by Andrew Corbett | Apr 4, 2019 | Apologetics
Ever hear something that didn’t quite sound right? Chances are that you discerned something. To discern means to judge, evaluate and distinguish. When you discern something you are potentially protecting both yourself and others from spiritual peril. So important is the ability to discern that Christ has specifically gifted the Church with a very special gift to ensure that it happens (First Corinthians 12:10). Yet, those who are gifted with discernment are often seen as judgmental, critical and therefore: unloving. What other gift of the Holy Spirit results in such rejection and dismissal as that of discernment? But what other gift of the Holy Spirit is needed more now than ever before? Here’s why.
by Andrew Corbett | Apr 3, 2019 | Theology
Language is more than just words. Each time I travel to another country where English is not the national language, I like to learn a few phrases in that language to help me get by. The hardest language I have attempted is Vietnamese. I was quite proud that I had learned the phrase- “How much is this?” and found that amazingly I was understood by the first Vietnamese shopkeeper I tried it on. But then my limited grasp of Vietnamese was exposed when the shopkeeper responded in Vietnamese (with words that meant nothing to me)! Like many Asian dialects, it not only uses sounds, it also uses tones. Depending on how you say a word, like “ma” will determine whether you are referring in Vietnamese to your mother or a family ghost! When we try to understand a foreign language from the perspective of our familiar language we make certain assumptions that will actually hinder us from both appreciating the foreign language and translating it correctly.
by Andrew Corbett | Jan 19, 2019 | Theology
One of the most contentious issues among Christians today is the age of the universe. Is it 6000 years old like 17th century Bishop Ussher calculated, or is it around 13,000,000,000 years old like scientists say? How we determine the answer determines how we interpret the Bible and understand the world around us.
The opening verse of Genesis is perhaps the most famous, and probably the most read, verse in the Bible. It is so plain, so clear, so unambiguous, that nearly every English translation of the Scriptures for the past 400 years has rendered it identically. Of all the statements that God could have chosen to utter first in His revelation to mankind, He gave us this one. Little wonder. If this statement is proven to be false then the entire credibility of the Bible is undermined. But if this statement is found to be true its ramifications are infinite!
by Andrew Corbett | Dec 23, 2018 | Devotions
There are some obscure verses in the Bible that seem to make is difficult for anyone claiming that every word of the Bible is inspired. These obscure verses tend to pop-up through the Old Testament. Some of them seem random. Some of them seem out of place. Take Judges 20:16 as an example-
Among all these were 700 chosen men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
Judges 20:16
Some people who believe the Bible to be divinely inspired resolve these obscure verses by using a combination of ignoring them and ascribing to them a “lesser” divine inspiration. But if the Bible’s own claims about itself are taken seriously, then this approach can not be reconciled with such claims.
One of the primary claims of the Bible is that it is uniquely authoritative (2Timothy 3:16-17).
by Andrew Corbett | Dec 6, 2018 | Apologetics
Some atheists claim that the only difference between them and Christians, is that they believe in one less god than Christians. They, like Christians, don’t believe in the ‘gods’ of Ancient Rome. Christians therefore, on this premise, are ‘atheists’ (for not believing in the existence of the Roman gods). Interestingly, this was the same accusation that the ancient Romans actually levelled at the early Christians as well – for the same reason as modern atheists. After all, these Romans pointed out, Christians didn’t believe in all the gods which the Romans venerated – Mars, Hermes, Zeus, Jupiter, and so on.
But the reason that Christians reject the gods of mythology, yet accept the God of the Bible, is the same reason: the evidence. There is no evidence for the mythological gods of the Greeks and Romans, and there is sufficiently verifiable evidence for the God of the Bible!
