Words to Help Prepare Us to Celebrate Advent
Despite all the darkness of our world, that “Light of life” still shines
Christians are not blind or deaf or insensible to misery. There is much brokenness in this world. It deeply touches Christians too. But, we still make a radical declaration: “It is possible to believe that a sovereign God somehow filters all of these evils through his loving and just hands – his nail pierced hands.... Continue Reading
I’m Sick of Christmas
Celebrate Advent, not Christmas
The church year commences with Advent, which includes the four Sundays before Christmas, the first in 2012 being December 2. Strictly observed Advent is a time of reflection, repentance, and preparation. “Prepare the way of the Lord” is its message. Then comes Christmas Day which begins the Twelve Days of Christmas, which conclude on Epiphany... Continue Reading
No Crisis of Faith Necessary, Simply Exchange Conservative Beliefs for Liberal Ones
The subtlety of the theological slippery slope
Evangelicals are urged not only to give up a belief in Young Earth Creationism, but also the inerrancy of Scripture, a literal hell, and homosexuality and abortion as sins. It’s never just about evolution. To accept evolution as the “way God created” requires a type of mental gymnastics with what Scripture teaches. Once you give... Continue Reading
New Pira Survey Reveals Real Reasons The Unchurched Don’t Attend Church
The real reasons the unchurched don’t attend church
A newly released Pira Survey of the Biblical texts reveals the real reasons why the unchurched do not attend church and the results are sending shockwaves through the seeker-driven and missional camps. Chris Rosebrough, lead researcher for Pira, the organization responsible for this Biblical survey said, “For decades the conventional wisdom in the broader church growth and missional... Continue Reading
Some Notes on “Seven Notes from ‘Lincoln’”
A Response to M. David Sills
Dr. Sills claims the movie makes a “reductionist argument that the war was over slavery,” and says that this “is tantamount to saying the Iraq and Afghanistan wars…were over petroleum.” That is laughable. Here’s the main difference: Southern leaders and secession documents both state that the war was indeed over slavery. It should... Continue Reading
T-t-t-talkin’ Bout My Generation (But Thinking About the One After Next)
One cannot assess a man's life until it is over, until he is dead and in the grave.
What is the legacy of a great church leader? Is it his books? Is it his blogs or his podcasts? Is it the recording of his sermons? Is it his inspirational life story? ….It might indeed involve any or all of these; but surely above all else the legacy of the church leader is his... Continue Reading
Debtors to Ireland
Christians in the United States should consider sending funds and ministers to congregations overseas
I propose that every time a congregation in the United States calls a pastor from another country, that congregation …also send back some form of subsidy to the communion that lost its minister to the United States. Monetary assistance would be one form…U.S. Reformed and Presbyterians might also consider sending to other Reformed communions…young ministers... Continue Reading
Are Christians Totally Depraved?
Believe it or not, this is an important question
Even after God saves us, there is no part of us that becomes sin free–we remain sinful and imperfect in all of our capacities, in the “totality” of our being. Even after God saves us, our thoughts, words, motives, deeds, and affections need the constant cleansing of Christ’s blood and the forgiveness that comes our way for free
The chemistry of marriage
Perhaps the problem lies with the chemist(s)
[Marriage] is a discipline of hard work, persistence, curiosity, diligence, systematic study, recording results, experimentation, and pursuit of good answers. So, if this is chemistry, what does it mean that marriage doesn’t work because “chemistry” is missing? Marriage is an institution under assault, a relational commitment on the decline in our society. Statistics bear... Continue Reading
Are you too introspective?
Do you direct your spiriutal attention toward self and our efforts rather than toward Christ?
Over at the Gospel Coalition, Trevin Wax has warned us against what he calls the Puritan paralysis: that crippling, morbid self-analysis - what Mr Wax calls hyper-introspection - that directs all our spiritual attention toward self and our efforts rather than toward Christ as the object of saving faith, and so cuts the nerve of Christian service as assured saints. He writes: