According to the NRF, in 2014 Americans spend 2.2 billion dollars on candy.
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Monthly Archives: March 2016
The Symbolic Psychology of Batman Villains
Batman has always been famous for his villains almost more than the hero himself. Instead of being based on superpowers, these criminals are based on their own kind of gimmicks, some sort of symbolic costume and modus operandi that makes them more realistic than superpower villains, yet more meaningful than the Dick Tracy gangsters they sometimes resemble. Continue reading
Renovating My Heart with God, a Friend, and Dallas Willard
Despising self-help books, I am always skeptical of any non-fiction book advertised to guide me into helping myself make myself feel better, live better, do anything better for my mental and emotional health. Most of them out there are written by jack wagons. Ironically, it is the fixation on the self itself that make such a genre as “self help” complete malarkey.
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The “5 Step Plan” and the Gospel: Part 5—The Scheme of Redemption
Part 5: The Scheme of Redemption
and the Ministry of Regeneration [see previous post]
Growing up as many people did in Churches of Christ, I heard countless sermons that ended with a call to baptism, including a quick rehashing of the five steps leading up to baptism, the opportunity for which all were given as an “invitation” song was sung. It was communicated that if your heart was right and the sermon had stirred you, then you had heard and believed the word, and the next step was to repent and confess before being baptized. This has helped lead me and countless others to the Gospel.
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The “5 Step Plan” and the Gospel: Part 4–The Formula (and What’s Missing)
Part 4: Issues with the List as a Formula (and what’s missing)
It’s very important to point out that the “5-step plan of Salvation” does not appear in scripture—not as a list, anyway. The scriptures themselves never group these 5 things together and present them as an ordered list of things to accomplish in order to be saved. This does not make them untrue, but rather tell us that these five steps in this particular order are not something the Holy Spirit seems to have had in mind for us to memorize in order to evangelize, or to recite as a systematic creed that defines us.
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The “5 Step Plan” and the Gospel: Part 3—Looking at Each Step
Part 3: Examining Each Step in Focus
We last looked at the history of how the “5-step plan of salvation” developed, shaped Church of Christ teaching, and was challenged over the last hundred years.
Now let’s look at each step and examine it for its own merit as a “step to” salvation as an event:
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The “5 Step Plan” and the Gospel: Part 2—Church History
Part 2: A History of the “5-Step Plan of Salvation” [read the intro here]
While the Gospel has been around for about 2,000 years, the “5 Steps of Salvation” list is much younger. We can trace it back to Walter Scott, a Restoration preacher associated with the growth of the American Churches of Christ/Disciples of Christ of the 1800’s.
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CALEB COY 