Introduction: What it all comes down to is that America needs an intervention. Suppose a loved one in your family decides to go on a bender, let's say, and it lasts for a couple weeks longer than it ...
The Prodigal Son and Christian Nationalism
Not a Univocal Cup
“When Paul tells us about the cup of blessing which was the cause of many Corinthians getting sick and dying, is he intending to tell us that it is a blessing to get sick and die under the judgment of God? Or is he speaking about blessing at one level, and then when we get to the specific problems at Corinth, he addresses the situation at another level?”
Now That’s Real Nice . . .
Faith Closes the Circle
“If I can only believe what is propositionally revealed in the Bible, and if my name is not propositionally revealed in the Bible as one who believes the promises of salvation rightly, then how can I believe the promise? How can I believe any promise there? Do I have direct warrant? No, not at all. I can, however, believe indirectly, but I must supply one of the missing ingredients (which I cannot do apart from grace) . . . The thing that closes the circle is always faith. This particular faith cannot be based on propositional warrant from Scripture, because Scripture says nothing about my prayers, nothing about my children, nothing about whether I am elect. I close the circle by faith. God gives the general enscripturated promise. He then works in me specifically through the person of the Holy Spirit to bring me to the conviction that these general promises are mine, and so that I may enter into rest. Not only do I have reason to believe the promises, I am commanded to believe them”
What Kind of Holster?
“And when we heard their qualifications, we would believe them as brothers in Christ, and put our doctrinal revolvers back in the presbyterial holster. But when we say things like this (and we do, honestly), our qualifications after the fact do not matter. To extend the metaphor, the doctrinal bullets continue to whistle through our heretical hair. Oh, well.”
The Case Against Conscription
Introduction: When Samuel was warning the people of Israel about what would happen if they obtained a king "like the other nations," one of the central problems he said would arise was the fact ...
Seems Reasonable
“The same with Calvin. I don’t agree with Calvin on everything. But what I reserve to myself is the right to agree with Calvin and not have that agreement be used as the reason for denying that I am a Calvinist.”
Letters for the Dog Days of August
Letter to the Editor: At the church I attend, we recently had a baptism of the daughter in a family. The daughter was somewhere around age fourteen. The pastor asked the head of household ...
Evangelical Obedience as the Lifeblood of Faith
“But believing God is no work, and not believing God is not faith.”
Sly Dog Teachers
Introduction: In a very interesting development, those of us who are calling Americans to come back to Christ, and to do so as Americans who are guilty of very American sins, are somehow being ...