Machen on the Church: A Reflection on Ch. 7 of Christianity and Liberalism (Part 1)
Machen calls again for liberals to withdraw voluntarily, and for the sake of harmony and cooperation, from evangelical churches.
In the face of the liberal peril, what should evangelicals do? A first step is to “encourage those who are engaging in the intellectual and spiritual struggle” (146–47). The intellectual battle must consist of both articulating and defending Christianity. Against those who focus solely on the propagation aspect, Machen suspects an anti-intellectualism underlying this approach,... Continue Reading
The Bible Is Still Relevant, Despite What You May Have Heard
The latest episode of the Colson Center’s What Would You Say? video series offers a response to the claim that “the modern world has moved beyond the Bible.”
Every video in the What Would You Say? series offers thoughtful, reasoned, and reliable answers to common cultural questions. This video explains how the Bible shaped Western culture, how the Bible’s description of reality provided the grounding for modern science, and why there will be a growing demand for the Bible as more and more... Continue Reading
Salvation by God at the Cross of Christ: A Reflection on Chapter 6 of Christianity and Liberalism (Part 2)
We should reject adjusting the atonement, sin, and our view of God to meet the tastes or fads of the day, but rather have a clear-eyed focus on sin and the cross as the core of the gospel.
To modify the core message of the gospel in order to receive what we think of as a proper hearing will lead to unfaithfulness. There are temptations within the evangelical church to compromise at the same places where theological liberalism was found defective: the doctrine of sin, character of God, and the accomplishment of the... Continue Reading
Heresy at the Heart of Derek Webb’s “Boys Will Be Girls”
Webb’s new album, The Jesus Hypothesis, is anything but subtle: it’s a celebration of gender transition and drag.
As Pride Month and its demands increasingly invade all of life, Christians must understand the semireligious nature of the culture war we’re fighting. Homosexual behavior and cross-dressing are nothing new, but as Scrivener, Holland, and (I suspect) Chesterton would argue, the way these things are sold today—as a matter of oppressed and outcast minorities in... Continue Reading
Salvation by God at the Cross of Christ: A Reflection on Chapter 6 of Christianity and Liberalism (Part 1)
The parting of ways on salvation secures Machen’s thesis that, in fact and by honest assessment, Christianity and theological liberalism are different religions.
Theological liberalism presents not merely a sub-Christian view of salvation but a different conception of it entirely, which depends on and elevates humanity rather than God. Machen sharply contrasts the liberal view of salvation, Christ as example, with Christ as vicarious sufferer in the mode of legal penal substitution. Far from being an arcane and “subtle” theory,... Continue Reading
Movie Review: Nefarious
"Nefarious" is a modern-day take on C.S. Lewis’s famous "The Screwtape Letters."
There is so much to appreciate about this film, and not just because it’s a good movie. Nefarious is a theologically orthodox explanation about God, the Devil, and the cosmic battle which occurs every day for a person’s soul. Nefarious is the best movie you’re likely not to see in 2023. Why that is the case has nothing... Continue Reading
Your Role in the Bigger Story
We will not know this side of heaven just how much influence we will have had in this life – just how much good we may have done for Christ and the kingdom.
We can do so much even in the mundane things of life. As I have said before, simply walking the dogs can be part of our kingdom-building efforts. When I walk my dog twice daily, I pray for all my neighbours as I walk past their houses. It is likely that only in the next life will I... Continue Reading
Reinterpreting Church History: A Response to Mimi Haddad, “History Matters”
We ought not to read back in time our own novel ideas about men and women derived from a century of complicated social and philosophical upheaval.
Haddad provides little in the way of evidence for her claim that complementarians rarely discuss abuse while egalitarians make it one of their main emphases. One might rather say that egalitarians often make the accusation that complementarianism fosters abuse. Unhappily, the questions for which our own age beg for answers engender little curiosity for egalitarians like... Continue Reading
An Excerpt from “Irony and the Presbyterian Church in America,” An Informed History of the First Half Century of the PCA.
The excerpt: “The 1996 (24th) General Assembly: Without A Vision (Or The Concerned) The People Did Just Fine.”
This book is an informed history of the first half century of a denomination formed in 1973. Other works discuss the events and personalities which led up to the founding of the Presbyterian Church in America, but this one traces the development and history of that church from 1973-2023. This volume benefits from the observations... Continue Reading
Learning Apologetics from Augustine
For Augustine, apologetics and soul care go hand in hand.
In Confessions, he tells a better and more rational story about reason, interweaving how our thinking depends on trust, how our deepest desires move us along through life, and how disordered loves misalign our intellectual quests for the truth. And he does this all while layering his account with the Scriptures; most notably the Psalms,... Continue Reading
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