Author: Daniel Tomberlin

I often feel that I’m stuck in the middle, walking down a path between two fools – those who reject knowledge and those who have made knowledge an idol – both for whom I have great affection. There is an old hit song from the 1970’s that I have adopted as my new anthem. Stealers Wheel wrote and performed Stuck in the Middle with You, a song that made Billboard’s top ten in 1973. The lyrics of the chorus include these words: “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right; Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.”

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The Rise of Christendom

For its first three centuries, the Christian church existed as a barely tolerated, sometimes persecuted, and widely misunderstood minority religion within the Roman Empire. The Christian confession that “Jesus Christ is Lord” was deemed to be a political threat by the Roman authorities. The Roman Empire tolerated religious diversity as long as it did not conflict with the interests of the state and devotion to the Emperor.

Continue reading “Church and State in the 21st Century”

I do not believe in Christian nationalism.  But I do believe that faithful Christians can be patriotic citizens.  On Independence Day, many Christians will assemble to celebrate our great country. To properly love one’s homeland is by no means immoral. So, I offer a few ways faithful Christians can demonstrate love of country.

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Religious freedom is an inalienable human right granted by God in creation (Genesis 2). Religious freedom is an expression of free will. In the Garden of Eden, God granted to the first humans the freedom of choice – the choice to believe, the choice to be obedient, and the choice to rebel. The Apostle Paul affirmed that all humans, Jew and Gentile, have a religious conscience that prompts an intuitive search for God (Romans 2:15; Acts 17:24-28). Because religious freedom is granted by God, this is a freedom that is not derived from the state and should not be suppressed by the state.

Continue reading “Religious Freedom is Essential to the Mission of Christ”

I often hear or read well-meaning preachers suggest that if we are serious about reaching this generation with the gospel, then we must speak their language, or bring it to their level. In other words, we need to get rid of our religious sounding vocabulary. I suggest that’s a mistake. Pentecost offers a paradigm for doing missionary preaching.

Continue reading “The Other Tongues of Pentecost”