Anabaptist Apologist

Baby/ Child Dedication It’s a common practice and tradition in Protestant churches to have “child dedication” services. This is a sincere practice by sincere parents led by sincere church leaders. But our questions are, Is it necessary? and, more important, Is it actually biblical? Here’s a fairly representative Protestant defense [1] of the tradition/ practice: Much variety is found in the practice, yet baby dedications commonly seek to challenge parents to commit themselves to raising their child in a godly manner, ask for God’s blessing upon the child, and ask the church congregation to commit to helping the family by providing spiritual community to assist in the development of the child...The idea of dedicating a child to God can certainly be found in the Bible.   Examples cited by the author include 1 Samuel 1:11 and Luke 2:22.  We’re going to carefully and logically unpack the author’s statements and study the contexts of the verses cited. This will help us arrive at a ...

Support the Troops!  When it comes to the debate about whether or not Christians should use self-defense or serve in the military/ police forces, proponents will often cite the soldier that came to John the Baptist,[1] or the centurion of “great faith,” who interacted with Jesus.[2] They’ll also refer us to Peter’s interaction with Cornelius.[3] These three instances, they say, support believers service in the military/ police force (or allow for self defense). After all, “There’s no explicit rebuke and command to leave their occupation.” Or is there? Let’s start with John the Baptist. John and the soldiers John’s interaction in Luke chapter 3 is as follows: And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. It’s assumed that because John told them to be “content” with their wages that they were free to continue in their line of duty. However, proponents o...

The Transfiguration of Jesus Promise & Fulfillment Understanding the context will help us better understand the significance of this event. Just prior, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who are men saying that I am?”—Peter’s answer, “You are the Christ.”[1]. Note: Peter didn’t say, “You’re God in the flesh,” or, “You’re the second person of the Trinity” or anything related to a Trinitarian concept of God. Simply, he said, “You’re God’s anointed…you’re God’s messiah.” In response to this, Jesus said he would die but be resurrected and that some disciples wouldn’t die until they first witnessed “the son of man coming in his kingdom” or that “the kingdom of God already come in power.” In other words, some disciples were going to see a glimpse of what the final kingdom would look like with Jesus glorified.[2] The Transfiguration was a fulfillment of that promise and a glimpse into the final stage of the Kingdom of God’s establishment. Immortal Soul Theory Unsurprisingly, this event is used a...