The PCA’s analogy to a wedding is the service of ordination prescribed by our Book of Church Order. Here, vows to fidelity are made primarily with respect to upholding our doctrinal standards….So essential are these doctrinal standards to our unity that teaching elders (ministers) must vow “to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths... Continue Reading

I tried to say before, why don’t we just all repent toward each other? Why don’t the GraceBoys confess their struggles with proud self-centeredness, and the AntiOnes confess that within their bundle of differing motivations they sometimes minimize the enduring love of Jesus? I’m enthusiastic about trusting Christ. I did it six times in my... Continue Reading

The making of Hollywood’s coveted “Oscar” is fascinating. The process of creating the Oscar starts with the pouring of metal into a special mold. The mold is formed to allow the Oscar to be made of solid metal instead of being hollow like most trophies. The next step after being removed from the mold is... Continue Reading

A man addicted to pornography (or any other substance) is incapable of making that first commitment. Addiction is one of the “4A’s” that typically destroy a marriage (addiction, abuse, adultery, abandonment) and women are too tempted to play the Savior Card (“I can save him; I can help him; I can change him”). I read... Continue Reading

There have been many attempts to explain the trials and sufferings of life, and many philosophical debates around the issue of why God allows suffering at all. Horatio Spafford’s response to the loss of his family may seem an incredible form of escapism to some, but to others it expresses the deepest assurances of faith... Continue Reading

Cynthia Nixon of “Sex in the City” fame, recently gave a speech in which she said that she is gay by choice. She said, “I have been straight and I have been gay and gay is better.” This of course caused an uproar in the gay community. One gay rights advocate “John Aravosis wrote that... Continue Reading

To understand the Law we must recapture the classic Reformed distinctions about the Law, particularly with respect to the kinds of law, the uses of the law and the relationship of the covenants to the law as we find it in the Bible. These distinctions profoundly deepen our understanding of the Bible and of the... Continue Reading

Centuries of advancements for women separate Emma and the conduct books from the Groupon boudoir photo offer, yet they all convey the notion that if a woman can project the desired image—angelic in the eighteenth century, erotic in the twenty-first—she will succeed in her quest to catch a man. Last week Groupon offered a ticket... Continue Reading

‘It was Hume who first spoke of miracles as violations of nature. But Christians don’t believe that the Legislator is subject to any of the laws of nature.’—Craig Keener Review Interview of Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts by Craig S. Keener, Baker Academic, 2011, 1238 pp. Craig Keener has the brain of... Continue Reading

But they co-opted a term that anyone who follows Jesus — whatever their theological label — can legitimately wear. And I, for one, refuse to allow them to tell me that because I do not agree with some of their theology I am not a genuine evangelical. A frequently heard term in political discourse these... Continue Reading