Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
PHall | January 27, 2018
A fish fry for mission work was recently advertised. Churches having yard sales, or pumpkin sales around Halloween is common. Is this biblical? One way to approach is asking if such has biblical authority. Can we find a command, example, or necessary implication from the inspired text. The answer is we can’t. But let’s go […]
PHall | December 7, 2016
I like County Music. I don’t like what is dominating Country Music today called Bro Country. It’s stale in theme and rhythm, and more Rock even than Pop. Its Fans say Country Music has never been more popular and is reaching new audiences. Old fogies and purists counter saying it isn’t Country. And even though […]
PHall | October 13, 2016
“The obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 16:26) is an intriguing phrase because of its paradoxical nature. Because of this there is an overemphasis by one side, and almost total neglect by another. That “faith” obeys is a conundrum to some because they look at faith as just a mental concept – I believe or trust […]
PHall | October 11, 2016
Monday’s Message – On Being Denominational – In our Young Adult Class studying “Is the Church a Denomination?” we spent several weeks defining words because words are important because they form ideas. This was part of the process of biblically beginning with and understanding the words “congregations”, then “heresies” being taught, “sects” being formed, and […]
PHall | October 6, 2016
People ask if a congregation is “sound.” Maybe learning about “sound” synagogues might help. In Mark 1:21 Jesus went to the synagogue and started teaching. The congregants were amazed because He taught as one having authority (1:22). A demon-possessed man interrupted their service and Jesus threw out the demon in the man (1:27). Mark 1:39 […]
PHall | March 25, 2016
Can what we believe doctrinally change what we believe is the gospel? Recently I read the gospel is defined as the “deity, death, and resurrection of Jesus.” Notice anything missing? Unlike Paul’s description of the gospel (1 Cor.15:4), this gentleman (and rightfully respected scholar) left out Jesus’ burial. Many treat it as superfluous, and I […]
PHall | January 3, 2016
When I was a preacher in my 20’s, my best friend in the congregation was a man in his 70’s. Our unusual friendship was in the Lord. He was a retired electrician. One day he made an interesting comment: “I know how electricity works; I just don’t know why.” That same sentiment was in a […]
PHall | August 13, 2015
Did Peter and John lie? A good argument that the church treasury is for saints only might come from a passage that isn’t normally used. In Acts 2 and 4, even 5, we have several scriptures detailing the treasury being used for saints. In Acts 3 when a poor person, an unbeliever, asks for alms, […]
PHall | August 4, 2015
The reason the Winston-Salem church of Christ does not use instrumental music in our worship to God is the same reason why we don’t build arks. Noah was told to build an ark, Christians were not. Physical Israelites were commanded to use instrumental music. Christians were not. Unlike physical Israel, Christians don’t have a physical […]
PHall | July 31, 2015
When discussing how to establish authority, some have given up on commands, examples, and necessary inference (or better implication). If you see the acronym CENI, that is what this is. One common way to disparage it is to ask the seemingly unanswerable question, “Necessary to who?” The point then is made, what is necessary to […]