Such a conception had to lead to an essentially optimistic view of culture and the world. Not that Kuyper himself lost sight of sin and its awful consequences for the human race and the cosmos. He deeply believed in the antithesis and thus in the fundamental difference between common and particular grace. The same cannot... Continue Reading

I cannot tell you what challenges your precious one might have — just as I cannot tell you what challenges anybody’s child will have, “special needs” or not. One aspect of your child’s life just happens to be detectable by prenatal medical technology. But prenatal testing cannot tell you who your child will be, anymore... Continue Reading

It is no coincidence in a society where we imagine ourselves mostly as victims of social or biological forces, in a culture increasingly illiterate in the language of guilt, sin, and personal responsibility, that Christus Victor is winning the day in the Christian world. To be clear: I am not suggesting that champions of Christus... Continue Reading

Some presentations of transformationalism seem to breathe more than a little of this over-realized eschatology. Christ is Lord over all right now and when Christ returns, all things will be reconciled, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord but not until then. So, as such discussions often do, this one... Continue Reading

Healthy churches are messy. It’s easy to look in from the outside and claim, “Half that church is immature!” But such disdain could be misguided. While a state of perpetual immaturity is a recipe for disaster, a constant movement of many immature people being discipled is exactly what Jesus commanded us to do.   There... Continue Reading

The good news is that self-control can be developed. Just as exercising can strengthen muscles, engaging in self-control improves the ability to delay gratification in the future. We can help our elected leaders improve their self-control. When our leaders show spending restraint, however small, we can thank them. If politicians begin to believe they will... Continue Reading

But while Jobs presents a fascinating story of how Jobs overcomes corporate backbiting and channels his own tendency toward obsession to build arguably the most innovative company of the last decade, it veers into corporate hagiography, suggesting that Jobs’ ruthlessness is somehow an asset. As if he couldn’t have accomplished what he did without burning loyal friends... Continue Reading

If all Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16), then there is a unity to be found across the pages of the Bible. Without minimizing the differences of genre and human authorship, we should nevertheless approach the Bible expecting theological distinctives and apparent discrepancies to be fully reconcilable. The unity of Scripture also... Continue Reading

But what the Spirit is actually doing in creation, and this becomes typical of everything he does in the pages of Scripture, is that He is creating a temple, a meeting place for God to meet with and to fellowship with his creation and especially with man; and in which man can also happily meet... Continue Reading

To bring God glory and honor, the Christian doesn’t have to change the world or do all sorts of spectacular things for the good of the Kingdom.  A follower of Christ can serve the Lord well in an obscure, behind-the-scenes, everyday manner (whether trimming lawns or teaching driver’s education).  Christians can please God without ever... Continue Reading