Jordan D. Tong

Category: Theology

  • The Religious and Political Challanges to Jesus: What is Their Background?

    Have you ever wondered why Jesus had the disputes he had with the Pharisees? Who were these guys? What about the Sadducees? Was it the Romans that crucified Jesus? Or was it the Jews? What did the high priest have to do with it? Why did Jewish culture of Jesus’ life look so different from…

  • Science vs. Bible – A Christian’s Guide to Genesis 1 (Audio)

    Here is the 2nd Apologetics class I taught at Pleasant Valley Community Church. During this class we covered the following topics: An overview of last week’s “Faith & Reason” discussion Science and Christian Doctrine as fields of knowledge The importance of dealing with competing truth claims How a Christian can respond to the conflicting truth…

  • Easter and the Problem of Evil

    Easter is here. It’s a Hallmark holiday for most Americans, a holiday filled with bunny rabbits, Easter eggs, family meals, and a church service. In fact, my family still has an Easter egg hunt (for the adults) and there are lots of prizes – it is really fun! But for many, the Easter weekend, along…

  • He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A response to the two wills of God

    I recently blogged about the difficulty Calvinists have in being able to say that God truly loves everyone. You can read my comments about that topic here: Does God Love Everyone?. The gist of that argument was this. If God loves everyone, then he would want the best for them. The best for them is…

  • Why Christians Don’t Think – Part 1

    “Most Christians would rather die than think – in fact they do.” –Bertrand Russell Os Guinness wrote a powerful book nearly 20 years ago that I just discovered a few weeks ago. Though written to a previous generation, the truth rings more clearly today. The title of the book is Fit Bodies Fat Minds: Why…

  • Faith and Reason: Friend or Foe?

    Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” In our culture, there seems to be a big misunderstanding about the relationship between faith and reason. What’s more, this is a misunderstanding held by the majority, regardless of worldview or religion. Atheists and skeptics often accuse Christians…

  • Does God Love Everyone? – A Calvinist Struggle

    I have three young children, ages 4, 2, & 10 months, that I tuck into bed every night. Most nights we read together, talk, and conclude with prayer. One of the things that I attempt to do regularly, especially in prayer, is to speak the truth of Christianity, specifically the attributes of God, the work…

  • Christians Should Pursue Happiness

    The Christian life can be summed up this way: the pursuit and attainment of happiness. Yes, I said that. Happiness. Christians often feel guilty about talk of happiness, for many think they gave all that up when they decided to be a Christian. But this is far from the truth.

  • Old Testament Laws & Christians – What do we obey?

    In a 2006 speech at a “Call to Renewal” event, senator and soon-to-be President Barack Obama explained to the crowds the difficulty of using the Bible to effect policy. He said, “Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is…