Biblical Articles

Who has been a member of the Lord’s church for very long and does not know of Jesus’ plea for unity in John 17:20-21? Who does not know of Paul’s rebuke to the Corinthians for being divided over personalities (1 Cor. 1:10-13)? How often have we recognized that Paul...

Recently, a letter appeared in the April/May issue of a magazine for people of “intelligence,” called Mensa Bulletin. The author of a letter to the editor, a Mr. Kmeco, claims to have read two versions of the Bible from cover to cover, although it does not show. When...

On April 9, 2016, appearing in the Orlando Sentinel, was an interesting article, whose headline offered the following declaration: “Grace for Divorced Catholics” (A3). Needless to say, that news might be of interest to a segment of the population; however, the...

This 2016 lectureship book, edited by David Brown, contains the material presented at the Contending for the Faith lectures, hosted by the Spring Church of Christ. It serves two valuable purposes: 1) It provides fundamental Bible teaching on such important matters as...

Over the years “Christianity” has taken some hits from the likes of James and Tammy Faye Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, whose sexual scandals led to their downfalls. Now the spotlight in this area is on Orlando Baptist Church, in the wake of their now-resigned “pastor’s”...

Mankind looks at the future, and it appears to be bleak. This theme has surfaced in dozens of literary works. One of those was The Time Machine, written by H. G. Wells in 1895, which involved a future society in which there were only two races: the Eloi, who lived...

LETTER TO ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY by Roelf L. Ruffner To Whom It May Concern: I read in the Winter-Spring issue of ACU TODAY that ACU will be adding the papers of Max Lucado to an honored place in the Milliken Special Collections and Archives of the Brown...

Almost everybody knows someone who refuses to become a Christian because, he says, “There are too many hypocrites in the church.” Frankly, there are some. Does that observation qualify as a new revelation? Hardly. Jesus denounced some of the leading scribes and...

In beginning the review last week of Joel Osteen’s 2004 multi-million bestseller, Your Best Life Now, nothing was mentioned past page 31 because it was important to see how he presented the Scriptures at the very outset. Yet another example of his mishandling of the...

A new book is available for only $35, according to The Wall Street Journal of March 12-13, 2016.  The title is The Invention of God, and it follows in a long line of “scholarly” works that show no respect for the Bible as the Word of God—but quotes it as though it is...

Joel Osteen is one of the most well-known and popular religious personalities in the nation. In 2004, he wrote the book, Your Best Life Now, which was #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list. It remained on that list nearly four years and sold more than four million...

Ask Amy is an advice column with which Spiritual Perspectives has taken issue (and rightly so) because the author of it frequently contradicts Biblical values. However, the March 6th column was intriguing—not so much for the advice but for the problem itself. A woman...

Does it really matter what the subject is when a leading religious figure makes a statement such as the one in the above title? After thinking about the meaning of that sentence, different words come to mind from the Scriptures. Jesus taught: “Enter by the narrow...

In 2 Timothy 3:1, Paul warns of perilous times to come, after which he describes what ungodly men will be like. One of the last descriptions says that they “creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,...

On February 4th, 2016 (just ten days before Valentine’s Day) the Orlando Sentinel published a local story that claimed in the title: “Ex-Lovers Differ on Lottery Ticket Promise” (B2). Lynn, a retired school teacher from Seminole County, won a million bucks in the...

Paul wrote 1-2 Timothy and Titus to two preachers. For a long time many scholars have referred to these letters as the “pastoral epistles,” which is weird, since Timothy and Titus were evangelists—not pastors. And though they contain the qualifications for pastors...

A few centuries ago, some began to notice the dis-unity of denominationalism and the confusion that it caused; they realized that this situation was not the way God desired it to be. Some suggested restoration—that Christians ought to forsake the division that had...

The term Ayatollah is a loathsome word to most Americans. Older citizens probably think immediately of the Ayatollah Khomeini who became notorious for being Iran’s supreme leader after overthrowing the Shah. He supported those who took Americans hostage in Iran and...

Peter, an apostle of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, not only preached the first sermon on the Day of Pentecost; he also wrote letters to brethren, one of which contains the words, Love the brotherhood (1 Peter 2:17), which is the equivalent of loving the church,...

One of the fears that many people have had since 9-11-2001 is another terrorist attack by Muslims here in the United States. To be sure, not all Muslims believe in violence; the problem is that those who pose a threat do not wear placards, saying, “I am a Muslim...

According to a Washington Post story available online by Rick Noack, the number of young people in Iceland who believe that God created the world is zero (which is also a temperature the country is familiar with). In light of the availability of Christian evidences...

The Sunday supplement to the newspaper, Parade, published an interview with Carol Burnett on January 24, 2016. She is worthy of the honor given to her by the Screen Actors Guild. Airing on January 30th, she received their 52nd Life Achievement Award (9). As with most...

In a recent Sunday newspaper (1-17-16), a Mr. Clark of Longwood said he was outraged about what a recent Republican Representative from Virginia said concerning owning "the entire [biblical] tradition." He goes on to ask, "The Republicans now think they own the...

A senior rabbi from the Congregation of Reform Judaism in Orlando, Steven W. Engel, takes issue with those who are saying that Christianity is “under attack” in the United States (Orlando Sentinel). He apparently thinks that two pieces of upcoming legislation aimed at...

Many lodge complaints against the Bible due to the existence of manuscript variations and problems that occur in translating the Scriptures from one language to another. These are legitimate concerns, to be sure. As noted previously, all languages have idiomatic...

Possibly some watched the interview with Sean Penn (movie star/journalist) on 60 Minutes Sunday evening, January 17, 2016. If not, Penn has certainly been in the news recently since he had an interview with El Chapo, head of a Mexican drug cartel, who escaped from...

More and more people today are asserting that the Bible was either composed or altered by mere men; they refuse to believe that it is Divinely inspired. Anyone has the right to believe anything; however, the day shall arrive when all shall believe, know, and confess...

When some are invited to worship with members of the church of Christ, they do not know what to expect. They might think we are some sort of Pentecostal group or perhaps even a cult of some kind, since so many exist today. New religious groups that no one has ever...

Why are you here today? Of course, members of this congregation plan to be here (unless ill or traveling). Christians realize their obligation not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25). We come to offer up our worship to God, as well as to be...

Many religions are Fatalistic—that is, the overriding attitude of those who believe this way is, “Que Sera, Sera,” which was a song sung by Doris Day in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Man Who Knew Too Much. [The song reached number two on American charts and number one...