Understanding biblical monotheism helps us to be clear about what we believe and are to teach. We do not believe in one God who is known by many names and who offers many paths of salvation. We do not affirm that it is enough to believe one God exists. We confess that we must trust in the God of the Bible, who is not worshiped even by the most well-meaning Muslims, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, animists, or modern Jews.

Eighteen years ago, my jaw figuratively dropped to the floor as I sat in the first Old Testament course of my academic career. I attended a secular university, so I did not expect much true biblical teaching. However, I had hope the Scriptures would be treated fairly because my professor was an Orthodox Jew. You can imagine my surprise, then, when my professor said faithful ancient Israelites did not deny the existence of other gods. They worshiped Yahweh above the rest of the gods, he said, but they believed those gods were real.
Liberal “highercritical” circles accept as dogma my professor’s view, which is henotheism. True monotheism—the belief that only one God exists—came late in Israel’s history, these critics say. Advocacy of henotheism is based largely on reading references to “other gods” in the Pentateuch as proof that Moses attributed true existence to the deities of other peoples but believed Israel was to worship Yahweh alone (for example, Ex. 20:3).
Unbelieving scholarship must focus on minutia and ignore larger contexts to “find” henotheism in Scripture. That Moses affirmed the existence of only one God is plain from the Pentateuch’s first chapter. Unlike other ancient Near Eastern creation accounts, we do not read that battles between deities brought forth the earth. Genesis 1 presents one God who “created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Yahweh, the sole actor in the narrative, formed the universe by His Word.
Given the prevalence of polytheism in the ancient Near East, the biblical authors repeatedly insist that there is but one God. Just prior to the Shema and its affirmation of monotheism, we read that “there is no other” Lord (Deut. 4:39). Only Yahweh responds in the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, for Yahweh exists and Baal does not (1 Kings 18:20–40). Isaiah says, “Besides [Yahweh] there is no god,” and points out the folly of serving deities represented by wooden idols (Isa. 44).
The Apostles proclaimed monotheism most strongly when they encountered Greek paganism. Paul continues the Old Testament’s denial of the existence of other gods in Romans 1, explaining that polytheism arises as people suppress their knowledge of the one true God and fashion deities they can manipulate (Rom. 1:18–23). The same Apostle reminds Timothy, who ministered in a pagan context, that “there is one God” (1 Tim. 2:5). Throughout Revelation, John points out the futility of Roman religion, describing the eventual fall of any pretender to the Lord Almighty’s throne.
That the one God reveals Himself to His creation undergirds biblical monotheism.
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The invasion of Canaan, in which God executed His wrath in an immediate and dramatic fashion, was a foretaste of the judgment to come. But a greater wrath lies ahead, and there is only one way to escape it—by trusting in Christ alone. Ultimately, then, the invasion of Canaan, for the people of God, is an act of grace.

Those who reject the claims of Christ are going to reject the Bible as a whole, so we are not surprised when we find non-Christians questioning the stories and teachings of Scripture. We are living in a funny age, however, when even many professing Christians want to cast the Bible in a negative light. It is not uncommon to find people who claim to be followers of Christ calling the character of God into question or rejecting the truthfulness of entire portions of Scripture because they believe certain biblical stories and events are contrary to God’s mercy. The story of the invasion of Canaan is one of those stories that prompts many people, including many professing Christians, to question the Scriptures. Charges that “God commanded genocide” are frequently uttered. I responded to that charge and why it is false in the first four parts of this series.
Even after responding to the charge of genocide, however, we still need to consider how the story fits into the broader biblical revelation of the character of God. Truthfully, the command to eradicate the Canaanites troubles many believers who have a high view of Scripture. Part five of this series looked at some things in the story itself that are evidences of God’s mercy even in the midst of judgment, helping us to see that the Lord was merciful even to the Canaanites. In this article, we will consider other aspects of God’s character that should make the story less problematic for those of us who submit to the Bible as God’s Word.
The Problem Is Us
When we encounter something that troubles us in Scripture, we are tempted to think that the problem is with the text or with the God who revealed it. In reality, the problem is us. Since God’s character defines what is good and right, the problem is never God or what He has said; rather, the problem is our misunderstanding or our refusal to believe that what God has said is true.
When it comes to the story of the invasion of Canaan, Dr. Derek Thomas said it best when he remarked that part of the reason so many people find the story ethically difficult is because we have such a low view of sin.1 To put it another way, we all too often do not really believe we are unholy and that God is holy.
My intent here is not to pick on anyone. I cannot tell you how many times I have failed to understand the depth of my sin and the degree to which God is opposed to it. But the biblical authors, at least when they set the text to writing, did not have the same problem. The prophet Habakkuk, for example, notes that God is so pure that He cannot even look at evil (Hab. 1:3). Habakkuk’s point is not that wickedness is invisible to God but that the Lord cannot tolerate evil in His holy presence. The Lord must destroy evil. He is thoroughly opposed to it.
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Although the Bible is clear that the souls of believers go to be with Christ in heaven when they die, there are also texts that say Christians have already been seated with God “in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). Since believers who have not died are presently on the earth, this must be a positional reality. In other words, although we are not physically present in heaven right now, we are there in effect. We are to regard ourselves as already ruling and reigning alongside Jesus by right even if we do not have the full realization of that in our experience. This is a great encouragement to sanctification.

From music to movies to books and more, heaven is a topic that fascinates people both in the church and in the world. Yet as with other spiritual matters, much confusion abounds regarding the concept of heaven. Scripture alone gives us the truth. Here are five things you should know about heaven.
1. Heaven Is a Place
Acts 1:6–11 tells us that Jesus ascended to heaven, indicating His movement from one place (earth) to another (heaven). Furthermore, we know that Jesus continues to have a physical human body after His resurrection, albeit one that is glorified by the Holy Spirit (John 20:24–29; 1 Cor. 15). Physical objects are located in space and time; in other words, they are localized in a particular place. On the last day, Jesus will descend from heaven to bring the final resurrection and judgment (1 Thess. 4:16). His physical, glorified body will move from one place (heaven) to another (earth).
2. Heaven Is the Place of God’s Throne
The psalms often refer to heaven as the place of God’s throne (Ps. 9:7; Ps. 11:4; Ps. 103:19). Since God is spirit and does not have a physical body (John 4:24), we understand that to some degree this is a metaphor that indicates that God makes His special ruling presence felt most powerfully in heaven.
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Admit your fears to God and others. I don’t know all the reasons why the Lord allows us to suffer. I do know that He uses our pain to conform us to Christ. Confessing our fears gives people the opportunity to pray for us and encourage us to keep our eyes on Jesus, not our suffering. It allows us to bear one another’s burdens and fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).

“I see a spot we need to keep an eye on.” Cancer. It wasn’t a diagnosis that I ever expected to hear as a young man about to start a family. Immediately, my mind filled with questions: How will I tell my wife? How will she manage if I die? What will the treatment cost? Am I ready to die?
There were no words in the immediate aftermath. It helped that the cancer with which I’d been diagnosed has a 95 percent cure rate, but I’d be lying if I said that eliminated my worries. A 95 percent cure rate isn’t a 100 percent cure rate. Would I be part of the “unlucky” few? How would it be possible to maintain a straight face and tell my wife that “everything’s going to be all right” when I had no control over that? Sometimes things don’t turn out all right—at least in the short term.
As scary as that moment was, it pales in comparison to what I felt when I heard the news my wife and I received just after our fourth child was born a little over two years ago. “Your son has Pfeiffer syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects one in one hundred thousand people. We don’t know what this means for him yet. He will certainly have developmental delays, but his prognosis could be anything from a normal life to severe mental and physical limitations to death.” I’m paraphrasing a bit here, for the doctors did not say things so matter-of-factly. But it was the most frightening moment of my life. How were we ever going to handle this?
People die every day. Babies, teenagers, young mothers, middle-age fathers, the elderly—death is no respecter of persons. It’s not exactly true that the only sure things in life are death and taxes. You can avoid taxes. If you’re willing to put up with jail time, you need not pay the tax man. Death, on the other hand, is certain. Apart from those who are living when the Savior returns to consummate His kingdom, no one gets out of this world alive. And long before we breathe our last, all of us are going to face disease and watch friends and family suffer, or even suffer ourselves. Right now, as I am updating this article, the whole world is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Death and disease are very much on everyone’s mind.
Why do we fear death so much? For non-Christians, the answer is easy. No matter how they suppress the truth in unrighteousness, whether by atheism, agnosticism, or false religion, they can’t escape their God-given awareness that they’ve broken His law and deserve hell.
Christians also fear death and disease. Of course, we know that we’re not supposed to, and we’d never tell anyone that we harbor such fears. Certainly, we know all the right things to say about death: God is sovereign. He has a good purpose in my pain.
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Regrettably, professing Christians do not have a perfect track record when it comes to oppression. That fact, however, does not make Christianity oppressive. Biblical Christianity provides the only coherent way to define oppression in the first place, and those who have practiced the faith have been a force for good in the world. May we as Christians continually aim to know and practice biblical truth, knowing that it is the only way that we will ever find true freedom (John 8:32).

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Although this decision did not make abortion on demand illegal in the United States, it returned the issue of abortion regulations to state legislatures, meaning that each state can now regulate or restrict abortion as it chooses. Immediately, people began protesting. Men and women gathered in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere across the country, yelling and carrying signs with typical pro-abortion sentiments expressing outrage that the Supreme Court had made it legal to “oppress” women by giving the states power to severely curtail or even outlaw the “right” to kill an unborn child. In many of these protests, vehement anti-Christian language could be found. Protesters recognized the role that Christians had played in the Dobbs decision because of their decades of anti-abortion work, and they insisted that Christianity is an oppressive religion.

This was not the first time that Christians were accused of being oppressors, and it surely will not be the last. Christianity has been blamed for everything from practicing chattel slavery to destroying indigenous cultures to trampling on the rights of women to causing homosexuals to commit suicide. In sum, the claim has been made that Christianity is inherently oppressive. Is this claim true?
To evaluate the charge, we first need to have a clear understanding of oppression. Yet that is not often what we find from those who charge that Christianity is an oppressive religion. Often, at least in the West, people cry “oppression” when they are told that they cannot do something they want to do. Tell a woman who wants to terminate her pregnancy for any reason whatsoever that she cannot do so, and you might be called an oppressor. Reject the notion that two men can get married, and somebody will accuse you of oppressing people who engage in homosexual acts.
But is it oppression simply to be restricted from doing something that you really want to do? Of course not. Laws are made all the time that restrict us from being able to do what we want to do. Are speed limits oppressive? What about laws against murder?
Oppression cannot be conceived of merely as a restriction on something we might want to do. It is, rather, an offense against justice and the humane treatment of others, but who gets to define justice and humane treatment? Ultimately, it is God, who defines justice and kindness in His moral law, which is revealed in the conscience and given to us in Scripture. Restricting abortion on demand or aberrant definitions of marriage is not oppressive, and the reason is that God’s law says that it is cruel and unjust to take an innocent life and harmful to children and others to allow for the expression of sexual immorality. Those who make accusations of oppression but do not heed the law of God have no real grounds on which to make the charge. When people accuse Christians of oppression, it is right for us to demand that they define oppression and then to point them to the law of God as the only thing that can define oppression for all people.

As we look at charges that Christianity is oppressive, we will find that many of them are wholly illegitimate, based on definitions of oppression not sanctioned by God’s Word. Sadly, however, if we are honest with history, we will find that some accusations of oppression have more force. It is true that some people who profess the Christian faith have been guilty of what is rightly called oppression.

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TULIP, or the five points of Calvinism, summarizes God’s work of salvation, and it highlights the omnipotent love of God. Christians can rest assured that if they believe, it is because of the work of God, and that work cannot fail because His love cannot fail.

What do tulips, the love of God, and a centuries-old understanding of salvation have in common? They are all reflected in what has come to be known as the five points of Calvinism.
How are these things interconnected? The word tulip forms an acrostic that summarizes a particular understanding of salvation that has at its center the love of God. Let’s see how this works.
Total Depravity
T stands for total depravity, which describes how sin affects human beings. But to understand this, we have to start before sin entered the world. Our triune God from all eternity has existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory, enjoying a never-beginning and never-ending relationship of holy love. This holy love motivated God’s free decision to create the universe and to create man and woman in His own image to love Him and each other. However, Adam chose to reject our Creator, and, through Adam’s disobedience, humanity fell into sin (Gen. 3; Rom. 5:12–21). Total depravity says that sin has so twisted us that apart from grace, we love other things more than we love God. Our minds, our bodies, our affections, our spirits—every part of us has been affected by sin, and of our own accord, we cannot escape this predicament. God has not stopped loving His creation, however (John 3:16). And in His love, He restrains sin, keeping us from being as bad as we possibly could be. Thus, even those who do not know Christ can do things that are outwardly good. They can be good neighbors, love their children, and so on. However, outside of grace, none of us does these things with the right motivation to love and glorify God.
Unconditional Election
U stands for unconditional election, which is part of God’s solution to our total depravity. The fall into sin, of course, did not surprise God. He knows the end from the beginning and has ordained history as part of the outworking of His plan and purposes for all things (Isa. 46:8–11; Eph. 1:11). The Lord would have been just to keep us in our state of sin and estrangement from Him, but He decided to set His special love on His people, choosing to redeem them and restore to them their status as God’s children. Unconditional electionis God’s loving choice of specific sinners for salvation without respect to any good in them(Rom. 9:1–29). His saving love for us isnot conditioned on our intelligence, our looks, our kindness, our social status, or anything else. He loves His people not because they are less sinfulthan others. Everydescendant of Adam and Eve (except for Christ) is a sinner. Unconditional electionsays that God chooses to save some people and to pass over others. He has a love for some people that He does not have for others. If you are a Christian, it is because in eternity past, long before you were born, God chose to love you with His saving love. He did not choose youbecause you were better than others. He did not choose youbecause He knew you would choose Him if He gave you the chance. He simply chose to love you, and since His love is not conditioned on anything in you, He will never stop loving you.
Limited Atonement
L stands for limited atonement, which describes God’s intent behind the death of Christ in providing salvation. The question is, Did Christ intend to atone for the sins of all people who have ever lived, or did He intend to atone for the sins of the elect only? Another way of putting it: Did God love people generally, without reference at all to them as individuals, and send Christ to die to provide a possibility of salvation?
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