This coming Thursday, Jim Wallis and Al Mohler will be debating the question of social justice and the mission of the church (HT: Justin Taylor). Click here for more. The question before the house will be this: “Is Social Justice an Essential Part of the Mission of the Church?” Wallis will be arguing the affirmative …
Lawsuits as Eschatological Failure
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #52 “I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that …
Truth Stays Put
“In other words, the ‘facts of the case’ never check with us first to see if ‘them being true’ will put us out in any way. The square of the hypotenuse is what it is quite apart from me having indigestion over it. Two apples added to two apples will result in four apples however …
Argument on Fire
“What is needed today then is the same synthesis of reason and emotion, exposition and exhortation, as was achieved by Paul . . . Earlier in his book, [J.W.] Alexander has made a plea for ‘theological preaching’. What interests people, he says, is ‘argument made red-hot’, for ‘argument admits of great vehemence and fire’ (Stott, …
Repent Like An American
The advice contained in the title is good counsel — but only if you are an American. Further, the phrase is not intended as any kind of backhanded praise, as though Americans repent better than anybody else. They only repent of American sins better than other people do, and then only if they are actually …
That Chokey Feeling
Apparently the office at the Vatican responsible for ushering in the millennium has suggested that we obtain for ourselves a central world bank, and has further intimated that various market idolatries are responsible for the economic mess we are in. One headline I saw suggested that the Vatican butt out of economics and go back …
Posture in Worship
Churches can generally be categorized as “truth oriented” or as “feelings oriented.” It would be fair to rank our churches as among the former, but one of the temptations faced by such truth oriented churches is that of sliding into thinking that this means “brain oriented” churches. But the truth is for the whole man. …
One Vast Boneyard
The end of October approaches, and as we mark and celebrate the great Reformation, our heart’s desire and prayer should be for future historians to be able to describe it as the first reformation, as the small one. “Small” does not mean insignificant, but in this case it does mean early on. Eye has not …
Forgiveness and Trust
One of the most difficult exercises in practical Christian living is learning the distinction between forgiveness and trust, as well as the distinction between forgiveness and qualification for office. Forgiveness is hard enough to do without confusing it with things that are impossible to do. Let me state the general problem first, using different illustrations. …
Some Theological Background
I am pleased to introduce a guest post of sorts from my friend, Jack Bradley. He collected some relevant quotes (think: Leithart trial) from Leonard Vander Zee, Christ, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Here they are: “In ordinary language the two words sign and symbol are used nearly interchangeably. In fact, they have quite different …