Providence (3): The “As It Were” Principle

In part 2 we considered the biblical and confessional Reformed teaching that the triune God is actively present, sustaining and governing all that is. In our account of the doctrine of providence we use an interesting little expression that is freighted with . . . Continue reading →

On The Most Generous Interpretation, It Still Looks Bad

The University of East Anglia’s official report about the leaked e-mails concluded that “opposing interpretations can be obtained from the same statement.” But even if we give those involved the benefit of the doubt — presuming that “trick” and “hide the decline” . . . Continue reading →

Providence: God’s Active, Almighty, Present Power (2)

In the previous post we considered what it means to say “I believe in God the Father almighty. One of the most scurrilous things that some neo-Pentecostalists have alleged against the historic Christian view of God is that we are Deists. Quite . . . Continue reading →

Office Hours: Divine Covenants And Moral Order

In the 16th and 17th centuries, indeed, from the 2nd century until the 20th century there was little question among Christians whether God has revealed his moral law in nature and in the conscience. In the 20th century, however, that verity came to . . . Continue reading →

John Paul II, Sister, & Billy Sunday

Yet with Rome, the grandeur and spectacle of it all somehow overwhelms and masks the fact that its trading on fundamentally the same motive that drives TMZ. It’s easy to make fun of the extremes of Americana religion, with Sister Aimee riding . . . Continue reading →

Williamson Contra Piketty

We treat the physical results of capitalism as though they were an inevitability. In 1955, no captain of industry, prince, or potentate could buy a car as good as a Toyota Camry, to say nothing of a 2014 Mustang, the quintessential American . . . Continue reading →

“Homosexual” And “Homosexuality” In The New Testament

Below are some notes I compiled as part of a broader discussion about how Christians ought to think about homosexuality. The argument was made that the Bible does not really speak clearly to the question of homosexual behavior. In response I offered . . . Continue reading →

Providence: God’s Active, Almighty, Present, Power (1)

From the moment Adam sought to grasp equality with God (Phil 2), from the moment he mysteriously rebelled against God’s sovereignty and hiddenness (“You shall be as God”), from the moment he ceased to love and adore the triune God, since that . . . Continue reading →

An Elitist Mob Tells The Unwashed Masses

As with all such discussions, an elitist few take it upon themselves to tell the unwashed masses what they may and may not say — or by logical extension, what they may or may not think. These self-appointed arbiters of speech and . . . Continue reading →