Seeing, Hearing, Believing
One of the greatest confrontations we face is when the Word of God and Providence appear to collide--when circumstances appear to contradict God’s promises
More importantly, God has not designed faith to be based on sight. That’s why it is called faith – because it accepts, believes and trusts things that are unseen, not seen (Heb. 11:1). We are all confronted with the question, “Will we believe and trust God in spite, or we might add, even through such... Continue Reading
You Are Totally (Not) Depraved: How to Recover Positive Self-Image
Christians should have a positive view of themselves — in Christ.
While my wife and I shared the gospel with Ryan and Meg — strangers we met at the restaurant’s bar — we were discussing the bad news which made the good news good: that, by nature, all men and women were spiritually dead in their sin and found guilty before a holy God. Ryan did... Continue Reading
Why the Trinity is a Bad Argument for Trichotomy
Before jumping into the problems with assuming a tripartite nature of man because of the Trinity we must first see the historical issues surrounding Trichotomy.
The distinction made by the Trichotomist regarding soul and spirit is that the “soul is our intellect, will, and emotions, while the spirit is our God-consciousness.”[1] This distinction was central to the heresy of Apollinarianism which was condemned in 381 at the First Council of Constantinople. Apollinarius was reacting to the heretics promoting Arianism, and... Continue Reading
Should I Stay Home from Church When Life Gets Hard?
What about when the spiritual and emotional pain seems too crippling to be at church?
The corporate gathering is to be a time of worship to the glory of God. As we worship together with gifted saints, we are fed, strengthened, transformed, encouraged, and equipped. That’s why the gathering exists. As the word of God is read, sang, prayed, pondered, and preached, God administers his care. So, to suggest avoiding... Continue Reading
Our Final Hope
Mile-wide, inch-deep evangelicalism these days tends to say much about Christian life in this present world without proportionate time given to the contours of eternal hope.
We who preach God’s Word need to speak more frequently about the ultimate issues of eschatology: the return of Christ, judgment for all souls at the day of the Lord, hell as the default destination for unbelief, and heaven’s secure bliss awaiting the redeemed in Christ. I buried Hope recently. She was a mature... Continue Reading
Considering Exceptions: Singing Psalms
If the "singing of psalms with grace in the heart" means that we may only sing psalms, as opposed to hymns, many (myself included) would need to seek an exception.
Is the Westminster Confession of Faith advocating exclusive psalmody? Or, to put it another way: If one were to adhere to the confession without any stated difference, must that person refrain from singing any song in worship that was not one of the one hundred and fifty Psalms found in Scripture? For a variety of... Continue Reading
10 Things You Should Know About the Imago Dei
Theologians typically have tried to identify one particular element or characteristic feature in humanity that embodies or constitutes the imago dei.
Thomas Aquinas focused on man’s reason, Calvin on the soul (i.e., the mind and heart), and Augustine on the mental capacities of memory, understanding, and will. Augustine argued that since man’s reason or mind is his preeminent or most important feature that we should likely find in it a reflection of God, hence his triadic... Continue Reading
Thou Shalt Not Put Your Friends to the Test
Personal Holiness as a Grace to Others
We sometimes neglect to remind people that walking in repentance and integrity is a good gift to leaders (Hebrews 13:17) because it keeps them from having to enter conflict. Us folks under accountability can take real burdens off those holding us accountable by striving to act right. “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill... Continue Reading
Dawkins and the God Question
God, I guess, is just too interesting to ignore.
Our church recently surveyed people from within and without as to the most pressing questions they’d like to ask Christians. We received a rich pot pourri of responses—the existence of aliens, the Christian understanding of gender, the failures of the Church, will my dog be in heaven and so forth. However, the number one question was surprising... Continue Reading
For Now We Rejoice in Part: Happiness Here and Not Yet
Ours is a life characterized by sorrow in many ways. For now, we rejoice only in part.
Though the Father’s will to make us happy does not change, and though the Son’s work of securing our happiness is complete, the Spirit’s work of showing and bestowing happiness to us and upon us has only begun. By God’s triune mercy, we have been reconciled to the order of beatitude, what Augustine calls “the perfectly... Continue Reading