The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It
A review of Peter Enns' new book
In the end, The Bible Tells Me So is a book about contradictions. Enns intended it to be a book about contradictions in the Bible. But it becomes quickly apparent that the contradictions are really in Enns’s own worldview. He claims the Canaanite conquest is immoral, yet argues the Bible provides no clear guide for... Continue Reading
Why The Church Covers Up Abuse
Four reasons why churches sometimes cover up abuse
Abuse is an evil that feeds upon silence, secrecy, and shame. Sometimes people are pressured not to ask or tell about abuse, because it would damage both parties, both families by unnecessarily shaming them. But ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is not help. And of primary importance, we must affirm that our fundamental duty is to... Continue Reading
A Review: “The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts”
A study and guide for using the Old Testament in preaching and teacing
The author explains and expounds that the central focus of every Old Testament narrative is theocentric, which means that in “all our reading we should keep our eye on God – what he is revealing about himself and how he is working.” Davis wraps the book together by giving the reader an opportunity to walk with... Continue Reading
God, the Infallible Author of the Old Testament
An excellent reminder that the Scriptures of the Old Testament are authored primarily by God himself
The fact that certain critical scholars choose to refuse to discuss the theological questions involved in the formation of the Old Testament canon need not deter us from so doing. When men endeavor to account for the Old Testament canon upon the basis of historical considerations alone, how unsatisfactory their attempts are! In reality they... Continue Reading
Thomas Boston on Sanctification
An excerpt on sanctification from An Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, Part 1
How man is sanctified. It is a work carried on by degrees. The Spirit implants grace in the soul, giving it a new power towards God and his law. The Spirit preserves the implanted grace (1 Pet. 1:5). The Spirit excites and quickens this implanted grace in the soul; he strengthens and excites it and... Continue Reading
A Different Kind of Uniting Church and Home
An interview with Eric Wallace
Wallace’s book, Uniting Church and Home, has been blamed (or praised) for starting the “family integrated church” movement which rejects age-segregated practices like Sunday school. But he never started the movement. And he never said age-segregation was wrong. As he states in his book: “By a ‘house-hold approach’ I do not mean moving out of... Continue Reading
The Uniqueness of the Bible
What is the Bible? This question could be (and has been) answered numerous ways
“The Bible presents no mere philosophical or moral message, but is the gripping account of the plan of redemption promised, accomplished, and applied by God himself. God shows himself to be at work on the stage of history, and with sovereign mastery lays out an intricate plot concerning the birth, life, death, and resurrection of... Continue Reading
Reader’s Block
The importance of reading the Word aloud
In all of the discussions I have read on worship, I have not come across any real discussion outside of Block’s book of the aesthetics of reading out loud. Given the fact that Protestantism – in fact, biblical Christianity – is a religion of the Word spoken, we need to give more attention not only... Continue Reading
How Same-Sex Marriage Will Affect Friendships
The space for deep and meaningful male-male or female-female friendships among the young is rapidly shrinking to the vanishing point.
Unfortunately, the sexual revolution has made it more difficult to imagine passionate philos apart from eros. That’s why revisionist historians read romantic notions into Teddy Roosevelt’s affectionate letters to his closest friends. People wonder out loud about Abraham Lincoln’s sharing a bed with his friend, Joshua Speed. It’s hard for our society to understand how... Continue Reading
Grace Pleasures: Enjoying Grace Every Day, All Day Long
When you’re optimistic about God he gives you pleasures you won’t otherwise enjoy
You want to honor Jesus don’t you? You know that whatever you do is to be done for his glory. Here’s the main way you can do that. No – that’s not a misprint, not an exaggeration. Being optimistic about the Lord isn’t just a way of honoring him. It’s the way. Ultimately, all other... Continue Reading
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