Come now and let us reason together (Isaiah 1:18)
This evening at 7:30 Central Time I will be speaking at the Phillips Street Church of Christ 31st Annual Lectureship on “The Influence of the Holy Spirit in Conviction, Conversion, and Sanctification.” You can view the lectures live by following the link in a previous blog entry.
The link provided here is for the PowerPoint presentation that goes along with the lesson. If you have PowerPoint, you can download this file and follow along during the live lecture.
Influence of the Spirit (pptx)
Live video and audio of the Phillips Street Lectures are available on the link below today, April 16, from 9 am – 12 pm, 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm, and 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm Central Daylight Savings Time. Click the link during those times to view the lectures.
For many years I have heard and taught that the purpose of miracles is “confirmation of the word.” We know from Mark 16:20 that confirmation is at least one purpose for the miracles described in God’s word. Some years ago however I heard a new definition of “miracle” that is somewhat based on that doctrine, and that new definition has certain implications which should be troubling to faithful Christians.
This prompted me to reconsider the purpose of biblical miracles. In that study I have found seven specific purposes for the miracles that are mentioned in the Bible. Continue reading →
The next annual lectureship held by the Phillips Street Church of Christ in Dyersburg, Tennessee will start next Wednesday, April 14, 2010. The theme for the lectures this year will be “The Old Jerusalem Gospel,” emphasizing the unchanging nature of truth, and our obligations to it.
Churches of Christ have not been immune to modern change agents who think they know better than God’s word, so we have seen a number abandon the “old paths” for “another gospel.” Paul would call that “not another gospel, but there be some that trouble you” (Gal. 1:6-9). These lectures will contrast the doctrines of the new “gospel” with the gospel found in God’s word.
Solomon wrote, “Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment” (Eccl. 8:5). In this article we continue our discussion of the nature of time.
One of the more interesting subjects with regard to time is speculation regarding the possibility of traveling through time. One might wonder why a page normally dedicated to religious topics would discuss something as implausible as time travel, but it will afford us an opportunity to highlight certain characteristics of time that have a bearing on our main subject, the nature of time.
Time travel is a frequent theme of science fiction novels and movies, however few believe that it might be possible to travel from one moment in time to another other than what we know to occur normally, i.e., sequential travel from one moment in time to the next in a forward direction. There are nevertheless some interesting theories regarding space and time that differ from our common conception of time.
For a while now I have wanted to write a little about the philosophy of time specifically with regard to time’s nature and some of the implications of that. I don’t think that I have ever seen an article in a religious periodical on this subject, though I do know that the nature of time has been a subject of philosophical discussion. A Google search on “nature of time” by itself will bring up a number of articles on the subject.
My interest in the subject stems partly from the pleasure I take in reading science fiction, which it seams almost always involves the concept of “time travel,” but more importantly and primarily because of several implications that the nature of time has with regard to the nature of man and the nature of God. I don’t think I will get into these latter matters in this post, but I hope to write about those implications at a later time.
For some time now I wanted to rework Let Us Reason and give it a a new look that would make it look more professional and make it a little easier to add content. I have been giving the site too little attention, and it shows.
Several days ago I came across a free blogging site called WordPress where I started a personal blog called Yoder’s Reasons. WordPress has one of the most professional sites that I have ever seen for hosting blogs. It offers literally hundreds of free features, and is the most flexible system for blogging in my experience.
Let Us Reason has been in existence now for over a decade. I have avoided using free hosting services because they normally restrict what can and cannot be included within a web site. (Too many religious sites have been forced to move because someone objected to some content.) But the software that drives WordPress blogs is freely available to anyone who wants to use it on their own web servers. I was able to download the code for the site and install it here.
I will probably try several different themes on the site over the next several days in order to see what looks best. Don’t be surprised at what you see when you return.
I hope that I will be able to provide more updates to the site in the future writing short articles that will be of interest to our readers. I also hope to hear from you. Our comments section will be moderated to avoid the occasional rant, spam, or or other ugly comments, but I will try to include everything that has interest to those who regularly drop by.
Let me know your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.
