Right Thinking, Essential to Spiritual Growth

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The bedroom door slammed open and my son ran in crying. “There’s a monster on the ceiling!” “Huh?” Not again. I groggily got out of bed and followed Zane down the hallway and into his room. He pointed a trembling finger at a red light on the ceiling. “Monster eyes!” I sighed. “Bubba, who told
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Easter Eggs and Biblical Literacy

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by Shawn Lazar I grew up reading comic books. I collected them. I went to conventions. My best friend Dennis and I would have competitions drawing our favorite heroes—his was Spider-Man, and mine was Iron Man. There was a time when I even aspired to be a professional comic artist. But in my late teens
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Eating as a Metaphor for Faith

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by Shawn Lazar   A popular confusion about the condition of salvation comes from a misreading of John 6, where Jesus says, “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world…Most assuredly, I say
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No Deed Too Small

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About a week after my son was born, he developed a fever and ended up in the hospital. Zane was weak. He wasn’t eating well. His oxygen was low. It turned out it was all due to a urinary tract infection. Then, as I was talking to the doctor about Zane’s condition, he asked if
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Assurance Made Simple

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What does it mean to be assured of my salvation?” That’s a question I often get asked. People want to have assurance, but they’re often confused about it. What is assurance? How can you have it? What is it based on? And is there a difference between genuine and false assurance? If so, what? These
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A Reason for #Hope in 2017

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I’ve seen lots of posts hating 2016, but our family had a good year. There were challenges, but lots of blessings too. Our baby was born. We were all basically healthy. Good jobs. Good family and friends. Enough money to repair the cars when we needed to. We could go on date night usually once
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Nazarenes on Justification by Works

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by Shawn Lazar Readers of this blog know that our organization reviews dozens of books, so when I critique the Beacon Dictionary of Theology, it isn’t to pick on the Church of the Nazarene. I just happen to be reading that book this week. But if what is taught in the Dictionary reflects what is
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Nazarenes on Eternal Rewards

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by Shawn Lazar The Beacon Dictionary of Theology is produced by the Church of the Nazarene, an Arminian, or Wesleyan Church. The Dictionary definitely teaches the necessity of doing good works in order to be saved (e.g., under the entry on Faith, which is defined as obedience, self-committal, and being controlled by the truth). But
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Nazarenes on Faith

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by Shawn Lazar The Beacon Dictionary of Theology is written from the perspective of the Wesleyan Holiness tradition, specifically the Church of the Nazarene. We spend an awful amount of time critiquing Calvinism from a Free Grace perspective, and many of our readers have asked we do the same for Arminianism or Wesleyanism, since they,
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The Real Santa

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When you think of Santa Claus, how do you picture him? If you grew up in America, familiar with the ubiquitous Coca-Cola Christmas advertising campaign, you probably picture a rotund, jolly old man, with a long flowing beard, and penchant for red velour clothing. But if you had lived 300 years ago, the image of
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