Author: Vince
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Once a son, always a son
Rembrandtās Return of the Prodigal Son, depicting the fatherās embrace of his wayward son. The sonās ragged state did not nullify his sonship or the fatherās love, illustrating the enduring bond between God and His children. For many readers, the parable of the prodigal son conjures up a dramatic conversion scene, an unbeliever hitting rock bottom…
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Repentance and the Kingdom āĀ Why Israel still matters
Iāve written and argued this point several times before, and for me, it really doesnāt take more than a careful reading of Matthew 24 to see that the second coming of Jesus is a Judeo-centric event. It is Jerusalem that He mourns over. It is to Zion that He returns. And it is Israelās national…
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Hebrews and its contribution to soteriology
Soteriology is concerned with the theology of salvation (Young, 1990), the restoration of the sinner to divine favour and communion with God (Berkhof, 1996, p. 415). The term comes from the Greek words Ļįæ“Ī¶Ļ (save, deliver) and ĻĻĻĪ·ĻĪÆĪ± (salvation, deliverance); their major use in this discipline is to denote the salvific work of God on behalf of man (Chafer,…
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Understanding 2 Corinthians 13:5
Test yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognise that Jesus Christ is in you?āÆāāunless you fail the test. ā 2 Corinthians 13:5 (CSBA) This verse is often cited as a proof text for promoting self-examination as a requirement for assurance of salvation. Believers are frequently…
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The Signature of Intelligence: Why DNA Points to God
As a computer scientist, Iāve spent my life working with code. I know the difference between randomness and logic, noise and signal. Code has structure. It has syntax. It follows rules and carries intention. You donāt get code by accident. You donāt get meaning without mind. Which brings me to the human genome, the very…
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Why the Rapture Must Be Distinct and Pre-Tribulational
Or else, there’s no Rapture at all. Every now and again, the question of the Rapture comes upāespecially with a dear brother of mine who has always struggled to grasp the logic behind it. Though I do not divide over views of the Rapture, nor make it a test of orthodoxy, I do hold a…
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Eternal Torment or Finished Work? One Canāt Have Both
In our day, the dominant tradition concerning eternal punishment is that of Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT). I do not hold to it. In my view, annihilationism aligns more closely with the biblical data, for several compelling reasons. Of course, not all forms of annihilationism are identical, so to be perfectly clear: I believe that unbelievers…
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The Burden of Experience and the Simplicity of Faith
The tragedy of our day is that the simple gospel has been increasingly overshadowed by a pernicious emphasis on subjective experience. I have already observed that this error has led to confusion and doubt, particularly concerning the question of baptism and the assurance of salvation. Yet the problem is even broader. It affects the very…
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A Quick Clarification about Election and Predestination
In discussions on salvation, theology often gets tangled in complex interpretationsāespecially around the terms election and predestination. These words, frequently assumed to be interchangeable and linked to salvation, are often misunderstood. This article aims to be an introductory clarification about what Scripture truly teaches about these concepts, contrasting them with the common Calvinist and Arminian…
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The Invention of Spiritual Death as Separation from God
The idea that Scripture speaks of a “spiritual death” that refers to āseparation from Godā has become a virtual axiom in popular Christian theology. Whether one consults a catechism, a childrenās Bible, or a systematic theology, the refrain is consistent: death is not the cessation of life, but the rupture of relationship. This notion undergirds…