More Arguments That Are Less Than Meets the Eye
10 popular arguments that should be less persuasive than they often are.
If you traffic the blogosphere, or just scroll down Hootsuite or your Facebook page, you will find these arguments in abundance. And they very often carry the day. But on closer inspection, the reasoning is often much less than meets the eye. Three years ago I wrote a post about six popular arguments that should... Continue Reading
Is it Really That Simple?
Simplicity isn't a discipline; it is an essential characteristic of God.
Sure, simplifying can be a very good thing. But when we are talking about our spiritual life, goodness, obedience, and truth, I think that it is important to recognize that these are not virtues that come from within ourselves. This discipline of simplicity that Foster teaches is ambiguous at best. At worst, it is suggesting... Continue Reading
9 Reasons to Reconsider Preaching Verse-by-Verse
Benefits from expositional preaching
Verse-by-verse preaching generally gets a head nod from preaching books as a technique for the overly-zealous Bible expositors who view the Bible more as a lecture than a sermon. But I’d like us to reconsider not simply expositional, but verse-by-verse preaching as a means to bridge the gap between this generation and the millennial generation... Continue Reading
Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly for Beginners, Part 1
An introduction for those for whom this will be their first GA
First, what is the GA? It is the annual meeting of representatives of the churches that make up the PCA. A fuller description of the GA is found in Chapter 14 of the BCO. I recommend that you read it. The GA meets at different locations around the nation, usually in a city that has... Continue Reading
Karen Hodge Named PCA Women’s Ministry Coordinator
Hodge has been appointed as the Women's Ministry Coordinator for the PCA, effective February 1, 2014
Karen is a member of Naperville PCA in Naperville, IL, where her husband Chris serves as Pastor. She has served the PCA for many years in a variety of roles. As a mother and the wife of a pastor, she has ministered in the following congregations: Briarwood PCA in Birmingham, AL, Christ Covenant PCA in... Continue Reading
Fossil Finding Shakes Evolutionary Theories
Creationists question Darwinian explanations of a recent DNA discovery
This finding perplexes evolutionists who believe the Neanderthals lived in Asia and Western Europe, while Denisovans were thought to be limited to East Asia, nearly 4,000 miles from the cave where the fossil was discovered in Spain. Since it is doubtful that a Denisovan could have traveled that far, evolutionists have no explanation for the... Continue Reading
Who’s Afraid of Pregnant Women?
The trend in some large cities is more beneficial to cats and dogs than to children.
“To breed or not to breed, this was the question,” pondered one married woman writing for The Seattle Times. Her article, “Why I Am Not Having Kids,” offered many reasons for her decision, including: “Not having a child is the most important thing I could do to reduce my carbon footprint.” I might add, another way... Continue Reading
Jeremy Walker’s “The New Calvinism Considered” Considered
A book review of The New Calvinism Considered by Jeremy Walker
I don’t think Jeremy’s caveat that “New Calvinism” is a nebulous phrase exempts him from the need to shed some definitional light on the matter. The alliterated headings of Calvinism, Characters, Conglomeration, and Consolidation do not seem to sufficiently define boundaries for the movement. And, so, while Piper and Driscoll are almost constant topics of... Continue Reading
Sanctified by Faith
"...the corporate means of grace that God has given to the church–the ministry of the word, prayer, and the sacraments–must be viewed as crucial to our sanctification."
Is sanctification to be viewed as entirely a work of God, or does the Christian work together with God? On the face of it, the answer to this question is not immediately obvious. On the one hand, our sanctification is clearly the work of God’s grace–it is rooted in the triumph of Christ over sin... Continue Reading
Separation of Church and Church
When property law and canon law collide.
On appeal to the Supreme Court, the Falls Church Anglican is the only church that stands in the legal battle. The 10 other defendants have either settled or given up due to legal expenses. The congregation will know if its case will be heard by the Supreme Court by January 2014. Hundreds of congregations... Continue Reading