Three conclusions from Acts 21: (1) Jews may continue obeying the law (beware Pharisaical additions); (2) Gentiles still have only the four commands; (3) Jewish believers in Jerusalem years later are still Torah-observant -- and that is fine.

Summary of Acts 21 analysis

Q&A: Hermeneutics — advice for a new Bible student afraid of misinterpretation

Question from a student who has taken hermeneutics courses but feels intimidated to start studying.

Michael Heiser's divine council work is valuable but Winger has reservations about core claims

Q&A: brief evaluation of Michael Heiser's scholarship

Oneness Pentecostalism: critique of modalism and concern about authoritarian/bully theology

Question from Stephen Serrano about Oneness Pentecostalism.

Sin leading to death in 1 John 5:16-17 — interpretation depends on prior theology

Question about whether 1 John 5:16-17 implies one can lose salvation.

Epistemic humility in teaching: share conclusions only to the degree of confidence you actually possess

Question about how Mike knows when he has read enough secondary literature to teach a topic publicly.

The command in Genesis 1 is a collective mandate for mankind as a whole, not a personal obligation on every individual — applying it to each person individually leads to absurd conclusions (e.g., condemning infertile people).

Interpretive principle applied to Genesis 1:28.

Q14: "Don't lean on your own understanding" (Prov 3:5) — using understanding vs. leaning on it

Response to question about how to know truth when you can't trust your own understanding or tradition

Calvinism functionally treats faith as a work, which drives its theological conclusions toward unconditional election and regeneration preceding faith

Explaining Mike's specific critique of Calvinism in the context of why schools of thought differ

Analogies explain truth but cannot establish or create theological truth.

Critique of the gravity-salvation analogy used to argue for universalism.

Should Christians be shaken by brilliant atheist philosophers like Graham Oppy?

Listener Silas Abrahamson says he is sometimes shaken that brilliant philosophers like Graham Oppy are atheists.

The Kalam conclusion (the universe has a cause) doesn't mention God explicitly, but the conceptual analysis that always follows leads to theistic conclusions about the nature of that cause.

Relationship between the formal argument and conceptual analysis

Cameron Bertuzzi identifies that Drew conflates suffering with unjustified suffering. The real burden is showing the suffering is unjustified, which Drew assumes but doesn't argue. Questions are not arguments — you must defend premises, not just state conclusions.

Additional response to Q1 — unjustified vs justified suffering

Cameron responds: 3 of 4 questions are really just versions of the problem of evil. Questions are not arguments — they require structured premises and conclusions. Cameron identifies three goods requiring earthly existence before heaven.

Response to Q4 — questions aren't arguments

How to do systematic theology: (1) Gather every passage related to a topic. (2) Interpret each passage in its own context. (3) Draw principles/conclusions from each passage. (4) Check that no principles conflict with each other or with any passage. (5) Build the framework from the conclusions, not from a pre-loaded logical structure. Mike front-loads passages, not presuppositions — biblical theology approach over dogmatic theology.

Method for systematic theology

Biblical confirmation: Genesis 1:26-27 (made in God's image as immaterial minds), 2 Corinthians 5:8 (we exist apart from body), Galatians 5:13 (called to live in libertarian freedom to choose love over sin).

Scriptural support for the philosophical conclusions

Some atheists are driven to deny their own existence to maintain naturalism — Rosenberg (The Atheist's Guide to Reality), Harris, Dennett all deny the reality of the self/consciousness. This is self-refuting: someone must be having the illusion.

Consequence of determinism: denial of self-existence

What to Do if Your Pastor is Female: I've watched your Women in Ministry series and come to basically the same conclusions you have. However, I'm part of a church with a female lead pastor. How do I handle this?

Q&A question: What to Do if Your Pastor is Female

Conclusions about Pastor Chuck

3..Mike’s basic conclusions on the passage