I’ve been on The Bob Dutko Show several times now. In this twenty minute interview we talk about the theme of my new book, What’s So Confusing About Grace? https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/extras-tentativeapologist/Grace+on+Dutko+Show.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS
salvation
The Title of My New Book
If you’ve ever driven the interstate through southern Wyoming, you’ll probably notice the billboards appearing at regular intervals touting the virtues of “Little America“, a motel/gas station/restaurant located midway on the long drive from Cheyenne to Salt Lake City. The purpose of each billboard is clear: gradually build up anticipation for the destination until the […]
Islamophobia? Secular Bernie Sanders meets the Conservative Evangelical
A couple weeks ago Bernie Sanders undertook a provocative line of questioning during the confirmation hearing of a fellow named Russell Vought. You may have heard of this feisty exchange. It certainly got the attention of Christian conservatives who consider it solid evidence of secular incredulity toward and persecution of orthodox Christians. Here is a three […]
Somebody Goofed comes alive: Fundamentalism like you’ve never seen it before
Jack Chick, fundamentalist pamphleteer extraordinaire passed away a couple months ago. Looking back, there was an undeniable brilliance to the man. Indeed, some days I am inclined to place him in the same rarified air as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. No matter that Chick thought he was fighting tirelessly to rescue souls from the […]
Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God? A Question Explored Through Sheep and Goats
It’s been about a week since Wheaton College political science professor Larycia Hawkins was launched into the spotlight after she was suspended by Wheaton College, in part because she declared: “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, […]
A More Christlike God: A (very long and detailed) Review
Bradley Jersak. A More Christlike God, A More Beautiful Gospel. (Pasadena, CA: CWR Press, 2015). The back cover of Philip Yancey’s book What’s So Amazing About Grace? includes the following epigram: “There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less.” […]
6. The 59-Second Apologist: How does the atonement work?
The good news of the Christian gospel is that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19) so that through him those who are separated from God can be made at-one with him. But how is the atonement supposed to work, exactly? https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tentativeapologist/59+Second+Apologist+6+(atonement).mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS
Mother Teresa said we find Jesus in the poor. Was she right?
I grew up thinking that salvation consisted of praying a sinner’s prayer. I assumed that Paul had clarified that issue for posterity when he observed, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom. 10:9) As a result, […]
Comb-overs, rationality, and eternal decisions
Men who are follicly challenged deal with their plight in different ways. Some shave their heads. Others wear hats. And still others engage in the lamentable practice of the comb-over. You know what I’m talking about: the practice of growing a portion of hair extra long in a vain attempt to comb it over and mask […]
43. Can pedophiles be saved? A conversation with Scott Drennan
Over the last year we’ve tackled many topics on the Tentative Apologist Podcast from big bang cosmology to biblical interpretation. But no topic is as difficult or immediately gripping as the topic of this podcast. Today we are tackling the topic of pedophiles: their crimes … and their redemption. Redemption? To many, talk of redeeming and restoring these […]
41. Robin Parry on Universal Salvation
The Christian story has one simple, beautiful and extraordinarily powerful claim: despite all the evil, suffering, and pain that grips this creation, the good catches up. That promise is found in the very prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray: thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. And […]
Can the saved lose their salvation?
The other day one of my readers, John, asked me to share my views on “whether or not someone who has had a genuine salvific experience can subsequently lose their salvation.” As you might have guessed, much depends on what one means by “a genuine salvific experience”. One could define it in many ways. Let’s go with […]
Still more evangelistic tracts so bad that they’re good
This past Saturday a knock came on my door. I opened the door to two slightly nervous young men. One of them immediately took the lead, introducing himself as the representative of a new Baptist church just starting up in the area. He then held out a tract for me to take. I glanced down. […]
23. In Search of the Gospel: A Reformation Day Talk by Randal
Reformation Day (Oct 31) celebrates the achievements of the Reformation, among them a new degree of clarity that came to the doctrine of justification and with it the church’s understanding of the Christian gospel itself. But the most important lesson of the Reformation is not found in looking back to events that occurred five centuries ago. Rather, it […]
