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Garrett O’Hara

Garrett appears to have originated the term, but not the theology, "dispybapticalvinistic-expialidocious." He is a husband, a father of four children, a U.S. Navy veteran, a semi-truck driver, and a second grade Sunday school teacher. He also holds a Th.M. in New Testament paid for mostly by the Post-9/11 GI Bill (don't tell Mikey Weinstein).

Justification, Mercy, and Propitiation

January 22, 2021 by Garrett O’Hara Leave a Comment

I should probably get back to working on the book manuscript I wrote. Back in May, I posted an excerpt called “The Need for Justification.” This is the portion that follows. Just and Merciful But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God (being testified by the Law and the Prophets) has been made […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: atonement, Justification, propitiation

Socially Responsible Investing Choices, part 3 — Conscience, China, and Putting it Together

January 13, 2021 by Garrett O’Hara Leave a Comment

In part 1 of this series, I discussed the concept of ESG investing from a secular standpoint and evaluated the screening of GuideStone Funds, the Southern Baptist Convention financial services arm. In part 2, I evaluated three more Christian providers of investment funds and discussed the dollar value of ESG investing. Here in part 3, […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: china, ESG, investing, socially responsible investing

Socially Responsible Investing Choices, part 2 — More Alternatives and Dollar Value

January 6, 2021 by Garrett O’Hara Leave a Comment

In part 1, we discussed secular “ESG” investing choices and did an overview of GuideStone’s negative investment screening. In this post, we’ll look at some firms that claim positive screening and consider whether these are worthwhile for the individual investor. We’ll then consider the costs of such fund choices and whether they are worth their fees. […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: conscience, ESG, investing, Money, socially responsible investing

Socially Responsible Investing Choices, part 1 — Secular “ESG” and GuideStone Funds

December 30, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara 3 Comments

Every so often, the advertisements on my social media feeds become heavily saturated with “socially responsible” or “ESG” investing products. There are also get plenty of “non-responsible” investing products and perhaps even a few overtly “sinful” investing products such as VICE (alcohol, tobacco, gambling, etc.) and TOKE (cannabis!). Lots of us are going to be […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: biblically responsible investing, BRI, ESG, GuideStone, investing, SBC, socially responsible investing, Southern Baptist Convention, SRI

LSB, NASB 2020, NASB 1995: Three-Way Comparisons in Psalm 65 and Mark 4

December 18, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

With the recent release of the LSB text of Psalm 65,  we now have an opportunity to examine the LSB’s handling of an Old Testament passage in addition to the earlier release of the entire Gospel of Mark. Psalm 65 Within Psalm 65, a line-by-line glance through the highlights reveals that only a handful of […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Bible translations, Legacy Standard Bible, LSB, NASB, nasb 1995, nasb 2020, New American Standard Bible

Legacy Standard Bible Gospel of Mark: Initial Observations

November 20, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

Wake up and smell the coffee. Wait, does John MacArthur drink coffee? Wake up and smell the…uh…Postum? Are the rest of you drinking Postum? There’s a new Bible translation coming, and it’s looking really promising. Unfortunately, the only major engagement the Legacy Standard Bible is getting from social media is from King James onlyists. Can we […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Bible translations, John MacArthur, Legacy Standard Bible, LSB, NASB, New American Standard Bible

NASB 2020 Review, Part 2 — Direct Comparisons in John, Hebrews, and Psalms

November 11, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

In part 1 of this NASB 2020 review, I dove a bit into major passages concerning gender, the Greek term doulos (slave), and the Hebrew term hesed, which is mostly translated as “lovingkindness” in the NASB 1995. In the time between part 1 and now, my wife gave birth to our fourth child (hence the delay) and the […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Bible translations, NASB, nasb 2020

NASB 2020 Review (and GIVEAWAY!), part 1 — Gender, Slaves, and Lovingkindness

October 16, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

I now have two copies of the recently released NASB 2020. I’ll give you a short preview of the physical editions, and then we’ll dig into the translation. The Lockman Foundation is selling two primary offerings: the Large Print Ultrathin edition and the Giant Print edition. I initially made the mistake of ordering the Giant […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Bible translations, book review, NASB, nasb 2020

Book Review — The Liturgy of Politics by Kaitlyn Schiess

October 7, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

Think for a moment upon the things that have influenced your politics and the things that influence your politics in your daily and weekly routine. You read The New York Times every morning over breakfast and shriek with joy at the latest column from Maureen Dowd. Over lunch, you read Christianity Today. After dinner, you […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: critical theory, Dallas Seminary, Great Commission, Kaitlyn Schiess, Michael Wear, social justice, spiritual formation

What Can the Church Learn From the Pop Culture Woke War?

September 10, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

Lately, I’ve taken a strange liking to some commentators who decry the ever-increasing wokeness of popular art. They believe that this wokeness is destroying longstanding entertainment franchises and even the comic book industry as a whole. As it turns out, worldview-concerned Christians with young children aren’t the only ones noticing and speaking out. Scripture is sufficient for us to respond as the church within our own walls, but I believe what we’re seeing in popular art provides a helpful cautionary tale.

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: comic books, critical theory, culture war, pop culture, popular art, woke

Book Review — Creation Basics & Beyond, 1st Edition

August 31, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

Creation Basics & Beyond sounds like a fairly generic, nondescript title, but it’s actually fitting. Sometimes it can be very basic, and other times it goes beyond my understanding to the point that I have to just leave a note on the chapter to go back to it because I simply failed to grasp what […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: book review, creation, evolution, Genesis

Book Review — God Made Me AND You by Shai Linne

August 12, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

God Made Me AND You begins with school children teasing each other about their ethnic differences. Their teacher steps in and shares that God’s wonderful plan is for our differences to reflect the amazing diversity of God’s creation and the bring all nations to worship him. Told in Shai Linne’s trademark rhyming style that makes […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Children's Books, Children's Church, ethnicity, race, shai linne, social justice, trish mahoney

Pray for USS Bonhomme Richard

July 21, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

Many questions remain following the major fire that consumed much of the inside of USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6). I served seven years in the surface side of the Navy and even visited Bonhomme Richard herself at one point (not as a tourist), but it would be inappropriate to speculate concerning the cause of the fire here. What […]

Filed Under: Missions Tagged With: bonhomme richard, military, navy

The Second Eve Undoes the Curse? — Addressing that Rachel Jankovic blog post, part 2

July 9, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

Rachel Jankovic and Douglas Wilson. Sourced from https://vimeo.com/33690002 under Fair Use.

In part ‘0’ of this series, I went through a fairly dry history of how “second Eve” has been used from the time of the early church until now. In part 1, I dug into the Jankovic article on the question of second Eve and how her use of the term creates too much confusion […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: 1 timothy 2, complementarianism, egalitarianism, Federal Vision, genesis 3, postmillennialism, rachel jankovic, second eve

Take Up the Part of Second Eve? — Addressing that Rachel Jankovic Blog Post, part 1

June 17, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

Rachel Jankovic and Douglas Wilson. Sourced from https://vimeo.com/33690002 under Fair Use.

In part ‘0,’ I addressed the history of the term “second Eve” with respect to Rachel Jankovic’s post at the Desiring God blog titled “The Second Eve: How Christian Women Undo the Curse.” My own research found a few previously claimed examples of second Eve: Mary Magdalene; Mary, mother of Jesus; Martha and Mary of […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: douglas wilson, egalitarianism, federal headship, Federal Vision, rachel jankovic, second eve

A (Not) Short History of “Second Eve” — (Not Yet) Addressing That Rachel Jankovic Blog Post, part ‘0’

June 12, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

Last year, I reviewed two books that heavily concerned the role of women in the church. The first was No More Holding Back by Kat Armstrong. Writing from an egalitarian perspective whereby John 20 effectively releases women to preach from the pulpit, Armstrong states in part: Mary [Magdalene] does more than just represent that the testimony […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Church History, desiring God, feminism, Hippolytus, Kat Armstrong, Martha, Mary Magdalene, mary mother of jesus, mary of bethany, rachel jankovic, second eve

The Need for Justification (book excerpt)

May 15, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

Back in 2013, there arose a drunk driving case here in Texas which made national headlines not so much because of its severity but because of its legal defense and sentencing. Ethan Couch, aged 16 at the time, stole two cases of beer from a Walmart, drove his dad’s Ford F-350 pickup truck at 70-mph […]

Filed Under: Evangelism Tagged With: book excerpt, how to be made holy, Justification, sin

Lexham English Bible: Outdoing the NASB?

May 4, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

In my previous post, which concerned John MacArthur’s announcement of the new Legacy Standard Bible translation and the ever-impending NASB 2020 update, one point that seemed to gain much attention was the existence of the Lexham English Bible, a translation that already includes the distinctives John MacArthur touted in his announcement of the LSB: YHWH […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Accordance Bible Software, bible software, Bible translations, bible versions, Faithlife, Legacy Standard Bible, Lexham English Bible, logos bible software, NASB, NIV

Some Thoughts on the Legacy Standard Bible

April 15, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

ESV meme with celebrity faces including Harambe and Charles Finney

Update (20 November 2020): I’ve posted my initial observations of the LSB Gospel of Mark here. If you haven’t seen the news by means of a video update from John MacArthur for his church (skip to 7:20 in the video above), there’s a new translation in the works called the Legacy Standard Bible. It promises […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: bible software, Bible translations, ESV, Faithlife, KJV, LEB, Legacy Standard Bible, Lexham English Bible, logos bible software, LSB, NASB, New American Standard Bible, NKJV, NLT

Everything Egalitarianism and Then Some

April 2, 2020 by Garrett O’Hara

Do you miss the days not too long ago when the hot social media topics were egalitarianism and social justice instead of virtual church? No? Regardless, here’s everything we’ve written on complementarianism and egalitarianism (so far) in one convenient list. Commentaries Beth Moore the Broken Clock I suppose I should be thankful for God’s use […]

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: 1 timothy, Beth Moore, complementarianism, Culture, ecclesiology, egalitarianism, exegesis, Kat Armstrong, rachel jankovic, women

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Michael CoughlinMichael Coughlin

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Tips for (Raising) Toddlers

I have raised three people through the toddler years and I’m working on the fourth now. Over the years I have discovered some things that seem to work really well—some of them are things I wish someone had told me. So with that in mind, here are a few tips for raising toddlers: Give ‘Em […]

Socially Responsible Investing Choices, part 1 — Secular “ESG” and GuideStone Funds

Every so often, the advertisements on my social media feeds become heavily saturated with “socially responsible” or “ESG” investing products. There are also get plenty of “non-responsible” investing products and perhaps even a few overtly “sinful” investing products such as VICE (alcohol, tobacco, gambling, etc.) and TOKE (cannabis!). Lots of us are going to be […]

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If you have not read Part 1 of this review concerning The Good, please do so first. While there is much to be praised about this work historically, there are some oddities in some sections. This isn’t necessarily negative per se, although it may seem that way. For the most part, the oddities come down […]

I Gave In and Watched Chris Pratt’s Gospel Thing

Upcoming TGC article: Finding the Gospel in Chris Pratt’s Presentation of the Gospel (#troll) — Garrett O’Hara (@mokaThought) June 21, 2018 Seriously, I haven’t watched it, and I’m not planning on it. I do not care. Carry on. — Garrett O’Hara (@mokaThought) June 21, 2018 Okay, I gave in. I watched it. It was…um…stay with […]

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