Has God Said

Has God said? Has God actually spoken, declared himself and his purposes to us? Historically the Christian faith has affirmed God's redemptive, revelatory speaking as historical, contentful, redemptive, centrally in Jesus Christ and, under Christ and by the Spirit, in the text of Holy Scripture. But in the past three centuries developments in Western culture have created a crisis in relation to historical, divine authority. The modern reintroduction of destructive dualisms, cosmological and epistemological, via Descartes, Newton, Spinoza, and Kant have injured not only the physical sciences (e.g., positivism) but Christian theology as well. The resulting eclipse of God has permeated Western culture. In terms of the Christian understanding of revelation, it has meant the separation of God from historical action, the rejection of God's actual self-declaration, and especially in textual form, Holy Scripture. After critical analysis of these dualistic developments, this book presents the problematic effects in both Protestant (Schleiermacher, Bultmann, Tillich) and Roman Catholic (Rahner, Dulles) theology. The thought and influence of Karl Barth on the nature of Scripture is examined and distinguished from most Barthian approaches. The effects of dualistic Barthian thought on contemporary evangelical views of Scripture (Pinnock, Fackre, Bloesch) are also critically analyzed and responses made (Helm, Wolterstorff, Packer). The final chapter is a christocentric, multileveled reformulation of the classical Scripture Principle, via Einstein, Torrance, and Calvin, that reaffirms the church's historical identity thesis, that Holy Scripture is the written Word of God, a crucial aspect of God's larger redemptive-revelatory purpose in Christ.

The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.

Hailed as "the most radical repackaging of the Bible since Gutenberg", these Pocket Canons give an up-close look at each book of the Bible.

Throughout one's life, from its beginning to its end, one is constantly bombarded with "spin" by those who desire to promote products and push ideas, philosophies, and a multitude of faiths whether religious or secular. There is only one work, even since the beginning of time, which is free of "spin" and tells it exactly as it was and is now: God's inspired Word, the Bible. Right from the very beginning, Eve put three "spins" on what God had told Adam. She deleted the word "freely," she added the phrase, "neither shall you touch it," and altered the word "surely" to "less." Yet it was Lucifer, the fallen archangel in the guise of a serpent who put into motion the ultimate "spin" on God's word: "Yea, has God said...?" From then on, this question has played havoc with every society down through the ages. Any question of doubt concerning God's word always opposes truth and reality. This book has been written to put forth a definitive answer to this insidious question. In fact, this question begs for an answer and not just a rhetorical one. The questions raised concerning God's word itself, creation, salvation, eschatology, morality, death, and more are in this book and are answered with a resounding: "Yes, God has said!"

Professors at Westminster, Reformed Theological, and Covenant seminaries explain pressing issues regarding the doctrine of Scripture--from publisher description.

This revised edition of the best selling And God Said What? introduces readers to the importance of understanding the various literary forms that appear in Scripture: myth, legend, debate, fiction, Gospel, parable, allegory, letter and apocalypse. Each genre is clearly defined, and the importance of understanding genre in order to find meaning is explored in relation to many well-known biblical passages: Samson, Lot's wife, Jonah, puzzling parables, 666, and many more. Written by an experienced teacher who has listened carefully to her students' questions, this book is an invaluable help to those who want to understand the revelation contained in the old and new covenants.

With so many hot-button issues causing divisiveness in our culture, many Christians are struggling to live out their faith. There is a way, says Micahn Carter. Jesus modeled it perfectly: He stood strong in the middle of tension and loved people outside of His comfort zone. Growing up in a home mired in conflict, Micahn Carter learned how to unify people at an early age. As a young adult, he was skilled at understanding all sides of an issue and building togetherness. Then he became the pastor of a small, predominantly African-American church in downtown Yakima, Washington, where he reached out to people of different cultures, races, relationships, and opinions. Within a few years, Together Church grew into a thriving, multi-racial community of several thousand members that now spans three campuses. In Made for the Middle, he reminds Christians that God sent his Son to die for broken humanity so that reconciliation could be a new way of life—reconciliation between God and man, and through the power of Jesus, reconciliation among humankind. Made for the Middle provides a roadmap for resisting the urge to pick a side in the latest cultural debate and fighting instead for unity, for together, for love. Transformation is possible only when we take the time to build relationship, to seek to understand, and to follow Jesus’s example of creating unity.

Scripture reveals a God who meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be. No More Faking Fine is your invitation to get honest with God through the life-giving language of lament. If you've ever been given empty clichés during challenging times, you know how painful it is to be misunderstood by well-meaning people. When life hurts, we often feel pressure--from others and ourselves--to keep it together, suck it up, or pray it away. But Scripture reveals a God who lovingly invites us to give honest voice to our emotions when life hits hard. For most of her life, Esther Fleece Allen believed she could bypass the painful emotions of her broken past by shutting them down altogether. She was known as an achiever and an overcomer on the fast track to success. But in silencing her pain, she robbed herself of the opportunity to be healed. Maybe you've done the same. Esther's journey into healing began when she discovered that God has given us a real-world way to deal with raw emotions and an alternative to the coping mechanisms that end up causing more pain. It's called lament--the gut-level, honest prayer that God never ignores, never silences, and never wastes. No More Faking Fine is your permission to lament, taking you on a journey down the unexpected pathway to true intimacy with God. Drawing from careful biblical study and hard-won insight, Esther reveals how to use God's own language to come closer to him as he leads us through our pain to the light on the other side, teaching you that: We are robbing ourselves of a divine mystery and a divine intimacy when we pretend to have it all together God does not expect us to be perfect; instead, he meets us where we are There is hope beyond your heartache, disappointment, and grief Like Esther, you'll soon find that when one person stops faking fine, it gives everyone else permission to do the same.