Redeemed Road Kill

Dr. Tommy Boland
14 Aug 2019
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road

The culture has many complaints against Christianity. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Perhaps the top complaint is that we are hypocritical, saying one thing and doing another. This, of course, is true for everyone, which is why we still need our Savior after we have been saved. But the complaint that we think we are superior to others just doesn’t hold water. True Christians do not think themselves superior, just saved. True Christians do not seem themselves as better than others, just bought by […]

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There Are No Step-by-Step Rules for Christianity!

Dr. Tommy Boland
15 Jul 2019
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I long ago lost count of how many times I’ve heard unbelievers object that “Christianity is nothing more than rules and regulations!” Let me begin by saying that that when the unbelieving world sees our faith as nothing more than a list of “dos and don’ts,” we have done a poor job of presenting the beauty and the blessing of the good news of the Gospel. Christianity, first and foremost, is Good News — the good news of a relationship, NOT a list of rules. John Piper put it this way: “It’s like we’re in a war, in a concentration […]

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God Lead Us Down Your Path

Dr. Tommy Boland
18 Jun 2019
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God Leads us in everything we do. In our current cultural moment, one which is steeped in deep skepticism, absolute truth is separated from matters of religion and spirituality as far as the east is from the west. A typical postmodern response to the statement that absolute truth exists would sound like, “That may be absolutely true for you, but absolutely not true for me.” This view is as deluded as it is dangerous in matters of reality, blurring the lines between preference, opinion and truth. To be sure, the promise in the era of modernism that human reason was […]

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Explosive Growth of the First Century Church

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 May 2019
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Last month we studied the reality of the Resurrection by sharpening our focus on two different eyewitness accounts: the embarrassing eyewitness accounts and the enemy eyewitness accounts. In the ancient world, women were regarded as second-class citizens whose testimony was inadmissible in a court of law; therefore, no gospel writer would ever invent a story of the Resurrection with women being the first to peer into the empty tomb and see Jesus alive. To say that a woman was the first to see the risen Savior was too embarrassing. Growth of the Church Then we looked at the dramatic conversion […]

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Eyewitness Accounts – Was Jesus Seen Alive?

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 Apr 2019
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eyewitness

“. . . and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also” (1 Corinthians 15:5-8). I would like to sharpen our focus on two different eyewitness accounts: the embarrassing eyewitness accounts and the enemy eyewitness accounts. I’ve found that this approach seems to capture the attention of the skeptics, causing […]

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Bad News Before The Good News!

Dr. Tommy Boland
15 Mar 2019
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(Scroll down to leave a comment on what the Good News means to you.) “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21 ESV). One of the fundamental biblical doctrines that creates some confusion for those who are unfamiliar with it is the doctrine of Total Depravity, which concerns mankind’s guilty inability to stand before God and claim any sort of inherent righteousness. The bulk of the confusion about this doctrine centers on the name: Total Depravity. “Wait a minute!” both Christians and unbelievers alike will protest. “Are you saying that someone who doesn’t know Christ as […]

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The Greatest Of These Apologetics . . . Is Love

Dr. Tommy Boland
4 Feb 2019
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greatest

February is generally thought of as “the month of love,” highlighted by Valentine’s Day on the 14th. We made Valentine’s cards for our classmates and teachers when we were in grade school, and we continue the tradition as adults, adding flowers, candy and a variety of gifts to the cards we give to those we love. February is a good time for remembering the importance and value of love in our lives and the lives of others. For the Christian, every moment of every day is a time for remembering the importance and value of love in our lives because […]

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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Dr. Tommy Boland
3 Jan 2019
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“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:23-25). A kind of mirror The great Protestant reformer, John Calvin, who contributed so much to our present-day understanding of Scripture, undoubtedly had James […]

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The Reason for the Season

Dr. Tommy Boland
3 Dec 2018
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reason

It’s that most wonderful time of the year again! Throughout December it is likely you will see or hear the phrase, “The Reason for the Season.” There is only one true reason, of course, and His name is Jesus Christ. And that reason does not spring from an uninformed, blind leap of faith. To those who sneer that believing in the Babe in the manger is like believing in Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, you can calmly and kindly reply that the birth of Christ is an historical event that is beyond contestation, which took place just over 2000 years ago […]

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A Thanksgiving Apologetic

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 Nov 2018
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I have written several articles bemoaning the fact that far too many Americans see Thanksgiving as little more than a day for overindulgence in food and football, but I don’t believe I have ever written about the extent to which America’s Thanksgiving celebration bears wonderful witness to our Christian faith. In doing so, I want to acknowledge the outstanding work of David Barton’s WallBuilders ministry (www.wallbuilders.com), which was my primary resource for the historical information presented here. Thanksgiving tradition Virtually everyone knows that our Thanksgiving tradition began with the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts. However, many Americans are not aware that […]

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