Category: doctrine

Hitching up to the Old Testament, part 1

I know I’m late to the game here, but I was recently made aware of Andy Stanley’s recommendation that we unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament. I haven’t listened to his sermon, but according to this article, Stanley taught from Acts 15 and claimed,

“Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.”

This bothered me, but something which bothered me just as much was a panel discussion from a few months ago, featuring Dr. William Lane Craig. I respect both men, but I really do think they both got it wrong. Continue reading “Hitching up to the Old Testament, part 1”

Citizenship

A while back, I wrote about a young woman named Aracely who was an illegal alien, and whom my wife Brenda helped to establish legal residency here in the US. That was over seven years ago, and just this morning this young woman and her husband — also a former illegal alien — took the oath of allegiance to become US citizens.

Brenda tells me her hope during that process was that Aracely would become a productive member of the community, and that is just what has happened. She works in the appraiser’s office as a certified public manager, has a couple of kids, and now is just as legal as you and me.

It’s a visible example of Eph 2.19, which tells us that we used to be strangers and aliens to God, but are now citizens of God’s kingdom — and not only that, but members of his household. He has adopted us! And interestingly enough, that is what we as a nation have done with Aracely and her people. “They” are now “us”. Isn’t that what it’s all about?