Here’s a good article on how liberals in our media have a hard time bringing themselves to use the word “terrorist” in their news reporting, the most recent example being the atrocities of Mumbai. A coherent definition of terrorism is only possible if grounded in just war theory, which is itself grounded in biblical law. …
Beyond Everything You Ever Thought
Once there was a young girl who worried about everything, but her biggest worry was whether or not she was a real Christian. If she thought for a moment that she loved God, the next moment it occurred to her than she didn’t love him enough. If she felt sincere in her faith, the obvious …
Wisdom Offers Bread and Wine
We come to this Supper week after week, and it is tempting for us to start to assume, after a few years of it, that we are doing so as old hands. We know the ropes, we know the words, we know the theology. But one of the things we should know—if we know the …
Weak Sister Christianity
I have written on the distinction between jus ad bellum, conditions that justify going to war in the first place, and jus in bello, the standards required by God in the conduct of war. We have to keep these distinctions straight because, if we don’t, we are going to muddle just war theory hopelessly. But …
Life and Evidence
In the Greyfriars ministerial program, the systematics course is structured around the Westminster Confession of Faith. This means that last Thursday I was teaching through chapter 16, and I noticed a little something. “These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith: and by …
Downe in Yon Forrest
I mentioned this some time ago, but the DVD is now available here, just in time for Christmas. A web site for the album is here. And if you would like to read a bit about it before ordering, check here and here. And have a merry, contemedieveal eclectic Christmas!
East-Bound, West-Bound, Hide-Bound
In this post, I want to concentrate, not on the need for doctrinal integrity in the abstract, but on the need for men of doctrinal integrity in the leadership of the Church. Doctrinal integrity is not a self-enforcing ideal. Men must hold to the standards of the church, understand them, love them, and defend them. …
Multiplied Mercy
One of the curious ways that Scripture expresses the mysteries surrounding God’s kindnesses to us is with the word multiply. He put us into this world to multiply in fruitfulness, and when He brought us out of the darkness of sin, it was with multiplication in mind. In the early days of the Church, the …
Am I Missing Something?
Thus far I have seen that Bishop Tutu has called for Mugabe’s ouster in Zimbabwe, as President Sarkozy of France has also done. Well done for both those gents. I would call for it too if anybody cared. But I have not yet seen that Bishop N.T. Wright has taken this necessary step, although I …
A Large Part of Acts
“The sermons of the apostles, of which there are so many fine examples in Acts (they make up one-fifth of the book), are not therefore, incidental additions to the account, chosen arbitrarily for the purposes of narrative ‘color’. These sermons are cited to emphasize the central role preaching played in the witness of the apostles …