Ultimately, it’s the Holy Spirit alone who can help us fight doubt, because God’s Spirit is the only source of doubt-killing faith. But when I reflect on the ways the Spirit helps me in my doubt, there are four aids He often presents to me, four truths that, no matter how deep my pessimism, I... Continue Reading

The issue for Calvin was not, first, the well-known sticking points of the Reformation: justification, priestly abuses, transubstantiation, prayers to saints, and papal authority. All those would come in for discussion. But beneath all of them, the fundamental issue for Calvin, from the beginning to the end of his life, was the issue of the... Continue Reading

A properly God-centered theology of worship will recognize that in a corporate worships service, God is the primary actor. It is God who calls us to draw near to him; we do not invite him to come down to us. It is God who speaks to us first; only then do we respond back to... Continue Reading

Be careful who’s influencing you. Be careful of a gradual drift away from Jesus and his people. Do not be ashamed of Jesus, his message, or his people.   Whenever a crisis hits, as it seems to a lot these days, I see a quote from Mr. Rogers posted on the Internet. It’s a good... Continue Reading

Various aspects of American culture troubled him: teenagers openly showing disrespect for their elders, a public school system that he thought was a training ground for unbelief, the fact that many Americans retired without pensions, and so on. The most troubling aspect of American culture, though, by some way, was its deep-seated racism.   Herman... Continue Reading

It’s hard for us today to conceive how the arguments in favor of slavery could have gained ground in the church, but they did. Some justified it on the basis of presumed lesser intellectual capacities of the Africans, and went as far as saying that slavery was an improvement of their condition. But every man,... Continue Reading

When questions about what is right, what is good, and what is responsible are swirling above our heads like gnats, we still follow a resolute and decisive Savior. We can find, in Jesus, the absolute clarity we are longing for right now.   Certainty is in short supply these days. For weeks upon weeks, we... Continue Reading

In the greatest of ironies, a recent issue of “Harvard Magazine” has condemned parents being at home with their children all day, even while the governments across America have now required it for the past several weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My efforts to recast homeschooling in a less-threatening light are rooted in two... Continue Reading

The fact that I can sit here and write words about the illusion of time and cosmic tyranny and the growth and decay of flesh means that I am at minimum very aware of the world around me and of myself.   I have been alive for 32 years. Which itself is a weird thing... Continue Reading

It’s clear we are all exiles. We live in a world broken by sin. And while sometimes we enter a situation of exile because of our own sinful actions, it’s at least as common if not more that the deep frustration of exile comes upon us due to the brokenness that mars all parts of... Continue Reading