The way God reveals Himself in time and history is a revelation in some way of His eternal nature. As God created the world, He was not composing some sort of ultimate free verse. We look at the world, and unless we are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, we see His eternal power and majesty. …
Show Me a Token
Nothing reveals a person’s approach to epistemology more rapidly than trouble-shooting in conflict does. “What’s the trouble here? How did the trouble start?” Almost always the way this kind of question is answered serves to extend and continue the trouble. When Ahab decided to start worshiping Baal, the end result of this was a drought …
Reformation and our Children
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Mal. 4:5-6). One of …
The Lord’s Supper and Priestcraft
As we develop a right approach to the Supper, which includes a weekly approach to the Supper, we have to be careful to avoid distractions. One such distraction is the charge that this “high view” of the Supper is somehow incipiently Roman Catholic. In considering a historical debate as we come to the Supper is …
The Law of Liberty
Understanding the nature and purpose of God’s law is central to our Christian lives. If we misunderstand or disobey what God requires of us, we have sinned grievously. If we understand it and obey, we receive tremendous blessing. To misunderstand law is to misunderstand grace. We see this in the preface to the Ten Commandments. …
My Sane Baptist Friend
I recently had an email exchange with someone I shall call my “sane Baptist friend,” or SBF for short. He had some questions about the Auburn Avenue deal, and I thought our exchange might prove helpful to others. There are a couple back and forths here. For ease of following, my original words are underlined, …
Is Skulk a Great Word or What?
The word skulk just captures it, you know? For those who read this blog from other parts of the great wide world, I hope the posts on our local intoleristas have not been too boring. But it should really not be boring for anyone, offering, as it does, a window that gives us a view …
Secret Atheism/Psalm 14
Just as covenant keeping begins in the heart, so does covenant breaking. Christians are far too often exercised over displays of overt atheism, when we ought to be more concerned over the existence of practical atheism in the hearts of covenant members. The fool says in his heart that there is no God. With his …
Present or Absent?
For centuries, Christians have debated the “real presence” of the Lord Jesus in the Supper. Too often it is not noted that the alternative position is necessarily a belief in His real absence. This of course is silly, and so this should cause us to reflect. All orthodox Christians believe in the real presence—the debate …
Polling As Farce
In all cultures, at all times, a great deal can be learned by looking at what everyone assumes together — left wing, right wing, moderate, libertine, conservative, or anarchist. In our day, virtually everyone assumes the legitimacy of polling as a way of spot-checking what demos, the people, has to say at any given moment. …