Distinctives of Puritan Preaching: Dignity
The Puritan preacher saw his office as one of dignity and importance, character and content.
Puritan minister did not spare his pulpit efforts. He preached for an hour or two once or twice and sometimes three times a week—that is, always once or twice on Sundays, often at a week-day lecture, and occasionally on days of fasting, of thanksgiving, and election. His sermon content was based directly on the Bible,... Continue Reading
The Marquis de Sade – the Progressive Prophet?
For progressives, when they get their values, it’s like drinking salt water. Their thirst is never satisfied.
For de Sade culture is relative. You can trust only yourself and your feelings – especially your sexual desires. They are your authentic self so you must do what you want and live your own truth. Freud accepted Sade’s proposition that sexual identity is fundamental to your identity and that it is bad to suppress... Continue Reading
Discernment and Judging
Yes we must discern and we must judge.
Jesus prohibits a critical spirit, but does not forbid all use of the critical faculty. To follow Jesus, we must therefore discover why he says, “Judge not,” in Matthew 7, but says, “Judge with right judgment,” in John 7. Notice first that Jesus tells His disciples to make judgments in the very chapter that says “Judge... Continue Reading
Scholasticism for Evangelicals: Thoughts on “All That Is in God” by James Dolezal
Until a better way appears (perhaps in the new Heavens and new Earth) I intend to follow the biblical depictions of the Father, Son, and Spirit as a holy family, both in Heaven and on Earth, analogous to our earthly families, with a unity far beyond what any society of human beings is capable of.
I am grateful to God for giving to James Dolezal substantial gifts of theological knowledge and intelligence. But insofar as he desires to convict most of his colleagues of heresy, I cannot join him on the side of the prosecution. Rather, I am hoping that in time Dolezal will develop a more mature way of... Continue Reading
How to Use Your Hymnal
Good hymn writers take the beautiful words of God and turn them into beautiful pieces of poetry.
Most hymnals will group the songs by theme. For instance, you want to sing a song about the resurrection. You can look at the themes in the back of the hymnal or at the top of the pages and find whole sections of songs about the resurrection of Christ. Or what about songs about God’s... Continue Reading
Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age
Book Review: Samuel James’, Digital Liturgies, is meant to help you think about these technologies and the social internet they enable.
The heart of the book is comprised of five chapters that each address a different digital liturgy. Here James means to help us understand both the content our technologies are preaching to us and the ideologies they are fostering within us. “The question is not, Is this technology shaping me right now? The question is,... Continue Reading
Augustine, On Christian Doctrine
The preface to Augustine’s, On Christian Doctrine.
These rules I propose to teach to those who are able and willing to learn, if God our Lord do not withhold from me, while I write, the thoughts He is wont to vouchsafe to me in my meditations on this subject. But before I enter upon this undertaking, I think it well to meet... Continue Reading
Marriage Matters More than Ever
A new report confirms that God’s design for the wellbeing of children still works.
Today, more kids grow up in single-parent homes in America than in any other country in the world. No wonder we’re flailing and falling behind in so many ways. Strong marriages build strong families and strong societies. Humans were created with a desire to love and permanently connect and procreate within the institution of marriage.... Continue Reading
You Can Build Better Family Traditions
We are not alone trying to figure out how to serve Jesus all by ourselves. God has given us a family to help us.
I know many people who have become Christians from non-Christian family backgrounds. They want to live a life honouring the true God but need to set up new family traditions and ways of living. What does it look like to be a Christian husband? What does it look like to live a single life that... Continue Reading
Luther, Spiritual Disciplines, and Our Neighbors
Serving your neighbor out of love is a spiritual discipline.
Christians have to attend to the mastery of their sinful impulses so that they can serve their neighbors effectively. Luther approached the issue of sanctification with some reserve for fear that his generation, so recently weaned from the idea of good works as a means to grace rather than the fruit thereof, would fall back... Continue Reading
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