Without Excuse: Apologetics Blog

In order to answer this question, we need to separate the feelings from the act. By "feelings" I mean the emotions of same-sex attraction, and by "act" I mean the actual physical act of intercourse. A person may not necessarily choose to feel a certain way. And there may be environmental factors for why a person is attracted to the same sex, but that is another topic. There are people who don't want to be attracted to the same sex and legitimately struggle with it. That tells us people don't always get to choose how they feel. But feelings are just that, feelings. And Feelings are never the bases for determining what is right and wrong. Having same-sex attraction in itself does not make one gay nor is it a sin To use a crude analogy, think of it this way. If a person is thinking about robbing a bank, that does not him in a criminal nor does it break any laws. But once the person robs a bank he is a criminal and does break laws. It is the same way with ...

"For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." -Pseudo-Ephraem This is in response to Pseudo-Ephraem does not teach the Rapture! I would like to address some of the statements made by this website. "The false teachers who believe pre-tribulation Rapture theology desperately misuse an ancient document called, "Pseudo-Ephraem" as proof that someone before 1830 AD believed it." I first want to take issue with calling those who teach the pre-tribulation rapture "false teachers". The Bible defines a false teacher as 1)One who denies Jesus is Christ (1Jo 2:22), 2)one who preaches a different gospel, which is defined as the good news concerning Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, according to the Scriptures (Gal 1:19), and 3)Exhibits qualities that are unbecoming of a Christian ...

There are many accusations against the pre-tribulation rapture, everything from people calling it lies to heretical. Some even going so far to say that if someone believe in the pretrib they are not saved. This is nonsense. It appears to me this sort of venom is directed almost exclusively towards pre-trib believers and is unbecoming of how Christians should behave toward one another. One common accusation is that John Darby got his ideas from a vision of a 15 year old Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald. Let's put this myth to rest once and for all. Firstly Morgan Edwards suggested a pre-trib rapture some 86 years before Darby*. If you want to go back further, Pseudo-Ephraim made a pre-trib statement in the 4th to 8th century**. The concept of imminency, a crucial feature of pretribulationism, was spoken of by many Apostolic Fathers including Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, The Didache, The Epistle of Barnabas, and The Shepherd of Hermas. Second, John Darby coalesced...

Romans 13 tells us to be subject to the governing authorities and then it goes on to define such a government, "Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil"... For he is "God's minister" to you "for good". To me God is talking about just governments which would rule out tyrannical authorities who are a terror to good works. We must not forget Satan is also in the business of appointing leaders. Just a few examples, the Prince of Persia, the Prince of Greece, the Prince of Tyre (Eze 28), the Anti-Christ, etc. This world system is controlled by Satan. So how do we respond to tyrannical governments? If we look to the Old Testament we certainly see examples of Godly men and women not submitting to evil authorities: Mosses mother defied the Pharaoh's command to kill all Hebrew babies (Exodus 1:15-21) Mosses defied Pharaoh to free his people. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship the golden image. (Daniel 3:18) Daniel did n...

Sometime back I tried to answer this question from a theological standpoint . And while I think some insights can be gleamed from such a perspective, I realize now I overcomplicated the issue. There is a simpler explanation that answers why God allows suffering, why things are the way the are, and why Satan is currently allowed to roam free, and it has to do with the title deed to the earth. Genesis tells us when God made everything is was perfect, it wasn't just good it was very good. There was no pain, suffering, or death. The earth was perfect, there was no rain, earthquakes, hurricanes, cold, or extreme heat, or natural disasters of any kind. The animal kingdom was also in harmony. Then God handed it over to Adam, to have denomination over the whole earth (Gen 1:26, Psalm 8:4-9). In essence God gave Adam a title deed to the earth. Pastor Chuck Smith says of deeds, "Under Jewish law whenever you sold property in the deed there was always a redemptive clause. You alway...

Here's why that statement is completely bunk, the ancient world prior to Christianity was a violent and brutal place. There was no such thing as morality or empathy, everyone did what was right in their own eyes. It was Christianity that single-handedly set the standard for morality across the board. Christian morals has become so intertwined within society that people have forgotten where it came from. Here are some quote's from "How Christianity Changed The World" that emphasizes that point: "Some moderns with no religious beliefs, of course, have high ethical standards and often show humanitarian concerns quite independent of Jesus' teachings. Professor Schmidt, however, tellingly shows how such secular morality could hardly have been possible without prior Judeo-Christian ethic that influenced generation after generation. Any "noble pagan" today recoils, for example, from the thought of killing babies, but "noble pagans" of antiqu...

"Stephen who?" was my first thought when I saw this story trending on Facebook. Apparently he's a British actor, writer, and comedian who also happens to be a homosexual atheist. Gee, no wonder he has a problem with God. When asked what he would say if confronted with God, he says: “I’d say, bone cancer in children? What’s that about? “How dare you? How dare you create a world to which there is such misery that is not our fault. It’s not right, it’s utterly, utterly evil." Yes, God is so evil that he gave his only begotten son to be brutalized and crucified so that everyone, even Stephen Fry, could go to heaven. These accusations against God have been posed and answered so many times as to be unoriginal, most recently by the likes of Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins. He goes on to say: “Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain. That’s what I would say. ” Except God didn't. All it...