Not your average Christian papers
We can all enjoy better answers to controversial doctrinal questions, especially the ones that make us squirm. They come from careful reasoning and a fair handling of the Word of God. The long-form Christian papers on this website try to do just this.
RM Barnes
Read the Papers
CHURCH ETHICS AND INSTITUTIONS
Christian Fellowship
as Joint Equity
Fellowship may be one of the most overused and misunderstood terms in all the church today. How do you define or practice it? More importantly, can it live up to the original model presented in the New Testament? Let’s find out.
CHURCH ETHICS AND INSTITUTIONS
Financial Support
for Christian Leaders
Should church leaders (or pastors) be paid? If not, how do we make sense of passages cited in their defense? This paper expounds the way leaders could draw support from churches, to include a refined exegesis of 1 Timothy 5.
About Me
Pardon the self-ridiculing laughter as I introduce myself as the author of a couple Christian papers bobbing in a ginormous sea of online content.
As a 30-something year old believer, it feels like it’s taken about that long to show any skill with the thornier edges of Christianity. It’s hard to find good resources, a productive approach, and come to terms with the “silent planet” of our age (to borrow from C.S. Lewis).
Striving to know what’s right and refusing to give up when nobody else seems to care – these drive the most progress.
I’m also fortunate to know a sincere group of believers near St. Louis who care about the same things. Two brothers in particular have shared their research and articles at biblestudying.net. To say they helped me develop effective study skills would be an understatement. I try to put them to work in my writing.
This is me giving back. I have been on the receiving end of help in the form of sensible ideas, redirects, and impartial voices on critical topics demanding verdicts. With a proper ordering of our rational faculties and a fair handling of the Bible, we can all enjoy greater assurance on even the most controversial questions.
Grammatical and historical reasoning are primary tools in interpreting the meaning of biblical authors. Subjective approaches to knowledge stumble behind more objective ones. Claims should be backed by arguments that can be validated by an internal critique of their logic. Religious fervor, popular appeal, and emotionalism don’t move the needle. This approach can be strenuous; but if you want to be sure about what’s been faithfully communicated and what God expects, it’s dependable for our time.
Time is crunched everyday with normal responsibilities and interests; but there is nothing better than pressing in close to know our God and Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, these papers are just spiffed up versions of a much less attractive process going on behind the scenes—the toilsome, raw, and downright indelicate manner in which men work out their faith.
RM Barnes