The Bible uses the word mystery in a particular way, it allows us to use it in another way, and forbids us to use it in a third. So everybody be careful out there! For those keeping track, this is a follow-up on my post about mystery and contradiction. First, how is mystery used? In …
Hard Providence and Trusting God
Introduction We live in a world where rough things happen. Despite all our advances in technology, everyone in this room will still die. We still get sick. We still have financial challenges. We have the heartbreak of wayward children. We still have to deal with the perversity of sin that we can still find stirring …
The Bagpipes of Hard Sovereignty
A few posts ago I wrote about how God loves cliff-hangers. In the comments to that post, one person asked about long term unanswered prayer, and I wanted to briefly respond to that concern here. There is the emotional side of this question, and there is a logical side. If the emotions are just answered …
God Loves Cliffhangers
As we deal — as we all must do — with troubles, affliction, difficulties and so on, the toughest thing to remember is that God is handstitching these problems for us, and He is doing this so that they will fit us perfectly. We don’t grasp this because we are victims of a metaphor. When …
An Odd Credo
I believe that God is God, and that we are not. I believe that Jesus is our Savior, and that we are not. I believe that the Holy Spirit is our wisdom, and that we are not. I believe that Jesus died under the wrath of God for our sin, and that He was raised …
Total Depravity
This was originally published in Antithesis (Vol. II/No. 2), April/May 1991. Pride and Prejudice Before I came to understand and embrace the Biblical doctrine of resurrecting grace, I was kept away by a combination of factors. One reason, of course, was my own prejudices and ignorance. Certain truths tend to rub our theological fur the …
Understanding the Will
This was originally published in Antithesis, Vol. II, No. 4, July/Aug 1991 Free will. Who could be against it? But there is a better question than this to ask. Free will. What is it? Many of the staunchest advocates of “free will” encounter immediate difficulties when they are asked to explain what they defend — …
Believing One Half of the Wrong End of It
An easy mistake concerning Calvinism is that it somehow must necessarily reduce to a stiff-upper lip Stoicism, particularly in its teaching on contentment. “It is one heart-quieting consideration in all the afflictions that befall us that God has a special hand in them.” This is from the great Thomas Watson, and some might find it …
If You Start Purple, Finish Purple
Today Rachel Held Evans tweeted that despite her disagreements with him, she would be happy to come to the Lord’s Table with John Piper any time. No matter what, he’s a brother. A brother who creates a big-time abusive environment for blaming the victim, but still a brother, right? Sorry, but it doesn’t work like …
Don’t Waste the Point
In the ruckus following Rachel Held Evan’s attack on various and sundry, at least three important things have been going on in the barrage of comments at various sites. The first has to do with the alleged abuse case at Sovereign Grace Ministries. That is a situation about which I know next to nothing, and …