It is the holiness of God that defines His character, and all of His other characteristics. This holiness is what sets Him apart from His creation and what makes Him completely unique from anything and everything else. It is this understanding that He is transcendent or set apart from His creation that we must keep in view as we explore all the other attributes that make God who He is; it is literally the starting point for or understanding of His person.  While all of the attributes of God are woven together so that none can be taken without all of them falling apart, it is His holiness that bonds them together. This is the reason that when given that view of angels around the throne in Isaiah 6, they are crying that He is "holy, holy, holy". It is the holiness of God that manifests itself in the actions that He takes in the world such as His mercy, righteousness, and judgment. If the holiness of God is what He is, then we could say that the love of God is who He is. It is...

As we look at Jeremiah as a whole we see a number of different narratives that play out, and a number of different sins that are to be judged, but the over arching theme of the book is a theme of judgement.  If we were to look for somewhere to find this theme in all of its glory, we need look no farther that chapter 7. It is here that we can find every hope that the people of Judah had dashed to pieces like a piece of china on a tile floor. It is chapter 7 that really sets the tone for the entire book when Jeremiah gives not a ‘feel-good’ sermon, but a sermon of coming judgement. One of the main issues that Judah had against them could almost be considered was a problem that would haunt the Pharisees in the gospels. They thought that their religion was enough even without the fruits of religion. It is the same religion that the New Testament writer of James, would call worthless. (James 1:26)   Judah had even got steps beyond this treating the Temple as some type of ‘good...

It is easy, especially in an election year, for us to feel the tension between religion and politics. It seems that each election cycles this tension gets more and more intense as the temptation to bring the political world into the church context becomes more and more appealing. In my area of the world, in 2016, it was not uncommon to see churches in the area that I am living to hold different political events and rallies, all taunting the need to save the US from sure destruction. However, much it may seem, this is something that is not new. Each generation of Baptists have had to struggle with how to relate to the political culture around them. 1 Baptist come to this with an especially interesting perspective for a few reasons, but their belief in individual soul liberty is the major the theological driver. Soul competency speaks to the ability for all humans, regardless of race, creed, or religion, ability to be individually accountable and responsible to God. B.H. Carrol s...

“SIX INCHES!” This was the standard rule for members of the opposite sex through most of my childhood and into my teenage years. Touching was prohibited, which left even a handshake or high five with a girl seem oddly inappropriate. The basis for this was from a passage of scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter seven, and as far as verses that were to be memorized, it ranked right up there with John 3:16. This verse reads, “Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.  Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.” (1 Corinthians 7:1,2) The reasoning that was given for this statement was that since committing fornication requires touching, Paul is saying that the best way to avoid fornication is unmarried people to keep from touching each other. But the question that a study of the text, in context, brings is, “Did Paul really say that it is good for a man not to touch a w...