And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness (Rom 4:5; ESV) Continue reading →
Heidelberg 60: Only By True Faith (5)
April 2015 Archive
Stan Freberg Remembered
Stan Freberg (1926–2015) may have been a genius but who knows these things? He was very funny and a great opponent of the stuff-shirt. Bent on driving all genuine talent out of radio, execs killed his network show (1957) so he went into advertising and made comedy records. He was able to be funny and satirical in the same sixty-second commercial. Naturally the ad people hated him too. The rest of us will miss him. Continue reading →
The Gospel Is Not Common
Modern Reformed and evangelical Christians inherited the language of “common grace” (Gemeene Gratie) from Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920), a pastor, scholar, theologian, newspaper publisher, educator, and politician (he served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands) of enormous energy and accomplishment. He not only . . . Continue reading →
The Three Points Of Synod Kalamazoo (1924)
Synod, having considered that part of the Advice of the Committee in General which is found in point III under the head: Treatment of the Three Points, comes to the following conclusions The First Point Concerning the first point, touching the favorable . . . Continue reading →
Social Media Puts Us All In A Covenant Of Works
Even before the NSA spying scandal, Zygmunt Bauman studied the contemporary surveillance society in collaboration with sociologist David Lyon, director of the Surveillance Studies Centre. In the digital age, no one could ever be sure they weren’t being monitored—leading to a kind . . . Continue reading →
HT515 History Of Reformed Worship
Course Description A seminar in the history Christian worship from the patristic period through the Westminster Assembly. Students will read and discuss primary and secondary sources. Spring. 2 Credits. Course Requirements: (1) Attend all classes, complete all readings, participate in class discussion . . . Continue reading →
Wisdom According To Paul (pt 2)
The Apostle Paul was a preacher to the Gentiles, a missionary, a church planter, and ultimately a martyr for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was also a theologian of wisdom. He used the Greek noun for wisdom, sophia, repeatedly. . . . Continue reading →
He Is Not Here. He Has Risen
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the . . . Continue reading →
The Real Danger Of Theocracy In America
Since evangelical re-engagement with social and cultural issues in the mid-1970s, symbolized by the 1976 election of a self-professed born-again, Southern Baptist (Democrat) from Georgia to the White House, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, against the background of the Moral . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 60: Only By True Faith (4)
“Yet God without any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sin, and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me…” Continue reading →
Christ’s Merits Affirmed And Ours Denied In The Reformed Confessions
Christ’s Merit For Us Affirmed “only for the sake of Christ’s merits” (Heidelberg Catechism 21) “for the sake of Christ’s merits” (Heidelberg Catechism 84) “if they did not rest on the merit of the suffering and death of our Savior” (Belgic Confession, . . . Continue reading →
(Lesbian) Talk Show Host Speaks Truth To (LGBT) Power
The Logic Of The New Orthodoxy On Same-Sex Marriage
Always question the premise Continue reading →
Comply With The New Orthodoxy Or Be Fined Out Of Existence. In America.
(Credit: KOIN TV)
The Organized Campaign To Demand Ideological Conformity
Barack Obama can run for office as an anti-gay-marriage candidate — which he did, more than once — and that is a ho-hum business, because nobody believed him to be sincere. Brendan Eich was driven out of the company he helped found . . . Continue reading →
It Was A Slippery Slope
…I was quick to smack down fears that churches would be forced to perform same sex marriages, or that people would be punished for not being made to agree. I deemed these wildly hypothetical fantasies. But I was wrong. …I apologize for . . . Continue reading →
Jefferson: Conscience Protected Against The Enterprises Of Civil Authority
No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority. It has not left the religion of its citizens under the power of its public functionaries, . . . Continue reading →
Madison: Conscience May Not Be Coerced By The State
Because we hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth, “that Religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence.” [Virginia Declaration . . . Continue reading →
Freedom To Act According To Conscience In America
“…this Congress intend no violence to their consciences”—Continental Congress (1775) Continue reading →
The LGBT Lobby Is Threatened By Grandma?
UPDATE (3 April, 2015) The legal conflict, including fines and assessments against her business and personal assets, continues.