Can We Make Moral Judgments About Other Cultures?
Yes, with the right criteria of eternal truths.
A helpful critique of culture is whether or not human dignity is recognized and valued. Are the powerless, particularly women, the elderly, the poor, and the outcast, given opportunity and protection? Is human ingenuity encouraged in areas such as science, the arts, as well as practical and personal liberties? And are these areas aimed at... Continue Reading
Everything Enchanted: Humanity is Desperate for Transcendence, but Where Can it be Found?
Everything is enchanted, if only we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
We should be equipping people to discern God’s still, small voice encountered through the Scriptures or the Body, not teaching them to ask God to say it again, this time to them personally and audibly if possible. The truth is, our “frame” may be immanent, but reality itself inherently participates in the transcendent. If it is... Continue Reading
Pastors, Beware the American Dream
Biblical Principles on Contentment and Materialism for Pastors
There are obvious advantages to gaining wealth. You get the cool car, the nice house, and of course, the knowledge that your healthy bank account means that you are shored up for the future. But wealth doesn’t come easy. It may mean sacrificing time with your wife and children or neglecting the needs of your... Continue Reading
Robbing and Broken Promises
If our lives belong entirely to Christ, holding anything back—whether time, resources, or attention—is a kind of theft, a failure to give what is due.
As followers of Christ, we are His ambassadors in a world that ultimately belongs to Him. Yet, how often do we stay silent about our faith out of fear of offending others? Imagine a doctor who, out of a desire to avoid upsetting his patient, withholds a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness. This isn’t love;... Continue Reading
A Review of Religion & Republic by Miles Smith
Who We as American Protestants Actually Were and What We Might Still Strive to Be
Religion & Republic shows that we have positive examples to work from within our own national history and that we do not necessarily have to look outside the American tradition in order to conceptualize a Christian America. It is worth repeating and reemphasizing that as Americans, unless we intend to be revolutionaries, our approaches to reform... Continue Reading
God in Three Persons, not Three Personalities
To be true to trinitarian doctrine, there can be only one personality in God.
We should think of the essence of God as the one personality of God, and yet expressed three times over. Each Person fully indwells the other, expressing the one personality of God to each other as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No one will “solve” the doctrine of the Trinity, as if it is... Continue Reading
Who Is the Real King?
We default and defer to any ruler but King Jesus.
Are we all that different from what these folks did 2000 years ago? When crunch time comes along, how many will simply submit to whatever dictates the State hands down to us – even those that conflict with our Christian faith? If the Covid wars of 2020-2022 were a test run to see how easily... Continue Reading
6 Things to Do When You Don’t Feel Like Going to Church
How to cultivate the desire and practice of weekly worship.
Pray that God would open the eyes of your heart so that you might know the hope and riches that are yours in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:18). Pray that God would fill you with songs of praise and thanksgiving as you meditate on the great things He has done (Eph. 5:19–20; 1 Peter 2:9). Early in... Continue Reading
Preach the Gospel
Christians need the gospel.
If you preach, make sure your preaching offers me Christ. I need him. I need to confess my sin and receive forgiveness each week. I need to see again that I’m raised up and seated with him in heavenly places each week. I need to encounter these truths in mind, in heart, and in body;... Continue Reading
Ten Petitions and Praises about the Sabbath
Will you help us to keep your day without grudging, but with joy.
Help us to be a church that remembers the fourth commandment. Help us by your Spirit to be careful to keep this one commandment, so that we might better keep all the rest of your commandments. Help us to see that we are stronger together when we spend more of our day in worship, more... Continue Reading
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