Author Archives: Jay F Guin

About Jay F Guin

My name is Jay Guin, and I’m a retired elder. I wrote The Holy Spirit and Revolutionary Grace about 18 years ago. I’ve spoken at the Pepperdine, Lipscomb, ACU, Harding, and Tulsa lectureships and at ElderLink. My wife’s name is Denise, and I have four sons, Chris, Jonathan, Tyler, and Philip. I have two grandchildren. And I practice law.

Overseeing the Moderate Church: Part 3

This brings us to teaching. Moderate churches generally have a very weak educational program, because the doctrines that divide the church are off limits. Either one side dominates the classes and the other side doesn’t listen, or else the tough … Continue reading

Posted in Overseeing the Moderate Church, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Pacifism: In Answer to Tim’s and Guy’s Questions

As usual, Tim has posed a number of thoughtful, challenging questions. I post my answers here because he’s pushed me to address some questions I was planning on getting to in future posts. I add my answer to Guy’s post … Continue reading

Posted in Pacifism, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 4 Comments

It’s Friday! Must be Time for a COMMERCIAL!!

And so, does honesty actually sell? What would happen if the church offered honest advertisements? (Mat 10:34-39)  “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 6 Comments

Overseeing the Moderate Church: Part 2

In Part 1, we considered the difficulties of managing a moderate church, that is, a church that is divided between progressives and conservatives. While it’s not inevitable that such churches divide, they often do. The reason is almost always a … Continue reading

Posted in Overseeing the Moderate Church, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Pacifism: Police and Defensive War, Part 1

John Howard Yoder argues that Christian pacifism should reject service in the military but not the police. After all, until Jesus returns, it’s obvious that life would be pretty awful for everyone if there were no police. The difference between … Continue reading

Posted in Pacifism, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Overseeing the Moderate Church, Part 1

[This series from way back in March 2007, when there were maybe, oh, 30 readers, keeps getting attention because a lot of churches wrestle with these problems. I thought it might be helpful to re-run it, and I couldn’t help … Continue reading

Posted in Overseeing the Moderate Church, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 29 Comments

Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan: Why Christians Suffer

The lesson begins in Cappadocia, in Turkey — a high, flat plateau that was very inaccessible due to having natural barriers all around. There were only small villages with tribal chiefs, and it was never really under Roman control. The … Continue reading

Posted in Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Pacifism: A Reply to Guy

Even though he and I disagree on several things, I have to say that Guy has posted very thoughtful, very godly comments throughout these posts. I prepared a lengthy reply to a recent comment of his, and decided it would … Continue reading

Posted in Pacifism, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 31 Comments

Pacifism: Fitting Government into the Story

We next approach the question from within the framework of the story (or narrative) of the Bible. In Genesis 3, man and creation were cursed because of sin. This curse brought forth pain in childbirth, strife in marriage, weeds in … Continue reading

Posted in Pacifism, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Pacifism: A Thought Experiment

Reflect back on the first few posts where we learned that Lipscomb and Yoder point out that the Bible says governments will be placed under Jesus’ feet, arguing that in a sense all governments — good and bad — are … Continue reading

Posted in Pacifism, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 20 Comments