We must not approach the worship of God for what it can do for us. This kind of idolatrous mistake is responsible for many churches losing their way with worship. The aforementioned benefits of paying attention to what we sing are simply byproducts of genuine worship—the benefits to the human spirit of encountering and rightly... Continue Reading

Despite the numerous different meanings of the word tradition, critics of sola Scriptura sometimes employ any positive instance of this term as though it were speaking of tradition in the sense defined at the council of Trent. But it is specifically that conception of tradition that sola Scriptura opposes— namely, that Scripture and tradition are to be received with equal reverence as... Continue Reading

All people—regardless of gender, ethnicity, culture, or time—are part of the “culture of humanity.” We all share similar physiological, biological, and emotional characteristics such that when music expresses emotion on that level, its meaning is universal. Christians must not fall into the trap of ignoring or even denying universal meaning in music because there are... Continue Reading

Roughly speaking, postmodern contextualism has at its heart the twin convictions (1) that claims to human knowledge always come within a linguistic, social, and cultural context, and (2) that this threefold context makes it impossible to know universal, transcendent truths. For the postmodern contextualist, truth is local to a particular culture or society; truth is... Continue Reading

“No one, least of all Christians, should welcome civil war in the Church. But too many Church leaders have grown arrogant due to the rank and file’s reluctance to seem unpleasant or uncharitable by confronting their deceit and manipulation, and a unity based on acceptance of false teaching is a unity of the damned. As... Continue Reading

When Jeremiah doubted, he did not try to solve his problems on his own. Instead, he committed his cause to the Lord. For him, this meant praying that his cause would be vindicated. Our case may be different, but the principle is the same: if we believe that God is with us and has the... Continue Reading

I hope God’s Crime Scene can help you answer this question by employing a number of very simple investigative tools detectives use every day. Criminal investigators recognize one important evidential truth: the identity of a suspect must account for all the evidence “in the room”. Whatever caused the origin of our universe must also account for all the other evidence we... Continue Reading

Roger Scruton often wrote about his beloved England and how he was witnessing its tragic collapse. In 2000 he penned England: An Elegy (Bloomsbury). While focusing on just this one nation, much of what he says there can be applied to other parts of the West. Here I simply want to offer some quotes from the volume.... Continue Reading

Once we are aware of our own fault lines, we seek to reinforce these places with the sturdy, immovable, unchangeable words of Scripture. Grass withers, flowers fade, and false centers shake, but the Word of God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8). We would do well to listen to the advice of writer of Hebrews to those... Continue Reading

Miles Smith’s book is an excellent reminder that conservatives should never prioritize an idealized individual or nation. Rather, we must work to preserve those institutions that point us to better lives.   Liberalism has not been wanting for obituaries in recent years. Academics such as Patrick Deneen have argued at length that the American experiment... Continue Reading