Doctrine and Theology

What if we tell someone how to get to Heaven, and they believe and pray to receive Him? And what if they seem to stop believing, and show no evidence of a changed life? Would there be any reward from what was said earlier?

A friend is struggling with the idea of reincarnation. She seems to need clarification from an expert, someone who has researched, someone of authority, such as Randy, to reassure herself of the truth. She says she personally does not believe in reincarnation, but has loved ones around her that do and wants to know how to address this. Where could we find a source refuting reincarnation?

Randy shares some thoughts this Christmas season about what Christ has done for us. "Whenever we are tempted in our suffering, to say 'God, why did you do this to me?', let's look at the cross and say 'Lord, why did you do that for me?'. Your grace is so great." -Randy Alcorn

In his classic book The Knowledge of the Holy, which influenced me profoundly as a new believer, A. W. Tozer wrote, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." And in this excerpt from his book The Root of the Righteous, Tozer lays out why we need a right view of God—one that includes His holiness of course, but also His happiness, love, kindness, and delight.

If we asked people to vote on a divine character quality they most appreciate, God’s love would surely receive far more votes than His holiness. Christians tend to reflect our culture, and because our culture values love and devalues holiness, we do the same.

Alisa Childers is the author of Another Gospel: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity. In this great video, she gives a brief overview of five apologetics questions every believer should learn how to answer.

We do not just need the individual pearls of truths; we need the string that ties them together. Without the larger picture of God’s unfolding drama of redemption, and without systematic theology, pastors are constantly throwing out pearls to people, but they have no string to put them on and hold them together, and keep them in relation to each other.