John Mark Hicks

The book unChristian alerted Christendom that it had an image problem with millennials. Christians are perceived as insensitive, judgmental and hypocritical. Some responses to the book  were skeptical and defensive. Others not only agreed that Christianity had an image problem but they went further. Christianity has a reality problem, that is, contemporary discipleship is often […]

[My book Meeting God at the Shack, from which some of the following is derived, is now available on Kindle.] May 21-22 are significant anniversaries for me; I’ve learned to forgive God.  They are the death of my son Joshua and the anniversary of my first marriage to Sheila. “To forgive God” is a difficult expression and it […]

September 11 means something to us. It raises questions about forgiveness, war and our future. I don’t think that date meant anything particular to David Lipscomb, but on that date in 1866 Lipscomb addressed the problem of war and forgiveness (Gospel Advocate 8 [11 September 1866] 579-583). How do we forgive those who sought our […]

This story is the first of five where Jesus enconters conflict. Jesus becomes controversial in the eyes of some, particularly the religious leaders. Jesus forgives sin, eats with sinners, defies the traditions about fasting, and heals on the sabbath. Jesus does not conform to the traditons of the elders and he assumes a role in the […]

Several days ago I posted a paragraph by Austin McGary (1846-1928) whose language astonished (and saddened) many of you. In fairness to brother McGary, I want to note his apology in the May 31, 1923 Gospel Advocate. Here he apologizes for what he wrote in the Gospel Outlook which he published from 1903-1905 after he was dismissed from the […]

Here is the report: Woods revealed on Tuesday that he will bring an end to his four-month exile from the game at the season’s first major next month. Perry admitted that he thought the world number one would chose to return at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill next week, but is just glad […]

Now available on Amazon. Over the years I have reflected on William Young’s book The Shack in the light of my own personal journey into the world of spiritual recovery.  I found much in Young’s novel that paralleled my own experience. Previously, I posted on some significant themes I found in the the book–both in […]

What is salvation? In my last post I proposed the below chart as a way of answering that important question. In this post I will comment on the first sector (1).   Past Justification Present Sanctification Future Glorification Personal Forgiveness of Sins and Relationship with God (1) Moral (Inner and Outer)  Transformation (2) Resurrection of the […]

What is salvation? Seems like a simple question. Maybe, but maybe not.  There are certainly uncomplicated aspects to answering the question, but a “comprehensive” picture is an integrated one that explores the question from various angles. The question may seem simple because it has often been answered simplistically. Or, perhaps better, it has often been […]

[Note: I am attempting to keep these SBD installments under 2000 words each, but that is–of course–quite inadequate for the topics covered. Consequently, these contributions are more programmatic than they are explanatory or defenses of the positions stated. You may access the whole series at my Serial page.] The Father elects, redeems and saves in […]