So I watched Hannity’s interview with Sarah Palin last night, and had a few brief thoughts. No detailed defenses of anything here, although I am pretty sure we will all get into the deep weeds of that discussion again sometime. Here are just a few quick takes. First, she is clearly a very nice Christian …
A Sublime Mystery
Book 4/Chapter 17 Meaning of promise (section 4) 1. What is not the chief function of the Supper? 2. What is it rather intended to do? Partakers by faith (section 5) 1. What is more clear than the gospel preached? 2. What two faults must we guard against? 3. Do we receive Jesus by mere …
Appearance of Godliness
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, …
Deep Peril, Deep Thanksgiving
INTRODUCTION: We sometimes try to cultivate the right heart attitude by denying the obvious challenges and perils in the world around us, and we sometimes try to pretend that we see the “real world” by adopting a cynical and artistic posture toward it all. We think that in order to have an enjoyable thanksgiving, it …
An Edifying Use of Bandwidth?
We would be interested in some feedback, if you all wouldn’t mind. Not on the sermon itself, actually, but on the vehicle of delivery. We know that a number of you listen to Christ Church messages via audio download, or by having them mailed to you. The elders of Christ Church recently approved an experiment, …
College as a Counter-Revolution
My colleague Roy Atwood is fond of reminding people of the revolutionary origins of our modern system of higher education. We don’t think much about it anymore, and simply describe it as “going off to college.” But going off to college now is quite a different thing than what it once was, and the difference …
The Entire Force of the Supper
Book 4/Chapter 17 The Supper (section 1) 1. What do the signs of wine and bread represent for us? 2. In the Supper, what is God doing for the regeneration of baptism? Special fruit (section 2) 1. What is the special fruit of the Supper? 2. What does it mean that Christ has become son …
Legislating Sunshine
It is starting to look as though he might be doing it all on purpose. Many years ago, William Simon commented that right wingers are prone to conspiracy theories precisely for this reason — it seems apparent to them that the destructive nature of the proposed policies A, B, and C are evident to all, …
An Earnest Fear of God
Book 4/Chapter 16 Answering Servetus (section 31) 1. What does Calvin devote the next section to? 2. Although he answers these arguments briefly, what does he call them? Gratitude (section 32) 1. What should our response be to the fact that God has included our children together with us? 2. When we recognize that God …
Doing Good and Doing Well
Here is a fine response to N.T. Wright’s most recent book on justification that I commend to you.