Crabb’s description of what it means to be masculine and feminine can stand or fall on its own merits. He supports it with scriptural argumentation, psychological observation, and practical application. But I wish he’d leave the Trinity out of it. Specifically, I wish he didn’t connect gender to the relationship between the Father and the... Continue Reading

What about free will? I don’t believe, and Scripture doesn’t teach, that God controls us like automatons or puppets. As the quote above from the Confession states, God doesn’t force us to act contrary to our wills. God doesn’t make us choose a particular person to marry. And we certainly can’t say that we have... Continue Reading

Pastors, there is much going on in our heart and there is an enemy waging war for our souls everyday seeking to destroy us, our ministries and our families.  One of the enemy’s cunning tactics is to subtly cause us to miss these warning signs in our heart that something is not quite right.  Let your wife... Continue Reading

The push to be radical, on mission, a world-changer can seem like a crushing weight. Sometimes life is just too hard and stuff is too broken. It’s all I can manage just to keep my world from flying to bits, let alone change anyone else’s. That’s so far outside of reality it sounds more like... Continue Reading

The problem with the redemptive-historical extremists is three-fold. First, the ethical thrust of the New Testament, which is not inconsiderable, disappears. All preaching becomes about Jesus and the cross, that is, about justification by faith. Everything else is a footnote to justification. As a consequence, preaching becomes predictable, cliché, and boring. Flights of redemptive-historical fancy... Continue Reading

Of course, this command to encourage others applies in all of our relationships, but for those of us who are married, perhaps it applies most particularly to our spouses. In other words, part of my vocation as a wife, is to spend time carefully thinking how I might encourage my husband, Phil, to love God... Continue Reading

I would, however, like to ask the SJC this simple question: is your interpretation of the polity of the PCA putting polity higher in importance than the gospel? If God were to ask you why you allowed a heterodox teacher to remain in the flock, are you going to feel comfortable telling God that the... Continue Reading

After reflecting on his son’s skepticism, Enns concludes: “I am proud of that little six-year-old, who trusted himself enough not to play games.” “Who trusted himself enough?” The whole message of the Bible is trust God and not yourself. To trust yourself is to play a deadly game that no one has ever won.  ... Continue Reading

Finally, I do not understand the attraction of these sorts of arguments, i.e., the sorts of arguments that imply that Reformed theology is in crisis and the only way to save it is to kill it. This is the “we had to bomb the village in order to save it” mentality. No, we don’t. What... Continue Reading

Still, the woes of Detroit do put into perspective the hyperventilation that goes on in some neo-Calvinist circles when folks talk about the power of the gospel to redeem all of life. Cases like Detroit would certainly call for a bit of qualification to follow those inspirational claims since I am not sure that even... Continue Reading