Advice from Above

            For someone who didn’t grow up in church, the term Molinism sounds like a word Webster Dictionary just made up. However, once you spend some time in a church setting, this term or the idea surrounding it may eventually come up. So, what is Molinism and how does it relate to the bigger picture?             There are two main elements to Molinism; “God has middle knowledge of counterfactuals of creaturely freedom and agents are possessed of libertarian free will.” (Smith & Limanto) To break that down in even simpler terms, middle knowledge means between natural and free knowledge regarding God’s creative process. A counterfactual is simply a conditional statement and when referring to “creaturely or agent,” the author is referring to living things. Libertarian free will is not referring to political beliefs but is the “conjunction of a rejection of compatibilism along with the claim tha...

There is something about sitting next to someone on an airplane that makes me feel like I must talk to the people around me. On one particular flight, I had a conversation with a traveler who had been physically “soul searching” and traveling for years. This blew my mind. The experience of traveling and seeing the world must have been so cool, but to be looking for something for so long and not find it could have also been exhausting. The world likes to try and come up with answers to these questions, but they don’t compare to the infallible word of God. Everyone has a God-shaped hole in their heart that they try to fill with other things but only God himself can fill that void . We might not do this to the scale of traveling the world for years physically “soul searching” but how often do we throw ourselves into other things, hoping to find fulfillment or satisfaction from something other than God? No amount of “soul searching” will do the trick. Thankfully, God is pursuing us ...

          Robert Lee Frost claimed to be an atheist. [1] However, if a reader were to look closely at his work, there are many allusions to the Bible and Christianity throughout the timeline of his poetry. If someone is truly an atheist, they do not believe God exists. If someone is agnostic, they do not know if God exists. [2] For Robert Frost to truly not believe in God, he sure does mention him frequently and alludes to someone that supposedly, doesn’t exist. It leads a person to question why? Is this a way of expressing Frost’s questioning of the faith? While living from 1874-1963 was Frost simply trying to attract a certain audience for the time period? [3] Or is it merely background knowledge coming to light in his work? There is no way of knowing for sure, but let’s start by taking a deeper look, into the biblical allusions in Robert Frost’s poetry.             Perhaps the most obvious example o...

I am currently in my sophomore year of Bible college studying towards an associates degree in Christian Ministries. I am on track to graduate in the spring and have the pleasure of being enrolled in “Acts and the Early Church” this semester. One assignment was to write a paper on eight of the main conversion accounts in the book of Acts, followed by a simple paragraph on how to become a Christian. I found this assignment helpful in outlining some main events in the book of Acts and thought I would share it. What conversion account do you find to be the most powerful? Do you agree with the paragraph at the end of how to become a Christian? Who comes to mind that you can share this good news with? The Jews on Pentecost Acts 2 When everyone was all together, a strong wind filled the house and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. This enabled them able to speak in tongues and it caused quite a scene. Many people thought they were drinking but Peter used this as an opportunity...

I posted a YouTube video this week about how to get closer to God. I recommend watching that first for some basic information. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TELZIXBv3hk This blog post is going more in depth. I hope it blesses you and let’s get started! I think it’s important to keep in mind that our time here on earth is a journey with Christ. There is no end destination and you will be on walking with Christ for as long as you choose to, hopefully, that is until the end of your time here on earth. There will be ups and downs. These tips are to hopefully help you draw near to him while you are here on earth. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1     Whenever I think about how the same God created heaven and earth and everything in between, it makes him seem so far away. My mind can feel frazzled when I attempt to comprehend God’s and his greatness… But he has numbered the hairs on my head and Proverbs 8:17 say...

I have a habit to over complicate things and I know I’m not the only one. In this post we’re going to keep it simple; 10 Bible verses to combat worrying . Please don’t overthink these. Let the words wash over you and sink into your heart. The gospel is a book of relationships. It is the best love story ever written, from God himself to us, and He desires better for us that to be worried. Please take these to heart and apply them in your life. Don't let yourself think that they alone apply to other people. When you trust him to lead you, he does. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 Anxiety doesn’t come from thinking about the future, it comes from wanting to control it. God is in control of our lives, whether we like it or not. When you surrender to him, it allows him to come in and take over and makes those changes that we can’t make ourselv...