Resources by Topic: Doctrine and Theology

Question from a reader: On page 174 of Heaven you talk of the thrill of seeing Jesus in Heaven. You say, “Being with him. Gazing at him. Talking with him. Worshiping him. Embracing him. Eating with him. Walking with him. Laughing with him.” But how will millions of resurrected believers be able to do this? Do we take turns?

Truth is rooted in the eternal God who’s all powerful and unchangeable. Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is Truth” (John 17:17).

In adoring the providence of God, we are apt to be struck with what is new and out of the usual course, while we too much overlook long, habitual, and uninterrupted mercies.

I seek the will of the Spirit of God, through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.

What matters isn't what someone else says, but what the Bible says. The Jehovah Witnesses are wrong in many number of areas about the New Earth. However, their belief that there will be a New Earth is correct.

Some of the portrayals of Heaven in my novels Deadline and Dominion are surprising and unconventional.

God gave Lucifer a capacity of true free choice which involved the possibility of sin. It is possible for a being with free choice—even living in a perfect environment and without having some exterior temptation, such as Satan provided for Adam and Eve in the garden—to make a choice contrary to God’s will.

The Bible speaks of two separate judgments: the judgment of faith, and the judgment of works. The judgment of faith determines our inheritance, whereas the judgment of works determines our recompense.

While we believe in a salvation that is secure, bought and paid for by Christ alone and not by our works, we do not subscribe to the fire insurance/cheap grace/easy believism notion that all who raise a hand or repeat a prayer at one moment in their lives are automatically truly born again.

I believe in divine election as taught in Scripture. The "elect” are referred to in ten or so passages and the “chosen” in many others. Col 3:12 calls us “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.”

Freewill offerings were commonplace in the Old Testament era. The three tithes were never the ceiling of giving, merely the floor. 

Service is a reward, not a punishment. This idea is foreign to people who dislike their work and only put up with it until retirement. We think that faithful work should be rewarded by a vacation for the rest of our lives. But God offers us something very different: more work, more responsibilities, increased opportunities, along with greater abilities, resources, wisdom, and empowerment. 

And among those that translate word for word, the ESV is more literary and readable; the NASB is not quite as good English, but still accurate as a word for word translation. A person reading a passage looking for key terms that repeat, then a NASB would be better. If you are trying to understand the passage as a whole, then the ESV is better.

I think you should do what you can to get accurate apologetic information to your pastor that shows the Bible's reliability.