In Evangelical circles there has been a strong emphasis on the "Great Commission." Of course, as I have noted numerous times, there are several presentations of the Great Commission. The two most popular (again, in Evangelical Circles) are in Matthew 28 and in Acts 1. Acts 1 is popular because it points to the outward …
Month: June 2023
If the Apostles Had Complete Disdain for Contextualization, They Had a Strange Way of Showing It
I am taking a course with led by Tom Steffen. Tom shared a quote from John MacArthur. I don't know the exact source, but I assume it is pretty accurate. The apostles went out with an absolute disdain for contextualizaation. The modern drive for cultural contextualization is a curse, because people are wasting their time …
The Temptation to Manipulate as Christian Leaders
Many (most?) of you are aware of the report that came out on Ravi Zacharias and some of his sexual misconduct (and the associated misuse of funds, as well as deception, to maintain the misconduct). I have friends who are real fans of Ravi, but I must admit I don't really know much of his …
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The “Golden Mean” Theory of Creating Cultic Groups
Yesterday I was riding with other faculty to a resort on the outskirts of Davao City (Mindanao). We were talking about a couple of religious groups that spun off of Christianity to the point that they could not be called orthodox, and perhaps not even Christian. Some would call them cults... but I like to …
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A Centered-Set View of Christian Missions
Years ago, Paul Hiebert spoke of Evangelism and Conversion in terms of Centered-Sets rather than bounded sets, or even simple open sets. We don't really know who is saved and who is not. God alone knows. I am not being a Calvinist here (which I am not). I am just saying that God alone knows …
Melba P. Maggay Quote on Communicating our Faith
The Truth we communicate is a Person, not a system of thought. ... While we know this very well, it is often our practice to speak as if we were engaged primarily in an intellectual combat. We waste a lot of gunpowder shooting down people's ideas, but spend very little time in understanding why they …
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That Nagging Feeling About Premillennial Dispensationalism
I have been trying to work on more interesting titles to my posts, and this CERTAINLY is not one of them. But anyway, I was raised up in a faith tradition that almost invariably supported Pre-Trib, Pre-Mill views regarding the Second Coming of Christ. And there was a time that I studied that intensely. And …
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Excerpt from my Chapter on Localization of Theology
The following is an excerpt of a chapter that I am writing for a compilation of works that relate the Filipino theology. Along with writing one chapter, I am co-editor. Hopefully it will be available by the end of the year. It is a bit unusual in that close to half of the book is …
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Bob Munson’s Random Areas of Interest June 2023
This website is not generally my conversation with the world. For the most part if I want to talk to people, I talk to them face-to-face or through direct emails or messaging. I put up my "musings" on topics of Christian missions, theology, and ministry and people can read them or not. At the same …
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Are there Cursed Days and Infected Objects?
A couple quick reads hit me within an hour of each other. #1. The Altar of Confession in Vatican City had to have a penitential rite to resacralize it after a man jumped up on it naked as a political move to support Ukraine in the war. #2. I was taken care of some business …
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