I just arrived back in town from a debate jaunt down to LA. The hosts of the debate, Alpha/Omega Ministries, were gracious in every respect, and I enjoyed meeting James White, and thoroughly enjoyed our debate. The event was videotaped, and will be available some time soon. When it is, I will post a link …
Presbytery Exam
A few weeks ago, I was examined at the presbytery meeting of the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC). The exam consisted of a written portion, and a three hour oral exam, all of it on the doctrinal issues surrounding the Auburn Avenue business. If you are a glutton for punishment, or if you are …
The Tashlan Temptation
The election yesterday provided me a real sense of relief, and in several ways it was a very good night. On the positive side of the register, eleven ballot initiatives that defined marriage as consisting of one man and one woman passed, many of them by whopping margins. The Republicans gained in the House, and …
Hidden Assumptions About the DDT Truck
GRACE & PEACE “At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 23 Let me begin with a story that, in the minds of some, may explain quite a bit. When I was a kid growing up in Annapolis, Maryland one of the features of life there was the …
Reformation Sunday 2004
INTRODUCTION: We are fast approaching the five hundredth anniversary of the glorious Reformation. The history of the Church is always tangled, and we can never approach it in a simplistic fashion. But with all such allowances made, the Reformation was a great work of the Holy Spirit, and we are right to remember and celebrate …
Gladness for Sackcloth/Psalm 30
Introduction: In this psalm we find another inspiring pattern for prayer—and it is the kind of prayer that can be offered up by a sinner. David offers up a petition here, and the need for the petition was created by his own spiritual carelessness. But we serve and worship a God who forgives. Text: I …
God of the Wineskins
Our heavenly Father, You are the God of both the wine and the wineskins. You order our affairs in ways that astonish us, and we are sometimes tempted to think that You have forgotten what You ought to be doing. Your wisdom transcends ours. Your thoughts are not our thoughts. Your ways are not our …
Mother Love
Once two women were quarreling, and I am afraid that their quarrel was loud enough to be heard by others at the restaurant where they were having lunch. As it happens, there was a wise woman who attended the same church they did who happened to overhear. Deciding that since they had made the affair …
Objectively Submitting
The table before us is set by God Himself. He invites us to it, and as we sit down with Him (in the person of the Lord Jesus), He deals with us. We cannot prevent this, we cannot manipulate it, we cannot turn it to our own ends. This table means what God says it …
History and the Guild
Objectivity is a false god, and the worship of this idol is particularly pernicious in disciplines like journalism and history. It is not possible to be objective — although of course it is possible to be honest. By pretending to attain to objectivity, a writer’s fundamental faith commitments are not eliminated, but rather submerged — …