Finally, saying “goodbye” well requires a healthy theology of God’s sovereignty and goodness. This will be reflected in the questions we ask. I believe an accurate theology of God’s goodness and sovereignty will lead us to ask the right four questions.
Leave a CommentStan W. Wallace, DMin Posts
A healthy theology of death also embraces the fact that death is a normal part of life. Note I didn’t say a “natural” part of life. Our nature is not to die—it is not how God created us. But after the fall it became a normal part of everyone’s life. Only by accepting this will we be able to say goodbye well.
3 CommentsIn addition to a healthy theology of grief (last week), a healthy theology of death is also essential to being able to say “goodbye” well when the time comes. Having a “theology of death” may seem odd, morbid, and even wrong. Ours is such a life-affirming and life-focused culture that we rarely think of death. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of us don’t have a theology of death, much less a well-developed one. But this is exactly what we need in order to be able to say goodbye well.
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As I shared last week, in January I said “goodbye” to my father, as he passed “from the land of the dying to the land of the living.” Since then I’ve reflected on four principles that can help us say “goodbye” well. I hope you find these principles helpful as you join me in transitioning from the season of saying “hello” to the season of saying “goodbye.”
Leave a CommentMy father passed away on January 16. This monumental event has again reminded me that at some point in life we all move from the season of saying “hello” to the season of saying “goodbye.”
8 CommentsThe Society of Christian Scholars is officially established! Spread the word (www.SocietyofChristianScholars.org) to any and all Christian professors and graduate students who want to connect…
2 CommentsOver the past few months I’ve outlined a robust argument showing the Bible is inerrant, due to it being written by those commissioned by God to communicate His Word (prophets for the Old Testament and apostles for the New Testament). However, some alleged writings of apostles didn’t “make the cut” and are not included in the New Testament (such as the Gospel of Thomas). Some cry “foul” and accuse the early church of picking and choosing what they wanted to include in the Bible. Is this true? How did the early church come to conclude which books should be included in the New Testament?
Leave a CommentWe now have good reason to believe all the New Testament books written by Jesus’ twelve disciples and Paul are God’s inspired, inerrant Word. However, two other books were penned by authors who do not have these credentials: James and Jude. Why should we accept their writings as authoritative?
Leave a CommentWhat about Paul? We have good reason to believe Jesus commissioned his twelve disciples to write the New Testament, in the same way God commissioned Old Testament prophets to communicate God’s Word in their time, without error. But Paul was not one of Jesus’ disciples. Yet he wrote over half the New Testament. Are his writings to be included in the inerrant Word of God?
Leave a CommentWe now come to the fifth and final premise to establish in showing the Bible is without error: Jesus promised the New Testament would be written by God through the apostles and would be without error. A careful reading of the historical record in the gospels makes this clear.
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