Resources by Topic: Doctrine and Theology

God is the Greatest Good and the source of all lesser goods: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father” (James 1:17). Wayne Grudem says in Systematic Theology, “The goodness of God means that God is the final standard of good, and that all that God is and does is worthy of approval.”

Imagining that God should let us run life our way sets us up to resent God and even “lose our faith” when our lives don’t go as we want. However, that’s a faith we should lose—to be replaced with faith in the God of sovereign grace who doesn’t keep us from all difficulties but promises to be with us in all difficulties.

If you were to be quizzed on your knowledge of God as Father, God as Son, and God as Holy Spirit, how would you do on your knowledge of the Person and the work of the Holy Spirit?

God put everything under Adam’s dominion and stewardship. Genesis 3 tells us God cursed the whole earth as a result of Adam’s sin. That Curse had an ongoing dramatic effect on both humankind and animals, as part of creation. 

I’ve heard people say, “We don’t need more head knowledge in the church today; we need heart knowledge.” But the problem is not that we know too much! The head and the heart should not be pitted against each other. We need both. Bruce Ware says, “If you don’t have it in your head, you can’t have it in your heart.”

Our theology tends to come from sources we trust. Some people, instead of trusting Scripture, believe a hodgepodge of pop psychology and pop religion, with a little New Age philosophy thrown in. And some people think they trust Scripture, but don’t bother to read and know it well enough to recognize truth (or heresy) when they see or hear it.

Yes, I’ve had the same issue with Job’s friends, especially since God condemns them for saying wrong things about both him and Job. He essentially says they were wrong, and Job was right. But that didn’t mean Job was right about everything (he recognizes in the end he wasn’t), and it doesn't mean that they were wrong about everything they said.

Do words about God’s sovereignty and providence ring hollow? On the contrary—they resonate more with me than ever. While Nanci repeatedly affirmed God’s province and sovereignty throughout our married life, she spoke about them more and with greater delight in her final four years of life here than ever before.

Randy Alcorn spoke with his son-in-law, Dan Franklin, about 2 Corinthians 5:1-5. They discuss the question of how physical the present Heaven is, and is it possible that there are transitional or intermediate bodies there?

Randy has shared Louie Giglio’s presentation “How Great Is Our God” on his blog. I would like to know what he has to say about this article concerning how Louie used the example of laminin, and supposedly misinterprets Colossians 1:17 to fit his illustration. Thanks so much.

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

Randy Alcorn was interviewed on The Call to Mastery with Jordan Raynor about his book Heaven. In this audio clip, Randy explores the idea of work on the New Earth.