On a number of different occasions, we have considered the importance of having our times and seasons defined in relation to Jesus Christ. The only alternative to this is to have them defined in reference to someone or something else, and this is obviously an unacceptable alternative to all faithful Christians. Jesus Christ really has …
Making Your Back Teeth Cold
In his fourth chapter, McLaren asks what salvation means exactly. He then goes on to explain that salvation means God coming in judgment to deliver us from the evil oppression of others, God confronting us with our own sinfulness and forgiving us, and God teaching us. And McLaren affirms that God does all of this …
McLaren the Ungenerous
In this next chapter of McLaren’s he makes a number of good points which, taken in isolation, would simply be good. But in the context he places them in, the direction is quite dangerous. It is kind of like admiring the discipline and marksmanship of a pirate crew. “Yes, quite. That was well done. But …
If You Are Breathing
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! All you people, praise the Lord! Praise God in His holy sanctuary, Praise Him in the high firmament, The firmament of His great authority. Praise Him for His mighty acts in history, Praise Him in accord with His excellent greatness. Do this …
Marley’s Ghost Notwithstanding
This is the third Lord’s Day of Advent, the year of our Lord, 2005. We are not here today, marking the approach of Christmas, because the early Christians compromised with paganism. It is not the case that our fathers tried to sanitize some pagan celebration of the winter solstice. As it turns out, the Romans …
Relief and Anguish
We know that this is a covenantal Table. The cup is explicitly called the cup of the new covenant. But covenants have sanctions; when the covenants of God are abused by faithless men, He does not just sit idly by. At Corinth, Paul explains that some there were sick and some had even died because …
The Old “Me and C.S. Lewis” Ploy
In Chapter 2 (Chapter 3, but who’s counting?) Brian McLaren starts to say some good things about the manifestation of God in Christ. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t get very far. Compared to the superlative language of less generous orthodoxy, his praise sounds comparatively anemic — “I believe God was in Jesus in an unprecedented way” …
Corporate Testimony
Tim Enloe has raised a very good point about the care that Protestant apologists should take in representing the Catholic faith to others. In short, we ought never to maintain that official Roman Catholic teaching affirms what it plainly denies, or vice versa. In other words, apologetics ought never be a battle with a straw …
41 Kinds of Tylenol
“This premise leads business writers to emphasize rapid product introduction as a key to corporate success. According to Peters, healthy corporations are roiling hives of gutsy executives called ‘product champions,’ each one enraptured by a delphic vision of superficial novelty — perhaps of a soft drink with an advanced sweetner or unprecedented hue . . …
Rejecting Affectation
“But in the same way, simple reaction back is not reformation either. Some die-hard traditionalist defenders of orthodusty have no more understanding of what they are doing than do the contemporary worship dervishes. And this is why we need the simple honesty of satire. Pietism is an inadequate protector of piety, which is why pietism …