Category Archives: Theology Proper

‘And man became a living soul’: Powers, Probabilities, and Proteins A critique of evolutionary random development of living systems

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Evolutionary scenarios usually propose some form of random chance, natural selection, and/or long time spans for the development of living systems. These scenarios include numbers which are both smaller and larger than those in common use. To understand these scenarios, a brief review and critique of such numbers may be helpful, and an understanding of powers, probabilities, and proteins is necessary. Powers For ordinary things the familiar numbers are adequate (1 through 1,000 or even 1,000,000). However, for the very small and the very large, ordinary numbers are inconvenient, and scientific notation is used.

An Evaluation of the Open View of God

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Introduction The traditional Christian view of God says that He knows all things. This refers to knowledge of things that have occurred, that are occurring, and that will occur, and includes the future free choices of every human being. It also includes certain knowledge of everything that would have occurred under any set of circumstances (The Moody Handbook of Theology, Paul Enns, editor, 194–195). This all-encompassing knowledge, when referring to everything that has happened or that will happen, is sometimes described as God’s decree.

Implications of Evolutionism

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“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Beyond all doubt, Darwin left a great deal of influence. It seems little wonder that Origin of Species raised a storm when it appeared. To then, even the atheists were living in the Western heritage of a created universe. Even if the eighteenth century rationalists didn’t like the idea of a Creator, they still seemed to see an underlying intelligence in the world that they perceived by their senses.

A Conscious Awareness of God’s Presence

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Living with a conscious awareness of God’s presence is the desire of believers. Recently, in a prayer meeting, I heard someone pray “O Lord, be with us during this service.” God makes it very clear in His Word that He is always with us. Perhaps we need to pray that God would help us to be more consciously aware of His presence. Have you noticed in your daily Christian experience that some Bible truths, at times, seem to be more distant than you think they should be?

Where is the God of Elijah?

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The exciting days when God worked with fire and God’s servants worked with faith appear to be gone. Elijah’s day was exceptional in that he ministered with boldness and the blessing of God was upon him. He prayed, God answered. He preached, people responded. He acted, kings trembled. He worked, fire fell from heaven. Today our books on preaching and pastoral theology stress such things as marketing, meeting people’s needs, programming the ministry, multi-staff management, mission clarification, organizing for action, interpersonal relationships, financial skills, personality traits of leadership, and similar subjects.

Hearing the Call of God

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The larger question asks, “Is there a specific and individual will of God for my life?” Equally controversial and debated is the related question which we wish to address: “Is there a specific and individual call by God to serve Him vocationally—a call to the ministry?” True, some have abused an affirmative response to these questions, but we shouldn’t dismiss or disown doctrine because of this. We need to see what God’s Word says. As we approach the Scriptures to seek an answer to these questions, two issues of major importance surface: First, is the leading of God in my life ever subjective (inward, related to my personal experience) as well as being objective (outward, related to clear instruction from God in Scripture), or is His leading only objective?

Seeing Answers to Our Prayers

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One cannot read widely about our Christian heritage without being impressed with the important place of fervent prayer in launching movements and spiritually sustaining great men and women of God in the past. Major periods of revival and evangelistic activity have usually been preceded by times of earnest prayer. Yet today we seem to find little time to spend in prayer. We are preoccupied with others things. We deceive ourselves by speaking of the quality of our prayers and not their quantity.