“We will of course need doctrine that arises from the Scriptures in order to help us understand what the Spirit just did for us. But if the Spirit didn’t actually do anything, then our systematic theologies are nothing but printed kits for organizing smoke. If the Spirit didn’t do anything, then any religious frenzies, conducted …
Sexual Confusion- Who Are You?
Our college ministry, Collegiate Reformed Fellowship, is sponsoring a big event next month. Sam Allberry, author of Is God Anti-gay?, will be speaking at the University of Idaho on Wednesday March 5th at 7:30pm. His story is one of God’s goodness in the midst of same sex attraction, and is a powerful testimony for those …
With Tongues Hanging Out
I posted something here about a small dust-up at Wheaton College over the appearance of Rosaria Champagne Butterfield there. My post was blunt, as it needed to be, and at least a couple of additional things need to observed after the fact. The concern of Scripture is holiness, not propriety. Chesterton teaches us that virtue …
Blowing Bubbles From the Bottom
If you think you are up to it, and if you have a cast iron stomach, and if you have not ingested your recommended weekly allowance of piffle over the last few days, you may go here and fix everything. The short form is that Rosaria Champagne Butterfield — whose book was fantastic, by the …
And We All Need Jesus
“So we need to come to grips with the fact that in North America, the bride of Christ is a hot mess. We live in a time when the charismatics need the Spirit, the Reformed need a reformation, and the evangelicals need to be born again” (Against the Church, pp. 7-8).
Covenant Evangelism
From Antithesis (Vol. II, No. 3) May/June 1991 To put it mildly, American Christianity is regrettably permeated with an individualism that stands in stark contrast to the biblical teaching of covenantal Christianity. But even Christians who believe in and emphasize covenantal thinking are still influenced by this individualism; they often exhibit a marked tendency to …
The Ultimate Iconoclast
“God is the ultimate iconoclast, and God told His angels to begin at His sanctuary [Ezek. 9:6-7], and He told them to get in there and defile it” (Against the Church, p. 3).
On Taunting the Cows
The task this morning is to follow up on some reasonable questions raised in the comments of the previous post, God’s Bistro. The basic outline of my response will be to grant a point at the center, but to differ as to what the appropriate responses and applications ought to be. The questions I want …
God’s Bistro
What is the balance to be kept when it comes to saying that God “doesn’t care what you eat,” which He doesn’t, and saying that we are to exercise dominion in all that we do? If there is no neutrality anywhere, and there isn’t, then how does this fit with statements like “God doesn’t care”? …
Tactile Temptations
“The fact that we have mastered the art of identifying idols that we have forged in our minds and hearts does not mean at all that we have repented of forging them out of metals we dug from the ground” (Against the Church, p. 2).