God can save people immediately. He has done it in the past and he will continue to do so. However, there are times when he chooses to plant seeds over an extended period of time. It may take months, even years–it requires time. Are you willing to spend the time it takes to befriend unbelievers, plant the seed... Continue Reading

The book attempts first to characterize and classify the movement of new Calvinism. This in itself is a chore, I’m sure. And after he helps readers have a better sense of what he is talking about, he begins by pointing out several good qualities and positive effects of the movement. He then rounds out the... Continue Reading

Wells explains that “some critics have complained that [these earlier five books] contain no answers to the church’s current parlous state. The criticism has some merit. In my mind, I assumed an answer to the dilemmas unearthed and was not always as explicit in setting this out as I should have been.” This book is... Continue Reading

I don’t think Jeremy’s caveat that “New Calvinism” is a nebulous phrase exempts him from the need to shed some definitional light on the matter. The alliterated headings of Calvinism, Characters, Conglomeration, and Consolidation do not seem to sufficiently define boundaries for the movement.  And, so, while Piper and Driscoll are almost constant topics of... Continue Reading

I don’t want to throw Tchividjian under the bus here.  I haven’t read anything else he’s written and I don’t follow his ministry at all.  Maybe he’s clarified this elsewhere.  I just wanted to point this out, echoing what Mark Jones said in Antinomianism (p. 111-121), that we should be careful when speaking about biblical truths and doctrines. ... Continue Reading

In A Reformed Response to Science and Scripture, Dr. Mathison tackles a topic that has long been a subject of debate, aiming to equip Christians to approach questions pertaining to science and Scripture with grace, humility, and patience.   “How old is the universe?” This question was raised during our 2012 National Conference and Dr. R.C. Sproul gave a... Continue Reading

Even so, like a good pastor, Damian encourages these sinners to hope in God’s mercy through repentance. He rallies them to take a bold stand “against the importunate madness of lust. If the flame of lust burns to the bones, the memory of perpetual fire should extinguish it immediately.” He urges them not to let... Continue Reading

Lewis thus suggests that ‘the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in’ consists in our knowledge of a moral law, and an awareness of our failure to observe it. This awareness ought to ‘arouse our suspicions’ that there “is a Something which is directing the universe and which appears... Continue Reading

Jones argues well that historic Reformed theologians typically critiqued antinomian rhetoric (i.e. our sanctification means going back to our justification).  They critiqued it because it was unclear, because it had a primarily negative view of the law, because it became a hermeneutical grid, and because it lacked a balanced approach to Christology and the Christian... Continue Reading

O’Reilly’s biggest problem is that he does not appear to understand what Jesus’s purpose on earth really was or what he actually accomplished. The book jacket tells us that “Killing Jesus…recounts the seismic, political and historical events that made Jesus’s death inevitable.” And in their book, the authors do tell us the facts about how... Continue Reading