God From the Machine

A former atheist explores the Christian worldview

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Site Closing

Thank you for following GFTM Blog! Please take a moment and go to ConfidenceInChrist.org and sign up. ConfidenceInChrist.org is my new ministry site, which will include all new blog articles (and some old favorites) and content. GFTM will be closing March 2023. Thank you again! Sincerely, Steve

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Book Review: Jesus' Final Week

Book Review: Jesus’ Final Week

Jesus’ Final Week by William F. Cook III is a straight-forward look at Jesus’ last days leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection, covering from his triumphal entry of Jerusalem to the empty tomb. (Yet, despite what the cover says, it also includes the Saturday before Palm Sunday where Mary anoints Jesus, which I found to be an interesting and important prelude to the coming week.) This…

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Must Christians Follow the Old Testament Law? (Part 4) Hebrews: Freedom from Dead Works

Must Christians Follow the Old Testament Law? (Part 4) Hebrews: Freedom from Dead Works

In the previous articles in this series (see links below), I believe we did a thorough job of addressing the claims of the email that sparked this blog series, but we received this comment on one of the articles, a response to the question in the series title: Must Christians follow the Old Testament Law? The comment: “Short answer yes…all believers in Yeshua HaMashiach [Jesus the Messiah] must…

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Book Review: Urban Legends of Church History: 40 Common Misconceptions

Book Review: Urban Legends of Church History: 40 Common Misconceptions

Urban Legends of Church History: 40 Common Misconceptions by Michael Svigel and John Adair is the third book I’ve read in the “Urban Legends” series by B & H Academic. The first two address commonly repeated inaccuracies about the Old and New Testaments. Though all written by different scholars, all three books have the same accessible format, and all three books are extremely helpful to both the…

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Must Christians Follow the Old Testament Law? (Part 3) Acts: What to Do With Those Filthy Gentiles?

Must Christians Follow the Old Testament Law? (Part 3) Acts: What to Do With Those Filthy Gentiles?

I find it interesting that our OT-following friend cites the Book of Acts so much in his email (see below) as evidence of Paul still following the OT religious law after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.  First, unlike Galatians and Romans, which are letters we looked at before, Acts is a narrative. In the letters of the New Testament, imperatives—commands—are pretty easy to spot. On the…

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Must Christians Follow the Old Testament Law? (Part 2) Romans: It's the End of the Law as We Know It (and Paul Feels Fine)

Must Christians Follow the Old Testament Law? (Part 2) Romans: It’s the End of the Law as We Know It (and Paul Feels Fine)

In his letter to the Romans, Paul makes a similar argument as in his letter to the Galatians, which we looked at in the last article. Our friend who claims Christians must continue to follow the Old Testament (OT) religious and ritual law cites three passages from Romans to support his view (See the email below). When looking at the overall argument Paul makes in Romans, we see that our friend’s…

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Must Christians Follow the Old Testament Law? (Part 1) Galatians: Paul Gives a Smackdown

Must Christians Follow the Old Testament Law? (Part 1) Galatians: Paul Gives a Smackdown

AN EMAIL Dear brothers and sisters in Messiah! All believers listen up! In Galatians 1, Paul says that there is only one gospel and those who teach a different one are under a curse. In 2 Peter 3:14-17, Peter warns that many will misinterpret Paul’s difficult to understand writings, resulting in lawlessness and destruction. Paul always kept the Sabbath (Acts 17:2; Acts 18:4)Paul kept the…

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Sharing Jesus Without Freaking Out (Book Review)

Sharing Jesus Without Freaking Out (Book Review)

Sharing Jesus Without Freaking Out is a book I wish someone had handed me early in my walk with Jesus. I came to Christ as an adult after over a decade of skepticism of all things religious, and it became clear to me early on in my walk with Christ that part of following him was sharing my faith with others. The thing with evangelism is that though all Christians are called to share their faith,…

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Navigating the Political Quagmire as a Christian

Navigating the Political Quagmire as a Christian

Recently, I had someone leave my small church plant—not because of heresy nor unrepentant sin—but because of politics. The person didn’t like the political opinions of some of the people in our church, so he put his political identity above his identity as our brother in Christ and disfellowshipped with us. In the U.S., we have bought into a false dichotomy. A false dichotomy is to believe there…

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Dealing with "Apatheism" & Understanding the Joy of New Creation (Book Reviews)

Dealing with “Apatheism” & Understanding the Joy of New Creation (Book Reviews)

Apatheism: How We Share When They Don’t Care by Kyle Beshears (B & H Academic) Kyle Beshears’ book tackles an extremely problematic question that is often overlooked in discussions on evangelism: How do you share your faith with those who simply don’t care about God? Even if you share your faith, how do you get the person to care enough to consider what you said? When you get down to it, it’s…

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Is Jesus "a god"? Revisiting John 1:1 & the Jehovah's Witness Translation

Is Jesus “a god”? Revisiting John 1:1 & the Jehovah’s Witness Translation

KNOCK, KNOCK. WHO’S THERE? J.W., WHO? John 1:1 reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (ESV) But not so fast! These astonishing statements at the beginning of John’s gospel are traditionally understood to tell us two key, unique aspects of orthodox Christian belief: Jesus is God, and God is at least two persons, bringing into view the Trinity.…

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Understanding Divine Blessing: Does the Prosperity Gospel Get It Right? (w/ Book Review)

Understanding Divine Blessing: Does the Prosperity Gospel Get It Right? (w/ Book Review)

The biblical concept of “blessing”—as in being blessed and blessing others—is not a topic any church I’ve attended focused on, so when I had the opportunity to read and review Divine Blessing and the Fullness of Life in the Presence of God by William R. Osborne, I took it. This is the second book I’ve read from Crossway’s Short Studies in Biblical Theology series, where in relatively short,…

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The Serpent, Dragon & Leviathan in Symbol & Scripture (w/ Book Review)

The Serpent, Dragon & Leviathan in Symbol & Scripture (w/ Book Review)

LITERAL OR FIGURATIVE? As Christians, we often have to defend our belief that the Bible should be taken literally. The writers of the Bible present much of the information as historical truth, and Christians need to accept certain claims of the Bible as fact to be true Christ-followers. For example, the apostle Paul wrote that if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then our faith is false (1 Cor.…

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Stop Being an %$#@& on Social Media: False Dichotomy, the Bane of Modern Debate

Stop Being an %$#@& on Social Media: False Dichotomy, the Bane of Modern Debate

Stop Being an %$#@& on Social Media, PART 1: 14 Quick Tips for Better Online Interactions

Stop Being an %$#@& on Social Media, PART 2: 5 Common Logical Mistakes to Avoid

Logical Fallacy: False Dichotomy

Picking up right where we left off…

A false dichotomy is another logical fallacy that I see regularly used in online debates. It’s to offer only two possible options even though a broad range of…

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The Importance of Family Discipleship (w/ Book Review)

The Importance of Family Discipleship (w/ Book Review)

“Discipling your child is not primarily your church’s job, your child’s school’s job, or your pastor’s job. This job is yours,” Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin write in their book Family Discipleship: Leading Your Home through Time, Moments, and Milestones.

And they’re absolutely right. In our consumerist and busy culture, parents often “outsource” the spiritual development of their children,…

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Stop Being an %$#@& on Social Media: 5 Common Logical Mistakes to Avoid

Stop Being an %$#@& on Social Media: 5 Common Logical Mistakes to Avoid

PART 1: Stop Being a %$#&@ Online: 14 Quick Tips for Better Online Interactions

Not everyone is motivated by logic. And when that’s the case, all communication breaks down. Just like there are laws of physics that are undeniable, there are also laws of logic. The Christian worldview believes there’s a divine intelligence behind creation, so it makes sense in the Christian worldview that these…

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Stop Being a %$#&@ Online: 14 Quick Tips for Better Online Interactions

Stop Being a %$#&@ Online: 14 Quick Tips for Better Online Interactions

OK, I get it. You have opinions and you want everyone to know them. I get it. You look at what’s going on in the world and you don’t like it. I get it. The things people are posting in your feed are alarming. I get it. 

But I also can’t help noticing that no one is listening to you either. Yeah, your peers who hold the same exact opinion are cheering you on, so if that’s what you’re looking for,…

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