Terry Pruitt's Blog

Wasn't the New Testament written hundreds of years after Christ? My Answer: None of the New Testament books have a date of publication written on them. It probably will not surprise anyone that those who attempt to figure out from linguistic and historical evidence the date a certain book of the New Testament was written come out with very different answers. The assumptions one brings to the evidence guides that interpretation. For instance D.A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris in their book "An Introduction to the New Testament" would date Galatians as being written A.D. 48. They would date the Book of Revelation as having been written A.D. 68-69. These two book are sometimes, not always, considered the first book and the last book written in the New Testament. I have taken Bible classes at both theologically conservative and theologically liberal schools. The more liberal schools would count those dates I just gave as hogwash. I think the more liberal scholars...

I would like to direct your attention to an article by Reclaiming the Mind Ministries. Basically the post is about the differences between fundamentalists, evangelicals, emerging, and emergent. The charts are instructive but I will let you go to the posting Comparing Fundamentalist, Evangelicals and Emergers to see the charts. The basic idea is two fold, what can you know and what is essential. As a side note, I'm with Patton that I'm not ready to disassociate myself with the term evangelical. For that matter, I'm not ready to disassociate myself from the term fundamentalist. Even though evangelical or emerging would better describe my position.

I wrote a paper about the Emerging Church for seminary several years ago. At the time, Emergent and Emerging were not used in the same distinction as they are now. I see them as different forms of the same root, but usage dictates meaning, not history or assignment of meaning. There is an excellent article about the Emergent and Emerging church at the blog Reclaiming the Mind Ministries called Would The Real Emerger Please Stand Up . It is not clear to me where the chart came from but I find it helpful. I'm including these charts from the post here. This first chart shows the range of beliefs in Christianity. I would guess that the author would not be attempting to show that each grouping is as large or historically important as the next one, just the spectrum of belief conveniently boiled down to nice categories. Then he zooms into a section to further discuss the messiness of it all. I'm not quite sure everyone would like their assigned categories, but of course that i...

Below are some of my thoughts on " The Problem with Christian Pop Music ". I’m trying to figure out what pop music is. There was a time I knew exactly what it was. It was what was played on American Top 40 with “Casey” Kasem. Now it is so mixed and varied, that it is difficult to know what a kid who is 18 with an iPod will be listening to. My daughters are as tuned into the Beatles as they are any contemporary artist. (I’m not sure if U2 qualifies as a contemporary artist by the way. I think he hits my generation a little harder than the teens of the new millennium.) Alicia Keys sings some great music, but is she pop? My daughters having me buying the songs for them but I think the genre is R&B and/or Soul. If you asked them if it was R&B, they might know, but they don’t care. They just know what they like. My point is that we are actually at a point in the music business that things are changing rapidly. It is an opportunity for Christians to have an influence inste...

I have had some really great, productive days at work. I actually felt a special leading of the Lord, a prompting in my heart to take my work a certain direction and it worked fantastic. There has been a lot of stir about my success. Instead of feeling joy and satisfaction, I feel depressed and blue. I think jealousy and competition has gotten my heart. There is no need to be jealous of recognition for my work since others helped me get here. I've been translating 1 Corinthians Those Who Walk in Jealously are Not Spiritual I am not able brothers to speak to you as spiritual but as those of the flesh, as mere children in Christ. I gave you milk and not solid food; for we were not yet able. And we as still not now able to do so, for still you are of the flesh. For who among you is jealous and contentious, are you not of the flesh, walking according to men? For someone says I am of Paul, and another says I am of Apollos, are they not men? -- my own translation of 1 Corin...

Christianity Today has a Question and Answer article with Obama. In it he declares his faith and he takes a position on abortion. Click here for the full article at CT. From Christianity Today's website You've talked about your experience walking down the aisle at Trinity United Church of Christ, and kneeling beneath the cross, having your sins redeemed, and submitting to God's will. Would you describe that as a conversion? Do you consider yourself born again? I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn't 'fall out in church' as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn...

I have had a variety of experiences with different churches. The alter call is not a single thing to a single church. I have found in fact they are quite varied. So here is a little of my journey via the alter call and then a little bit of what I think it ought to be. Cherry Street Baptist – A place to get SAVED! When I attended Cherry Street Baptist church in Springfield, MO the alter was a place to go forward to accept Christ. They had young men who were studying for the ministry at Baptist Bible College (BBC) who were recruiting a constant stream of new people into the church. These young ministerial students also were active in bus ministry, teaching Sunday School and developing things like “Friend Sunday” where everyone was supposed to bring a friend. But those other fellows were there at the alter ready to show you what salvation meant from the Bible and pray the sinner's prayer with you. There was probably 20 or 30 people who went forward for salvation or rededicati...

I used to feel that I was related to everyone in Laclede county. That is largely because of this patriarch of the family. His family moved from Illinois after the family suffered financial crisis after their barn burned. As I understand it, he was a dedicated Cumberland Presbyterian. He, in more than one sense, is why I am presbyterian. Meet Anderson Douglas "Doug" Griffin. Birth: Aug. 30, 1854 Scott County Illinois, USA Death: Jan. 25, 1933 Russ Laclede County Missouri, USA STROKE IS FATAL TO A. D. GRIFFIN Funeral Services Held Today for Pioneer of Laclede County Anderson Douglas Griffin, a resident of Laclede County for 70 years, died at his home here at 12:30 o'clock Tuesday night as a result of a paralytic stroke he suffered two weeks ago. He was 78 years old. Funeral services were held at 1 o'clock this afternoon at the White Oak Pond church, of which he had been a member for many years. The services were conducted by the Rev. J. A. Russell of...

I have my very own private time machine. It really isn't like Dr. Brown's DeLorean in Back to the Future. Rather, growing up I knew four of my great grand parents; Fred, Ola, Bert and Roberta. That is right, these were my mother's grandparents. They were all born just before or just after the turn of the 20th century. Their world in the rural Missouri Ozarks started as one without cars, without electricity, or even in door plumbing. Theirs was a world where people were named things like Tink or Suttie. Come visit a little while with me as I introduce you to Gramp, Granny, Grandpa Bert and Granny Bert, who are my connections to a distant past. Perhaps this will help you in developing your own personal time machine. The first component of a time machine is stories. Stories in the Ozarks are all about telling experiences that one has. The story need not be spectacular, just tell it plane and with earnestness. Granny told me how she came to be raised by her grandma Jo...

You may want to check out the link to a Mark Dever article in Christianity Today called What Evangelism Isn't . (Hat Tip: La Shawn Barber's Corner ) You may also want to check out this video on You Tube about creation. My wife's blog has an easy to get to copy .

Q: Give a general outline of the Old Testament history from the perspective of the covenant, including key passages. A: Covenant of Works with Adam, Genesis 2, Hosea 6:7, and Romans 5. Covenant with Noah, Genesis 9 and Jeremiah 33:20 Covenant with Abraham, Genesis 12, 15, and 17 Covenant with Israel, Exodus 34 and much of the Old Testament Law Covenant with David, 2 Samuel 7:12 and 22:57

Q: Name the general divisions of the Old Testament and the books in each. A: Pentateuch - Gn, Ex, Lv, Nu, Du History - Jo, Ju, Ru, 1S, 2S, 1K, 2K, Ne, Ezra, Est Wisdom - Job, Ps, Pv, Ecc, Song of Sol. Prophets - Is, Jer, Lam, Ezk, Dan, and all the minor prophets Q: Give a general outline of Old Testament history, including key dates. A: Time of the patriarchs Abraham born 2161 B.C. Exodus 1445 B.C. Conquest 1405 B.C. Time of the Judges Time of the Kings King David's Rule 1010 B.C. Northern Kingdom Exile 722 B.C. Southern Kingdom Exile Fall of Jerusalem 586 B.C. Return from Exile Rebuild the Temple 515 B.C.

The last Sunday of 2007 I visited with my family the Central Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. This is a PCUSA Church with a very beautiful building in the middle of Atlanta, thus the name. Parking was under ground a parking garage. That was a first time for me, but it makes sense when real estate is at a premium price to put the parking down under. I think they are able to charge for parking during the week and make it pay for itself. I'm guessing on that. Finding where the nursery for my young relatives was a bit of a hassle. It could have been better dealt with but informing the friendly greeters, who I believe were the church's elders, where the nursery was being held. But it was nice to see the elders take such an active part in greeting people. The worship was warm and easy to follow. There was no sermon that day but a lot of scripture reading and carol singing. I found it a welcome change to just enjoy song and scripture. The closest thing to a sermon was the c...

How many books are in the Bible? Sixty-six How many books are in the Old Testament? Thirty-nine How many books are in the New Testament? Twenty-seven Where in the Old Testament would you find the ten commandments? (Two references) Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 Where in the New Testament would you find the law summarized? (Two references) I can take this question two ways. First is that the Law is summarized by the two commandments to love God with all your heart, soul and might and love your neighbor as yourself. These two summarizations can be found in Mathew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-34. But there is another type of summary of the Law that can be found in the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain. These are found in Matthew 5-7 and Luke 6. Locate two passages about the revelation of God in nature. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so th...

We were studying Acts 14 where Paul and Barnabas are stoned by the people in Iconium and greatly misunderstood in Derbe. Never the less the two messengers rejoiced that they were able to give the good news of Jesus Christ to others. What follows is my outline of thoughts on the chapter. Benefits of Suffering for Christ We participate in the sufferings of Christ. (Colosians 1:24) The suffering becomes non-verbal preaching It is a pragmatic way to take up our cross daily and follow Christ (Matthew 16:24) Benefits of Preaching in a Hostile Environment Your message is tested for the audience Is the gospel true? Are you motivated by pure motives? You as the messenger must rely on power from above The struggles heightens the importance of the message for the hearers Benefits of Preaching in an Environmental Context that Distorts the Message of the Gospel It forces the messenger to discern what is timeless and abandon those things that are temporal and fleeting It forces the messenger to s...

I got to worship this past Sunday at Scottsdale Bible Church . The first thing I noticed is that though they are huge, they try really hard, and successfully, to not be a monstrosity. The church is 6000 strong so they have divided into a couple of campuses. I attended just the south campus 8:15 worship. When you pull into the front parking lot there is maybe enough room for two rows of cars. It does not look that big. I actually thought I might have a parking problem. Just go to the rear of the property and there is what seems to be hundreds of rows of parking. It is all tucked away so that no one feels that they have some sort of zoning issues with the church. With that, the campus was broken in to a small town feel instead of a large building feel. There was various buildings. It sort of gave the feel that I was in the old west, yeah I know I was in the west but you know, the old west. One of the most unusual aspects of that was a building with the movie marquee. By the ...

Most winters we don't get snow until after Christmas. The snow we have in Maryland makes the season that much more as we approach it. Fall was late in coming but now winter is here. I'm sorry, but snow means it is here even if not on the calendar officially. I'm reminded that we live in a world that has seasons of change to keep us from a mundane existence. Growing up, we had a variety that came with the season, but each year the fruit from the plum trees was just a little different. We had an great abundance some years. Some years there was very little. We sometimes had persimmons and sometimes Cousin Marty found wild grapes. It was seasons with variety. Working in an office makes me wonder what I'm missing out doors. Each Christmas is a little different. This is the first Christmas that my daughter and her husband will celebrate it far away. Different, but I rejoice at their successes in establishing their own home.

The Christian Science Monitor has a series of articles on military chaplains . I have not read all the articles, there are several, but I'm working my way through them. The articles open up some interesting questions. What is the job of a Christian Chaplain? How does one express his or her faith while dealing with religious pluralism? How does one minister to those not of your own faith? How does one relate to Muslim chaplains from other countries?

HT: Jollyblogger In high school I gave a presentation in my geometry class on human decision-making. I basically understood the gospel to be a gospel largely of choice. That is that God has done everything but make your choice for you. I saw that each person had outside influences and then internal aspects of their being that caused them to make the choices they made. I thought that each person was free in their choices. But as I described this, my teacher said that the ideas I described were fatalism. I did not understand what he was saying but the more I thought about it as I studied philosophy the more I saw that I had described a type of physiological, biochemical or Freudian determinism. I had not described what sort of system existed in the individual that governed the decision making process. That each person was who they were and this was the bases of decisions. In essence I described the bad news, that we have a nature and it governs our choices. Whether that nature ...

How To Say Hallelujah With Gusto for Beginners and Fans of the Dirge is my sermon that you can find on Sermon Cloud.