What is Liberal Theology?
It's important to understand it and to recognize that some Christians embrace the theology without embracing the term
Specifically, liberal theology is defined by its openness to the verdicts of modern intellectual inquiry, especially the natural and social sciences; its commitment to the authority of individual reason and experience; its conception of Christianity as an ethical way of life; its favoring of moral concepts of atonement; and its commitment to make Christianity credible... Continue Reading
The Voice of the Church
It is time for churches that see the evil of abortion to stand up and be counted—no matter the risk or the cost.
When the church is silent in the midst of a holocaust, she ceases to be a real church. Wherever human dignity is under attack, it is the duty of the church and of the Christian to rise up in protest against it. This is not a political matter, and neither is it a temporary matter.... Continue Reading
5 Ways Adult Children Can Honor Their Parents
As adults, how can we show our appreciation and love for our parents?
The real way to love and honor your parents is to simply just love and honor them, despite their flaws, despite the annoying things you disliked when you were a kid. Put up with whatever it is they do that annoys you. Do it, not because you’ll get a tangible benefit, but because they are... Continue Reading
All Other Ground is Sinking Sand
The Word of God is our most basic and solid foundation for all that we know, and for all that we want to say in apologetics
For this reason (among others), during the time of the Reformation, there was a radical shift in emphasis, from the medieval focus on the power of reason as a foundation of knowledge, to a central and foundational focus on the power and necessity of Scripture. This focus was the result, in part, of the biblical... Continue Reading
The Danger of Losing Amazement for Grace
How many of us are in need of being revived by the very grace that doesn't move us like it once did?
Familiarity with the things of God will cause you to lose your awe. You’ve spend so much time in Scripture that the grand redemptive narrative, with its expansive wisdom, doesn’t excite you anymore. You’ve spent so much time exegeting the atonement that you stand at the foot of the cross with little weeping and scant... Continue Reading
Being “nice” can’t happen without the Truth
In giving up Truth, does a society also become angry and ugly?
Being “nice,” of course, is not ultimately what the Christian walk is all about. But neither is it just a low-level option for those who are commanded by Scripture to “speak the truth in love.” Even the order of that commandment—truth first, love second—suggests that being “nice” can’t happen unless such behavior is rooted first... Continue Reading
On Upholding the Confessions of the Church: An Open Letter to the PCUSA
A letter addressed to the Moderator of the PC(USA) on a recent General Assembly action to redefine marriage
The action of last year’s assembly declaring itself free to propose amendments to the Book of Order in conflict with The Book of Confessions, thus disallowing the confessions any say-so over the government and life of the church, was a knowing and willing rejection both of the confessions and of good order. It was a... Continue Reading
All that is iron comes to rust
On the passing of the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher
The woman who defined the teenage years of many of us — and we all live a lot of our lives in our teenage years — has gone. As I thought of Hill today, I also thought of the film, The Iron Lady, an elegy to the erosion of power and of life itself that... Continue Reading
In the Middle East, not America, Christians are actually persecuted
Why isn’t the mammoth Christian community of the world’s most influential nation in a tizzy over the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and around the world?
Today in the Middle East and elsewhere, Christians huddle together beneath a solitary light bulb to read from contraband Bibles and sing hushed hymns. At any moment, their doors may be broken in and their lives could be snuffed out. Many Christians sit in dank prisons for committing no crime except following Jesus. Tomorrow, they... Continue Reading
Idiot Wind: A Response to Barnabas Piper
Evangelicals need a richer vocabulary of politics and better social values if we’re going to say anything worth hearing about “gay marriage”
Piper seems to be confused about the difference between compassionate, loving friendship, accepting people as they are, and public discussion and action. The aim of the former is to know, love, and help an individual friend come to knowledge of God and true self-knowledge. The aim of the latter is the public, common good of... Continue Reading