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About Me

Hi! My name is Ryan Martin and welcome to the Rambling Disciple blog. I pray that this blog is a blessing to you and that you hopefully learn something from it. 

I began this blog back in 2016 after the death of my mother. She was an author and blogger who also wrote about the Bible, theology, and ministry. She continues to be an inspiration to me and many others around the world. When she passed I knew I wanted to continue that legacy, so I started the Rambling Disciple.

I've been in full time ministry since 2015. I have a BA in Bible and Preaching from Harding University and an MA in Theology from Lincoln Christian University. Theology is my passion and something I love to study. Any time I learn something new about God, Christ, or the Bible I'm at my happiest. My primary interests in the realm of theology are Sacramental Theology, Christology, Theology Proper, and Eschatology. 

When it comes to Biblical Studies I tend towards books and topics that I feel we tend to ignore. I gravitate away from books like Acts and Romans, which everyone talks about, and more towards Song of Songs and Hebrews, which aren't as popular. It's just the way my brain works. I enjoy digging into areas of study that aren't as interesting to most other people.

A lot of what I post about here has to do with current trends and ideas I see in the church. I try to address them from a Christ centered theological perspective. The title of the blog, Rambling Disciple, sums it up well. I'm just a guy trying to follow Jesus who rambles on about various things.

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Be Kind

This last Sunday I was asked to preach and I struggled for a while with what to preach on. It's always difficult when you are filling in and everyone else knows you are filling in. You don't want to overlap too much with the current sermon series, but you also don't want your topic to be so unrelated to what's been going on that it has no impact.  I found inspiration simply from scrolling on Facebook. People, and it seems especially Christians, are mean.  Now of course not all Christians are rude and combative, but there are a shocking number who are. We argue in Facebook comments, send hateful messages, and generally act just like the world. This extends beyond the realm of social media and into our day-to-day interactions with so many. The Sunday lunch crowd at restaurants is infamously the worst tipping and most disrespectful, and these are mostly Christians who have just come from church. We need to be kind. Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit, but it is one we often ...
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Jesus or Nothing

"Non Nisse Te Domine." - Thomas Aquinas I have the above quote engraved on the bottom of a watch that my father gave me several years ago. It means "Nothing if not you, Lord." Thomas Aquinas, 13th century monk and one of the most influential theologians and philosophers in all of history, said this after having a vision of Jesus. Reportedly Christ appeared to him and said "You have written well of me, Thomas. What what you have as a reward?" "Non nisse te Domine," was the response. After that, even though Thomas had dedicated his life to writing theology and was in the middle of writing his massive Summa Theologia, Thomas stopped writing. He said it was because all he had written, tomes and tomes of brilliant work, were as straw compared to seeing the actual Lord. Whatever you may think about such a mystical event, I personally believe it happened but I understand the more skeptical among us, the response of Thomas is what matters. When asked for...
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Justice

Our view of justice is narrow and limited. Typically when we, as Christians, talk about justice we are really only referring to punishing wrongdoers for their crimes. While that is certainly a part of justice that isn't the only thing. In the Bible justice consists of much more. Consider the book of Amos, one of the minor prophets and therefore a book that most Christians barely touch. Amos is announcing judgment against the nation of Israel for their infidelity to their covenant with God. What do you think is the most repeated indictment against Israel? Interestingly it's not idolatry, sexual immorality, or war although these things are mentioned. The primary sin of in Amos is Israel's neglect of the poor and their oppression of the needy. Over and over again Amos declares that judgment is coming to Israel because of their treatment of those less fortunate. The poor are trampled and the needy are crushed. There is no justice in the land. Biblical justice includes both crim...
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