It has been eight years since the horrific attack on the World Trade Towers. If all you had to go on was our typical left/right tangled discussions of the event, you would conclude either that Obama struck the right note on his international apology tour, assuming in the background of his speech that America somehow …
Would They Do This If They Thought There Was a God?
Book 4/Chapter 5 Learning (section 1) 1. Is hierarchy important to the Roman church? 2. If they ordain a man of learning, what is he likely to know? 3. What sorts of men are ordained? A lost franchise (section 2) 1. What has vanished from the church? 2. When bishops are presented to the people, …
Ordination in the Olden Times
Book 4/Chapter 4 Church elections and emperors (section 13) 1. How long did the old method of selecting church rulers last? 2. When was the last election of the pope ratified by the consent of the people? 3. What cities required the emperor’s consent before a bishop was installed? Ordination (section 14) 1. What did …
The City of No Round Barns
I might need a new category soon — “Cluster of Shameless Appeals.” As you should know by now, my daughter Bekah has a clothing line for girls. You may recall her first web video, which we may for convenience call the Idaho round barn one. Now she has a new web video out showing her …
Jacob Have I Loved/Romans 33
INTRODUCTION: We come now to the central lesson of all evangelical religion. We come now to the glorious revelation of the sovereign grace of God, as revealed in the gospel, and only through the gospel. We come now to the promises, which are great and precious. THE TEXT: “Neither, because they are the seed of …
Abraham Kuyper on John Calvin on the United States Congress
Here is a money quote, passed on to me by my son-in-law Luke, who got it from his dad, who is working through Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. Kuyper is quoting from Calvin’s commentary on Samuel. “And ye, O peoples, to whom God gave the liberty to choose your own magistrates, see to it, that ye …
Consent of the Governed
Book 4/Chapter 4 Consent of the people (section 10) 1. What ancient practice in the government of the church does Calvin commend? 2. When a church was afflicted with an evil presbyter, did they have a remedy? More consent (section 11) 1. If a bishop chose his own successor, what was then required to ratify …
True Man
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!” (2 Tim. 2:8-9). Paul’s next exhortation is to …
Patrimony of the Poor
Book 4/Chapter 4 Deacons (section 5) 1. What were the responsibilities of deacons in the early years? 2. What was the bishop’s responsibility? 3. How is the deacons’ office toward the poor described? 4. Where did archdeacons come from? Patrimony (section 6) 1. What were the church’s possessions considered to be? Fourfold division (section 7) …
Vampires, Left Behind, Propaganda, and United We Serve Lickspittles
One of the staples of discussion about basic aesthetic principles is that art has to exist for its own self, and cannot be prostituted to advance a particular cause or point of view. Perfect nonsense, of course, but that doesn’t keep it from being repeated ad nauseam. There is a truth buried in all the …