Cinderella, You Shall Go to the Ball!
The second century of the early church is generally neglected in favor of other, apparently more exciting and accessible, periods.
Michael Kruger argues in his new book, Christianity at the Crossroads: How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church, this period is critical for understanding the development of the post-apostolic church. Issues of theology, authority, worship, ecclesiology, culture and canon all emerge at this time and directions of later discussions are established. The second... Continue Reading
Christians Great and Small
Billy Graham played no role in my life, but Irene Morrison was a towering figure.
Friday morning was the memorial service for Irene Morrison. A couple hundred people attended the event which was held in a little country church a hundred miles from nowhere, and open to anyone who knew and loved her. In the pews were children, farmers, nannies, retirees, and even a blogger—a B-list of normal and unknown people. ... Continue Reading
The Victorious Soldier
To be united to and thus identified with the once crucified Savior means that the Christian’s life in this present mode of existence will necessarily entail suffering.
Timothy, in his particular capacity as a minister of the New Covenant, is likened to a soldier. Surely, however, the analogy of a soldier is proper not just to ministers of the Gospel, but to each individual Christian. And not just to Christians as individuals, but to the church corporately in its present mode of... Continue Reading
Did You Know That Charles Spurgeon Struggled with Depression?
Being full of life in a fallen world must mean distress, and Spurgeon’s life was indeed full of physical and mental pain.
Today he would almost certainly be diagnosed as clinically depressed and treated with medication and therapy. The depression could hit him so intensely that, he once said, “I could say with Job, ‘My soul chooseth strangling rather than life’ [Job 7:15]. I could readily enough have laid violent hands upon myself, to escape from my... Continue Reading
SBC Gives DC Baptist Convention 90 Days to Sever Ties With Church Led by Lesbian Pastors
The motion effectively gives DCBC the option to either sever its ties with the 155-year-old Calvary Baptist Church or help lead the church to "repentance."
SBC’s official news service, Baptist Press, reports that the SBC Executive Committee approved a motion on Feb. 20 giving the DCBC until May 20 to end its affiliation with churches “that have demonstrated a faith or practice affirming, approving or endorsing homosexual behavior.” The District of Columbia Baptist Convention has been given 90 days to remove... Continue Reading
Pastor, Be What You Want to See
The leadership will set the tone of the community’s discipleship culture, setting the example of the church body’s “personality.”
If we want our churches to be of one mind, to be of one heart, to assassinate their idols and feast on Christ, to be wise and winsome with the world they have forsaken, to be gentle of spirit but full of confidence and boldness, to be blossoming with the fruit of the Spirit, we... Continue Reading
Why are Younger Evangelicals Fascinated by Roman Catholicism?
There is no sign of a massive turn of evangelicals to Roman Catholicism. Nonetheless, what is happening is worth investigating.
In his new book In Search of Ancient Roots: The Christian Past and the Evangelical Identity Crisis, Kenneth Stewart wrestles with the present-day discussion on if and what Evangelicalism has to do with history. As a learned historian and acute theologian, Stewart helps the reader come to terms with the diachronic dimension of Evangelicalism that... Continue Reading
“If Your Affection Shall be Inclined” – Some Marriage Proposals of Protestant Reformers
What’s an appropriate way for a Protestant preacher to propose to a lady?
At first, Luther laughed at the prospects of getting married, but his friends convinced him to do it. After all, he had been teaching for some time about the benefits of marriage. It was time to put his own words into practice. Besides, he would have finally pleased his father, something he had unsuccessfully aspired... Continue Reading
There Goes that Pesky Biological Reality Again
The moves from ‘What is truth’ to ‘There is no absolute truth’ to ‘It’s true if it’s true for you’ to ‘If you deny this is true you are a hater’ perfectly fulfil Isaiah’s warning.
The trouble is, reality has a way of making itself known. So the evidence mounts up that the most progressive societies are also those in which occupation is most closely linked to sex; and two men are not actually capable of becoming parents without hiring a womb; and biological sex is determinative for all manner of things.... Continue Reading
Self-Righteous Hypocrisy: The Oxfam Sex Scandal Shows That It Is Not Just The Religious Right Who Are The Contemporary Pharisees
In the past we have tended to assume that the contemporary equivalents of the Pharisees in the Bible, noted for their hypocrisy and judgement of others, were conservatives and the religious right.
Now Oxfam and Save the Children have been shown to have covered up inappropriate sexual behaviour by their employees, and no doubt many other charities will be similarly exposed in the days the come. Those who have excoriated others for their “sins,” whilst presuming their own moral superiority, have been shown to have been just... Continue Reading
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