“And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast... Continue Reading

Instead of congealing the whole of the Scriptures into a simplistic tag line, we must expound the depth and richness of the gospel that defy simplistic accounts. The plot line of redemptive history is deep and rich because redemption is deep and rich. The Bible’s articulation of the gospel mirrors the depth and richness of... Continue Reading

‘To the canonical Scriptures alone I owe agreement without dissent,’ says Augustine. ‘My conscience is captive to the Word of God,’ cries Martin Luther. Martin Anstey writes, ‘the primary qualification demanded in the reader of the Bible is not scholarship but surrender, not expert knowledge but willingness to be led by the Spirit of God.’... Continue Reading

What can be done about the PCA’s “big sort” constraint? I wish I were that smart to say. I am not. I wish I had all the answers. Thankfully, Presbyterians do theology in community. My greatest desire is for the PCA to be serious about its HUP ethos in suburban and city center churches so... Continue Reading

As such, my working thesis is this: given that the PCA was structured and built around the homogenous unit principle it is unlikely to ever have much success moving deeply into black and Hispanic communities unless outlier minorities socially conform by adopting the same cultural values of white socio-political conservatives and/or white city center elites.... Continue Reading

“Yes Sir! Living the dream! I am called to preach, called to be a chaplain and I find myself this very moment in chaplain school, preparing for ministry. I am literally living the dream.” I am on chaplain duty today. I am ministering at the US Army Chaplain Center and School. I came to instruct,... Continue Reading

My argument against deaconesses and “commissioning” male and female deacons without ordaining them has nothing whatsoever to do with women being either inept or incompetent… However, as I will argue later, I also am fully convinced that the practice of “commissioning” male and female deacons is not merely a matter of preference. I will argue... Continue Reading

‘The traditional question of theodicy is, Why does God permit moral evil and permit suffering that serves no discernible good? If we hold that God is not impassible, then in addition to that question we have another: Why does God permit what disturbs God? Why does God allow what God endures in tears? I do... Continue Reading

Declines in the youth population over all have occurred twice before in the last century. First in the 1930s, when the Depression gripped the country, dragging down the birth rate, and then in the 1970s and 1980s, as the baby boomers aged out of childhood and women delayed marriage and went to work. Demographers sifting... Continue Reading

Dear Shadow Guide, The enemy may now lay claim to your quarry, but he is still of great value to our cause. Our adversary, whom he now calls Lord, is not a realist. Idealism is the weakness of His kingdom. This specific prey of yours has a proclivity toward our utilitarian skepticism. Shadow Guide, you... Continue Reading