Sacred Violence No More

“On the contrary, by arousing empathy for victims, the biblical tradition has destroyed the kind of peace and social consensus that conventional cultures were once able to achieve at the victim’s expense. In clogging the gears of the scapegoating machinery, the gospel revelation brings not peace but a sword. This is purely and simply because …

Westminster Eighteen: Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation

1. Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God, and estate of salvation (Job 8:13–14; Micah 3:11; Deut. 29:19; John 8:41) (which hope of theirs shall perish) (Matt. 7:22–23): yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love …

Westminster Seventeen: Of the Perseverance of the Saints

1. They, whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved (Phil. 1:6; 2 Pet. 1:10; John 10:28–29; 1 John 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:5, 9). All …

Our Cultural Mechanics

“Today’s relativists could not have gotten away with their double standards in a culture that prized truth. But a gradual, sustained assault on truth has been carried out through the soft underbelly of Western culture: the arts. In film, music, and television, the themes of sensual pleasure and individual choice have drowned out the tried-and-true …