A specter is haunting the Reformed world — the specter of biblically grounded teaching on marriage, family, and elder qualifications. The threat is causing new ecumenical alliances to form, all calculated to meet the rising and imminent danger. TR Frank Smith is teaming up with openness theology, rabid anti-theonomist John Robbins is shoulder to shoulder …
Schools and Market Choices
Dear visionaries, I tried to go away, but a few more questions have arisen. I will try to keep my answers brief so that no more of my “hate-filled” stuff spills out. In response to Ben’s question about market forces: I am not a market absolutist. Adam’s Smith’s invisible hand directs the marketing flow of …
John Robbins and the Council of Trent
The controversy over justification by faith shows no signs of letting up. Every day I hear from some new quarter that the hubbub continues. One of the larger ironies in all this is that men who have abandoned the historic, Protestant understanding of faith have accused other men (who have not abandoned it) of doing …
Resentment By the Book
In his own mind, and according to his own rationalizations, Judas was the hero of the story — at least until the cold reality came crashing in on him. Once there was a hypocritical man who made a great show of his loyalty and faithfulness to his friends at a company where they all worked. …
Christ First, Wood Second, Business Third
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11) Growing Dominion, Part 7 One of the great legacies of the Reformation is the idea of calling. Prior to the Reformation it was assumed that serving God in a serious way meant going into a monastery, or some kind of spiritual equivalent. The resurgence …
Deficiencies in Government Schools
Dear visionaries, A thank you to Jonathan for a courteous reception. And a thank you as well to Thomas for the question. Pardon my non-brief reply. Individual deficiencies in government education that result in substandard service would include, but not be limited to: 1. Rootless experimentalism in teaching methodologies: for example, private schools that use …
Suspensions From the Supper
INTRODUCTION The purpose of this message is to explain and defend a certain practice required by our church constitution, and to do so in the only manner acceptable to us, which is through an appeal to the Scriptures. In recent months, we have had a small flurry of suspensions from the Lord’s Supper, which has …
Auburn Avenue Hubbub (AAH) Cool Quote #6
“Almighty God, Heavenly Father, we give you eternal praise and thanks, that you have granted and bestowed upon this child your fellowship, that you have born him again to yourself through your holy baptism, that he has been incorporated into Your beloved Son, our only Savior, and is now your child and heir.” Strasbourg Psalter …
No Level Playing Field/Psalm 7
The psalm is by David. The occasion of it was a slander by a particular man named Cush, a man from the same tribe that David’s adversary Saul was from. The psalm is a shiggaion, a “wandering,” which probably refers to a very intense, dithyrambic poem (cf. Hab. 3:1). In his zeal for vindication, David …
Already in Rome
There was a certain minister who decided one day, while studying the Scriptures, that an appropriate posture while confessing sin was the posture of kneeling. He raised this as a possibility during a congregational meeting, and suggested that the church look into obtaining kneeling benches. To his surprise, the opposition to this suggestion was immediate …