To worship is to make historical claims. Further, to acquiesce in false historical paradigmatic claims is to submit to a hidden idolatrous narrative. The two go together — the two being worship and historical identification. Worship of the true God entails a right understanding of history (Jesus is risen is a historical claim), and worship …
Three Kinds of Servants
In my reading this morning, I noticed an oddity in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It began with seeing that the older brother in effects identifies himself as his father’s slave. When the younger brother came to his senses, and says that he should be treated as one of his fathers “hired servants” (misthios). …
Lawsuits and Postmillennialism
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #50 “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much …
Because Information Is Spiritual
“But atheism requires an evolutionary explanation every bit as much as religious conviction does. And that explanation cannot appeal to the correspondence of the chemical reactions in the head to the events of the outside world — what a contrived business that would be. Given atheistic principles, we have no reason to assign any truth …
As a Pink Comet
“There seems to be a consensus that we should avoid the two extremes of complete improvisation on the one hand and slavery to a script on the other. Good extempore preaching is very rare” (Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 254).
Quite an Aesthetic Treat
It is a tad exasperating, but then one recalls one’s Calvinism again, and everything’s okay. I refer, of course, to the questions of high theology that have now beset the contenders for the Republican nomination for president. I shall respond briefly (and with my customary moderation) by means of three basic points. First, the fracas …
And What a Surprise It Was . . .
“Here I sit, Christian convictions bouncing around in my head, and Dawkins knows that this requires an explanation. Why have millions of years of evolutionary selection given us Arkansas Methodists, Brooklyn Jews, Saudi Muslims, and so on, ad infinitum? But in this book, the one set of convictions that requires no explanation at all would …
The Intersection of Application
“The precise application of our sermon depends, however, on two variables, namely the character of our text and the composition of our congregation” (Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 251).
Everyone But the Demons
As I have thought about how best to respond to this Occupy Wall St. business, it seems to me that it really should be treated with the seriousness it deserves. It is not every day that the body politic gets covered with economically illiterate pustules. We are trying to make out their demands — for …
The Lady is a Welterweight
The Siouxlands Presbytery of the PCA has found Greg Lawrence not guilty of the Federal Vision charges brought against him. You can read more about it here. In related news, the Northwest Presbytery of the PCA has found Peter Leithart not guilty of the Federal Vision charges brought against him. You can read more about …