In order to look back at the past, we have to (metaphorically) turn our backs on the future. This means, among other things, that the future can sneak up on us. Our study of history can mean that we give way to an optical illusion — we think we are standing on a fixed promontory, …
Contentment at the Foundation
GRACE & PEACE “At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16 11) Growing Dominion, Part 21 A spirit of gratitude and contentment resists all the worldview problems that rush in whenever we are ungrateful and discontent. We are been discussing this in the realm of health care (which makes it close and …
Eventful Doings
I haven’t posted for last several days because I have been at the presbytery meeting for the CRE, which, among other things, changed its name to the CREC (Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches). Presbytery was a time of warm fellowship, and was truly a blessed time. Our worship service last night was a God-honoring time …
Tax Breaks and Education
Dear visionaries, Stan raises the interesting question of “tax breaks.” Note first that allowing an entity to keep its own money is being considered a “gift” from the government. And because it is considered a gift, it is not surprising that the principle that “he who takes the king’s coin becomes the king’s man” comes …
Lost in the Fog, But Making Good Time
Dear visionaries, What in blue blazes are you progressives all progressing to? You cannot by your relativism smash all the compasses and maps, and then cheerfully announce to us all that you are the “north-bound” party. What are you talking about? “Apologetics in the Void” are repostings from an on-going electronic discussion and debate I …
The Inescapable Trinity
Just finished Ralph Smith’s new book called Trinity and Reality. The subtitle says that it is an introduction to the Christian faith, which is quite true. But if I were trying to figure out what shelf to put it on, it would probably land on the “Christian worldview” shelf. And quite a cottage industry along …
Christus Victor/Psalm 22
This psalm contains one of the great Old Testament portrayals of the Gospel. Along with Isaiah 53, we learn here that the death of Christ for the sins of the world was no afterthought. The Lamb of God was indeed slain from before the foundations of the world. “My God, my God, why hast thou …
Never Alone
Our Father and God, You are never alone, never lonely, never solitary. Your dwelling place is no distant wilderness retreat; You have no hermitage, no mountain fortress. Before the heavens and earth were made, there was no lack of fullness in You. All creation is the surplus of a glorious infinitude, a surplus of gratuitous …
The Miserables
Once there was a little boy who caught the miserables. It started at dinner, when his food was too hot and burned his mouth. So then he wouldn’t eat for a time, because he had the sulks, and when he finally got back to it, his food was too cold. He was so mopey after …
For All the Saints
The Lord’s Supper was instituted by the Lord Jesus Himself the night He was betrayed. The next example of it being observed was over a month later, on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples broke bread together. In the first, Jesus was alive and physically present with His disciples. In the second, He had …