5 Myths about Atheism
Our unique experience, set of beliefs, training, personality, values, and desires all make important differences in how we evaluate potential beliefs.
Thomas Nagel—one of my favorite philosophers, and also an atheist—openly admits that he simply doesn’t want theism to be true. Of course, this isn’t the only reason he has for being an atheist, but his preference will no doubt influence how he evaluates arguments for and against God. Something similar can be said about my... Continue Reading
How Do People Know God by Nature?
Anyone can know the signs of deity but only grace brings us to the reality to which the signs point.
Apart from the Gospel, no one can savingly know God. No one can gain eternal life. Yet by Christ’s assumption of humanity, God provided us with a full revelation of God. In Christ, we see God. We have the first insight into God through our union with Christ. In Romans, Paul explains that people... Continue Reading
Beyond the Lighted Stage: Thoughts on Systematic Theology as Poor Relation, Part Three
The level of historical sensitivity that emerged in the late eighteenth century created an intellectual culture much more attuned to the development of historical consciousness.
Gabler himself made it clear that he was no great fan of orthodox systematics, and his method proved popular and influential with others in the field of Biblical Studies who were uncomfortable with what they regarded as a Procustean bed of dogma. In short, his approach essentially untethered analysis of the content of scripture from what he and his... Continue Reading
Two Cheers for the Spirituality of the Church
Church power is ministerial and declarative not civil and coercive, the church cannot bind the conscience except as the Word of God binds the conscience, and the church can only make decisions and pronouncements founded expressly upon the Scriptures.
The spirituality of the church teaches that given the nature of the church under the mediatorial reign of Christ there are limits to church power and that this power must not be confused with the power of the state. Through most of Reformed history, the spirituality of the church has not entailed a silence on all political... Continue Reading
5 Myths about Complementarianism
We’ll highlight three myths imposed onto complementarianism from the outside, plus two myths sometimes perpetuated by those on the inside.
At the very outset, it should be noted that every label has a history and its own limitations. In the present case, some who don’t fully embrace the divinely created differences between men and women (egalitarians) still espouse some form of complementarity, recognizing biological and possibly other differences yet minimizing or denying biblical male authority,... Continue Reading
Context Matters: Where Two or Three are Gathered in Jesus’ Name
What is our quorum for ensuring the blessing of Jesus’ presence?
Jesus’ speech in Matt 18 addresses what the new covenant community of Christ-followers should look like. It speaks to such things as humility, compassion, initiative, conflict, restoration, and forgiveness. This speech particularly highlights how to handle the sin that will inevitably infect the community. Perhaps you’ve heard that Jesus is specially present when two or... Continue Reading
Mis_ _ _ g
The whole notion of ‘sin’ has gone from our diagnostic toolkit.
The British philosopher C.E.M. Joad said, as he journeyed away from agnosticism, “It was because we rejected the doctrine of original sin that we on the Left were always being disillusioned by the behaviour of the peoples, nations, and politicians and by the recurring fact of war. Because I didn’t believe in original sin I... Continue Reading
Creeds, Confessions and the Development of Doctrine: Some Thoughts on Systematic Theology as Poor Relation, Part Two
We need to see how and why the church has come to confess Christ in the way she does.
Proper Christian theology is always speculative, in the specific sense that it has to address matters not only of economy (how God acts in history) but also of ontology (who God is in eternity). The great creeds of the ancient church, and the confessions and catechisms of the Reformation which affirm their teachings, are the fruit... Continue Reading
You Will Die Someday
In this post I want to reflect on why believers need to think about the end of their own lives, and the fundamental difference our death makes to living here and now.
I will die someday, and so will you. I will not rage against the dying of the light but reach toward the dawning of the day, to so repent, and plan, and live that eternity is the welcome realisation of where my eye has been fixed in time. I will need God’s daily grace and... Continue Reading
Canons Of Dort (21): The Atonement Is Not Universal But The Offer Of The Gospel Is
The whole of salvation, deliverance from the wrath to come and reception of Christ and all his benefits, is God’s gift.
There is no fault in the gospel because it announces not merely the hypothetical possibility of salvation but rather its accomplishment. The good news is that Christ has done it all and further that he freely gives it to his people as a free gift. It is not conditioned upon their obedience and perseverance. It is received... Continue Reading