I do have a couple of things to say about David VanDrunen’s contribution to By Faith Alone. First, he is guilty of continued misrepresentation of those he is debating with. “Although recent criticism of the traditional Reformed doctrine of justification has taken many forms, nearly all critics seem to concur in dismissing the idea of …
Picking Up Feathers
Gene Veith comments on Worldmagblog here. A friend drew my attention to this post of a few days ago. I have included below a comment which I posted at his site, but I also need to say something here. Given the climate in the Reformed world today, and given how many people go to Worldmagblog, …
My Mistake
Yesterday I posted an Amazon link to Letter from a Christian Citizen, which I took down this morning. The reason is that it wasn’t an Amazon link from the publisher (which is in the works), but rather from an individual bookseller. To avoid confusing things, I need to wait until the next link comes up …
Biblical Warfare
A subject clearly related to murder is the question of war. Whenever war is not conducted in accordance with the Word of God, then it amounts to nothing more than mass murder sanctioned by the civil authority. Consequently, it is important for us to know something of what biblical war looks like. When thou goest …
Enjoying Our Stuff
Cotton Mather once commented that the faithfulness of the people begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother. Put another way, we may state it as a general principle that whenever Jeshurun waxes fat, he kicks. In some ways the irony is a perpetual one. When a man comes to Christ, and begins to obey …
Feminist Hatred of Women: Exhibit 178
“The Muslim critique of the West—that we’re decadent vulgar narcissist fornicating sodomites—is not without more than a grain of truth. But when the fastest-breeding demographic group on the planet is also the one most resistant to the pieties of the social-democratic state, that presents a severe challenge, at least for the Left. In their bizarre …
Hell Made Immanent
“The concentration and death camps of the twentieth century, wherever they exist, under whatever regime, are Hell made immanent. They are the transference of Hell from below the earth to its surface. They are the deliberate enactment of a long, precise imagining.” (George Steiner, In Bluebeard’s Castle, p. 54).
Partaking
“This sort of covenantal participation is not limited to the godly. Something similar happened to the idolaters of Corinth. They were partakers at a demonic table, but no sacerdotal miracle was occuring there either. But by eating at an idolatrous feast, those worshippers were covenantally identified with the demons behind their idols” (Mother Kirk, p. …
That Doesn’t Sound Like Much Fun
“We must rather wrong ourselves by thinking too well of them than wrong them by thinking too ill of them. This would help exceedingly much to bring peace” (Burroughs, Irenicum, pp. 139-140).
Smooth Words, Hard Hearts
We live in an era which places a high value on hardness of heart. We can tell this by our love of soft teaching. Of course this is not how we describe it inwardly. In speaking to ourselves, when we generally have a most appreciative audience, we have great affection for smooth words, words which …