Author: Drew Costen

There’s an old saying which goes something along the lines of: “A text read out of context is just a pretext for a proof text.” When discussing the topic of the final fate of individual humans, many Christians will share various texts from the Bible which they assume — based on presuppositions they’ve been taught… Continue reading Considering context, chronology, and consistency when reading passages about judgement

There are a lot of myths and misunderstandings (and sometimes even outright lies) told about Universal Reconciliation and those who believe this doctrine that I’ve encountered whenever the topic comes up, both in person and online. Whether it’s due to simple lack of study or due to willful ignorance, I can’t say for sure, but… Continue reading Myths and misunderstandings about Universal Reconciliation

This post is a slightly edited version of chapter 7 and the Conclusion of my eBook about traditions taught in church that aren’t actually mentioned in Scripture. I wanted a blog post I could point people to in order to discuss the topic of what Scripture teaches about the ecclesia (another word for “church”), so I’ve created… Continue reading Should you go to church?

First things first, regardless of what you conclude about the topics in this article, as far as those of us in the church called the body of Christ go, worrying about whether something is sinful or not isn’t something we’re even supposed to do anyway. In fact, we aren’t supposed to actively try to avoid… Continue reading What does Scripture really teach about lust and sexuality?

While I wrote an entire book that goes into great detail about the topic, I figure it might be helpful to summarize what Scripture actually teaches about salvation and the Gospel. The following is from a Gospel tract I wrote that I like to hand out around Toronto: Religion teaches that God will only look… Continue reading Religion can’t get you to heaven

When talking about the Bible, most people divide it up into two sections that they call the New Testament and the Old Testament. There are correct ways to divide the Scriptures, but this isn’t one of them. First of all, the terms ”Old Testament” and “New Testament’ refer to covenants, not to books or to… Continue reading Wrongly dividing

I recently shared some questions I like to ask people to determine whether they actually know much about Scripture or not, and whether they’re likely to have anything useful to teach me from a spiritual perspective. I have a few additional questions, however, that are important for all Christians to ask themselves: Can the Gospel… Continue reading Some more questions

Thanks to never having been taught how to interpret Scripture properly, there are many spiritual concepts that those in the Christian religion (and most of those outside of it) miss out on. There are so many important terms and concepts that almost no Christian I’ve met is familiar with, terms and concepts which, when actually… Continue reading Missing out

“I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died… Continue reading Profane hypocrisy

Have you ever wanted to come up with a good 1-2 punch from the Bible to help you win arguments about why God hates abortion? Well, now you can. Here are the only passages you need to know to turn your abortion loving friends against killing babies: Exodus 20:13 — “Thou shalt not kill.” Well,… Continue reading Bible verses to help in your fight against abortion