Sacraments are immediately instituted by God. This means that man does not have the power to multiply sacraments. Those who want to live sacramentally, seeing a sacramental significance in everything, must be careful here. The only way to see the world sacramentally is to jealously guard the two sacraments that God has given to us, …
Velcro Candidate
This is about the time in the campaign season that I start wishing that I could bring myself to vote for McCain, if for no other reason than to irritate the handwringers and Europeans. But alas, I am a man of principle. McCain would only irritate them for about 20 percent of the right reasons. …
Honoring an Honorable Man
Nancy honors her dad on his 91st birthday. I could add much to what she says, but I will simply say that my in-laws have been wonderful to me and my family, and add the link.
Should Be Fixed Now
Another techie announcement, if you don’t mind. We believe the posting problems that some of you have encountered are now fixed. Many thanks to those who wrote in to let us know that they were having trouble, and many thanks to Keith, who fixed it. You are now invited to have a try and see …
Get Your Dibbies In
I am pleased to note that the online debate that Christopher Hitchens and I had over at Christianity Today is now going to appear as a small book. Many thanks to CT for sponsoring that thing in the first place, and to Canon Press for the fine work they have been doing in putting this …
Ninth Commandment Issues
Okay, please bear with me for a moment — I have a string of quotations, and with some answers and responses from me interspersed. First, from his blog, Lane asks me this question: “I know, I know, this post comes from the self-proclaimed Fully Documented Anonymous Attack Blog, or FDAAB for short. You all will …
Father Hunger
This year our Christ Church ministerial conference is going to be in the Houston area. We will continue to have it in Moscow normally, but this year we moved it to accommodate the CREC Council/Presbyteries that will be meeting that same week in Texas. The topic — Father Hunger — is one that we believe …
Concluded Under Sin
In our continued study of hamartia, we find that Christ gave himself for our sins (Gal. 1:4). Paul later asks if Christ is a minister of sin just because we are found to be sinners in seeking to be justified by Christ (2:17). No, God’s purpose through the law (as a forerunner to the gospel) …
Preaching in the Graveyard
“Remember, you are not sent to whiten tombs, but to open them” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 314).
Some Transactions Are Zero Sum
“But only redistributive processes are zero-sum games; protective tariffs, mortgage subsidies, and armed robberies all transfer wealth forcibly from one person to another. Economic transactions are voluntary exchanges, which means that both parties perceive themselves as benefiting. A given economic transaction is zero-sum only if one party has miscalculated or been deceived” (Herbert Schlossberg, Idols …