One of the most misunderstood parts of the crucifixion story shows up at the very end of Matthew's account: From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my …
Do the courts define marriage?
Same-sex Marriage is Now the Law of the Land On June 26, 2014, wlfi.com published an article with this headline: Same-sex couples wed at Tippecanoe Co. Courthouse After great amounts of debate earlier this year over the locally infamous HJR-6, a resolution by the two houses of Indiana state …
The Father: God’s will and human freedom
This post is part of a series investigating the most important items of Christian doctrine. View all posts by clicking here or the DOGMA tag above. At the end of our service last Sunday, I took some live questions from the congregation. An interesting pattern revealed itself. Here are all the …
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DOGMA: Understanding the Father
This post is part of a series investigating the most important items of Christian doctrine. View all posts by clicking here or the DOGMA tag above. On Sunday, we addressed the third statement from the Lafayette Community Church Statement of Faith, but before we can look at it, we need to consider …
The Bible: What about the apocrypha?
This post is part of a series investigating the most important items of Christian doctrine. View all posts by clicking here or the DOGMA tag above. On Sunday, I was asked about the apocrypha, but I later found out that the answer I gave was partially wrong. What I said was that back in the days …
The Bible: Have we found all the original manuscripts?
This post is part of a series investigating the most important items of Christian doctrine. View all posts by clicking here or the DOGMA tag above. How do we know that all of the original manuscripts have already been found? I didn't get to answer this one on Sunday, but the answer is simple. None …
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The Bible: Is one translation of the Bible more accurate?
This post is part of a series investigating the most important items of Christian doctrine. View all posts by clicking here or the DOGMA tag above. Is one translation of the Bible more accurate? Why the need for so many English translations? I addressed this one on Sunday, and the basic answer is …
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The Bible: Do NT verses on Scripture apply to both Testaments?
This post is part of a series investigating the most important items of Christian doctrine. View all posts by clicking here or the DOGMA tag above. Can we generalize New Testament verses on the authority of Scripture (eg. 2 Tim 3:15-17) to the NT since in the original context they were referring …
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DOGMA: The Authority of the Bible
At Lafayette Community Church, I have just begun a teaching series called DOGMA to discuss the core beliefs of our church and why we should be dogmatic about them. Even though our world is filled with arguments about tolerance, the Bible is completely intolerant about a few key doctrines. We would …
Quick Study on the Rapture
This week at my Life Group, we looked at the clearest teaching in the Bible regarding the rapture, and I've become even more convicted about one particular position. This post is intended to guide you through the same study we considered this week and to give an inside track on what I'm currently …
You Can’t be Both Pre-Trib and Calvinist
If you are a Calvinist: you believe that God has "elected" or "chosen" those who would be saved from before the foundation of the world. you believe that those whom God has chosen have been predestined to respond to the gospel when God woos them. you believe that salvation comes entirely without …
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What I believe about Jesus
CHRISTOLOGY His Nature I believe in the preexistence of God the Son, coeternal with, coequal with, and of the same nature as the Father so that he is fully God (Jn 1:1, 8:58, 10:30; Co 2:9). I believe that the Son in willful, humble obedience to the Father's will for redemption took upon himself …
What I believe about God
TRINITY I believe that God exists as a Triune being whose very nature is that of one essence sustaining three persons in perfect relationship---Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His essence admits of no separation among the three but remains always One. Nevertheless, the three persons remain eternally …
My Doctrinal Statements are Online
Just because I was a little eager to get them all online, I've posted my doctrinal statements to my personal wiki. You can check them out if you want at... http://jeff.mikels.cc/wiki/doctrinal_statements …
What I believe about God’s Revelation
I know that some people are especially interested in the bigger details of faith, so I decided to post here my full "Doctrinal Statement." This is the first post in this series, and it reflects the "short form" of my Doctrinal Statement. If you wish to download my entire Doctrinal Statement in …
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