In the tension-filled room full of systematic theologians and biblical theologians, it is perilously easy to juxtapose “timeless truths” to “story.” But this is not necessary, and this is another plea to all get along. It should go without saying that I affirm what the Reformed systematicians have distilled out behind their magisterial barn. And …
Oriented by the Second Coming
We rarely notice our bones, and consequently, we rarely notice what is in them. Certain assumptions have been with us in the West for so many centuries now that we readily hold that this is just “how things are.” We think it is all so obvious, forgetting that our culture at one time was taught …
Not All “One True Gods” Are the One True God
“The proponents of an ‘Ecumenical Jihad,’ from President George W. Bush and Professor Forte to a Christian conservative like Peter Kreeft, share two fallacies. Their faulty understanding of Islamic theology leads them to imagine that ‘Allah’ is more or less interchangeable with the ‘God’ of other monotheists. Their incomplete understanding of the phenomenon of secular …
Beast of Burden
“The real break came in the late 1960s, when the counterculture went sour, and popular music began attracting people who were less interested in music than in using such a powerful medium for culturally radical purposes. The harbingers of this break were the Rolling Stones, who relished the blues but did not hesitate to make …
Vain Repetitions
“I grew up in evangelical circles and knew the public prayer ropes. I could pray readily in public settings, particularly in church, and did so in accordance with the accepted canons for many years. When I finally began to write my prayers out before the service, I noticed something funny. I had stopped repeating myself. …
Impetuous Folly
“Rash men quickly take hold of the sword of justice to hack and hew. They think that what they do is according to reason, but they do not wisely weigh things in the balance of justice. Remember, justice has a balance as well as a sword” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 196).
Looking at Things Sideways
Couple of great ones. HT: Peter Scholtens This first one is just plain fun. On this second one, you will have to watch it twice. The surprise ending changes everything in it, and, for those who are wise there is a profound theological lesson in it for us.
Reformation and Revival
Important distinctions must always be maintained between true God-given revival and man-made revivalism – as capable writers are doing elsewhere in this issue. But at the same time, confusion on this entire subject is so rampant that we perhaps need to refine our vocabulary even further than this. Revival means “coming to life again.” Something …
Foundational Murder
“We know that it was common practice, not only among the Semites, to lay the first stone of a new town on the body of a human sacrifice offered to the power of the city in order that his spirit protect the city” (Ellul, The Meaning of the City, p. 28).
Allah Reveals His Will; Jehovah Gives Himself
“Men can strive no higher than obeying Allah’s will as revealed by his Prophet. There is no ‘revelation’ in Islam, meaning revelation of God’s nature, but only of his will and obedience to it. Human imperfection is not subject to improvement in the direction of God, and any such notion is blasphemous to a Muslim” …