Clare De Graaf's Blog, page 21

“The Bible Clearly Says…” and Other Things Christians Often Say

It’s stunning how often I hear grown Christians claim “the Bible clearly says” something that other Christians believe it “clearly says,” just the opposite!

We have Baptists who believe the Bible teaches believers baptism and Calvinist, the baptism of infants.

You have serious Christians who believe the Bible clearly teaches that women should never teach men and others, “no problem.”

Even more serious, Armenians believe salvation is a human decision, while the majority of Protestants believe salvation is God’s decision, start to finish.

So who’s not reading the Bible clearly?

Myths That Many Christians Believe

It’s surprising how often I’ll hear Christians repeating a “truth” that the Bible does not support. Worse yet, repeating a truth that is an outright falsehood or actually antithetical to a biblical worldview! In all fairness, I don’t blame them. All of these people truly believe these things because other Christians have passed them on. […]

Guest Blog – Does The Bible Really Prohibit Sex Outside of Marriage

By Dr. Preston Sprinkle God loves sex. The first two commands recorded in the Bible are “have dominion over creation,” and then “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:26-28). In other words, rule the world and have lots of sex. Not a bad day at the office. Whoever said God was some cosmic killjoy? God created […]

Discussion Eight: Our Church – Changing The Culture In Your Church

(This is the eighth in a series of eight readings and discussion questions, that make up “Leading Your Church to be as Gay-Friendly as the Bible Teaches.”) The following are a series of statements we recommend you and your church leaders discuss, pray about, adopt, and make available to the entire congregation. The resulting church covenant […]

Discussion Seven: What We Believe The Bible Teaches About Human Sexuality: A Sample Statement On Human Sexuality

(This is the seventh in a series of eight readings and discussion questions, that make up “Leading Your Church to be as Gay-Friendly as the Bible Teaches.”) The following statements are presented to give you a prototype for a theological framework for deciding what your church’s position will be regarding sexual sin in general, and […]

Discussion Six: “Why Not Let LGBTQ Men And Women Marry?”

(This is the sixth in a series of eight readings and discussion questions, that make up “Leading Your Church to be as Gay-Friendly as the Bible Teaches.”) With the legalization of same-sex marriage in June of 2015 by the Supreme Court, you might think this discussion is irrelevant. However, just because same-sex marriage is now the […]

Are You Sure You Really Want a King?

Many years ago, Dr. John Guest, an English evangelist came to the U.S. to preach the gospel. Upon arriving in Philadelphia, he stayed with a couple whose hobby was collecting pre-revolutionary war antiques. One day, he accompanied them to an antique store. There he saw a sign that read, “No man our king.” John turned […]

Discussion Five: Eight Popular Reasons Given For The Affirming View

(This is the fifth in a series of eight readings and discussion questions, that make up “Leading Your Church to be as Gay-Friendly as the Bible Teaches.”) by Dr. Preston Sprinkle The issues we’ll cover in this Discussion, while always related to the Bible for Christians, deal with larger themes, as opposed to chapter and […]

Discussion Four: How Affirming Christians Interpret The Bible Differently

(This is the forth in a series of eight readings and discussion questions, that make up “Leading Your Church to be as Gay-Friendly as the Bible Teaches.”) by Dr. Preston Sprinkle[1] If we were having this discussion 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago, it would have sounded odd that affirming Christians are making biblical […]

Discussion Three: What Most SSA Christians Would Like You To Know

(This is the third in a series of eight readings and discussion questions, that make up “Leading Your Church to be as Gay-Friendly as the Bible Teaches.”) The vast majority of SSA men and women did not ask for this attraction and temptation, and almost all wish early in their life that they didn’t have […]