Q&As (both questions and answers) that are completely of my own creation.
While not always the case, I do reasonably frequently use past conversations I had with my mentor (Dr. Robert Luginbill of Ichthys.com) as a starting point in creating these. In this, I add headers for organization, change around wording in places, reorder things, omit tangential details, and otherwise modify the substance of the exchanges to a greater or lesser extent (but sometimes not much at all—meaning the bulk of the response text in such cases is mostly word-for-word from Dr. Luginbill not me). In other words, when making content based off of these past exchanges with my mentor, while usually some changes have been made (adding headers to organize things at the very least), the amount the content has been changed follows a spectrum from “not much at all = most of the wording in responses is from Dr. Luginbill” to “a great deal = most of the wording in responses is from me.” It’s a rather blurry line, but if I feel my rendition of an exchange has “not changed much” (wherever exactly on the spectrum that is), then I will add a note at the top to say something to the effect that much of the wording in responses is directly from Dr. Luginbill rather than myself. I do this in order to make a good-faith attempt at trying not to pass off the words of another as my own, insofar as that is actually the case.
List of self-generated questions and answers
Discerning one’s path in life is a very important task, but with so many possible options to choose from, it can be a challenging one. It is difficult for teachers to weigh in on specifics here because so much is personal application, but there are some general observations that may help inform decisions in this area. This page goes over some of these.
Using Ephesians 4:26 as a proof-text (alongside, for example, Jesus’ cleansings of the temple, and God’s eradication of most of mankind in the flood), some people try to argue that there is a “righteous” form of anger. This page sets out to demonstrate how this idea is false, and what our attitude towards our emotions (including anger) actually should be.
Respecting and obeying parents… every teenager’s favorite practices! All humans have parents. Some are very good. Some are very bad. Most are somewhere in-between. Regardless of how we feel about our parents, and even regardless of how they actually may be in reality, our actions towards our parents must be governed by what scripture has to say on the matter. This page sets out to discuss what scripture does in fact say on the matter, and also talks about some variables in application to keep in mind when making decisions in this area.
Is it proper to say that the morality of actions depends upon cultural context? That aside, was Hagar a young girl taken advantage of and pressured into Abraham’s bed against her will, or was she a willing adult participant who came to arrogantly disrespect the legitimate authority of her mistress? We will be addressing these matters in our discussion here.
This study sets out to describe the office in the Church known by various different names – “elder”, “overseer”, “pastor” and so on. People in this office have authority over the Church, and are the primary teachers of the Word of God. (Teaching the Bible such that Church builds itself up in love is their primary responsibility). This page also describes a bit more about local church organization, and other Church offices like Apostle, prophet, and evangelist. (The former two are no longer active offices in the Church).