Category Archives: Faith

1 Peter 3:15 and Loving Apologetics (Part 3)

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Previously I wrote about how 1 Peter 3:15 “call to apologetics” should be read in context of its immediate passage to inform us about what apologetics is. In a passage that anticipates persecution from without, making a defense is seen as a holy necessity that must be done with gentleness and reverence.

I decided to read through the entire letter of 1 Peter, trying to imagine myself as his audience, and allowing the entirety of the letter to inform my understanding of “defending the faith.” Continue reading →

1 Peter 3:15 and a Loving Apologetics (Part 2)

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Previously I wrote about how 1 Peter 3:15, often the flagship Bible verse about Christian apologetics, should be read closely to inform us about what apologetics is about, particularly the end of the passage, “yet with gentleness and reverence.”

In this post, we will examine the verse as part of a broader passage on hope. Let us consider 1 singular verse, 1 Peter 3:15, in the context of the broader passage (chapter 3). Continue reading →

1 Peter 3:15 and a Loving Apologetic (Part 1)

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Christian apologetics is as old as Christianity itself. While the word apologetics may sound funny, it doesn’t mean to apologize, but rather, “to give an explanation or justification.”

This is where we get our word apologize, the basic meaning to explain we now take to mean expressing contrition. While apologetics is not about being sorry, it is also not about being rash or reckless. For Christians, it just so happens that the humility it takes to be sorry is the same humility it takes to defend our faith in Christ, because our faith begins with the repentance of our sin and the confession of Christ as savior. Continue reading →

from the Warblr—Will the Religious Right Wake Up on the Right Side of the Bed?

Posted by Caleb Coy on

This past weekend The Warblr chose to publish my Op-Ed. I am thankful for the opportunity.

Will the Religious Right Wake Up on the Right Side of the Bed?

“I wish I could say that the Charlottesville horror—those coddled little Nazi’s with tiki torches shouting “white lives matter” at a statue until someone was killed by a terrorist—was completely isolated from our culture, that this is not America. But it is America, because you’ve tolerated it for far too long. You’ve allowed the lunatic fringe, the alt-right, the conspiracy peddlers, and the petty rumor mill to influence you, hijack your religion, seduce your otherwise outstanding zeal.

You helped create this. Will you repent of it?”

 

On Taking the Bible Literally

Posted by Caleb Coy on

According to a 2011 Gallup survey, 3 in 10 Americans “interpret the Bible literally, saying it is the actual word of God,” while 49% say “the Bible is the inspired word of God but [shouldn’t] be taken literally.”

That’s commonly how the survey is quoted. But if you go to the survey results themselves, a specific and important statement begins the piece: A plurality view Bible as inspired word of God but say not everything in it should be taken literally.”

Continue reading →

American Gods and America’s gods

Posted by Caleb Coy on

To peek into the world of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is to peel back the curtain of America’s culture and see, through one artist’s creative lens, the temple of what the culture truly worships. It is a perverse world that feels too ancient, and yet uncomfortably familiar. In one way it feels like a post-colonial protest. In another it feels like an anthropological experiment. This is an untold story not just of the religious practices America does not admit are religious, but also of the religious practices that have carried over from immigrants across the world. Continue reading →

Handmaid’s Tale: 5 Thoughts About Our Christian Identity

Posted by Caleb Coy on

The Handmaid’s Tale has been much talked about ever since the famous novel became a miniseries on Hulu. Like any good dystopian story, the novel wasn’t meant to ask “what if”  about the future so much as “how so” about the present. Dystopian stories warn us of what might happen tomorrow. Great dystopian stories plumb deeper, asking what it is about us now that could bring us there.
Continue reading →