Walking Through Fire
Despite dementia, Elisabeth Elliot Gren holds fast to Scripture.
“Since the onset of dementia about a decade ago, the best-selling and widely known Christian author communicates mostly through slight hand gestures and facial expressions.” Lars Gren led me down a dim hallway to a simple room lit magnificently by floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the Atlantic Ocean. A slim, elderly woman dressed... Continue Reading
Family Worship 101
Family worship is not merely a religious discipline; it is a meeting with the triune God in a spirit of adoration by means of three key ingredients.
“Family worship is an indispensible instrument for instilling both old and young with a consciousness of the Lord, His Word, and our call to worship. In research for a recent book, George Barna demonstrates that parents who pass along to their children the baton of spiritual maturity and vitality have one thing in common: they... Continue Reading
Where Preferences Go To Die
If a church doesn't teach sound doctrine, preferences don't matter, since one's soul is at risk.
“I’m convinced many of our problems with the church result from running away from difficult or uncomfortable situations rather than persevering through them. Since we don’t enjoy facing our fears or finding ourselves in challenging circumstances, the thought of escape brings great comfort.” I love my church. Without question it’s a community unified in... Continue Reading
By Us, About Us: Reflections On 12 Years A Slave And Literature
Literature shows us in stark relief that we’re less different than we would have imagined, and that we all possess the same basic need: Christ.
“Literature is one of the primary containers of cultural truth. As Christians who are to be serious about proclaiming Christ in every area of the society we live in, to leave literature out of the picture is to leave a dangerous stone unturned.” I remember the first time I ever realized that a story... Continue Reading
On Scripture Regulated Worship
It is on the ground of this robust understanding of the authority of the Word of God that we assert that Christian churches must follow the worship of God regulated by God.
“We deny that God desires or is pleased by innovation in matters of faith. We deny that silence from God’s Word on the circumstances of worship renders them amoral, or their implementation a matter of indifference.” We affirm that the worship of God is regulated through his Word. Innovation, however well intentioned, is “will... Continue Reading
It’s Not Just Sabbatarians Who Need Sabbath
Sometimes I think my fellow Baptists may have been just a little too reckless in abandoning the pattern of six days followed by one day.
“It has always fascinated me that God chose to rest. He worked six days, creating the heavens and the earth and everything that would fill them. And then he, the God who never grows weary, chose to rest. He took sabbath. Why would he do this? Why would the all-powerful God rest?” I grew... Continue Reading
Gay Advocacy May Split Church of England From Ugandan Church
The Church of Uganda is prepared to walk apart from the Church of England if the Church of England does not respect the African church’s views on sin and sexuality.
“He added the Western church appeared unaware of their double mindedness. “Many people have spiritual blindness but let us not mix issues. One hundred and thirty six years ago, the Church of England sent graduates from Oxford University to Africa to evangelise. America is a super power built on Christian principles… but in all this... Continue Reading
The False Teachers: Pelagius
Considering the false teachings of a man with many modern adherents
Contrary to Augustine, “Pelagius taught that human beings have a natural capacity to reject evil and seek God, that Christ’s admonition, Be ye perfect, presupposes this capacity, and that grace is the natural ability given by God to seek and to serve God.” Last week I set out on a new series of articles... Continue Reading
The In Between
When loved ones are lost, there are moments of both remembering and forgetting
I will not pretend that my wife or my daughter were Enochs, who walked with God, and then were no more. Instead I will continue to be haunted. I will continue to walk where they walked. And He will continue to walk with me. There lies not a thin line but a great open plain... Continue Reading
Longman and Carson on Commentaries
A review of Longman's OT Commentary Survey, and Carson's NT Commentary Survey
The subject of bibliography has always been a favorite of mine, and that of commentaries in particular. I have my own commentary recommendations here. So, I picked up the recent editions (both published in 2013) of Longman’s Old Testament Commentary Survey and Carson’s New Testament Commentary Survey. I will start off with Carson’s survey,... Continue Reading