God created us as reasonable creatures. To adopt rationalism is to make an idol out of reason, but for all that, we should still seek to be reasonable. The word alogos represents a failure at this place. In one place it is translated as unreasonable (Acts. 25:27). This is in the mouth of the pagan …
How Many Bars?
“To swing to and fro on a five-barred gate is not progress, yet some seem to think so” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 217).
Historical Idolatry
“All things work together for good to him that is in tune with the times. Trying to ‘turn back the clock’ becomes more serious than impropriety or stupidity; it is an act of impiety” (Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction, p. 17).
The Halfway Covenant
Lane continues to interact with my book in his recent post on the relationship of a profession of faith with the half-way covenant. This is an issue that, in my view, requires some untangling. First, let me summarize was the half-way covenant actually did. The New England Puritans were paedobaptists, but they required a (high-bar) …
Trinity Fest 08
Well, we keep having a blast at Trinity Fest, and so we intend to keep having them. The registration process for this coming August is now open, and so, please, have at it. Also please note the restructured happiness on the pricing. The theme of the talks this year will be “Great Cities of the …
Fat Cats and the Wealthy
God gave us a clear indication of how He wanted the world to run — in abundance — by how He created the world in the first place. God placed our first parents in a garden of delight. Our natural and instinctive response to this is that the Fall changed all that. The ground is …
Bishop Buttinski
The next word to consider is a mouthful — allotriepiskopos. It refers to someone who is a busybody in the affairs of others. In the latter half of the word we can see the word that is rendered elsewhere as overseer or bishop. This busybody, this renegade bishop, is engaged in looking over the shoulder …
Cheerfulness is not Froth
“A great distinction exists between holy cheerfulness, which is a virtue, and that general levity, which is a vice. There is a levity which has not enough heart to laugh, but trifles with everything; it is flippant, hollow, unreal. A hearty laugh is no more levity than a hearty cry. I speak of that religious …
One or the Other
“All idols belong either to nature or to history. The whole creation falls into those two categories, and there is no other place to which man can turn to find a substitute for God. Any idol that is not an artifact of the natural world is an artifact of the social world” (Herbert Schlossberg, Idols …
The New Ordinary
INTRODUCTION: The first Easter occurred at the time of Passover, which is when the first fruits of the barley crop were presented to the Lord. Pentecost, soon to follow, is when the first fruits of the wheat harvest were presented. As we consider the importance of the resurrection, we need to think of it in …