The Mileses

Paul and Olena Miles with Grace Abroad Ministries

really?

Biblical Theology and the Free Grace Crisis

Biblical Theology and Other Theological Methods

Theological methods can be divided into biblical, systematic, historical, and dogmatic theology. As a method, biblical theology studies the Bible as literature, focusing on a particular section of the Bible, whether it be a specific biblical author, period, genre, or such. Systematic theology divides doctrines into categories and considers all that the Bible says about these categories, historical theology studies the development of doctrine through the ages, and dogmatic theology studies schools of thought in theology. The logical procession would begin with biblical theology—the study of the Bible itself—before moving on to systematic and, finally, historical and dogmatic. An error in biblical theology can result in a faulty understanding of the proof texts for systematic theology, which will affect a tradition and is often copied through history.[Read More]

I bought a mystery liquid in Poland.

I bought a bottle of mystery liquid in Poland. It was a confusing experience that reminded me of the need to understand cultural context when we read the Bible. So, I talked about it in church.
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Can you tell the difference between an atheist, a liberal, and an evangelical?

Can you tell the difference between an atheist, a liberal, and an evangelical?

Seems like it should be easy enough, right? Well, not exactly…

I have been teaching on apologetics in church lately. A few weeks ago, I did a presentation on bible manuscripts (available here, but only in Russian), and last Sunday, I spoke on the reliability of the biblical autographs (see the whole thing here).

As an introduction to this Sunday’s talk, we played a game. I took quotes from different sources and had our congregation guess if the quote came from an atheist, a liberal, or an evangelical.



The Good Place: A Mythology for Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

Some Christians try to avoid television shows that promote ideas that are in conflict with Christianity, but I prefer to watch with a theologically critical eye. I guess I like to take on challenges like that, but if you are more inclined to avoid conflicts, that’s fine as well. One popular show these days is called The Good Place, which is in its fourth and final season (I’ll avoid any major spoilers for those who haven’t been watching). The Good Place blatantly rejects Christianity, but I enjoy it, first of all because the comedy is golden, but also because if you watch it critically, you can pick up on what Hollywood thinks about some big questions in life. I wouldn’t be surprised if many have fallen for some false teachings while watching, but if Christians are equipped to watch critically, I think they might be able to understand better why this show is contrary to the Bible and which untruths specifically are being promoted.

I have concluded that The Good Place is a mythology for moralistic therapeutic deism. That’s a mouthful, so first I would like to describe what the show is about, then I will define the terms “mythology” and “moralistic therapeutic deism” to show why The Good Place meets this description.[Read More]