“Should ‘Calvinists’ seek unity of fellowship with Christians who differ with them on this issue? Absolutely. Why? Because election depends upon the good pleasure of the Father. And if he has bestowed His unmerited pleasure upon ‘Arminians’ (which He most certainly does), then it makes no sense for a ‘Calvinist’ to magnify the prerogatives of …
On Implicit Faith
“Such as are truly godly and wise rather account it their honor to carry a loving respect to those who differ from them than desire that men should follow them blindly before they see the grounds for doing so” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 131).
Sins and Crimes
Before I go on to the next chapter of Crunchy Cons, let me address a question that has been implicit in what I have written thus far, and which has come up in the comments. One of my fundamental assumptions when it comes to public policy issues is the profound difference between a sin and …
The Hell You Say
The original Auburn Avenue conference, the font of all the trouble, occurred in 2002. The ruckus proper began the following summer, and since then, we have had another Auburn Avenue conference, a Fort Lauderdale colloquium, a book that resulted from that, a book published by Athanasius Press (The Federal Vision), a book by me (“Reformed” …
Us Dwarfs
Full disclosure right at the outset. The Foreword to Faith Alone was written by David Wells, and if that man’s books were orange juice concentrate, I could still eat them right out of the can with a spoon. When he is on his message (which is the exposition of the soul destroying nature of relativistic …
Love and the State
“Buckle up. We care.” The sign seems so nice. But beneath such pleasant words along the highway, a worldview lurks. We have come to the point where we want the civil magistrate to love us and have a wonderful plan for our lives. The book of Proverbs warns that a fool sent on an errand …
Don’t Sugar Coat It. Just Tell Us.
“Let me put it in a slightly bigger nutshell: much of what we loosely call the Western world will not survive the twenty-first century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most European countries” (Mark Steyn, America Alone, p. xiii).
A Forgotten Divorce
“Only after the invention of the printing press were poetry and music separated” (Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the Lines, p. 79).
Along the Fence
“The Christian faith has a center. When Christians gravitate to the periphery in order to conduct their fights along the fence, it betrays a lack of love for the center, and perhaps reveals a desire to get over the fence entirely” (Mother Kirk, p. 85).
Contra Mundum
“The generality of men thought they did God good service in persecuting those who would not yield to the judgment of others who had a reputation for learning and piety. Those who were conscientious could not yield to their determinations, not seeing the truth of God in them, and this made the stir. While men …