Not your average Christian papers

Enjoy better answers to tough questions and some truth in Christian papers. The way is paved with careful reasoning and a fair handling of the Bible.

Keep scrolling for a paper on the meaning of fellowship, and another on whether Christian leaders (e.g., pastors) should be paid. Drop a line if you have any questions – thanks for reading! 😀

RM Barnes


Read the Papers

Christian Fellowship as Joint Equity

CHURCH ETHICS AND INSTITUTIONS

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.

Financial Support for Christian Leaders

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 laughter at my introduction as the author of a couple Christian papers bobbing in a vast sea of online content.

RM Barnes

As a 30 something year old, 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 – this drives progress more than all.

I’m also fortunate to know a sincere group of believers near St. Louis, MO who do care. Two 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. Long have I been on the receiving end (of sensible ideas, redirects, and impartial voices on critical things). 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 scripture. 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 we want surety, it’s dependable for our time.

Life is difficult and our interests compete, but nothing surpasses the joy of knowing Jesus.

These papers are just spiffed up versions of a much less attractive process going on behind the scenes, the toilsome and indelicate manner in which men work out their faith.

RM Barnes