Introduction: We have in this psalm a prayer offered up in the midst of desperate affliction. The afflicted are those who feel most in need of answered prayer. They are also those who feel like getting an answer is a true long shot. But affliction makes them eloquent anyhow, and it is the kind of …
Mere Hellfire
Introduction: The doctrine of eternal punishment is one that is widely known, or at least the broad outline of the doctrine is widely known. That is, if you were to ask the average person what “Hell” is, they would be able to reply that it was the purported place of punishment in the afterlife. And …
Defining the Categlories
Introduction: As a result of some of my recent “going on” about the nature of nature, I have been in conversation with some friends about miracles. One of them recommended the chapter on miracles in Vern Poythress’s book Symphonic Theology, (chapter 9), which I had read before (and enjoyed well enough). So I went back …
Theonomy Is a Many-Splendored Thing
I may say this without fear of contradiction because a poet, one of our own, has taught us that love is a many-splendored thing, and no less than the apostle Paul himself has taught us that love is the fulfillment of the law. “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one …
All the Condemnation in the World
On my top menu bar, over on the far right — and some would charge that if I were in full control of my layout, everything would be on the far right — you can see the discrete little word shop. In that little shop, an experiment in publishing is going on, and I invite …
Why C.S. Lewis Would Not Have Liked Me Very Much
Those who have been around here for a while know that I am a C.S. Lewis junkie. I have read and reread him, and have been edified by him in ways beyond reckoning. If I were to calculate the impact that various writers have had on me—and there have been many who have—he would always …
Like a Titanium Slide Rule
So then, by way of preamble, let me say that I am as orthodox as a titanium slide rule. When it comes to the doctrine of the Trinity, everything I’ve got is from the best doctors in the church, and is still under warranty. Our doctrine of God must be grounded in the Scriptures, in …
Carl Trueman, Ecclesiastical Celebrity
A discussion broke out yesterday over The Nashville Statement Fortified, and that discussion promptly headed straight back to the doctrine of the Trinity—the same debate that broke out a year or so ago. In the course of an extended back and forth yesterday, Tim Bayly said this: “Until these guys and gal publicly affirm the …
On Kissing the Casket Enough
While we were in Kiev last week, another place we visited was the monastery of the caves, a warren of cells deep underground. The active monastery above ground is Russian Orthodox, and the holy things below constitute one of the most unholy things I have ever seen. But there are some Western Christians who think …
Sneaky Little Busters
I recently saw a snippet of an interaction between Joel McDurmon and Mark Jones that made me think of something. And why not?, say I. It’s still kind of a free country. Why can’t I think of oblique stuff? So I offer this, not as my own engagement with their debate, but rather as a …






