors to pulpit or no pulpit, from how to run VBS to whether or not beverages should be permitted in the sanctuary.I have found that the greatest obstacle to effectively navigating these questions is...  Read More

The biblical prescriptions for Israelite worship and community life are numerous and detailed.  By contrast, the New Testament directions for operating Christian churches are vague and sparse.We are to meet regularly (Hebrews 10.25), to observe baptism (Matthew 28.19) and the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11.23-26), to proclaim the Word (2 Timothy 4.2), to be generous and giving, and that elders an...  Read More

I’m a dyed-in-the-wool conservative but I’ve also lived through being the one to lead in bringing about change.  Some of my readers have encouraged me to elaborate my thoughts on these things, traditions and change, so let’s survey the components of tradition and change in religious matters.  (Secular matters are a slightly different concern.)I believe in a God who doesn’t change.  What He likes, ...  Read More