Baptism: When Heaven Meets Earth
Christian baptism is where heaven meets earth.
God gave certain signs to point to his promise and his acts of redemption to make certain people pure enough to be with him. It takes death to bring life, washing to be clean, and surgery to make well. Only the God of heaven can make that happen to people on earth. Do you... Continue Reading
3 Ways to Navigate Difficult Passages of the Old Testament
Reading habits that may start well in Genesis and Exodus often go astray when the assigned readings move into Leviticus which focuses heavily on Old Testament law.
Humans are radically corrupt because of the fall. Our sin problem goes much deeper than any outward, “do it yourself” remedy can fix. What we need most is a rescuer, not a role model. We need a substitute, not a better version of ourselves. Reading the Old Testament through a “moral of the story’ lens... Continue Reading
Reformed Churches, Frank Reich, and the Sabbath
Confessional churches have understood the Fourth Commandment not as the least of the Ten Commandments, but the very lynchpin (or the bridge) of the moral law.
The issue is especially important when one realizes that, contrary to our own generation, earlier Presbyterians and Reformed, confessional churches understood the Fourth Commandment not as the least of the Ten Commandments, but the very lynchpin (or the bridge) of the moral law, addressing both love for God as well as love for one’s neighbor.... Continue Reading
A Brief Critique of ARBCA’s Position Paper: Concerning the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility
Critique of Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America’s Position Paper: Concerning the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility
The purpose of this critique is not to show that the classical view is wrong. It is to point out deficiencies in the reasoning of the position paper to prove the classical view. The aim is not to establish either the classical view or the modified view of impassibility as the correct one, but to... Continue Reading
Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology Considered Again
Making Proverbs undergo an historical transformation in order to fit BT categories would require a greater transformation than an ST treatment would.
What can plausibly be laid against this claim by Vos is that the Bible is more inherently historical than logical, and that therefore BT is a “better fit” than ST. Even if didactic portions of Scripture are acknowledged to be less historically organized than other portions (Proverbs comes to mind), the historical framework of the... Continue Reading
Emotions Make Terrible Gods
Taking Control of Our Feelings
short of rolling on the floor, we deem it better to express any and all emotions rather than hold back and become “fake.” No other options exist. Our unfiltered emotional life can, and some say should, extend to any and all persons — spouses, parents, or strangers included. Some even commend yelling at God when... Continue Reading
Why Christian Movies Are So Terrible
The paint-by-numbers aesthetic of the new wave of Christian movies persists in making the faith appear trite, inauthentic, corny, and -- worst of all, as far as the culture goes -- uncool.
I know, I know — people always try to come up with exceptions. But there aren’t any, really. Every now and again some well-meaning brother or sister will say to me, “This one’s different. You gotta see it. It’s not like the others.” And then it is. It painfully, painfully is. Why does it seem... Continue Reading
The Disease of Ambition
Ahab refuses to bow before God even when God turns his fury on him in Moby Dick.
Ahab is Melville’s picture of mortal greatness in the world, a man defined by ambition that only he and God seem to know. This is precisely how Melville introduces Ahab. The first we hear about him is from Peleg, a Nantucket Quaker, former whaling captain himself, and now, along with Bildad, majority owner of the... Continue Reading
Why the Church Needs to Pray the Imprecatory Psalms
Jesus' command to love and pray for our enemies does not serve as a "trump card" over all the prayers of imprecation in the Bible.
“Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, ‘Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!’ O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes... Continue Reading
The Strongest Men Are Gentle
Gentleness is the life-giving exercise of strength.
Power in its various forms is a good gift from God, to be used by his people for the ends of his kingdom. And like other good gifts, power is perilous when wielded improperly. The answer to the dangers of strength is not its loss, but the gaining of a Christian virtue called gentleness. One... Continue Reading