Category Archives: CENI

CENI: Is CENI a Hermeneutic? A Question from the Contact form

A reader posted an anonymous question in the Contact form. (Which is fine, but I’d really prefer that comments on posts be posted in the comments to that post — even if you think your comment will make me look … Continue reading

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An Email about Authority and Mathematics, Part 5 (“Spirit and truth”)

Having considered the broader context of John 4:23-24 in the last post, let’s now look at the context in John’s Gospel. Spirit In chapter 3, John had just related the story of Jesus and Nicodemus (“born of water and Spirit”), … Continue reading

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An Email about Authority and Mathematics, Part 4 (Introduction to “Spirit and truth”)

I’ve written on John 4:23-24 several times. It’s a critical passage in understanding the New Testament’s doctrine of worship — and much, much more. And it’s one of those passages that is almost always misunderstood because we come to looking … Continue reading

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An Email about Authority and Mathematics, Part 3 (Binding Examples)

We pick up with Minghui’s responses to my examples for authorized things that do not meet the standards of CENI. (For those readers coming in late, I’m attempting to show that CENI/the Regulative Principle are not real rules, and indeed … Continue reading

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An Email about Authority and Mathematics, Part 2 (CENI explained)

Last week, I posted “An Email about Authority and Mathematics” in response to a question I received re a young brother, a mathematician, with questions re certain traditional Church of Christ teachings. On Tuesday, my mathematician brother, whom I now … Continue reading

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CENI: Is CENI a Hermeneutic?

I occasionally move a comment I wrote to the main page, since most readers (I suspect) don’t read all the comments — and I’m bad to write too-long comments that I should save for posts. Jason wrote, “The problem with this … Continue reading

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An Email about Authority and Mathematics

I get emails — I’m trying to help a bright young brother, who recently got his Ph.D. in math. He wrote that the church he was now attending was the only “conservative” church of Christ in the city. I asked … Continue reading

Posted in An Email about Authority and Mathematics, CENI, Hermeneutics, Regulative Principle | 14 Comments

Conversation with Robert Prater (but with Rich, really): Stages of Faith, from the Comments

Rich wrote, with considerable insight, that there are four stage of maturity for a Christian — Stage One: called Borrowed Faith This is typical for a new Christian whose main objective is to mimic the faith of the most influential … Continue reading

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Conversation with Robert Prater (but with Rich, really): Clarifying My Position on CENI, from the Comments

I shouldn’t be surprised that there’s a huge communications gap between me, as a progressive, and many conservatives. This is often the nature of spiritual disagreements. Therefore, I’m very grateful for the internet and blogging software because it allows for … Continue reading

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CENI: So In Conclusion … , Part 3

Asking the right questions I’ve come to the conclusion that the hardest thing to do as a Bible student is to ask the right question. You see, God not only tells us the answers, he tells us the questions. But we’ve … Continue reading

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