God’s Unfolding Purpose
Three headings to stoke the flame of piety.
“The circle of revelation is not a school but a ‘covenant’. To speak of revelation as an ‘education’ of humanity is a rationalistic and utterly unscriptural way of speaking. All that God disclosed of Himself has come in response to the practical religious needs of His people as these emerged in the course of history.”... Continue Reading
The Gospel According to Progressive Christianity #2: Creation and Fall
If we don't understand what’s wrong with the world (the bad news), we won’t understand the beauty of how things will be made right again (the good news).
“The bad news? You need a root canal. The good news? We can sedate you so you won’t feel a thing.” Sedation. The good news—the transcendent glory of this invention of modern medicine would be lost on me if I didn’t first understand the bad news—that I needed a root canal. But once I knew “dental... Continue Reading
Do You Refuse to Be Blessed?
If we simplify Christianity down to waiting and obeying until God brings us home, we surrender some of his sweetest graces and reject gifts we wouldn’t trade for anything else.
We bury blessings made for us to enjoy long before heaven. Charles Spurgeon says, “He who grows not in the knowledge of Jesus, refuses to be blessed.” To fail to grow is to forfeit grace. To settle for where we are is to surrender more joy, more strength, more peace — more of God. ... Continue Reading
Liberation-Not For Everybody
What kind of a society will these conscience-hardened young people create when they become our judges, senators, newspaper editors and school teachers?
We aren’t just simply living in days that are evil, we are living in the days that Isaiah spoke about, the days when they will call evil good and good evil. And we have been brainwashed into thinking that evil things are okay, but they’re not. The conflict, as always, is between the Truth and... Continue Reading
Why I Loathe The False Dichotomy Of Win The Person Or Win The Argument
Why I loathe the false dichotomy of win the person or win the argument
The fact is, it is loving people to help them see their logical inconsistencies and seek to bring them to right positions based on, that’s right, logic. If we want people to know truth, it necessitates showing them where (or if) their position is logically inconsistent and offer them a position that is logically more... Continue Reading
Still Protesting: the Donum Superadditum
In addition to losing original holiness, Roman Catholicism holds that Adam lost the ‘donum superadditum’ or the super added gift.
The Protestant believes that the Bible teaches something far different. The Bible does not teach that in Christ we have an opportunity to redo what Adam failed to do. We believe that Christ did what Adam failed to do and he even took the penalty for Adam’s failure. He obeyed God and was justified on... Continue Reading
Our Verseless Bibles
There are no verses in the Bible. Nope. Not a one. At least, not in the original, and that’s the Bible that matters.
A really good idea almost five centuries ago had a bad consequence that can sabotage your understanding of Scripture. I suggest you ignore the artificial divisions (chapters, verses, headings) and focus on the larger narrative, argument, or instruction. Start big, then get small. Look at the larger flow of thought, then zoom in on the... Continue Reading
How to Pray Like a Pastor
This little guide lists each Biblical qualification for church elders and suggests a few prayers related to each one.
D.A. Carson has rightly pointed out that the list of qualifications for elders is “remarkable for being unremarkable.” Why? Because “the criteria mentioned are demanded of all Christians everywhere. Which is another way of saying, elders are first of all to be exemplars of the Christian graces that are presupposed as mandated on all Christians.”... Continue Reading
Signs of the Coming Salvation: Biblical Theology in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther
This is one of the most powerful examples in the Old Testament of the principle that God is able to take the evilest of schemes intended to inflict destruction and shame and reverse expectations by using it to save his people.
In Jeremiah 25 God tells Judah that because the people have not listened to his words their land will be destroyed by the king of Babylon and they will become his subjects (vv. 8–11). This state of affairs will last seventy years. At the end of that period, however, the king of Babylon and his... Continue Reading
5 Myths about Science
A big part of church teaching and discipleship is the impartation of knowledge of and how to critique broad ideas influencing people in the culture away from Christianity.
From natural theology, we know that the universe began to exist, that it could not have popped into existence out of nothing, and it had to come from something that was spaceless, timeless, immaterial, supernatural (it transcends the universe and is not limited by natural laws), and had the power of spontaneous action in order... Continue Reading