Nat Crawford - Executive Coach, Speaker, Leader

Just to recap, this past Spring  I read a book called  Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views  by James Beilby. If you are interested in purchasing this, you can do so on  Amazon.com . This is a comparison of four views of God's foreknowledge from different scholars. What do we mean by God's foreknowledge? We mean what does God know and when does He know it. My last post, I summarized Gregory Boyd's view of God's foreknowledge: open theism. Check it out here . This week I will look at the simple-foreknowledge view, which is described by David Hunt. I will refrain from commentary until then last addition. Let me reiterate, I am not claiming which of these is my view, but rather a concise summary of the authors explanation and view of these opinions on God's foreknowledge.  The Simple-Foreknowledge View by David Hunt A general affirmation among Christians is that God is omniscient. God therefore knows all truths. His very nature is all-knowing, therefore withou...

This past Spring I read a host of books ranging from topics including: Orthodoxy, the creation debate, philosophy of religion, postmodernism, arguments from the existence of God, and God's foreknowledge. What does this mean? If time allows a lot of content for the blog and website. This is the first of the blogs I will be writing. I read a book called Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views  by James Beilby. If you are interested in purchasing this, you can do so on Amazon.com . This is a comparison of four views of God's foreknowledge from different scholars. What do we mean by God's foreknowledge? We mean what does God know and when does He know it. Over the next four weeks, we'll summarize four views starting with open theism as explained by Gregory Boyd. I will refrain from commentary until then last addition. Let me reiterate, I am not claiming which of these is  my view, but rather a concise summary of the authors explanation and view of these opinions on God's fore...

Last week we started looking at the areas of doctrinal agreement between Roman Catholics and Evangelicals. To read it, click here. We saw there is much agreement about revelation of Scripture, God, and human beings. We also observed a good amount of agreement on mankind. This week we'll look at our agreement about Christ, Salvation, the Church, ethics and last things. Christ - Both Catholics and evangelicals share a creedal sources, Athanasian and Chalcedonian, for the doctrine of Christ. Central to theology of Christ is He was Son of God, who became man to redeem humans to God. This redemption was through is death and resurrection.Christ is found in the Old Testament through prophecy and would be through three offices: Prophet, Priest, and King. It is by the Old Testament that Christ and His work is understood, thus central to the New Testament. To understand Christ, one must understand both the deity of Christ and the humanity of Christ. Jesus was wholly God as well as the So...

Who made God? This is very common and good question. I think we all have asked it one form or another. I think it is important to look at the words of God, "' You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord , “And My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me " (Isaiah 43:10 NASB). Unlike the universe, which most in modern science agrees had a beginning, God is infinite and therefore eternal.  God is therefore the logical and only uncaused first cause. To assume that because the universe had a first cause, the cause of the universe must have had a first cause is illogical. It will always go to the question "and what caused that cause?" A submission to honest logic will show that the universe is real and not an illusion like an illusionist's trick. The universe did not appear out of nowhere and from nothing. It did not happen by bact...

Two weeks ago I began dealing with the validity and authenticity of the Scriptures. We discovered it is by far the most reliable ancient texts! This week we will look at it light of historical reliability. There are references in the New Testament to supposed historical people, such as Pontius Pilate, Caesar Augustus, Gallio, and so on. There's also references to places, such as the Sea of Galilee, Jericho, etc. There are also references to moments in time, such as the Roman census, droughts, the crucifixion of Jesus, etc. Take Luke 1:5, "In the time of Herod king of Judea" or Luke 3:1, "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar- when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene-." He gives us checks to back up his Gospel. Proof in Archaeology The People Pontius Pilate - In the last century archaeology has given us many items th...

           Jesus Christ taught and did many things during His life. But did He teach social justice?  What do we mean by social justice?  Social justice is giving each person what is rightfully theirs.  Most people would put say “It is helping those in need get the things they need.” Social justice is a hot topic both in the political and Christian realms.  Depending on who is talking, you may hear the terms redistribution of wealth, socialism, entitlement and communism.  I will not attempt to deal with whether food, clothing, shelter and healthcare are entitlements or whether or not it is the government’s role to fulfill these shortfalls. I will focus on the teachings of Christ in regards to the poor, the sick and taxes. In the synoptic gospels, there are over ten recurring records of teaching on the poor and over twenty on healing. The book of John contains similar passages. Clearly, Jesus had an opinion on ...