Category Archives: General

IS JESUS GOD?

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QUESTION: Where in the Bible does it say that Jesus is God? ANSWER: Let’s be clear about what we mean by saying “Jesus is God.” This does not mean that Jesus of Nazareth and God are the exact same being. The eternal, infinite divine being who is the one true and living God has existed forever as the three persons of the Trinity. We know them as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (see Matt. 28:19). The eternal God the Son, also known as the Logos (John 1:1), at a specific time in history entered … Continue reading →

CALVINISM IN A NUTSHELL

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QUESTION: Can you give me a concise summary of what is meant by “Calvinism”? Also, can you tell us briefly why these teachings are erroneous? What Bible verses would show this? ANSWER: Okay, this is a challenge; but here I will identify the main doctrines of Calvinism, and identify the key Bible passages that refute them. ONE. The OMNICAUSAL SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. In Calvinism, divine sovereignty means that God CAUSES everything, to the smallest detail. Whatever happens is simply the outworking of the DIVINE DECREE (essentially a nearly-infinite computer program or blueprint), defined as eternal, comprehensive, unconditional, and efficacious. The … Continue reading →

THOUGHTS ON PREACHING

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QUESTION: I know you taught in a seminary classroom for nearly 50 years, but have you done much preaching over the years? If so, what have you learned about preaching that might help the rest of us? ANSWER: Actually I have been preaching for over 60 years. Since grade school my career ambition was to be a preacher; I enrolled in Bible College with that goal. I preached my first sermon when I was 18 years old, at Corinth Christian Church (referred to then as the Skullbuster church) in Scott County, Kentucky. My text was James 4:7-8, which gave me … Continue reading →

SIN-EATER — OR SIN-BEARER? A COMMUNION MEDITATION

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SIN-EATER – OR SIN-BEARER? A Communion Meditation – Jack Cottrell QUESTION: Do you think it is acceptable for someone giving the communion meditation to just read or otherwise relate what someone else has written? ANSWER: Of course it is! That is why someone like me goes to the trouble of writing and publishing such meditations! In fact, here is one I just prepared and shared with my congregation recently: From time to time in modern fiction we see a character called the “sin-eater.” One story that many remember is a 1972 episode from “The Night Gallery” called “The Sins of … Continue reading →

DID GOD RIG THE ELECTION? By Jack Cottrell

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Someone on Facebook recently asked me the question, “What do you say to those who read Daniel 2:21 and say we did not have a choice in the [presidential] election?” Daniel 2:21 says that God “changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings.” So, asked the inquirer, does this means that “God will raise up whomever he wants,” and that “now God has spoken and has decided to choose Donald Trump”? This sounds “almost as if God has rigged the election.” In answering this, let’s begin by asking a more general question: Why does anything happen the … Continue reading →

THE DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS OF CBS

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THE DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS OF CBS (CBC&S; CCU) — JACK COTTRELL, 1993 [While cleaning out my office and files after being recently “retired” from my professorship at CCU, I came across the following. It is a presentation I gave at a gathering of the faculty and students at “the school on the hill” 23 years ago, in August of 1993. (I don’t remember the nature of the gathering.) I thought it might be of some interest now in September 2016, in view of what has taken place “on the hill” within the past year.] My missionary friend Greg Waddell reports that … Continue reading →

CHRISTIAN TRUTH FOR A WORLD IN DECAY

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CHRISTIAN TRUTH FOR A WORLD IN DECAY Jack Cottrell – August 2016 Sometimes we greet one another with this question: “How are things with you?” “Things?” What kind of “things”? Usually we mean, “How’s your health? How’s your family? How’s your job? What’s new in your life?” But what if we broadened the scope of the question, e.g., “In general, do you think things in the nation are headed in the right direction, or have they gotten off on the wrong track?” Here we would be asking you to give an opinion about “what’s happening” regarding such things as the … Continue reading →

PREACHING ON BAPTISM: AN EXAMPLE

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PREACHING ON BAPTISM: AN EXAMPLE Jack Cottrell – June 2016 Brother Bob Hentrich, minister of the Chillicothe (IL) Christian Church, wrote me this not long ago: “Dr. Cottrell, I plan to preach on Romans 6 next Sunday, and I want to display this quote of yours on the screen: ‘Both faith and baptism are conditions for salvation, but faith is the means and baptism is the time. Please take care: do not equate condition with means, and do not confuse means and time.’ I think it would be helpful to then use an illustration to help make clear the condition/means … Continue reading →

CAN A CHRISTIAN PARTICIPATE IN WAR?

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CAN A CHRISTIAN PARTICIPATE IN WAR? JACK COTTRELL – JUNE 2016 Some Christians have believed that the sphere of God’s Kingdom and the sphere of civil government, though equally valid and necessary, are mutually exclusive. Thus no individual can consistently function in both at the same time. Pacifists who consider the state to be performing a necessary function still regard it as something evil or as necessarily using evil means to carry out its purposes. Thus when a person becomes a Christian, he can enter the Kingdom of God only by separating himself from the state. One must choose to … Continue reading →

GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

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GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? JACK COTTRELL – JUNE 2016 My adult Bible study class (First Church of Christ, Greendale, IN) has been studying the book of Romans. Today was our second Sunday on Romans 8:29, and our focus was the foreknowledge of God. Among other things I presented four reasons why God’s foreknowledge is an important doctrine. (It is just serendipitous that all four points are alliterative—all begin with “Pr–”.) I. PROPHECY. Generic prophecy is by definition any message spoken on behalf of someone else. One major kind of prophecy, though, is predictive prophecy, i.e., a message that … Continue reading →