Are Images of Christ OK? No.
Three key arguments against images of Christ.
The second commandment forbids making images of anyone in the category of God. Therefore, we cannot make images of God the Son. Making images of Christ creates thorny dilemmas. Either we depict the person of the Son and violate the second commandment, or we depict his humanity by divorcing it from his divine person. ... Continue Reading
Actions of the General Assembly on Thursday, June 13
The Assembly voted to accept in omnibus the recommendations from the Overtures Committee on all overtures EXCEPT 1, 3, 7, 13, 14, 17, 26, 28, and 33.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 33, Erect Ad Interim Committee on the Book Jesus Calling, in the affirmative as amended. The vote was 947-834-20. Rather than establishing a study committee, the amended language is to request reports from the permanent committees of Mission to the World and PCA Discipleship Ministries (CDM). Read the amended language here.... Continue Reading
One Woman’s Simple, Moving Testimony
Richard Dawkins tries—and fails—to bring Ayaan Hirsi Ali back to atheism.
People can underestimate the impact that a simple, vulnerable testimony can make in the public square. There is something particularly refreshing about the hopeful joy of a new Christian that simply can’t be captured in the well-worn arguments of a seasoned apologist. A changed life is its own apologetic, its own witness to a watching... Continue Reading
Don’t Hastily Choose Elders
A candidate reveals his moral and shepherding fittedness (or he reveals his disqualification) over time.
The fact that some people are spiritually unfit for ministry leadership may not be initially evident, so hastily appointing them to be an elder can backfire. As Paul said, “the sins of others appear later.” Of course, he doesn’t mean the elders are without sin. But a potential elder can, as time passes, show himself... Continue Reading
Are Images of Christ OK? Yes.
Not all depictions of Jesus serve the same purpose.
To understand whether the creation or use of a visual representation of Jesus violates the second commandment, we must ask whether the work: diverts glory away from God and toward a false object, distorts the story of God’s relationship with his people, or diminishes God’s nature and deforms those who use it. While icon veneration may... Continue Reading
The Getting of Wisdom
How do we get wisdom? The Scriptures offer two ways.
There’s a big difference between “our days are numbered” and “numbering our days.” Acknowledging that our days are numbered is just assenting to the fact that we won’t be around forever. Numbering our days is the biblical wisdom that seeks to squeeze God-fearing insight out of all the days we occupy this life as we... Continue Reading
The Left’s Marriage and Family Dilemma Is a Nuclear Self-Own
The left’s anti-family ideology took hold and replicated so strongly that this virus will end up killing its hosts.
The plummeting birth and marriage rates are so alarming, and the solution so simple and profound, that I published a whole book about it last year. Domestic Extremist was written in response to the attempt by the left to turn concerned parents into literal domestic terrorists. The irony is that parents of big families are not actual domestic... Continue Reading
Resisting Injustice
The Role of the Church
We must have the righteousness of Christ credited to us if we are to be saved, but we must also apply His standard of righteousness to the public square. Faithfully doing so would allow Christians to see more clearly the similarities of the injustices taking place in Jerusalem with those in America today. A primary... Continue Reading
A Summary Report of the 2024 Orthodox Presbyterian Church General Assembly
The 90th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church met at Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington from June 19–25, 2024.
The report of the statistician was received. The total membership of 33,520 persons at the end of 2023 consisted of 599 ministers, 24,645 communicant members, and 8,276 baptized children (non-communicants). This represents an increase of 897 persons (2.75 percent) from 2022’s adjusted total of 32,623 members. Wednesday, June 19, 2024 Rev. John Fesko (RTS,... Continue Reading
Preaching and Teaching
The feeding of our Lord’s sheep comes principally through teaching.
History shows us that the greatest periods of revival and reformation the church has ever seen occur in conjunction with the frequent, consistent, and clear preaching of God’s Word. If we would see the Holy Spirit bring renewal to our churches and our lands, it will require preachers who are committed to the exposition of... Continue Reading
Father Hunger Fuels the Persistence of Father’s Day
Despite the pernicious influence identity politics has had on our culture, America still longs for devoted fathers.
Our culture has been trending toward a shallower portrayal of fathers who lack strong character or even a masculine identity. In recent decades, identity politics has inundated our culture with portrayals of fathers who identify as homosexual and/or transgender, such as in shows like “Modern Family” or “Transparent.” In large part, that’s because flooding popular... Continue Reading
Let’s Stop Hyper-Spiritualising Christian Counselling
We can’t deal with spiritual problems by ignoring the rest of our lives.
When Christians really struggle—and all of us will, at different times—it seems that it’s automatically assumed the fundamental problem is a spiritual one. We conclude that something must be wrong in our relationship with God. Our Christian counselling tends to be over-spiritualised. Thus our solutions are merely spiritual, believing the struggles to be spiritual. But... Continue Reading
Fear, Greed, Workism, and the Lord’s Prayer
If we believed our daily bread would be given, we would rest.
God knows we really do need all these things like food and water, shelter and work, companionship and love. He knows we need all these and even still other things. And yet, those alone aren’t enough. We do need food day by day. And yet, someday the day will come when our body quits eating, when... Continue Reading
Where to Now? Living in an Anti- Christian West
Things have radically changed in a few short decades.
A new book by American evangelical writer Aaron Renn looks at similar themes: Life in the Negative World (Zondervan, 2024). He uses differing terminology as he also looks at these three periods: -the positive world (1964-1994)-the neutral world (1994-2014) -the negative world (2014-present) (pp. 6-7). One can quibble about the dating, but the three periods correspond to... Continue Reading
Gender in the Void
The new definition of gender does not allow us more freedom to have more genders.
It throws the very concept of gender into the void, causing all genders to lose all meaning. Of course, that is precisely what a handful of critical gender theorists want. Still, many believe their gender gives them certain rights and protections under the law, but if gender goes, so do their rights associated with it.... Continue Reading
The Limits of Secularity
Has American secularism reached its peak?
Why might secularism be waning among Generation Z? Perhaps this is a move of the Spirit to turn the hearts of people toward Christ in a time of trouble and tumult. History shows that God often moves in a powerful way during the most troubling times in the world. We should be thankful for the... Continue Reading
The Art of (Culture) War Requires Knowing Your Opponent
Minimizing collateral damage will go a long way toward helping us secure victory.
The family has been under attack for decades by forces eager to control terms and take territory when it comes to ideas around sex and marriage. Radical ideologues have seized control of academic institutions, government agencies, and media companies. The question for pro-family conservatives is not whether these ideas need to be defeated. The issue is... Continue Reading
Pornography & Repentance
Contrary to what the world around us would have us believe, the path of purity is filled with great joy.
Pornography degrades the mind into darkness, dulling our senses so that we lose the ability to appreciate the subtle art that God has created all around us. It addicts us to fluff and triviality, and reality becomes intolerable. In our previous study, we began the final section of the catechism, which is called Restoration. As... Continue Reading
John Rogers & Rebecca Peale, Martyrs
Murdered by a mob just four days after arriving on the mission field.
Hopeful, dedicated, and spiritually zealous Rev. John R. Peale completed seminary, was licensed and ordained, married Rebecca, and with his bride they embarked on a lengthy journey to China only to be murdered in the streets of Lienchou by some of the residents they had hoped to serve. John Rogers Peale was born to... Continue Reading
Reformed Theology & Presuppositionalism: Glued or Grown Out of?
Non-Reformed Christian uses of the presuppositional method are ultimately creating an apologetic Frankenstein.
The proper kind of apologetic defense of the Reformed Christian faith grows out of its theological soil reflecting its organic roots in that foregoing Reformed theology…In short, the theology determines the method. For some time now Christians from various non-Reformed Christian traditions have sought to use the “presuppositionalist” apologetic in their defense of the... Continue Reading
Suffering and the Gospel, Part 1
The universe is a megaphone proclaiming truth about God. Understanding this is a vital first step to grasping God’s purposes for suffering.
Suffering is a universal experience. If you have a pulse, you either have or will experience suffering. My sad conviction is that far too few Christians today have an adequate Biblical understanding of suffering. And this leaves them in an extremely vulnerable place when the waves of suffering finally do reach the shores of their... Continue Reading
How Organisms Reveal Divine Purpose and Design
According to a recent Forbes article, an increasing number of scientists have concluded that the formation and function of organisms reflects purpose and design
[Denis] Noble is neutral on religious matters. Yet he sees compelling evidence that purpose may be fundamental to life….Noble’s critics worry that entertaining religion-adjacent views subverts established science and the entire scientific project. What if the formation and function of organisms requires design and reflects purpose? And what if these phenomena suggest the reality... Continue Reading
Report on the 51st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America: We Still Have Work to Do
Our Triune God will continue to cause us to be united in the truth of His Word.
The 51st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America was a success. It was a success because we came together as brothers, and even when we disagreed we remembered that we all serve one Master and Lord. There are areas where our church is not on the same page. There are areas where we... Continue Reading
A Call to Visitation Ministry
Visitation ministry is practical, root-level Christianity.
Jesus spoke the most plain words about visiting lonely believers who can’t come to church. His words make it clear that He cares about them deeply, and gives special attention to them. They are His sheep and they need to be fed. Visiting the sick, the needy, and the shut-ins is part and parcel... Continue Reading
Institutes of the Christian Religion: A Reader’s Guide to a Christian Classic
Calvin, like Scripture, highlights for us the importance of knowing God intimately (Jer. 9:23–24; John 17:3).
Unfortunately—and incorrectly—some people assume that Calvin’s magnum opus must be the bedrock of the so-called “five points of Calvinism” and that Calvin must have used his book largely to defend his “Calvinism.” That’s not correct. The first sentence of the Institutes orients us to its two great themes: “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that... Continue Reading
The “New” Antisemitism in America’s Universities
The antisemitic murder and mutilation spree in Israel and the antisemitic celebrations of it in America revealed to both Israeli and American Jews that despite their differences, they have a shared identity and a shared fate.
What is new about the “new” antisemitism is not the antisemitism, but the fact that it compels Jews to realize that they cannot escape their connection to Israel, because the attack against Zionism inevitably includes them. Israel’s enemies and Israel friends alike regard American Jews as Zionists. American Jews are thus made to understand that... Continue Reading
Let’s Hear It for the Second Parents
I thought it would be fitting today to draw attention to these second parents and second spouses, these God-given provisions for the needy and broken-hearted.
A man or woman has suffered the heartbreaking loss of a spouse and has then rejoiced as God has provided a second husband, a second wife. In almost every case, this second spouse had previously been unmarried and had reluctantly accepted that, though they desired to marry, God had not provided a spouse. They had... Continue Reading
51st General Assembly Reflections
As we conclude the 51st General Assembly, we know there is still yet work to do.
I pray that the PCA would continue to grow, and be fruitful in her ministry. I want to see the PCA live into the fullest expression of historic, reformed presbyterianism. After the past several General Assemblies, my spirit is encouraged. I am thankful and hopeful for the PCA. While one overture I had supported failed(Overture... Continue Reading
Southern Baptists Take a Stand
The SBC removes an historic church and passes an historic statement on IVF.
The historic First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Va., was removed from the “friendly cooperation” status after the congregation had expressed its support for women serving as pastors. The SBC’s confession of faith states that “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture,” and messengers showed their unity on this question. The... Continue Reading
Where Things Went Wrong (Genesis 3)
Sin, not God’s original design, has damaged the relationship between the sexes.
Where did things go wrong between the genders? Not with God’s original design. God’s original design for men and women was good — not just good but very good. We dare not ignore the dignity of both men and women or eliminate the differences between them, because those differences are good. We have to look... Continue Reading