Nazarene Caffeine

For the majority of Christians, eschatology looks something like this: one day the world is going to get so bad that Jesus comes back. When he does, all of his followers are going to be transported to heaven to be with him forever. Shortly after this, the world will get even worse, until the earth is finally destroyed by God. Then, everyone will be judged, and God's people will live with him forever while everyone else suffers for eternity away from God. The view of what happens when we die is similar among many Christians: when we die, we will go to heaven or hell, and that is where we will stay for all of eternity. However, it may surprise some to realize that this is not the portrait that the Bible paints. Rather, there is quite a bit more going on than just God providing a means of escape from a bad world. For this, we need to dive into another lesson on eschatology. The final Article of Faith of the Church of the Nazarene states that: "We believe in the resurrectio...

If you were to ask any Christian what he or she believes regarding the return of Christ, almost every Christian would in some way allude to what is commonly called the rapture. While the average Christian may not have a complete eschatology, he or she typically understands elements of a good eschatology. In this post, we are going to discuss one aspect of a solid Christian eschatology. We are almost finished with our series on the Articles of Faith of the Church of the Nazarene. This Article is the second-to-last one in the series. The 15th Article of Faith of the Church of the Nazarene explains our stance on the return of Jesus Christ. As with all Christians, we look forward to the return of Christ, his reign, and what he will bring. Our Article of Faith addresses the main point of this aspect of eschatology. It is both broad enough that it allows varying opinions on non-essentials, but narrow enough to exclude non-biblical viewpoints. It states, "We believe that the Lord Jesu...

I don't know of many self-professing Christians today that would say that God does not perform miracles. However, one of the things that I love about the Church of the Nazarene is that we have expressly stated that we still believe in miracles. The 14th Article of Faith of the Church of the Nazarene states that, "We believe in the biblical doctrine of divine healing and urge our people to offer the prayer of faith for the healing of the sick. We also believe that God heals through the means of medical science." This article is fairly straightforward. We believe that God is still in the miracle-working business. This does not mean that God will perform a miracle every time that we want him to. It does, however, mean that God does perform miracles today, even though we do not deserve this kindness from him. Why do we believe this? Well, let us use the Wesleyan quadrilateral to discover why, as Wesleyans, we must also believe that God does perform miracles. Scripture tell...

In today's post in our series on the Articles of Faith of the Church of the Nazarene, we will examine the Lord's Supper, also known as the Eucharist. Every branch of Christian theology understands the Lord's Supper to be a sacrament. However, the various branches of Christian theology have different understandings of this sacrament. We will briefly examine these different understandings, and then examine where the Church of the Nazarene falls in regards to this sacrament. Different Understandings Of The Eucharist There are typically four different views in regards to the Lord's Supper: transubstantiation, consubstantiation, the Reformed view, and the Memorial view. It is important to note that not every view of the Eucharist falls neatly into one of these four categories. These views can be understood as cardinal directions in which the doctrine of the Eucharist may be understood. They do not preclude a denomination from adopting some aspects of each view in their st...

 In early 2019, I had the opportunity to attend a conference called M19 that was put on by my denomination. The conference was about what you would expect from the largest Wesleyan-holiness denomination out there. There were plenary sessions with some amazing speakers, and, of course, there were breakout sessions. The way that the breakout sessions worked is that several different sessions would be going at the same time, and you would choose one to attend. It was one of these breakout sessions that serves as the inspiration for this post. My Experience At M19 I entered a medium-sized room where other individuals were already seated, waiting for one of the sessions to start. It was a theologically-oriented panel discussion, although I do not remember what the topic was. I remember expecting some good discussion, however. Near the end of the session, they opened the floor to questions and answers. One pastor stood up and said, "There are some in my congregation who have become invo...

In part 1  of this series, I talked about why I am a Christian. In part 2 , I explained briefly why I am a Wesleyan-Arminian as opposed to a Calvinist. In part 3, I will explain why I am a Nazarene as opposed to a member of another Wesleyan-Arminian denomination. Non-Wesleyan Traditions The Pentecostal Tradition I should probably start out by ruling out other traditions that I do not come from. Perhaps the first thing to do would be to state why I am not part of a Pentecostal denomination. The largest Pentecostal denomination is the Assemblies of God. While I have great respect for the denomination as a whole, I find disagreement with the view that the evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is tongues-speaking. I should probably mention here that I am not a cessationist. I hold a more "open, but cautious" view. I do believe that God gives gifts as He sees fit to the Church. I just don't believe that the Biblical warrant for tongues-speaking as the evidence of be...

In the first part  of this series, I briefly explained why I am a Christian. In this second part, I would like to explain why I am an Arminian as opposed to a Calvinist. I should begin this post by pointing out that some Calvinists do not accept all five points of Calvinism as they were formulated at the Synod of Dort. Many reject the concept of Limited Atonement, often for the same reasons that I reject it. Others accept Limited Atonement but reject other aspects of the TULIP. Since this is the case, I think that the best way to proceed is by taking the TULIP one aspect at a time, and explaining why I accept or reject portions of it. Exploring The TULIP Total Depravity The case for Total Depravity is strong. Total depravity includes not only a corruption of the human mind and heart, but also bondage of the will to sin. Simply put, the doctrine of Total Depravity makes it abundantly clear that mankind cannot exercise any good will toward God apart from grace. Paul makes a ...

This is the first of a three-part series on why I am a Nazarene. In this first post, I will explain why I am a Christian. I will offer a brief summary of various reasons why I have placed my trust in Christ. Space prevents me from listing more than I have here. In the second part, I will explain why I am an Arminian as opposed to a Calvinist. In the third part, I will explain why I am a Nazarene as opposed to other Arminian denominations. The Order Of Importance Let me state at the very beginning of this series that I am: I. A Christian first. II. A Wesleyan-Arminian second. III. A Nazarene third. For this reason, I have ordered the series in the way that I have. There is much that I could say in regards to my Christian faith. What is presented here is a summary of some of the reasons why I accept the Christian faith as true, and have, as a result, placed my trust in Christ. In short, this list is not exhaustive. I will first focus on reasons why I accept the existence of ...