Last time we considered Jesus’ identity as God’s messiah.  Today, we’ll look at a number of texts that are sometimes misunderstood to teach that Jesus is God. We’ll go through three classifications of verses: (1) those with manuscript issues, (2) those with translation issues, and (3) those with interpretation issues.  Here is the breakdown. Manuscript Read more about Theology 12 – Challenging Jesus’ Humanity[…]

Have you joined the Restitutio facebook group?  The idea behind the group is that its a place where anyone can start topics for discussion.  So, please join if you’d like to see what’s going on. What is the defining title for Jesus of Nazareth?  Although he kept it mostly a secret during his ministry, Jesus’ Read more about Theology 11 – Jesus the Messiah[…]

How many is God?  Although the ancient Shema (recorded in Deuteronomy 6) teaches that God is one, Christian theologians have put forward a number of reasons arguing for a plurality within God.  We will examine a number of these words, texts, and reasonings in an effort to agree with Jesus who wholeheartedly affirmed the Jewish Read more about Theology 10 — Challenging God’s Oneness[…]

Today we’ll tackle the biggest question of all: who is God?  We’ll take a journey through scripture together to discover what God is like, stopping at key moments to consider what this or that interaction tells us about him. —— Notes —— theology: one’s understanding of God Ontology vs. Functionality ontology: understanding something based on Read more about Theology 9 — God[…]

Today we’ll take a look at a number of confusing scriptures that seem to indicate that hell is a place where the wicked are consciously tormented forever.  We’ll look at texts that talk about weeping and gnashing of teeth as well as the how the worm will not die nor the fire be quenched.  We’ll Read more about Theology 8 — Challenging Annihilationism[…]

What is the destiny of the unrighteous?  Christians over the centuries have put forward three major options: eternal conscious torment (traditionalism), temporary torment followed by salvation (universalism), temporary torment followed by destruction (annihilationism).  In this lecture we’ll cover the main texts supporting the annihilation of the wicked as well as three logical problems with the Read more about Theology 7 — Annihilationism[…]

In our last episode, we examined the broad scope of scripture, stopping at many texts along the way that teach about a future kingdom when Jesus returns.  In this session, we’ll take a look at a number of sometimes misunderstood texts that seem to imply the kingdom is either already present or in heaven. Here Read more about Theology 6 — Challenging the Kingdom[…]

We now begin a series of four lectures on the eternal destiny of the righteous and the wicked, including the kingdom and the judgement.  For today we are going to focus on what God promises for his own people in the age to come.  We’ll cruise through the entire bible (right from Genesis to Revelation), Read more about Theology 5 — Kingdom Hope[…]

In our last episode we looked at what the scriptures teach about humanity, including creation, death, and resurrection.  I laid out a case for conditional immortality from several important texts.  This time, we will consider a number of challenges to this understanding including: Philippians 1.23 “depart and be with Christ” 1 Corinthians 5.8 “absent from Read more about Theology 4 – Challenging Conditional Immortality[…]

In this lecture, you’ll learn about anthropology–the bible’s view of humanity.  In particular, we’ll focus on the two ends of the spectrum: creation and death.  We’ll see how the biblical view of humanity is rather exalted since we are made in God’s image.  We’ll examine what the bible teaches about death and resurrection and how Read more about Theology 3 – Conditional Immortality[…]