While it is the Holy Spirit who works in the believer, it is the duty of Christians to actively engage any channel by which they may access that work. All of the means of grace are meant for the building up of Christians corporately and individually, that when engaged properly is building the church up... Continue Reading

Courage allows what is good, right and wise to guide us even in the presence of fear. It enters a particularly difficult day with hope. It knows that death is the most powerful of enemies, and the resurrection of Jesus has taken away its bite.   Among the many heroes of faith, the martyrs stand... Continue Reading

The universal category that encompasses us all (namely, image-bearers of God) ultimately trumps particular identities and gives us the right to claim some level of first-hand knowledge and experience of other peoples’ stories.   Cultural appropriation—the art of appropriating aspects (songs, stories, apparel, traditions, rituals, etc.) of some (minority) culture by an entity that doesn’t... Continue Reading

The cosmos is made up of all kinds of complementary pairs, with male and female serving as a paradigmatic example: that is why cosmological complementarity is reflected in some human languages (der Tag/die Nacht, le ciel/la terre, el sol/la luna, and so on). The Jewish-Christian vision of sexual complementarity, as such, reflects our vision of cosmological complementarity—and... Continue Reading

Jesus certainly did not seek to please people and make them feel good. He was not about trying to be nice all the time. It almost seems that he went out of his way to offend people, to divide the crowds, and to force people to make tough decisions.    The Christian gospel can be... Continue Reading

We need to pray for the church in Canada that she will be faithful to her Lord amid this pandemic. Many pastors think that the actions of a very small minority are actually hindering their Gospel witness. We need to pray for the resisters and their families.   As most of my readers know, I have... Continue Reading

For good or for ill (mostly for ill), social media is here to stay. The social internet—all of the different ways in which we communicate with others online—is an unprecedented institution of socialization whose only comparable innovation in recorded history is the Tower of Babel.    In 2013 I graduated from college with a biblical... Continue Reading

The strategy is to put women in teaching and leadership roles over men. After people see that a woman can fulfill the function of a pastor, they will be more open to accepting her into the office of pastor.   Mike Bird and Devi Abraham recently interviewed authors Kristin DuMez, Beth Allison Barr, and Aimee Byrd (see video below).... Continue Reading

Who will allow their greatest ministry to grow out of their deepest sorrow? This is a sacred ministry God calls some to undertake on his behalf. Those he calls are ordained to it not by the laying on of hands but by the emptying of their arms, the breaking of their bodies, the shattering of... Continue Reading

If your approach to interpreting the world leads you to call someone a racist who isn’t one, if it leads you to disparage the faith of fellow Christians simply on the basis of their skin color, or if it allows you to feel justified in insinuating that a policeman is akin to James Earl Ray... Continue Reading