Theology Corner

Addressing commonly asked questions about Christianity from the perspective of a non-theologian

Theology Corner

1.)  AREN'T ALL RELIGIONS ESSENTIALLY THE SAME?

2.)  WHAT IS YOUR THEOLOGY?

3.)  WHAT ARE THE CORE BELIEFS OF CHRISTIANITY?

4.)  IS THE SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT THE ULTIMATE ACT OF LOVE?

5.)  WHAT IS THE GREATEST OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY?

6.)  IS THERE AN INTERMEDIATE PLACE?

7.)  WHAT ARE THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?

8.)  WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO AFTER YOU DIE?

9.)  WHAT IS THE APOSTLES' CREED?

10.)  WHAT IS THE NICENE CREED?

11.)  WHAT ARE THE DECREES OF GOD?

12.)  WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE INTERMEDIATE STATE?

13.)  WERE THE OT TEN COMMANDMENTS REPLACED BY THE NT GREAT COMMANDMENT?

14.)  WHEN DOES GOD MAKE HIS DECISION ABOUT YOUR FINAL DESTINATION?

15.)  WAS JESUS TEMPTED IN EVERY WAY?

16.)  SHOULD WE ASPIRE TO UNBROKEN COMMUNION WITH GOD?

17.)  WHAT WERE THE ATTRIBUTES OF JESUS DURING HIS INCARNATION?

18.)  WHAT IS THE MYSTERIOUS LAW OF RESERVE?

19.)  CAN CHRISTIANS DEFEND THE TRINITY AND THE INCARNATION?

20.)  WHY NOT CALVINISM?

21.)  WHO WAS JAMES ARMINIUS AND WHAT DID HE DO?

22.)  WHO WAS JOHN WESLEY AND WHAT DID HE DO?

23.)  IS JESUS CHRIST THEANTHROPIC?

24.)  WHAT IS THE SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST?

25.)  WHAT MIGHT A METHODIST THEOLOGIAN SAY ABOUT THE SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT?

26.)  WHAT MIGHT A METHODIST THEOLOGIAN SAY ABOUT THE TRINITY?

27.)  WHAT WERE THE ORIGINAL FIVE POINTS OF THE REMONSTRANTS?

28.)  DO INTELLECTUAL CHRISTIANS MINIMIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TRINITY?

29.)  DID JESUS DESCEND INTO HELL?

1.)  CAN GOD'S WILL BE THWARTED?

2.)  DID GOD ELECT ONLY A FEW FOR SALVATION WHILE CONDEMNING THE GREATER PART OF MANKIND TO HELL?

3.)  FAITH OR SALVATION: WHICH COMES FIRST?

4.)  DID GOD THE FATHER BEGET JESUS CHRIST?

5.)  WHAT ARE THE TWO NATURES OF CHRIST?

6.)  WHAT IS ANTINOMIANISM?

7.)  WHAT IS SABELLIANISM?

8.)  WHAT IS PELAGIANISM?

9.)  DOES LOVE REALLY WIN?

10.)  IS YOUR WILL REALLY YOUR WILL?

11.)  CAN TWO THEOLOGIES BE TESTED FOR COMPATIBILITY?

12.)  WHAT IS THE FRAUD OF FIDEISM?

13.)  IS CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY COMPATIBLE WITH JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES THEOLOGY?

14.)  IS CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY COMPATIBLE WITH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE THEOLOGY?

15.)  IS CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY COMPATIBLE WITH MORMON THEOLOGY?

16.)  IS CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY COMPATIBLE WITH UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS THEOLOGY?

17.)  IS CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY COMPATIBLE WITH SCIENTOLOGY THEOLOGY?

18.)  IS CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY COMPATIBLE WITH UNIFICATION CHURCH THEOLOGY?

19.)  IS CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY COMPATIBLE WITH THE WAY INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGY?

20.)  IS CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY COMPATIBLE WITH THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD THEOLOGY?

21.)  IS REPENTANCE REALLY NECESSARY?

22.)  WHAT ARE SOME MUSINGS OF A METHODIST THEOLOGIAN ON LIMITED ATONEMENT?

23.)  WHAT ARE SOME QUESTIONS FOR THOSE WHO TEACH A LIMITED ATONEMENT PROVIDED ONLY FOR THE ELECT OF GOD?

24.)  WHAT WERE CALVIN'S ACTUAL WORDS?

25.)  WHAT IS GNOSTICISM?

26.)  WHAT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN?

27.)  IS CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY COMPATIBLE WITH PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY?

28.)  CAN CALVINISM BE SENT TO THE DUST BIN?

29.)  IS YOUR FREE WILL AN ILLUSION?

1.)  IS CHRISTIANITY COMPATIBLE WITH POSITIVE TOLERANCE?

2.)  CAN WE HAVE A FORM OF GODLINESS, BUT DENY THE POWER THEREOF?

3.)  WHAT IS THE GREAT WAR?

4.)  SHOULD PRESIDENT TRUMP HAVE BEEN IMPEACHED FOR IMMORALITY?

5.)  WHO SAID MOSES WAS HUMBLE?

6.)  COULD CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE BENEFIT FROM WOKE REVISION?

7.)  DID EINSTEIN BELIEVE ALL CHRISTIANS WERE CALVINISTS?

8.)  WHY IS MARXISM A MAGNET?

9.)  WHAT IS TRUE SCIENCE?

10.)  CAN YOU LOSE YOUR SALVATION?

11.)  WHAT ARE THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS?

12.)  WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS?

13.)  WAS PAUL ENTIRELY SANCTIFIED?

14.)  ARE YOU LIVING IN A WORLD AT WAR?

15.)  WHAT IS THE DIRECT METHOD FOR PROVING A CONDITIONAL PROPOSITION IS TRUE?

16.)  WHAT IS THE CONTRAPOSITIVE METHOD FOR PROVING A CONDITIONAL PROPOSITION IS TRUE?

17.)  WHAT IS THE CONTRADICTION METHOD FOR PROVING A CONDITIONAL PROPOSITION IS TRUE?

18.)  WHAT MIGHT A METHODIST THEOLOGIAN SAY ABOUT PURGATORY?

19.)  WHICH BIBLE PASSAGES ELUCIDATE CORE ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY?

20.)  DO SELECTED NIV VERSES ELUCIDATE CORE ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY?

21.)  DO SELECTED AKJV VERSES ELUCIDATE CORE ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY?

22.)  DO SELECTED YLT VERSES ELUCIDATE CORE ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY?

23.)  DO SELECTED 'VOICE' VERSES ELUCIDATE CORE ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY?

24.)  COULD THE CONCEPT OF 'SALVATION ONLY FOR THE ELECT' HAVE BEEN ROOTED IN THE MIND OF AUGUSTINE BEFORE HE EMBRACED CHRISTIANITY?

25.)  DID AUGUSTINE RECEIVE PUSHBACK FOR HIS TEACHING OF 'SALVATION ONLY FOR THE ELECT' DURING HIS LIFETIME?

26.)  WHAT DOES REFORMED THEOLOGY MEAN BY PREDESTINATION; IS IT TRUE OR FALSE?

WAS SATAN GIVEN POSSESSION OF ALL CREATION?

Scripture says:

 

And he [Satan] led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the Devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours”

And Jesus answered and said to him,

It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.

(Luke 4:5-8)

 

A kingdom includes every living thing and every non-living thing in a certain geographic area above and below ground.  Satan was offering Jesus possession of the entire earth.  Satan was able to do this because everything had been handed over to him and who could be the giver except the original owner, God Himself.

But was it only the earth that was given to Satan?  Scripture says:

 

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

(Rom 8:19-22)

 

Athanasius interpreted the meaning of this passage:

 

“He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men.  We will begin then, with the creation of the world and with God its Maker, for the first fact that you must grasp is this: the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word Who made it in the beginning.  There is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation; for the One Father has employed the same Agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the same Word Who made it in the beginning.”  (Athanasius, p 26)

 

It would appear that, at some point in time, Satan was given stewardship over all creation which he proceeded to corrupt.  The substitutionary atonement was necessary and sufficient, not only to offer the great gift of salvation to mankind, but also to redeem all creation from the bondage of Satan.  If so, here is a directionally correct scenario.

God created the universe with such precision that the slightest change in any one of its properties would preclude our existence and God designed the earth as a home for man.  God placed certain powerful angels in charge of his creation and instructed them to be good stewards.  Some angels began to oppose God under the leadership of Satan, the most powerful and intelligent of all rebellious angels.  Satan exercises a pervasive, structural and diabolical influence, on whatever he touches, which caused all creation to be captured by the bondage of evil.  That which God created as good began to exhibit a pain-ridden, bloodthirsty, sinister and hostile demeanor.  “Mother Nature,” became an inherently violent and terrifying system dominated by disease, suffering and death – a system red in tooth and claw.  Man had not yet been created.

God set aside some real estate for the Garden of Eden and restored it to its condition prior to Satan’s diabolical influence.  He then created Adam and Eve to live in this Garden.  In full view of all the angels in Heaven, Satan demanded unrestricted access to Adam and Eve and, although they were created sinless, Satan won them over.  Evil had taken up residence in the soul of man, that particular evil called sin.  The will, intellect and heart of Adam and Eve had been possessed and permeated by sin.  But what about us, the descendants of Adam and Eve?

God is just.  God does not impute to us the individual sins of Adam and Eve.  But He knew it would be pointless to allow the offspring of Adam and Eve to be born sinless.  He knew they would follow exactly the same path as their created ancestors.  So He allowed the generations of Adam and Eve’s offspring to be born with a sin nature.  We are all born corrupt, averse to God and inclined to evil.  However, for this depraved nature we are not responsible and no guilt or demerit attaches to it.  We become responsible for this sin nature only after attaining the age accountability and ratifying it as our own.  The age of accountability is not the same for all persons and, for many, it may be very young indeed.

God knew, before the creation of the universe, that all this was going to happen.  On one hand, God knew sin would prevent Him from fellowship with man; on the other hand, God knew He would love each individual unconditionally and would not want eternal separation to be the inevitable consequence of sin.  But sin could not simply be overlooked; a price had to be paid for every crime.  Unfortunately, if you and I paid the price for our own crimes, our souls would spend eternity in Hell.  Before the universe began, God chose an incredible, astounding and magnificent solution to this dilemma.  That solution was the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  By this event, all creation would be redeemed from the bondage of evil and all mankind would be offered redemption from the bondage of sin.

(See also Sections 1.4, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7 and 9.8 of Theology Corner)