Are We “Saints” or “Aints?”
In some churches, one might hear older congregants talk of the "saints" and the "aints"
“After 47 years of being raised in a pious household, after 30 years of considering myself a born-again Christian, and after 18 years of being an ordained minister and getting to know my flock, I have come to the conclusion that me and every Bible-believing Christian I have ever met is an aint.” In some churches... Continue Reading
What Christianity Alone Offers Transgender Persons
The answer to the problems in our body—along with the answer to any of our problems—is never going to be found in ourselves
Bodily brokenness of any kind, if we have eyes to see, can point us to the broken body of Christ—and through that brokenness, to the eventual restoration and healing that comes through him. Embracing Christ doesn’t guarantee resolution in this life to the bodily brokenness we experience. But it does give us a sure and confident hope that we will have a perfect relationship with our body in the world to come.
Don’t Worry, Be Godly – Pt 1
Two aspects of God’s command to avoid anxiety
I am not saying we should never have urgent care and concern, or even alarm, in situations that warrant it. If your awareness of a clear and present danger springs you into action, that is not anxiety. Taking immediate and urgent action when your toddler goes missing in the mall is not sinful. An elevated heart rate and raised voice is appropriate and wise when sounding the alarm in the event of danger. Sinful anxiety is having an untrusting, uncontrolled reaction to something that isn’t happening and might not ever happen.
The One Who Makes All Things New
If you are looking at the year ahead and feel a sense of dread and foreboding, I want to encourage you.
As you stand on the precipice of 2017, don't fear the future for it is in the hands of your sovereign God. Don't dread the unknown for it is fully known by your omniscient Father. Don't grow weary by the challenges to come, for God is with you. He is actively involved in every moment you face this year and is your help in all trouble (Psalm 46.1).
The Lord is My Shepherd – And Do I Ever Need One
I have a personal shepherd. And I need one. Because I’m one of Jesus’ sheep.
Jesus knows each of his sheep personally. He knows us by name. He’s intimately acquainted with our hearts, our hopes, our sins and struggles, and will carry us through to the end. No one can snatch us out of his hand. What a great and glorious Savior we serve. He doesn’t care for us because we’re good enough, smart enough, and doggone it people like us. We’re singularly unlovable, but Jesus shepherds us because he’s so great and good.
What Is the Regulative Principle of Worship?
Scripture is our ultimate authority; it defines not only our theology but our piety, what we believe about God and how we respond to Him.
The Regulative Principle of Worship holds that we worship God in the manner He has commanded us in His Word. As the Westminster Confession says, “But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited to his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the... Continue Reading
The Dovetail Nature of Scripture
The Bible is God’s means for us to look into and through to help us see Christ clearly.
The very best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. If you want a a special key to unlock the Bible’s understanding, start by getting very familiar with the Old Testament. Pray for the Spirit’s guidance and understanding as you read and study. Yes, commentaries and teachers of the Bible can help you learn what a text means, and they have their place. Yet we must keep them in their place by first wrestling with and praying over the Bible ourselves. As it says in Job, “Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?” (Job 36:22).
Abuse, Patriarchy and Korean Paternalism
It is my contention that Eternal Functional Subordination was used to reinforce and normalize Korean cultural values while leaving people like me (ie its victims) no way to curb (or defend ourselves against) those values’ abuses
My friend and fellow RM writer Marcos Ortega said it this way: “If the Father is authoritative and the Son subordinate, and if these attributes should define the way we live in the church and in our families, it’s no wonder that some will turn to abuse in order to ensure obedience. That to me is the most insidious aspect you’re pointing at. People are abusing to be obedient to God!”
On Turning The World Upside Down
When Christians invoke Acts 17:6 as a warrant for a cultural or political agenda or to imply that we should expect a future conversion of the world before the return of Christ, there are some things to bear in mind
Some attention to the context shows us that Luke’s narrative is not meant to serve as a blueprint for cultural engagement as much as an illustration of the surprising power of an unlikely message. The social tumult that followed gospel ministry of Paul was not the result of the Christianization nor the transformation of the culture but the violent reaction by the predominantly pagan culture to the gospel and to the work of the Holy Spirit among his elect. In Thessalonica in particular we do not even see Paul preaching to Gentiles outside the synagogue. He was preaching Christ in a relatively small setting.
Theological Primer: The Extra Calvinisticum
The extra Calvinisticum teaches that in the Son’s incarnation the divine Logos is fully united to, but never fully contained within, the human nature.
All this means–because the divine nature did not undergo essential change–that in coming to earth, the Son of God did not abdicate his rule, but extended it. It also means–because the human nature was not swallowed up by the divine–that the Son’s earthly obedience was free and voluntary. In short, the extra protects a Chalcedonian understanding of the incarnation that Christ’s divine and human natures were indissolubly joined, yet “without confusion” and “without change.”