The Lord Jesus was born in 4 B.C., which was the year Herod the Great died. He was the tyrant who had the children slaughtered in the region of Bethlehem because of what he heard from the wise men, and so obviously, Jesus had to have been born before Herod died. Dionysus the Insignificant was …
The Night Before Whatsit
‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the land, We still mark the birth of the One who is banned From public discussion or public display. “Get rid of the Christ child–but still keep the day!” So public school children must practice with stealth Those carols which threaten our strange commonwealth, And now and …
Foundations of Marriage VI
Introduction: What is marriage? On a subject like this, definitions are as important as false definitions are a threat. But as we define, we have to take care that we do not define as good little abstractionists. Biblical knowing, especially concerning marriage, is not a rarified exercise. Text: And the LORD God said, It is …
Gladness
“The godly are characterized by gladness. The doctrines of godliness are the doctrines of gladness. If it does not come at the last to gladness, then to hell with it” (Angels in the Architecture, p. 75).
Creedal Language
We are not engaged in a fight to recover biblical language simpliciter, but rather in a fight to recover the right to use biblical language when necessary. The vocabulary of historic liturgies, systematics, the creeds, and so on are also most necessary, and we should have no interest in ditching them unless absolutely necessary. Our …
Delight in Other Tastes
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 28 Part of cultural maturity is the art of learning to delight in the fact that other people delight in things that leave you cold. Of course, we must exclude from this anything that God flatly prohibits, but we must …
Inexorable Light/Psalm 27
If God is for us, then who can be against us? This is the fundamental faith of all who have suffered persecution for the cause of Christ. We see it throughout history, and we discover it in both testaments. One man and God outnumber everybody. “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall …
Classical Schools From Hell
I make a sharp distinction between homeschooling that is schooling at home, and homeschooling as ideology. The former is pursued by godly Christian parents who believe that this is what God has called them to, and who diligently labor to that end. Some of the finest students I have ever been privileged to teach at …
Justification and Taste
“In this futile world, in this world where vanity reigns, we can know that the grace of God has burst through to us by one indication only: “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works” (Ecc. 9:7). A man who stands …
Santa Claus At Nicea
And here on the last Sunday of Advent, we need to deal with a competing story. But it would probably be more accurate to say that we have to deal with a godly story that has been encrusted with many layers of foolishness. But let us take away those layers, and ask—who was the original …