Nazarene Caffeine

 Recently, I created a post on Arianism and its modern-day version, which is found in the Jehovah's Witnesses cult. In this post, I want to address a modified form of Arianism called "Semi-Arianism." Arius, from whom we get the name of the Arian heresy, believed that Christ was the first created Being. Arius did not believe that Christ was God, but rather was a creature through whom God chose to work and bring redemption. In the post on Arianism, I have shown how this is false from both a biblical and a logical perspective. To deny Christ's divinity outright creates a slew of problems that cannot be reconciled with the biblical text. What about Semi-Arianism, though? What is it, and how are we to respond to it? Let's take a look at this very issue. Semi-Arianism is a belief that arose predominantly in the 4th century that attempted to find a compromise between the teachings of Arius and orthodox Trinitarian theology. As is the case when someone attempts to find a

I wanted to drop a quick post and let you know where you can find FREE Seminary for the Fall 2021 Semester. For the past two semesters, Wesley Biblical Seminary has offered free Seminary. When I say free, I mean FREE. The only thing that you are responsible for are the books for the class. This offer was good enough to convince me to transfer from Nazarene Theological Seminary to Wesley Biblical Seminary. After transfer credits and the free classes that I will get to take, I will have received approximately half of my M.Div. degree for FREE. However, they are only offering this for the Summer 2021 and Fall 2021 Semesters. If you have a Bachelor's Degree and want to take Bible, Theology, or Ministry classes, you have absolutely nothing to lose by checking them out. I want to take a minute to tell you about my personal experience at Wesley Biblical Seminary. Wesley Biblical Seminary is a conservative Seminary located in Mississippi. If you are worried about the location, don't

  Scripture : Philippians 2:12-13 When you examine major world religions, a few things stick out. One of the more prominent things that sticks out is that every other major world religion is based largely on a system of works. According to Hinduism, for example, those who do good in this life will be reincarnated at a higher caste than they are in during this life. In Islam, it is taught that there is are two angels standing next to each person. One angel records that person's good deeds, while the angel on the other side records the person's bad deeds. It is important for the sake of salvation that a person's good deeds outweigh his or her bad deeds. Of course, none of these other faiths have a solid ground for objective good and evil. Christianity is the notable exception to this, with salvation being purely by God's grace through faith in Christ. This is the clear teaching of the New Testament, that salvation is by grace and not by works. Yet there are some who cite

 The Nicene Creed is an important creed in the history of the Christian faith. It expounds the Trinitarian faith of Jesus, the apostles, and the early Church. Composed originally at the Council of Nicaea, and confirmed in its final form at the Council of Constantinople. Despite its importance, far too few Christians understand what the Nicene Creed is and why it is important. Because of this, I thought it would be a good idea to release a commentary on the Nicene Creed, albeit a very brief one. There is much that could be expounded that I will not do in this post. Rather, I will simply try to post in such a way as to help the average Christian understand what the Creed is saying. The form that will be presented here is the form that was finalized at the Council of Constantinople. We believe in one God, the Father, the almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. The opening line of the Nicene Creed is a strong affirmation of monotheism. It asserts that there is

  Scripture : Philippians 2:3-11 I want to open with a serious thought. This is something that I thought about some time back as I was thinking about the implications of some theological points. My thought for today is simply this: if pride is defined as thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to, then it is impossible for God to be proud. Why? Because God is, by nature, a Maximally Great Being . That is, it is impossible for God to think more highly of himself than he actually is because, well, there is nothing greater than God in any way. God is perfect in every way. There cannot be anything greater than God, and therefore he cannot be proud. It is for this reason that a proud god, such as the one described in the Quran (" al-mutakabbiru," which implies haughtiness and arrogance; Surah 59:23) cannot be Maximally Great, and therefore cannot properly be called God. God, understood as a Maximally Great Being, can be humble, but he cannot be proud. This is one of the re

  Scripture : Philippians 2:1-2 It doesn't take more than a quick glance at the news to see that we live in a divided world. In fact, it has often been said that we are more divided now than ever. I can say that we are more divided now than at any time I remember in my own life. This doesn't just go for our world, our culture, or our society, however. It also goes for the Church. The Church is also polarized right now. Some of this is attributable to a failure of Christians, including Christian leaders, to study Scripture on their own. Some of it is attributable to the politicizing of the pulpit. Some of it is attributable to other factors. Regardless, the polarization of the Church is not a good thing. If we are divided, we are, by definition, not united. So what does unity look like? Perhaps it would be better to cover the basics of another post  that I have written and briefly address what unity does--and doesn't--look like. Let's start with what unity is not. Unity