My Only Comfort
When you stare death in the face, that is when you remember the power of the resurrection.
When you look death right in the face, when your loved ones go through trials like this one, you learn to say things like this: What is thy only comfort in life and in death? That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own but belong to my... Continue Reading
Duke University Rejects Young Life Group Over Christian Beliefs
The reason: Young Life's stance on sexuality.
The decision at Duke is not the first time Christian groups have been sidelined on college campuses because they ran afoul of some so-called non-discrimination rule they must follow in order to have the same benefits as other groups. The Duke University Student Government Senate has voted unanimously to reject the Christian group, Young... Continue Reading
No Greater Place
Devotional Thoughts from Psalm 84
Charles Spurgeon introduced his thoughts on the psalm in this way: “If the twenty-third be the most popular, the one-hundred- and-third the most joyful, the one-hundred-and-nineteenth the most deeply experimental, the fifty-first the most plaintive, this is one of the most sweet of the Psalms of peace” (from The Treasury of David). Psalm 84... Continue Reading
Little Greek Gems: Confidence in Prayer–Ephesians 1:18
Is Paul praying for the Ephesian believers that the “eyes of their hearts” would be opened for the purpose that might be able to understand OR is he praying confidently for something, knowing that the eyes of their hearts have already been enlightened? I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be... Continue Reading
Book Review: “Beyond Authority and Submission,” by Rachel Green Miller
It is evident that Mrs. Miller defines men and women as substantially equivalent and that the “co-laboring” she sees in Scripture is a partnership of ontological equals.
Because Mrs. Miller has neglected to deal with the relevant ontology, the thesis of her book is unproven and hence fails. However much we may agree on the equality of men and women as images of God, as fallen, and as redeemed in Christ, that does not remove the stubborn reality of ontological differences. At... Continue Reading
The Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting
That has been the consistent teaching of Christianity for the past two thousand years—but somehow we’ve lost sight of it.
Because you will die, you need this hope. We may not think we need this hope now when we’re relatively healthy. But remember: one day you will die. Christianity prepares you for this day and gives you hope even when you face your greatest enemy, which is death. Earlier this year I attended the... Continue Reading
New Hearts for God’s New Covenant People
God will work his law into the hearts of his new covenant people.
When it comes to salvation, what we are hoping and pleading for is for God to change our hearts. When it comes to evangelism, we pray that God would do his sovereign heart-transplanting work in those around us. Then, give him the glory for it all. Redemptive history is an amazing thing. You can... Continue Reading
Were the Earliest Christians Only Concerned about Oral Tradition?
Early Christianity was a religion of textuality, even if most its adherents were illiterate.
There’s little doubt that oral tradition still played a role in the second century and beyond. But, the evidence suggests that there’s little reason to prefer oral tradition as the default, catch-all explanation for the Gospel tradition in the Apostolic Fathers. Over the last number of years, I’ve had the opportunity to spend a... Continue Reading
A Reformed Ministry—And Some Practical Problems
There are no pat answers.
Is it possible that we are treating some things as being of the essence of the faith, when in fact they are only inherited from a past century, or are part and parcel of the twentieth-century middle-class culture? Are we in fact defending and propagating practices that can be dispensed with, without any compromise of... Continue Reading
Divine Aseity and Christian Apologetics
Why God's self-existence matters for defending the faith.
Apparently, we depend on God in every possible way, not just as physical life requires. We cannot hold the simplest thought together without God. We cannot value rightly without God. We cannot see anything as really beautiful apart from his light shining into our hearts and minds. Break free? Of God? Let us rather rejoice in... Continue Reading