Pastors and elders want thinking women in the church, right? And yet popular beliefs that came out of the nineteenth century’s cult of domesticity still seem to linger in the evangelical culture today. Back then, people taught that women’s brains were inferior to men’s intellectually and that women needed to reserve their energy and blood... Continue Reading

That Dragon, Cancer is as difficult yet as straightforward a game as you will ever play. The purpose is not to gain points or earn badges or compete with friends, but to grapple with hard matters, to consider life and death, to consider mortality and eternity.   Oh my. I had no idea. I had heard... Continue Reading

“As Christian parents raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, we can be tempted to believe some dangerous myths about what we are doing and how we are to go about it. I was helped and challenged anew as I encountered these myths, and the truths that destroy them, in Chap... Continue Reading

“When Christianity emerged in the Roman Empire during the first century it did so as a persecuted minority known for its distinctive sexual ethic. Harper argues, in fact, that it was their views of sex more than anything else that distinguished Christians in the ancient world.”   The West is jettisoning the Christian understanding of... Continue Reading

When I sit down to read my Bible, I remember that I am not alone. The Scripture is not alone either. I’m not only depending on the Spirit to work in me for that moment; I know that he has been working in the church universal through the centuries, preserving an orthodox profession and testifying... Continue Reading

I wish the authors would have related justification to the conscience and Christian liberty.  Sadly, the doctrine of justification was not discussed in this book.  In reality, Christian liberty is an “appendage of justification,” as Calvin said; certainly justification has everything to do with our conscience and Christian liberty (see Gal. 5:1 & Westminster Confession... Continue Reading

In such churches, worship services increasingly seem to resemble coffee shops more than encounters with a holy God. While I’m sure that the people at this church mean well, their advertisement is certainly not designed to encourage the fear of God. Rather, they suggest that worshiping God is a casual and non-threatening activity, an enjoyable... Continue Reading

I’m guessing they didn’t get to watch the football games either. And I bet it was a lot harder to loosen those big Pilgrim belt-buckles after a meal like that! But I digress. This is a really great book that was awarded “One of the 10 Best Books of the Year” by The New York Times Book Review. And rightly so, it is a page turner of historical narrative genre

“Indeed, I’d almost given up on finding a modern successor to him when Sinclair Ferguson’s new book, Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification, arrived on my desk. Within the first few pages I was hooked by what I believe will go on to become a classic book on holiness and a worthy modern successor to... Continue Reading

I do think this is a call for church officers to listen, to begin asking questions about women’s initiatives in their own church, to make sure that over half the church is not working separately, but as part of the covenant community, and to ponder how men and women of the church serve and disciple... Continue Reading