The Nurse Theologian

(Pic from the Cover of God the Trinity) Who is God—the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit? Whom do we worship—the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirt? “To whom should we pray—the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit?” 1   I know that these are questions that I have struggled with during my Christian walk. I must admit that lately I have struggled with whom should I pray. Jesus prayed to the Father, 2  but had previously told the disciples, “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” 3  And He said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.” 4 I do not think that I am the only one who has struggled with this; in fact, much of Christianity through the ages has struggled with the doctrine of the Trinity, because the doctrine of the Trinity is transcendent. We believe that God is Triune, but many of us are practicing Unitarians. Do you not emphasize one person of the Trinity over the other? “Those who emph

How do we know God? In His high priestly prayer Jesus prayed to the Father on behalf of those whom the Father had given Him and Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (Jn 17:3, NASB95) Since eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son can a person know God if all they have is universal Revelation? “The study of God’s revelation of himself to humanity has been classified in two ways: general revelation and special revelation. The general revelation of God has been found in three areas: nature, history, and humanity.” (Erickson 2013, 121) Can a person look at nature, study history and look within themselves to know God? David wrote, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” (Ps 19:1, NASB95) David could look at what has been made and say, “God made this, what an awesome God.” However, when David wrote this Psalm He knew the Lord. David had an inti

I was a transplanter. By the grace of God and for His glory I am becoming a translator. I pray that I never become a transformer. Do we contemporize theology, and if so, how and to what extent? In order to explain, some defining must take place: 1. A transplanter does not think that the text of scriptures needs to be contemporized at all. The Bible should be stated as it was written.[1] 2. A transformer believes that the world has changed so much since biblical times and people with it that the message itself must be changed.[2] 3. A translator believes that the authoritative message that the Bible is speaking never changes, but since language, culture and situations have changed from biblical times the authoritative message needs to be contemporized for the modern audience’s ear.[3] Millard J. Erickson said with regards to transplanters, Taken to its logical extreme, this would mean that one should make no attempt to present the message at all, instead

For the past 7 weeks, I have been explaining a passage out of the book of Isaiah through a series of blogs. The passage is Isaiah 14:3-23. This is the 7th blog in the series, but it is actually the 8th. Eight weeks ago, I wrote a blog titled “What Does This Passage Mean: Isaiah 14:12-15.” Vv. 12-15 are in the center of the greater passage of Isaiah 14:3-23.  Therefore, that blog that I wrote eight weeks ago serves is sort of a prologue to the interpretive journey. This blog would then serve as an epilogue to that journey. The prologue was based on my presuppositions. I read Isaiah 14:12-15, then wrote what I thought that it meant without doing any research; I took both an intuitive and spiritual approach in my interpretation. Today I would like to compare what I thought that the passage meant eight weeks ago with what I have come to understand it to mean through "a 5-step interpretive journey."[1] To read the Prologue from eight weeks ago click on:  “What Does This Passag

I have been explaining Isaiah 14:3-23 through a series of blogs. This will be the sixth blog in the series. In this blog, I will explain how the timeless-theological-principles taught in the text might be applied in the lives of Christians today. In a previous blog I identified three timeless-theological-principles taught in the text: 1. A ruler can be cruel, because of pride and sinful desire. (vv. 4b-6) 2. When an evil ruler is taken out of power the people and the earth rejoice. (vv. 7-8) 3. The Lord alone is omnipotent and eternal; the Lord God is the sovereign of the universe and death is the great leveler of all men. (vv. 9-21) How the Timeless Theological Principle Applied to the Original Audience Isaiah was a prophet of the Lord God in Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, Kings of Judah. (Isa 1:1) Isaiah prophesied during the time of the Assyrian threat and destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel. Chapters 1-39 deal prim