Posts by Don Johnson
How Many Christians Does It Take to Change an Empire?
Roger Olson, in his interesting The Story of Christian Theology, remarks on p. 137, “No one can say just what percentage of the citizens and subjects of the empire were Christians by that time [c. ad 301], but a fair estimate would be about 5 percent.” Olson is remarking on the incredible sea change that…
Read MoreRick Warren on Ordaining Women
Rick Warren is making a splash in recent days over something his church, Saddleback Church, did last year, ordaining women to the pastoral ministry. That happened on May 6, 2021. Subsequently, Rick Warren retired as pastor, installing Andy Wood as the new senior pastor with Wood’s wife, Stacie listed as a “teaching pastor” at the…
Read MoreFundamentalism vs. Evangelicalism | Roger E. Olson
Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism, and New Evangelicalism – what’s the difference? (Guest Post by self-identified fundamentalist Rev. Don Johnson) “We suggest that those who still cling to the great fundamentals and who mean to do battle royal for the fundamentals shall be called ‘Fundamentalists.’” This sentence appeared in The Watchman-Examiner, a Christian paper edited by Curtis Lee…
Read MoreCan You Address God as Mother if You had a bad Father?
I recently took in a podcast from the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood titled “Should We Call God Mother?” I commend the whole session to you for some insight into gender issues of our day. One point this podcast raised was in response to a point made by some professing Christians who oppose the…
Read MoreJesus is King
In my annual “read your Bible” post, I mentioned an “intense” reading schedule I’ve sometimes used. Another pastor suggested it to me and I’ve used it off and on for my personal Bible reading. You can read more about it here, but essentially it involves reading the New Testament in four weeks. When I use…
Read MoreBible Reading and Vain Vows
Every year around the first Sunday of the year, I pass out Bible reading schedules to the people of our church. I had it in my head that I did the same thing here on P&D each year, but in searching for it I found the last one was posted at the beginning of 2020.…
Read MoreWhy December 25?
No doubt you’ve heard the widely repeated story that the Christian celebration of Christmas is a form of syncretism, where the church decided to accommodate the celebration of Christ’s birth to the pre-existing pagan holidays. Commonly cited precedents are either the feast of Saturnalia or the celebration of Sol Invictus. The theory goes that by…
Read MoreThe Fundamentals of Sanctification and Cultural Fundamentalism
Previously, I posted a piece called, “The Fundamentals of Sanctification.” The basic proposition of that article is that the Bible gives us a fundamental understanding of sanctification: sanctification means putting off the old man and putting on the new man, it means separating from the world and clinging to God, it means rejecting the old…
Read MoreThe Fundamentals of Sanctification
Why is it that conservative, Bible-believing churches will have similar stands on cultural expressions and social behaviour? No two churches are exactly alike, but if churches hold a high view of the Bible, emphasize obeying the Scriptures, seek to preach what the Bible says, and so on, they will tend to hold to similar “standards,”…
Read MoreLogos 10: A pastoral review
Thanksgiving Day in Canada dawned with the news that Logos 10 was released! I rushed to my computer and got the download started. Alas, I was one of a few afflicted by some kind of bug and had issues. Logos technical support quickly identified the problem, issued a fix, and in a few hours, I…
Read More