“Morrison never made the sustained effort needed to write even passable free verse, and his emotional range—from petulant narcissism to dead-serious angst—is far narrower than that of the least of his poetic idols . . . booze became the formaldehyde in which his adolescent hangs-ups were preserved” (Martha Bayles, Hole in our Soul, p. 238).
Bureaucratic Bishopric
“This is the besetting sin of American presbyterianism. When an association of independent churches, or the representatives of presbyterian churches, makes the mistake of establishing a permanent headquarters somewhere (minium requirements: one desk, one phone, on file cabinet), a certain type of bureaucratic mind is immediately attracted to the important task of getting the papers …
Let a Westminster Theologian Speak
“The things of religion are rather to be believed than disputed. ‘We believe fishermen, not logicians,’ said Ambrose. The devil at this day seeks to darken the glory of religion this way. He sees that so much light has broken forth that he cannot get men presently off it by profaneness; therefore he labors to …
Some Bayly Questions
As I have said before, I respect the Bayly brothers highly, and have appreciated the integrity of their conduct in the whole FV flap, despite our obvious differences. Please take a moment to read this.
Call It a Shadow Ordo
The Westminster Standards say that non-elect covenant members partake of “common operations of the Spirit.” Calvin consistently speaks of general election and special election. Now when some in the FV have used ordo words like regeneration and applied them to those who are not of the special elect, the response from the FV critics has …
So Confusing. I Don”t Want to Pay Attention to the Adjectives.
A friend brought our attention to Calvin’s commentary on Acts 3:25, where he says, “And so, although the common election be not effectual in all, yet may it set open a gate for the special elect.” The rot is spreading. Somebody needs to bring charges, and soon. What would the charge be exactly? Well, it …
Not Much of a Difference
“The only difference between Muslim ‘conservatives’ and misnamed ‘fundamentalists’ concern the methods to be applied, not the final objectives, which are the same: to rekindle the glory that was Islam under the prophet and his early successors” (Serge Trifkovic, The Sword of the Prophet, p. 204).
Ain’t It the Truth?
“Like free jazz, art rock proves once again that total freedom is enabling for a handful of geniuses, but disabling for everyone else” (Martha Bayles, Hole in our Soul, p. 222).
Labels and Bottles
“Having gotten this straight, we must then factor in the problem of labels and bottle contents. In a perfect world, things would be what we called them — health food would be healthy, guaranteed savings would be, and so on. But this is a fallen world, and we can find, for example, both ‘independent’ and …
What Do We Really Want?
INTRODUCTION: We often entertain a false idea of the nature of the difference between the Christian faith and idolatrous faiths, or worldviews, or opinions. The difference between life and death is a qualitative difference, and not a difference that can be reduced to a set of mere definitions. A living man and a corpse can …