When children are spanked, even in love and affection, they often twist and turn to get away from the point of pain. In the long run, they only make their situation far more difficult. We are trying to worship the Lord in such a way as to deal with our various sins and follies. The …
A Wet Spot on the Pavement
“In the old days, this trick had to be accomplished by means of respectful titles like the ‘Rev.’ But nowadays, in these egalitarian times, the attitude of spiritual conceit has had to be a little more creative, and a pastor shows his prowess in humility by asking people to call him Joe. Behind the scenes …
Marriage As Manifest Glory 39
Introduction Well, we come at last to the conclusion of this series of messages on marriage. This may be a cause of rejoicing for some, disorientation and sadness for others, and relief for still others. But remember that this subject is not like a series of particular messages to locomotive engineers or architects. We cannot …
Right
“In other words, I always believe that I am right. This is not the same thing as believing that I am always right. I know that I have often been wrong. Nevertheless, I, along with everyone else in the world, always believe (at the time the view is maintained) that I am right. No one …
Audio Reading of Post
Old Slewfoot’s Kitchen
In response to my postings on propositions taken as simple statements of fact, one objection was raised that wondered who on earth would think that emergent leaders would challenge “statements”? Well, if we are talking about statements that are true, I do. They do, and their books are full of such questioning. Emergent writers are …
Wealth in the Day of Wrath
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 65 “Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death” (Prov. 11:4). This is a scriptural commonplace, and one of the reasons that we are told this (over and over) is that worldliness calls to us …
Cherry Picking In the Orchards of Scripture
In the thread on insult and insulting, a question was raised that merits a response. Should we not spend our time and energy trying to obey the positive commands of Scripture (love your enemies, bless those who curse you, etc.) and not squander our resources on trying to figure out how to imitate the satiric …
As Logocentric As It Gets
I rise in praise of propositions, but not the propositions of bad philosophers who try to reify everything they touch. Rather, I praise the propositions of the competent and godly English teacher, and, although this is not the point of our current discussion, I also praise clauses, imperatives, nouns, verbs, alphabets, jots and tittles. A …
The Lord Jesus
We come now to the main point of all the stories we have been telling, that is to say, we have come to the story of the Lord Jesus. This is a very difficult story to tell, for at least two reasons. First, no storyteller or preacher is really sufficient for the task. The apostle …
Digory and the Postmodern Witch
When Digory refused to listen to the witch, it was because he had promised. He had learned certain things that little boys always ought to learn, and this includes little emergent boys. Not only had he learned that you should keep your promises, he had also learned not to steal, which had come in handy …