There is no substitute for personal holiness, kindness, and humility. Nothing can be substituted in for it. Nothing adequately takes the place of it. There are many glorious truths in the Christian faith, but there is only one demeanor to adorn them all. The gospel is glorious, but what adorns it? Tender mercies. The covenant …
Gotta Be Authentic
“With the emergence of high and low cultural categories around the turn of the century, distinctions were created between ‘commercial’ art, or entertainment, and nineteenth century ‘high’ art, that which was considered creative and authentic” (William Romanowski, Pop Culture Wars, p. 76).
Confession is not Manipulation
“One of the first principles to remember is that confession is not meritorious — to confess sins as a way of placing God in one’s debt is not dealing with sin; it is commiting another sin. The context of all confession must be a thorough grasp of the fdree grace of justification. Put another way, …
Too Far Into It To See It
“In the temporal plan of the system there is not a moment when those involved in the action do not see themselves separated from their rivals by formidable differences. When one of the ‘brothers’ assumes the role of father and king, the other cannot but feel himself to be the disinherited son. That explains why …
Postmodernism Is Triumphalism
James K.A. Smith recently made a good start in reviewing Greg Boyd’s book on Christians in politics. Justin Taylor had linked to it, and here it is. The book reviewed was The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church. The review seemed promising, and Smith scored some good …
Three Cheers
I recently saw part of a commercial for the “Girls Gone Wild” videos, in which some nubile young idiots were enticed — by the presence of cameras (the device that may not be denied), and by the beckoning promise of fleeting immortality — to flash everybody. These poor souls did not know that they had …
And I Have Seen Your Vengeance Fall
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Save me, Oh God, through Your great name, And judge me through Your strength. Incline Your ear to hear my prayer, Give ear to all my suffering words. For strangers want my soul and life, The alien warrior rises up. They do …
A Whitewashed Tomb
There is a great divide between piety, which is true godliness, and pietism, which is a lie about the nature of true godliness. You have heard us disparaging pietism many times, and you can count on hearing it many more times. Pietism is the erection of a false standard of holiness, one that is generally …
The Efficacy of Ritual
This is a ritual meal, and in one sense we may say that this is all it is. The problem with the expression, though, is that such a statement would almost certainly be heard as a minimizing or reductionist statement. Those who want or need it to be more than such a “minimal meal” then …
Just So Many Millions of Ghosts
First, a recap of a basic argument against postmodernity. For all the talk about being in a postmodern era, the basic infrastructure of modernity (liberal democracy with its neutral public square) is retained. In the seminar room called modernity, some who call themselves postmodernists have come to believe that they can change the room they …