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The Good Book Blog, a resource from the faculty of Talbot School of Theology, features articles that explore contemporary ideas from the perspective of the Bible — the “Good Book” — including topics such as apologetics, biblical studies, theology, philosophy, spiritual formation, ministry and leadership. Find out more about what sets Talbot apart and how it prepares Christian leaders through its degree programs.

 

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  • Freddy Cardoza — 

    The grind of the 9 to 5 work life has perplexed many a believer who sometimes stops to wonder, “Is this all there is?” No doubt, since the Fall of Humanity (Genesis 3), work has indeed become something altogether different than God intended prior to our expulsion from Eden. Even so, many believers may come to wrongly conclude that work is, well, just “work.” But nothing could be further from the truth. Work matters ...

  • Octavio Esqueda — 

    My story is like many others. When my wife and I got married and came to the United States, we told our parents that we would be back in two years. Our plan was to study at a seminary in Dallas and after our graduation to return to the city where we were born, grew up, and where most of our relatives and friends live. 19 years later we still live in the United States and most likely we will never go back permanently. Just like has happened to many others, through the years our temporary residency here became a permanent one ...

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Dear Dr. Craig, I have some questions on the issue of eternity and God. I understand that you hold to the view of God as timeless "before" creation and in time ever since ...

  • Octavio Esqueda — 

    Mi historia se parece a muchas otras. Cuando mi esposa y yo nos casamos y nos vinimos a vivir a los Estados Unidos les dijimos a nuestros padres que en dos años regresaríamos. El plan era estudiar en un seminario en Dallas y al término del programa regresar a la ciudad en la que crecimos y en donde viven la mayoría de nuestra familia y amigos. 19 años después seguimos viviendo en los Estados Unidos y lo más seguro es que nuestro regreso ya nunca se dé. Como a tantos otros les ha pasado, nuestra estadía temporal se ha ido convirtiendo en definitiva al paso de los años ...

  • Gary McIntosh — 

    A number of years ago, professor Robert Munger of Fuller Theological Seminary conducted a survey to determine the satisfaction of board members. One of the questions he asked was, “Since serving on a church board, do you feel your spiritual life has improved or declined?” The answer? Eighty percent of board members said their spiritual life had declined while serving on a church board. How would you answer that question? Unfortunately, for many board members, the answer is not positive ...

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Dr. Craig, I must say I feel completely defeated and I could use your help and insight. I had a discussion over God's existence tonight and totally botched it!! I feel I did a dis-service to the reasonableness of the Christian worldview. I've been studying apologetics for quite some time. I felt I knew the material pretty well. Now I'm not so sure. Dr. Craig, I know you're one of the great Christian debaters. When you were younger, did you ever feel you completely botched a debate and felt like a failure? That is how I feel right now!! ...

  • Sean McDowell — 

    Kyle Strobel has been a friend of mine since we were classmates in the M.A. Philosophy program at Talbot in the early 2000s. Now we are both professors at Biola (he's at Talbot Theological Seminary and I am in the Christian Apologetics program). Kyle has a recent book that, in all honesty, is going to stir some people up. He didn't write it just to provoke, but because he really believes the church today has co-opted some non-biblical ideas that radically undermine the gospel. And I tend to agree. If Kyle is right, then we the church need to seriously rethink how we approach ministry. I hope you will genuinely wrestle with his responses to my questions in this interview ...

  • Karin Stetina — 

    What is the purpose of life? How does work fit into the purpose? As a college student I spent many hours contemplating these important questions and many others, such as: Do we have free will or are we predestined? What is the best form of worship- hymns or praise songs? How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Maybe you have asked some of these same burning questions? ...

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Good Morning Dr Craig, Thank you so much for having answered my last e-mail in your reasonable faith podcast of 11-08-2015. I listened it in the bus to work, and was really surprised and glad to tears. Thank you. I've read with a great interest your Q&A #52, about personal productivity, and it has raised more questions to me (as I begin to write myself and find a way to worship by writing): Do you pray during your work, Augustine style? How do you pray for your writings in general? How do you do your devotions? ...

  • The Good Book Blog — 

    Darian Locket (Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Talbot School of Theology) recently wrote and published Letters from the Pillar Apostles: The Formation of the Catholic Epistles as a Canonical Collection. We wanted to learn more about this book, so we had Darian respond to some questions ...

  • Sean McDowell — 

    Last week I had an experience I will remember for a long time. Since it was raining outside, we took my three kids and some of their cousins to Big Air Trampoline Park to get some of their energy out. The place was packed full of young kids and their parents. While my kids were enjoying the trampolines, dodge ball, and the climbing wall, I found an open seat in the small café to edit some of the chapters for an update I am working on with my father for his classic book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict ...

  • Sean McDowell — 

    Last year, when I was speaking at a church in South Dakota for a Heroic Truth Event, I met Brian Johnson. He invited me on his Podcast, and we had a great conversation about “hot” cultural issues today.

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Dear Dr. Craig, I have a question regarding the chronology of the atonement. I know that, in one sense, the atonement encompasses all of Jesus' life in that it involves the imputation of his righteousness to us and not only our sin to him, and therefore we can say that everything from his birth, the silent years of his life, his baptism, temptation, etc. are all a part of the atonement. On the other hand, the bible seems to focus specifically on the death of Jesus on the cross ...

  • Sean McDowell — 

    Although I first heard of Greg Koukl as an undergrad at Biola University in the mid 90s, we became good friends in the early 2000s as students in the M.A. Philosophy program at Talbot. Greg is one of the leading apologists of our day and has had a huge impact on my personal and professional life. He gave me the honor of endorsing his recent book The Story of Reality, and I can honestly say that it’s fantastic. In the words of Tim Challies: “Koukl promises to tell the story of reality. He does, and he does it beautifully. You’ll benefit by reading his telling of how the world began, how it will end, and all the important stuff that happens in between" ...

  • Mark Saucy — 

    ... The topic is work. Something important for all of us, and it’s one that has interested me in particular teaching already five years now a theology of work course for Biola’s Crowell School of Business MBA program. Work is also a topic that naturally engages the desire for kingdom impact in the culture, because, as Karl Barth says, “human culture is produced in work. So the Faith and Work movement is right on target for engaging a ready audience in a worthy endeavor. This of course isn’t the only good of theology of work ...

  • The Good Book Blog — 

    Digital courses taught by a growing number of Biola’s professors are now available through Logos Mobile Education ...

  • William Lane Craig — 

    I am a medical student from Norway, and first I want to say that I am very grateful for your work as it has meant a great deal to both my interest in philosophy and my faith. Last week there was a small debate in Oslo about the Kalaam cosmological argument in which an atheist philosopher claimed that it may be possible that something began to exist out of nothing because that statement did not involve a contradiction and hence was logically possible. In watching your debates and reading some of your work I understand you to agree that it is logically possible, but that since it goes against both our intuition and experience it is in some other way impossible or at least an irrational view to hold ...

  • Sean McDowell — 

    It’s official. The 2016 word of the year is “post-truth.” Last year it was an emoji. In 2014 the word was “vape.” And in 2013 it was “selfie.” With the truth twisting, emotional appeals, and personal attacks that characterized this past election season, Oxford Dictionaries selected “post-truth” as the word for 2016. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”

  • Freddy Cardoza — 

    Poverty. It is no respecter of persons. It is a global reality that exists in Calcutta and Compton; Tokyo and Timbuktu; San Francisco and São Paulo. Poverty is seen in nations and neighborhoods. It ravages urban, suburban, and rural areas. And despite the enormous wealth of some areas, make no mistake: poor people reside in Beverly Hills, Dubai, and Midtown Manhattan. Destitution is not limited to places like Dhaka and Detroit. Quite simply, there are examples of poverty everywhere. That isn’t to say poverty is equally distributed or equally affecting. In some areas poverty is more relative and sporadic. In other places, it seems absolute ...

  • Sean McDowell — 

    During 2016, I began tweeting an “Apologetics Tip of the Day.” Some have to do with apologetics content, while others are tips for doing apologetics more effectively. Many of these were taken from my book A New Kind of Apologist or simply my own experience. And of course, some generated much more interest than others. Here’s the top 10 “Apologetics Tips” from 2016 in descending order ...

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Hello Dr. Craig, I would first like to say thank you so much for being such an amazing resource for answers and perspectives on difficult questions. I have listened to you for years and have learned so much from your work. I would like to explain, that I am a Christian. I believe in Jesus and that he died for my sins on the Cross. However, I must admit that I have not delved into scripture wholeheartedly. I was so deeply affected by the Gospels that they struck a note with me. I believe in Jesus because I can completely relate to the message. It makes total sense for me. Man is depraved, we need a saviour, that saviour is God, God came to live as one of us to show us the only way to live and consequently died, all so that we may turn from our own self righteousness and follow him. Jesus set the standard as has never been matched or could not be matched by man or gods. My problem lies further back in the timeline ...

  • Kenneth Berding — 

    I started the New Year by worshiping, fellowshipping, and preaching at Taft Avenue Community Church in Orange, California. At one point in the service, Pastor Bob Burris read aloud a short explanation of why Christians sing during times of worship. I appreciated what he read and want to share it with you today. The reading was adapted from a blog post by Kevin DeYoung, cut down to a length that could be used in a worship service. Why do we sing when we worship together?

  • William Lane Craig — 

    Dr. Craig, How do we know that the red letters in the New Testament are what Jesus actually claimed and taught? ...

  • Sean McDowell — 

    The purpose and nature of apologetics is often misunderstood. Some people think it’s about arguing for the faith. Others think it’s about apologizing. In reality, apologetics simply refers to the defense of what you believe to be true. But isn’t apologetics someone else’s job? Isn’t it reserved for pastors, Bible teachers, and other “intellectual” Christians? The answer is an unequivocal no. As C.S. Lewis said, the question is not if we are apologists, but whether we will be effective apologists. All of us are called to have an answer for our hope in Jesus Christ (e.g. 1 Peter 3:15).

  • Sean McDowell — 

    The movie Passengers released this today, Wednesday, December 21. The film features Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt as two passengers on a 120-year trip to another planet when their hibernation pods wake them up 90 years too early. When the ship malfunctions, their job is to protect the other 5,000 passengers from certain death. The movie is PG-13 for sexuality, nudity, and action. As the trailer makes clear, there is a “love” scene between Lawrence and Pratt. Since she has not done many sex scenes like this (especially with married men like Pratt), Lawrence has talked about how awkward it was and that she got really drunk beforehand.