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100 Top Christian Blogs 2015

By Jeremy Myers
1 Comment

100 Top Christian Blogs 2015

Below is a list of the 100 Top Christian Blogs. If you made it onto this list of top Christian blogs, here is a badge you may display on your website:

About this list of the 100 Top Christian Blogs

To make this list of top Christian blogs, I gathered and inspected about 500 Christian blogs and ranked them using a variety of factors. Some of the blogs I inspected are listed below the list of the 100 Top Christians blogs.

I will update this list occasionally, so if you want your blog to be considered for future ranking, and your blog is not listed below the list of 100 Top Christian blogs, please include a link to your blog in the comment section. Thanks!

Oh, and do I need to say it?

I guess so….ย sigh…

Disclaimer: I do not necessarily endorse all the views or perspectives of the bloggers on this list. The list contains many Christian bloggers who write from theological perspectives with which I have some disagreement.

Like who? (Let’s see who I can offend…)ย Calvinists, Charismatics, Conservative Baptists, and Catholics, just to name a few. Remember, I, Jeremy Myers, am the ONLY correct blogger in the world. (I’m KIDDING!)

Anyway, if someone is on the list of Top Christian blogs and you think they are a heretic, don’t burn me for it!ย Go be a troll on their site… (I’m kidding again!)

How I Created the List of 100 Top Christian Blogs

Below is an explanation of how I went about ranking these 100 Top Christian Blogs.

First, I gathered the list of Christian blogs using these sites:

  • Invesp Top Christian Blogs List
  • Kent Shaffer’s Top Christian Blogs
  • Jared Moore’s List of Christian Blogs
  • Top Christian Blogs ranked by Twitter Followers
  • Top Christian Blogs ranked by Facebook Likes
  • Technorati Religion Blog List

Second, I removed all “Community Blogs” which had multiple authors. This caused all blogs from Patheos, the Gospel Coalition, and other similar blogs to be dropped from the list. The reason I did this twofold. Many of these community blogs are not accurately ranked by Alexa, Compete, and Quantcast, which are three of the ranking factors I used (see below). But more than this, I wanted this list to honor the individual blogger who started his or her blog from scratch, and has labored away at it for years, slowly building an audience and faithfully writing quality posts which get read and shared. Those huge mega community blogs often overshadow the quality writing and hard work of individual bloggers. So if a blogger was writing on a community blog, I kept them off my list.

Finally, once I had my list of individual bloggers, I ranked them using a variety of factors. These factors include:

  • Traffic Rank on Alexa
  • Traffic Rank on Compete
  • Traffic Rank on Quantcast
  • Back link Count (shows people are linking to your content)
  • Pages Indexed by Google (shows that the blogger is writing a lot)
  • A variety of other traffic and social signals

The ranking number in the list below is a compilation of these ranking signals. The lower the number, the better the blog ranks.

How to get on this list of Top Christian Blogs

If you are not on this list and you want to work toward getting on it, or if you are on it and want to know what you can do to rise in the ranks of these top Christian blogs, here are sixย recommendations:

  1. Hone your blogging skills by watchingย my free Blogging Tutorial Videos
  2. Add the Alexa Traffic Rank Extension to your preferred web browser.
  3. Register your site at Quantcast for tracking.
  4. Join Synchroblogs, blog chains, and leave comments on otherย blogs.
  5. Get a WordPress plugin like Social Network Auto Poster to help your posts get listed on social sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and others.
  6. Write, write, write, and write some more!

Here then, are the 100 Top Christian Blogs

100 Top Christian Blogs

Rank Score Blog Title and Link Blogger Name
1 154,597 A Holy Experience Ann Voskamp
2 192,368 Challies Tim Challies
3 235,122 Albert Mohlers Blog Albert Mohler
4 251,128 Fr. Z’s Blog John Zuhlsdorf
5 316,787 Storyline Donald Miller
6 383,086 Thom Rainer Thom Ranier
7 550,752 Rachel Held Evans Rachel Held Evans
8 557,818 Sarah Bessey Sarah Bessey
9 580,570 Jen Hatmaker Jen Hatmaker
10 595,340 Redeeming God Jeremy Myers
11 652,418 Ron Edmondson Ron Edmondson
12 711,283 Denny Burk Denny Burk
13 786,684 James MacDonald James MacDonald
15 963,386 Living Proof Beth Moore
16 996,347 Blog and Mablog Doug Wilson
17 1,023,584 Moore to the Point Russell Moore
18 1,089,410 Red Letter Christians Tony Campolo & Shane Claiborne
19 1,311,565 Liturgy Bosco Peters
20 1,682,805 Stuff Christians Like Jon Acuff
21 1,796,877 Beyond Evangelical Frank Viola
22 1,919,246 Alpha & Omega Ministries James White
23 1,924,814 Perry Noble Perry Noble
24 2,054,915 Tony Morgan Live Tony Morgan
25 2,109,696 ReKnew Greg Boyd
26 2,250,404 What’s Best Next Matt Perman
27 2,318,149 Insight Grahame Knox
28 2,380,857 Everyday Theology Marc Cortez
29 2,395,631 Margaret Feinberg Margaret Feinberg
30 2,439,869 Istoria Ministries Blog Wade and Rachelle Burleson
31 2,481,178 Matthew Paul Turner Matthew Paul Turner
32 2,483,199 The Old Black Church! Ann Brock
33 2,484,562 Elizabeth Esther Elizabeth Esther
34 2,744,486 Jarrid Wilson Jarrid Wilson
35 2,671,478 J.D. Greear J.D. Greear
36 2,701,284 Unsettled Christianity Joel L. Watts
37 2,726,393 The American Jesus Zack Hunt
38 2,777,664 Stuff Fundies Like Darrell
39 2,820,823 Pastor Joe McKeever Joe McKeever
40 2,916,119 Experimental Theology Richard Beck
41 2,925,323 Communicate Jesus Steve Kryger
42 2,937,150 Growing Kids Ministry Lindsey Whitney
43 2,968,959 Zwinglius Redivivus Jim West
44 3,002,600 The Very Worst Missionary Jamie Wright
45 3,081,473 Head Heart Hand David Murray
46 3,124,265 Grace Evangelical Society Bob Wilkin
47 3,138,393 Brian McLaren Brian McLaren
48 3,147,025 Joshua Breland Joshua Breland
49 3,224,116 Ragamuffin Soul Carlos Whittaker
50 3,228,286 Living By Faith Blog Steve Fuller
51 3,246,945 Counseling Solutions Rick Thomas
52 3,261,402 Adam McLane Adam McLane
53 3,271,638 LeadingSmart Tim Stevens
54 3,305,025 Church Leader Insights Nelson Searcy
55 3,310,856 Mark Driscoll Mark Driscoll
56 3,388,157 Faith and Theology Ben Myers
57 3,410,810 Andy Naselli Andy Naselli
58 3,431,730 Frame & Poythress John Frame & Vern Poythress
59 3,489,281 Sam Luce Sam Luce
60 3,500,419 Josh Harris Josh Harris
61 3,530,308 Worship Matters Bob Kauflin
62 3,603,634 Cerulean Sanctum Dan Edelen
63 3,604,929 Blogging Theologically Aaron Armstrong
64 3,623,299 DJ Chuang DJ Chuang
65 3,691,804 Ev’ry Day I’m Pastorin’… Anonymous
66 3,758,669 Attempts at Honesty Mark McIntyre
67 3,773,157 The Life of Lew Ayotte Lew Ayotte
68 3,914,974 Kingdom Living Matt Dabbs
69 3,919,027 Ordinary Pastor Erik Raymond
70 4,004,643 Biblical Evidence for Catholicism David Armstrong
71 4,011,430 Canon Fodder Michael J. Kruger
72 4,055,459 Dave Black Online Dave Black
73 4,113,078 Sayable Lore Ferguson
74 4,136,749 WithoutWax Pete Wilson
75 4,157,654 Pomomusings Adam Walker Cleaveland
76 4,193,867 Lori Roeleveld Lori Roeleveld
77 4,209,363 Reading Acts Phillip Long
78 4,371,079 Lifestream Wayne Jacobsen
79 4,374,256 Brad Lomenick Brad Lomenick
80 4,391,004 Claude Mariottini Claude Mariottini
81 4,422,101 Christian Apologetics Maryann Spikes
82 4,525,668 Eugene Cho Eugene Cho
83 4,605,630 Larry Hurtado’s Blog Larry Hurtado
84 4,615,657 Children’s Ministry Online Kenny Conley
85 4,646,490 Jason D Bradley Jason Bradley
86 4,653,015 Shaun Groves Shaun Groves
87 4,668,552 Kingdom in the Midst Marty Duren
88 4,705,134 The Naked Bible Michael S. Heiser
89 4,734,948 Practical Shepherding Brian Croft
90 4,743,172 Learning my Linesโ€ฆ Walt Mueller
90 4,758,260 Thinking Out Loud Paul Wilkinson
92 4,812,623 Skye Box Skye Jethani
93 4,863,776 Ferrellโ€™s Travel Blog Ferrell Jenkins
94 4,937,388 Man of Dravity Tyler Braun
95 5,018,872 Courageous Christian Father Steve Patterson
96 5,037,707 For His Renown Jim Hamilton
97 5,100,720 Simply Church Felicity Dale
98 5,102,813 RJ Grune RJ Grunewald
99 5,129,856 Provocations & Pantings Timmy Brister
100 5,211,506 Doug Fields Doug Fields

Previous Lists of Top Christian Bloggers

This is an old list of Top Christian Bloggers. See the most recent list here: The 100 Top Christian Bloggers

How to get on this list of Top Christian Blogs

I mentioned these above, but let me reiterate it here:

If you are not on this list and you want to work toward getting on it, or if you are on it and want to know what you can do to rise in the ranks of these top Christian blogs, here are sixย recommendations:

  1. Hone your blogging skills by watchingย my free Blogging Tutorial Videos
  2. Add the Alexa Traffic Rank Extension to your preferred web browser.
  3. Register your site at Quantcast for tracking.
  4. Join Synchroblogs, blog chains, and leave commentsย onย otherย blogs.
  5. Get a WordPress plugin like Social Network Auto Poster to help your posts get listed on social sites like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and others.
  6. Write, write, write, and write some more!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Blogging, synchroblog, top Christian blogs

Want to Learn to Blog? Watch my Blogging Tutorial Videos

By Jeremy Myers
7 Comments

Want to Learn to Blog? Watch my Blogging Tutorial Videos

Do you want to start a blog, but don’t know where to begin?Wordpress-Service-Help

Do you have a blog already, but are having trouble gaining readers or keeping it going?

Do you have a message or idea God has laid on your heart that you want to share with others?

Do you have a book or product you want to tell others about through a blog?

Let me help.

You Too Can Become a Blogging Author

While I am not a full-time professional blogger, this blog is one of the top Christian blogs in the world (depending on who’s doing the ranking). I don’t say this to brag, but just to say that when it comes to blogging, I have learned a few things about how to blog.ย I have learned some tips and tricks about blogging that are important for others bloggers to learn.

Furthermore, for several years now, I have been helping scores of people just like yourself set up blogs so they can write what God has laid on their minds and share their ideas with others.

And guess what? I want to help you out as well, and I just created 15 blogging tutorial videos to help you become a blogging author.

But here’s the big question:

How much doesย cost?

It’s FREE.

I know, I know.

People say that if you give stuff away for free, people won’t value it.

Maybe that’s true.

blogging training videosMaybe I should be charging $97 for this training, or maybe $997. I certainly spent enough time on these videos to make them worth this much. There are currently 15 videos in my “Start Blogging Series” and these 15 blogging tutorial videos took me hundreds of hours to complete. I could, with a good conscience, charge a couple hundred dollars for this blogging training series.

But you know what? I love to see other people learn to set up blogs and write about the message God has laid on their hearts.

In the past, I have been helping people do this one at a time. But recently, more and more people have been asking for my help, and I simply don’t have the time to help everybody any longer.

So I made these blogging tutorial videos, and I am making them available to you for free.

Get the Blogging Author Tutorial Videos for Free

These first fifteen blogging tutorial videos only walk you through the initial steps of setting up a blog and getting writing. But even if you already have a blog, you may want to watch these videos for I provide several tips and suggestions for how to prepare and write your blog for maximum impact.

Go here to learn more about my own blogging history and why I createdย these blogging tutorial videos.

If you just want to get started, fill out the form on this page.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Blogging, blogging

I’m Getting a Haircut to Rescue Young Girls from Sex Slavery

By Jeremy Myers
7 Comments

I’m Getting a Haircut to Rescue Young Girls from Sex Slavery

human trafficking sex slavery

Two million children are sold into slavery every year. 98% of these are young girls and women, and some of these girls are forced to have sex with men up to 50 times each day [Source].

Help me raise money to rescue some of these girls from the hell they are living in. Learn how below:

Cut my hair to rescue girls from slavery

A while back, someone yelled at me, “Get a haircut, you hippie!” (True story.)

I have decided to go ahead and do it.

I’ve been growing my hair out for several years now … and it is time toย getย it cut.

AND YOU can help me determine how much to cut off.ย 

My hair is about 14 inches long.

Jeremy Myers hair

For every $100 raised, I will cut off one inch of hair (up to 10 inches). If I reach $1000 for the 10 inches of hair, itย will be donated to Locks of Love .

If more than $2500ย is raised,ย I will get a buzz cut.

If more than $5000 is raised, I will shave my head. Clean. Bald. The goatee stays…

What will we do with the money?ย Every penny that is donated will be given to theย International Justice Missionย to aid them in their ongoing work to rescue young girls around the world from sexย slavery.

Go visit my fundraising page at GoFundMe to donate! Thanks!

My haircut is scheduled for next Tuesday, February 17. That gives you ONE WEEK to determine how much hair I will cut off. Go here: Yes! I want Jeremy to cut his hair!

Want more people to hear about this? It’s simple. Use the sharing buttons below. Thanks!

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, haircut, sex trafficking, slavery

Jesus, friend of sinners and tax-collectors?

By Jeremy Myers
27 Comments

Jesus, friend of sinners and tax-collectors?

A reader recently used my “Contact Me” form on the about page to submit a Bible and Theology Question. Here is what he wrote:

Hi Jeremy.

Thank you for being available. It can be hard to find someone to go to for some spiritual questions via the internet.

Lately I have been struggling with some new information I came upon regarding Jesus and some people’s views. To start with, I am a public school high school boy with an unbelieving family, so I am around the non-religious a lot.

To my surprise, I learned based off of Lukeย 7:34 and John 15:14 that Jesus was not actually a friend of sinners. In Lukeย 7:34, the pharisees are trying to discredit Jesus by giving him titles such as a glutton, drunkard, and friend of sinners. But Jesus never claimed these titles.

With this information, some people say that Jesus was only with unbelievers to minister to them and not to fellowship or become friends with them.

Do you think this is right? Does our knowledge of Jesus public ministry give us all we need to know about his interaction/relationships with unbelievers.

Thank you very much.

I am posting my answer here, because I think others might have similar questions.

It is true that the Pharisees and other religious leaders were trying to discredit Jesus by calling Him a glutton, drunkard, and friend of sinners.

It is also true that Jesus never referred to Himself by such titles.

However, none of this means that Jesus was not actually a friend to sinners. Quite to the contrary, there are numerous lines of evidence which prove that Jesus did, in fact, hang out with and befriend those whom the religious world at that time considered “sinners.”

Jesus the friend of sinners

1. Nobody Ever Tried to Discredit aย Pharisee by Calling them “the friend of sinners”

The reason the Pharisees were able to pin the accusation of being a glutton, drunkard, and friend of sinners upon Jesus is because Jesus ate a lot, drank a lot, and hung out with “sinners” a lot. If the accusation wasn’t at least partly true, the accusation never would have been voiced, and never would have stuck.

The Pharisees are the perfect example. You will never find any place in Scripture or in any other literature of the time which accuses the Pharisees of being the friend of sinners. Why not? Because they did everything within their power to live separately from sinners.

Jesus, however, was often found in the company of sinners, and so the Pharisees tried to discredit Him and His ministry by saying that He was their friend. This is the classic attack known as “guilt by association.”

But of course, this was fine with Jesus, for this was exactly why He came – to bear our guilt by associating with us.

2. Jesus never denied that he was the friend of sinners

Though Jesus didn’t refer to Himself as a friend of sinners, He did confirm that this was who He came to live among. In Luke 5:32, Jesus says that He did not come to call the righteous to repentance, but the unrighteous. So if Jesus was going to call the unrighteous to repentance, He needed to hang out with the unrighteous.

Similarly, in Matthew 9:12, Jesus says that it is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick. Again, to heal the sick, Jesus had to be with the sick.

Which raises the interesting third point:

3. If Jesus Wasn’t the Friend of Sinners, He Couldn’t be Friends with Any of Us!

I think one truth that is often overlooked in this discussion is that ALL of us are sinners. The only reason some people like to say that Jesus wasn’t actually a friend to sinners is because they somehow think that they themselves are not sinners. Or at least, they are not “as bad” as those other sinners.

You know what this is? This is called pride, which is the worst of all possible sins.

The only people who would claim that Jesus wasn’t really the friend to sinners are those people who don’t think they themselves are sinners.ย 

I believe that when Jesus makes His statements about not coming for the righteous in Luke 5:32 and not coming for the healthy in Matthew 9:12, He was implying that none of us are righteous, none of us healthy. We are all sinners in need of repentance. We are all sick in need of a physician.

If Jesus was only going to hang out with the righteous, He would have stayed in heaven.

4. Jesus Didn’t Come to Save us From Our Sin, but to Save us From Religion

When it comes to discussing who Jesus hung out with, the choice is not between the righteous people and the unrighteous people (for all are unrighteous), but rather between the religious and the non-religious.

I believe that–even more so than our sin–Jesus came to free people from religion. And one way Jesus showed this was by hanging out with the people whom religion rejects as “unworthy” of God’s attention or forgiveness.

Jesus didn’t hang out with sinners to show that God loves them more than God loves religious people. No, Jesus hung out with sinners to show both them and the religious people that God accepts and loves all people. That is one of the central truths of the Gospel message. You don’t have to become religious in order for God to love and forgive you. In fact, religion may actually get in the way of understanding that God loves and forgives you!

5. Yes, Jesus Hung Out with Religious People Too

Yes, yes. I do not deny it. Some of His own disciples were “religious.” And we must never forget that Nicodemus visited with Jesus (John 3), or that Jesus ate dinner with Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-49). He also calls His followers His friends (John 15:14).

But again, the question is not whether or not Jesus hung out with religious people. Of course He did. The question is Why?

It was not because He approved of their beliefs and behavior. Not at all!

Just as Jesus didn’t hang out with sinners and tax-collectors as an endorsement of their beliefs and behavior, so also, the fact that Jesus hung out with religious people should not be seen as an endorsement of theirs.

Again, I believe that Jesus was more concerned about the barriers to God which are erected by religion than He was about the barriers to God which are caused by sin.

But even this is getting off track. It is not about which group is worse than the other.

It’s not about who is approved, accepted, or endorsed more than someone else.

The message of Jesus was this: “It’s not about your sin! It’s not about your religion! It’s all about God! And guess what? He loves you!”

So Should you Make Friends with Sinners?

Jesus, Friend of SinnersWell, I’ve got news for you. If you have friends, you are already friends with sinners.

Some of them are religious sinners and probably suffer from all sorts of spiritual blindness to their own sin, and how they mistreat others in the name of God.

Others might be non-religious sinners, who are simply trying to “have a good time” in life.

Which group should you seek to hang out with?

It’s easy to decide. Here’s the answer:

You should hang out with whomever God brings into your life to hang out with.

Look around you. The people in your life are most likely the people God wants you to live among. So live with them, as Jesus came and lived with us. Love them, as He has loved you. Forgive them, as He has forgiven you.

Final Note About Jesus the Friend of Sinners

After writing the post above, I did an internet search to see what others might have written on this topic. I found an article by Keven DeYoung called “Jesus, Friend of Sinners: But How?” which I strongly object to, and which the person who sent me the question above might have been referring to. I also found an article by Jonathan Merritt called “Setting the Record Straight on Jesus, ‘the friend of sinners’” which is in response to Kevin DeYoung’s article and is fantastic. Go and read Jonathan’s article. He concludes with these words:

A Jesus who loves us even if we donโ€™t love back? A Savior who pursues us even as we run away? A Christ who offers fellowship to all indiscriminately without condition, no strings attached? That would be a Jesus who is better than weโ€™ve imagined, and that would be good news.

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Bible and Theology Questions, Discipleship, friend of sinners, Jesus, John 15:14, Luke 7:34

What a Day in the Life of the Church Looks Like for me

By Jeremy Myers
3 Comments

What a Day in the Life of the Church Looks Like for me

all about eveI am participating with several other authors and bloggers in a preparation for a conference in Portland called “All About Eve.” The other contributors are:

  • Wm. Paul Young, author of theย The Shack
  • Deidre Havrelock, author of The Starving Church (and other books)
  • Skye McKenzie, author of Forty Days to Breakthrough
  • “Eve,” a follower of Jesus who has recently stopped “attending church”

The situation is that “Eve” has numerous questions about how to follow Jesus outside of the four walls of institutional Christianity. Go read her introduction here. I will be writing as her “pastor” to provide input and suggestions about how she and her family can do this. I put my introductory post up here.

All About Eve

I will be writing my post for the All About Eve blog on Thursdays for the next 40 weeks. I will be posting an excerpt of my blog post here, and then inviting you to go over to the other blog to read the rest of the post.

Here is an excerpt from today’s post:

Eve,

You have asked what it looks like for my family to go to church.

Let me try to describe it.

It all begins in the morning when my wife and I roll out of bed. While my wife wakes up our three girls and then makes breakfast, I stumble into the kitchen to make some coffee. Usually, my wife is several steps ahead of me, and the pot of black magic (aka โ€œThe Elixir of Lifeโ€) is ready to drink.

After breakfast, we all hop into the car and drive over to a local brick building. We go in and say โ€œHelloโ€ to the greeter at the front door. He sometimes gives us a little piece of paper that will help us know what is going on there that day. We then walk around a little bit, occasionally talking to people we meet. At one point in the morning, we give some money to a person standing behind a counter, and we often chat a little bit with them as well.

Then we leave Walmart with the things we just bought and go back out to our car.

The items we just bought are for a small gathering that will take place later that day at our neighborโ€™s house. We met him when we first moved into the neighborhood, and we quickly learned that he too is a follower of Jesus. So every so often, we gather at his house. Usually, before we begin, he shows us a project he is working on in his back yard, or a picture he painted when he was younger. His wife is also there, and she talks about their health concerns. Sometimes there is food involved, but not always. Then we get down to business.

On this day, we go outside into his front yard and start raking leaves. You see, he just recently had heart surgery, and is not able to rake all the leaves that have fallen. He also cannot run errands yet. We went to Walmart to buy them some food and household items, and are now at his house raking up the leaves in his front yard. When we are done, he thanks us profusely, and we chat a bit more before going home for lunch.

To read the rest of what a day in the life of the church looks like for me, go read the article here.

God is Redeeming Books Bible & Theology Topics: All About Eve, attending church, be the church, being the church, church, going to church, Theology of the Church

One of the best commentaries on Exodus I have read

By Jeremy Myers
8 Comments

One of the best commentaries on Exodus I have read

Exodus GarrettIf you are tired of reading commentaries on Exodus that seem to do nothing but talk about the Documentary Hypothesis (aka the JEDP theory), and if you have sometimes found yourself yelling at the pages “I don’t care if was the J, E, D, or P source, just tell me what the text means!!!”, then the new commentary on Exodus by Duane Garrett is for you.

I knew this commentary would be good when he wrote this about the JEDP theory:

Much of this discussion is of doubtful value, either in terms of gaining better tools for interpreting the text or in terms of finding criteria for dividing it into its supposed sources. It maintains only a shell of intellectual coherence (p. 17; cf. p 18).

This is a scholarly and gracious way of saying “The JEDP debate is BS.”

And the commentary only got better from there.

I loved his insistence on an early date for the composition of Exodus. He doesn’t side with the “scholarly consensus” that Exodus was written during the post-exilic era.

Following in the same vein, Garrett actually believes that Moses wrote Exodus! While I often benefit from commentaries that were written by source-critical scholars, I find it so refreshing to read a commentary written by a world-class scholar who actually believes Moses wrote Exodus during the time period in which the events took place.

Speaking of which, Garret actually believes the events of Exodus took place. Again, in today’s scholarly circles, this is a very rare position to take! But I love it.

Exodus Garrett

Best of all, Garrett writes his commentary much as he says the book of Exodus was written: “the vocabulary consists primarily of common words” (p. 21). Garrett writes to be understood; not be prove how smart he is. Again, it is so refreshing to read commentaries of this sort.

As I read through the introductory material, I found his discussion of Pharaoh Akhenaten’s conversion to monotheism to be absolutely riveting, as well as his thorough and detailed summary of the date of the exodus and the location of the Red Sea crossing. But then, I’m a bit of a Bible geek.

As for the commentary on the book of Exodus itself, it was top-notch. Most of the questions I had about Exodusย were given adequate space for discussion. He talked about how the ten Plagues may have been designed to prove the powelessness of the Egyptian pantheon (though he ended up saying that this was not the point, p. 301).

He also wrote a good discussion of “Theodicy in Exodus” which is an attempt to explain how God could get Himself involved in the questionable behavior of killing children in the 10th plague (p. 214; I was not fully satisfied with his explanation on this). ย And of course, in light of a recent study of mine, I was glad to see that he wrote several pages about the hardening of Pharaoh’s heartย (p. 370).

One great element to this commentary is that each section concludes with some helpful “Key Theological Points.” This allows the commentary to not just be an explanation of the text, but also to show the student of Exodus how the text guides and informs our theology.

If you are preaching through Exodus or studying it on your own, this commentary on Exodus by Duane Garrett is definitely one you show consult.

 

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible commentary, Bible Study, Books I'm Reading, commentary, Exodus

A New Podcast by Brandon Chase! I am loving it!

By Jeremy Myers
10 Comments

A New Podcast by Brandon Chase! I am loving it!

theology podcastsI have a 25 minute commute to work. Sometimes I listen to Conservative Talk Radio, but when I am looking for something with a little less doom and gloom, I listen to Podcasts.

Two Podcasts I almost never miss an episode of are the (1) The God Journey byย Wayne Jacobsen, and (2) Beyond the Box by Raborn Johnson and Steve Sensenig.

A blogging friend of mine, Brandon Chase, recently started his own podcast. I listened to the first two episodes last week. All I can is WOW. ย If you like listening to Podcasts about theological topics like the things we discuss here on this blog, I highly recommend Brandon’s “Real Life Radio” podcast.ย Keep it up, Brandon!

Click any of the links above to subscribe to their Podcasts through iTunes.

Brandon’s first two episodes were a discussion with Jamal Jivanjee. They discussed many of the things I have been writing about on this blog during the past couple years (prior to the current Calvinism series). They say some quite controversial things about Scripture, God, and the church. What a challenging discussion! In fact, I think that Jamal got himself in a bit of trouble by some of the things they discussed… listen to the two Podcasts and then go read his blog to find out why… You should also read Brandon’s blog.

If you subscribe to any of these podcasts, let me know what you think!

As a bonus, I often enjoy listening to The Free Believers Network Podcast as well. The discussion from 7/27/2014 called “Heaven is for NOW” was fantastic.

 

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Bible Study Podcast, Brandon Chase, podcast, Theology - General, Wayne Jacobsen

Understanding the Potter and the Clay in Romans 9

By Jeremy Myers
10 Comments

Understanding the Potter and the Clay in Romans 9

potter and the clayWestern theology has committed a terrible disservice to this imagery of a potter and clay by making it seem as if God is a deterministic puppet master up in heaven pulling the strings of people and nations down here on earth.

This is exactly the opposite of what Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Paul meant by using this terminology.

The Potter and the Clay in Jeremiah 18

In Jeremiah 18, for example, while God is equated with the potter, God calls upon Israel to turn from her wicked ways and obey His voice so that they, as the pot which God is fashioning, will not be marred (cf. Jer 18:8-11).

God calls upon Israel to come into conformity to the work of His hands. If they do not, they will become marred, and He will have to reform the clay again into another vessel (Jer 18:4). He does not destroy or discard the clay; He simply forms it into another pot which will be used for a different purpose.

A similar understanding is seen in Isaiah 54 and Romans 9.

The Potter and the Clay is not teaching Determinism

There is no deterministic message in the image of the potter and the clay in Isaiah 54, Jeremiah 18, or Romans 9. If we accept the deterministic perspective of these texts, just imagine for a moment what sort of God is being portrayed. H. H. Rowley sums it up best:

Neither Jeremiah nor Paul had in mind an aimless dilettante, working in a casual and haphazard way, turning out vessels according to the chance whim of the moment โ€ฆ To suppose that a crazy potter, who made vessels with no other thought than that he would afterwards knock them to pieces, is the type and figure of God, is supremely dishonoring to God. The vessel of dishonor which the potter makes is still something that he wants, and that has a definite use โ€ฆ The instruments of wrath โ€ฆ were what the New Testament calls โ€˜vessels of dishonor,โ€™ serving God indeed, but with no exalted service. They were not puppets in His hand, compelled to do His will without moral responsibility for their deed, but chosen because He saw that the very iniquity of their heart would lead them to the course that He could use (Rowley, Doctrine of Election, p. 40-41)

potter and the clay

Neither Isaiah, nor Jeremiah, nor Paul had in mind a potter who purposefully created pots just so that He could smash them. No potter would do that, then or now. Instead, God is the wise potter who works with the clay to form useful tools. The vessels of โ€œdishonorโ€ are not vessels which are destroyed, but vessels which will be used in โ€œignobleโ€ ways. They still serve important purposes and help with vital tasks, but they are not vessels of honor.

Typically, vessels of dishonor do end up being destroyed (which is not necessarily hell!), but this is not because the potter made them for such a purpose, but because unclean vessels, when they have served their purpose, are usually not useful for anything else.

potter and the clayAnd what makes one vessel clean or unclean? As H. H. Rowley pointed out above, God allows humans to determine what kind of vessel they will be, and then He uses those who have made themselves vessels of dishonor.

A careful reading of Romans 9:22 reveals this very point. W. E. Vine, in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, says that the word โ€œdestructionโ€ is used โ€œmetaphorically of men persistent in evil (Rom 9:22), where โ€˜fittedโ€™ is in the middle voice, indicating that the vessels of wrath fitted themselves for destructionโ€ (Vine’s Expository ย Dictionary, 2:165)

None of this Relates to ย Person’s Eternal Destiny

Again, none of this has anything to do with whether or not a person goes to heaven or hell after death. The way a vessel is used refers primarily to how God uses individuals, kings, and nations in this life. Marston and Forster add this:

The basic lump that forms a nation will either be built up or broken down by the Lord, depending on their own moral response. If a nation does repent and God builds them up, then it is for him alone to decide how the finished vessel will fit into his plan … God alone determines the special features / privileges / responsibilities of a particular nation (Forster & Marston, God’s Strategy, 74).

To read more on Romans 9, get my book The Re-Justification of God.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, election, potter and the clay, Re-Justification of God, Romans 9, Theology of Salvation, TULIP, Unconditional Election

Why did God harden Pharaoh’s Heart?

By Jeremy Myers
30 Comments

Why did God harden Pharaoh’s Heart?

did God harden Pharaohs heartIn Romans 9, Paul writes about the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart for the purposes of making God’s glory known. This seems rather harsh to some.

What does Paul mean?

Who Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart First?

In this debate, Calvinists say that God hardened Pharaohโ€™s heart first from eternity past because God needed a vessel of destruction through whom to reveal His wrath. They say that the text is quite clear in teaching that God hardened Pharaohโ€™s heart (Exod 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8).

Non-Calvinists respond that in the Exodus account, the text frequently states that Pharaoh hardened his own heart before God hardened it (Exod 8:15, 32; 9:34). There are also several references which state that Pharaohโ€™s heart was hardened without giving indication about the source of this hardening (Exod 7:13, 14, 22; 8:19; 9:7, 35).

hardening pharaohs heartBut in response to this, Calvinists argue back that although the text says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart before God hardened it, before Moses even went to speak to Pharaoh, God told Him that He planned to harden Pharaohโ€™s heart (Exod 4:21; 7:3).

As one is reading all the exegetical and theological arguments surrounding this debate about who hardened Pharaohโ€™s heart first, it begins to sound a bit like the question of which came first: the chicken or the egg.

It Doesn’t Matter Who Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart First!

Rather than summarizing all the exegetical and theological arguments on both sides of this debate, it seems best to avoid all the rhetoric and cut through to the main question which neither side seems to be asking.

The real question is this: โ€œWhat does it mean for Pharaohโ€™s heart to be hardened?โ€

pharaohs heart hardenedThe issue is not about who hardened Pharaohโ€™s heart firstโ€”though that is where most of the ink has been spilledโ€”but rather about what it means for Pharaohโ€™s heart to be hardened.

People on both sides of the debate often assume that the hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart means that Pharaoh was solidified in his status as an unregenerate person headed for hell.

But what if the hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart doesnโ€™t mean this at all? What if it simply refers instead to the resolve in Pharaohโ€™s heart to keep the Israelites as his slaves, and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Pharaohโ€™s eternal destiny?

What if God, in His desire to make His glory known to both the Israelites and the Egyptians, made certain that Pharaoh would resist the will of God to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt, so that all those who witnessed and heard of these events would know that the God of Israel alone was God?

Could not God, in His gracious sovereignty, hardenย Pharaoh’s heart without affecting whatsoever Pharaohโ€™s ability to believe in Godโ€™s promises and thus become part of Godโ€™s redeemed people?

Of course He could!

Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter makes a similar point:

The awesome words to Pharaoh can be faced in their full forceโ€”โ€œEven for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth.โ€ The words โ€œraised thee upโ€ do not mean that God had raised him up from birth for this purpose: they refer to his elevation to the highest throne on earth. Nay, as they occur in Exodus 9:16, they scarce mean even that, but only that God had kept Pharaoh from dying in the preceding plague, so as to be made the more fully an object lesson to all men. Moreover, when Paul (still alluding to Pharaoh) says, โ€œAnd whom He will, He hardenethโ€ (Exod 9:18), we need not try to soften the word.

God did not override Pharaohโ€™s own will. The hardening was a reciprocal process. Eighteen times we are told that Pharaohโ€™s heart was โ€œhardenedโ€ in refusal. In about half of these the hardening is attributed to Pharaoh himself; in the others to God. But the whole contest between God and Pharaoh must be interpreted by what God said to Moses before ever the contest started: โ€œThe king of Egypt will notโ€ (Exod 3:19). The will was already set. The heart was already hard. The hardening process developed inasmuch as the plagues forced Pharaoh to an issue which crystallized his sin. โ€ฆ Pharaohโ€™s eternal destiny is not the thing in question (Baxter, Explore the Book, VI:88-89).

This means that the hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart, whether it is done by God or Pharaoh, or by some symbiotic combination of the two, has absolutely nothing to do with Pharaohโ€™s eternal destiny.

Even if the Exodus account laid all the responsibility for the hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart upon God Himself, and none upon Pharaoh, this still would tell us nothing about whether or not Pharaoh concluded His life as one of Godโ€™s redeemed.

did god harden pharaohs heartPharaohโ€™s eternal destiny is not under discussion in Exodus or in Romans, and so Pharaohโ€™s heart can be hardened so that Godโ€™s purposes are achieved, while still leaving plenty of room for Pharaoh to believe in Godโ€™s promises and become one of Godโ€™s people.

If you want a longer and more detailed explanation of why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, check out my new book:ย The Re-Justification of God.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, election, Pharaoh, Romans 9, Theology of Salvation, TULIP, Unconditional Election

The Grand Paradox by Ken Wytsma

By Jeremy Myers
21 Comments

The Grand Paradox by Ken Wytsma

The Grand Paradox

Ken Wytsma recently sent me his new book, The Grand Paradox, for review. I really, really wanted to like this book, since it came so highly recommended by numerous authors and scholars that I deeply respect.

Yet I must confess that as I read the book, I had trouble understanding what the book was about. And after having read the book, I am still not sure I know what “the grand paradox” is. I failed to see how one chapter led to another, or how each chapter contributed to an overall big picture theme or idea.

Don’t get me wrong, Ken Wytsma is a good writer with great ideas. Each chapter individually (except for one … more on that in a bit) is a good on a particular topic. I really enjoyed the chapters on justice and doubt. I just didn’t see how the chapters moved the reader toward any sort of cohesive idea, decision, insight, or new understanding.

There were several insights and ideas I found inspiring throughout the book, such as this one on love and justice:

For those who truly care about love and justice, one of the most disappointing experiences in religion is when it becomes a man-made system of conformity and standardization that we use to judge each other. (p. 95)

On the other hand, I disagreed with much of he wrote in chapter 12, titled “Mother Kirk.” Like many Christian leaders today, Wytsma is aware that countless Christians around the world are seeking to follow Jesus outside the four walls of institutional Christianity. That is, they want to follow Jesus without doing the “church thing” on Sunday morning.

Being a pastor of a megachurch himself, Wytsma naturally tries to discredit this way of following Jesus. But in doing so, he reveals that he doesn’t understand the heart or motives of these people, and even resorts to demeaning them with the derogatory label “terminal Christians” (p. 136). He goes on to make this absolutely shocking statement:

When I see someone in the church who is beginning to develop a critical view of church, … I know I am looking at a “terminal Christian.” That individual might not be dead yet, but she is on a trajectory that leads to separation from the people of God, and separation from the people God has identified with will ultimately mean separation from God himself. And separation from God is death (p. 137)

So according to Wytsma, if you decide to stop attending church, or if you are critical of various aspects or elements of the church, you are on your way to becoming separated from God Himself.

As the institutional church continues to suffer a slow and agonizing death, this is the sort of rhetoric we can expect to hear more of from those whose income and notoriety depend upon the institutional church.

I imagine that in Wytsma’s mind, I might be one of those he labels as a “terminal Christian.” But if he were to sit down and talk with me and my wife, or with almost anyone who is on this same journey with God, I think he would discover that we are not falling away from God, but are drawing closer to Him and His people in ways that we never before thought possible–in ways we had only dreamed of when we were part of the institutional church.

Yes, it is true that people who leave the institutional church are often critical of what they left behind. I have contributed to that criticism myself. But this is not criticism of “the church” as much as it is the forms of church which we believe are keeping people from experiencing all that God has for them.

But watch this… if we who no longer sit in a pew on Sunday morning are also part of the family of God through our faith in Jesus, our commitment to follow Him, and our regular fellowship with other travelers on this road, then we too are part of the local and universal church, which means that when Wytsma criticizes us, he is criticizing “the church,” which means that according to his definition, he too is a terminal Christian and headed toward separation from God.

Look, I don’t believe in terminal Christians. I don’t think Wytsma is a terminal Christian. I am just pointing out that when Christians in institutional churches criticize Christians who are not in institutional churches for criticizing the institutional churches, many of their own criticism fall back upon their own heads, just as it does upon us who have left. I am not saying we shouldn’t criticize. We can and we should, for this how we learn. But we must remember what we all learned in kindergarten: “Whenever you point the finger at someone else, three fingers point back at you.”

What am I saying? If you read this book, maybe just skip chapter 12, or if you do read it, just recognize that Wytsma is circling the wagons in an attempt to prop up a dying institution.

If you are part of a fellowship where they say that if you leave their church, or if you question or challenge what the church does or what the pastor says, that you are leaving God or challenging God’s ways, recognize that this is the guilt-based, fear-based, control-based system that forms the foundation of much of the modern “church,” and does not reflect the heart of Jesus for His Bride.

So what can I say about this book? Well, many of the chapters are insightful and helpful. I LOVED his chapter on justice. And if you want to read some thought-provoking s on various Christian topics from a leading church communicator, this might be a good book to try. Just be careful with chapter 12…

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: books, Books I'm Reading, church

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