Just as going from wood heating to paying for electric on the first day of the week enables a better personal and societal keeping of the Lord’s Day, due to a dedicated minority more efficiently providing a greater, necessary benefit for all, so the use of profitable, suitable restaurants on the Lord’s Day may contribute... Continue Reading

Enoch’s words are not recorded in the Old Testament, which also doesn’t describe him as a prophet. But Jude cites Enoch and refers to his words as a prophecy (Jude 14–15).   Enoch was the son of patriarch Jared (Genesis 5:18) and his name (ḥănôḵ) means ‘dedicated’. Although not much space in the Bible is... Continue Reading

Darwin’s theory has always had some serious weaknesses. For example, from the beginning, every version of the theory assumed the existence of the biological process of reproduction as a given. Descent with modification assumes a process by which descent takes place. But how did the process of reproduction (a mind-bogglingly complex biological process) itself evolve without an... Continue Reading

For five decades, William has led the people of God at Trinity in song. In a congregation committed to reverent worship, historic liturgy, and the rich musical heritage of the church, his role has been foundational. The organ does the heavy lifting of congregational song.  It strengthens and supports the voices of the people as... Continue Reading

The sins of pornography, adultery, homosexuality, slandering, and gossiping can all be cleansed. There are certainly repentance and reconciliation issues between you and the people you have hurt. Abuse and violence have legal consequences. But you can go to Jesus if, like the leper, you humbly bow and repent.   Think of the most socially... Continue Reading

That dissonance between what grief actually requires and what our work culture allows and demands is where so much of this struggle resides. In a system that runs on production and performance, there’s little space for something that can’t be optimized or sped up. And grief, by its very nature, refuses to operate on that... Continue Reading

Although some among us would defend both biblically and historically the practice of referring to lay volunteers as deacons or deaconesses, others find this to be a distressing refusal to abide by the BCO as currently written. Overture 71 would prohibit this nomenclature even more clearly than the BCO currently does. However, keeping the lay... Continue Reading

Biblically speaking, there are two and only two legitimate sexual identities: male and female. Scripture identifies sinful desires and sinful behaviors, calls them sin, and calls sinners to repentance, forgiveness, and adoption into God’s family as sons and daughters of God. That is the identity on offer. The gospel doesn’t baptize your disordered desires and... Continue Reading

The civil power is to serve the church as a guardian of liberty and a hedge against violence, not as an umpire of doctrine and practice who can even eject players from the ecclesial arena. When we compare these passages on the civil magistrate, we do not find “sorta, kinda” the same thing—they are altogether... Continue Reading

Progressive Christianity in final analysis forms and then ascends a mountain of its own making, at the summit transfiguring the community’s internal inclinations into external dogma. Such idol-making is the only recourse for Progressive Christianity, dwelling in the shadow of nihilism, rubbing modernism and postmodernism together in bifurcated hopeful-despair for a flame to arise.  ... Continue Reading