“The identification of the ruling Roman authorities as ‘a blaspheming beast’ is not exactly a complimentary one, and yet for the Christians it was a very obvious one to make. When the Christians cultivated their open liturgical honor for the emperor, they were not doing so with their eyes closed. We might even say that …
Losing the Creature You Worship
“Over the past several centuries, so many seminaries, parachurch organizations, colleges, and denominations have fallen into unbelief, that you would think we would know what it looks like by now. And yet, we must always remember the words of God to those who cannot see, and who in the name of their goddess reason, will …
An Unobstructed View
“When Isaiah taunts the idols, he does so on the basis of their enjoyment of an ‘open’ future . . . Put bluntly, Isaiah charges the idols with having the limitations that freewill theists are currently demanding for their new god . . . The God of the Bible has a vantage from which he …
No Worries
“If we were maintaining that man is free and that man is not free, and we were using the word free unequivocally, then that would be an actual contradiction. We would be trying to square the circle. But if we say that God determined, for example, the treachery of Judas, and that Judas, in an …
What a Coincidence
“Nero was not only a cruel despot but also a vain man who thought he was a rock star. He introduced musical competition into the Olympic Games and entered the competitions himself. And you know what? Son of a gun, he started winning them” (5 Cities, p. 95).
Where the Belly Gods Dwell
[Paul] “rejected that wisdom that makes good sense to our bellies” (From Whatever Happened to the Reformation, p. 66).
Receptive Reason
“If we have been restored by the Holy Spirit, it becomes possible for us to see in the Bible, with the eyes of reason, what God has in fact revealed to us. But until this is done, the Scriptures remain spiritual yammering because the natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit . …
Which Is Kind of Queer . . .
“This antimonarchical bent of the Romans was very similar to the prejudices of modern Americans. We would all go sideways if one of our presidents had himself crowned, but modern American presidents have vastly more power over their ‘subjects’ than King George III ever dreamed of having” (5 Cities, p. 89).
The Mind’s Eye
“Our reason is the mental ‘organ’ given to us by God to enable us to apprehend what he reveals to us. Just as the eye receives light, so the mind receives and accepts the truth. When we speak this way, we are not making eyes a separate authority alongside light. The rods and cones in …
Sola, Not Solo
“The classical Protestant doctrine of sola Scriptura does not mean there are no other spiritual authorities. The claim rather is that there are no other ultimate and infallible authoriities. The Scriptures alone are infallible, and the Scriptures alone are ultimate and supreme” (From Whatever Happened to the Reformation?, p. 65).