In virtually every class, I was told that all scientific knowledge, and even science itself was founded on Western cultural constructions and was to be regarded as hegemonic. And since each of the world’s various cultural viewpoints were enmeshed in their own . . . Continue reading →
May 2017 Archive
More Evidence That Roe Should Be Overturned
The Roe decision by Justice Blackmun, as well as the dissents by then‐Justice Rehnquist and Justice White, with which Justice Scalia agreed, “are constitutionally unsound.” All permit “violation of the fetus’s constitutionally protected right to life without due process of law.” Returning . . . Continue reading →
1930 Or 2017?
The enemy is made the more dangerous because it is found within, rather than without, the Church. Definite opponents of the Christian religion could have been more easily met; but now as in ancient times Satan has preferred to labor for the . . . Continue reading →
Fitz Needs You
Fitz is in Austin, TX with a foster home. His adoption fees are minimal. Here is his Facebook page.
Calvin: Paul Excludes All Works, Even Those Wrought By The Spirit
This righteousness then, which God communicates to man, and accepts alone, and owns as righteousness, has been revealed, he says, without the law, that is, without the aid of the law; and the law is to be understood as meaning works; for . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Bob Looks Back
In the ordinary providence of God, the Lord uses people and means to accomplish his purposes. Heidelberg Catechism 65 says that God the Spirit uses the preaching of the gospel to bring his elect to new life and to true faith in . . . Continue reading →
On Memorial Day: All Christians Are Historians
In the United States, Memorial Day is day for remembering those who died in the service of the US military. It began as Decoration Day in 1868, on which day 5,000 people decorated the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington . . . Continue reading →
If God Helps Those Who Help Themselves, Christ Died For Nothing
Now take both Laws, the Ceremonial Law and the Moral Law or the Decalog. Imagine that by the merit of congruity you have made so much progress that the Spirit has been granted to you and that you have love. Of course, . . . Continue reading →
Turretin On The Fundamental Articles Of The Faith
I. The question concerning fundamental articles is difficult and important. It has been discussed by many who have erred both in defect and in excess. The Socinians err in defect who admit very few fundamentals (and those only practical, theoretical being almost . . . Continue reading →
Are The Remonstrants Heretics?
This question comes over the transom regularly. I think most confessional Reformed pastors would probably say that, though they disagree strongly with Arminianism, it is not heresy. Somewhere I read (or heard) that William Ames (1576–1633), who served as an advisor . . . Continue reading →
Differences Between The Reformed And Remonstrants On The Trinity
3. The practical use of the doctrine of the Trinity. Thus the orthodox not only state the doctrine of the Trinity as the ground of all other Christian doctrine—they also state it as an eminently practical doctrine, as illustrated by the practical . . . Continue reading →
John Dewey’s Plan For Your Children
[John Dewey] doesn’t want the school any longer to be in the handmaiden role, aiding parents in their goal of passing literacy and tradition and deferred gratification on to their progeny. . . [H]is schools now have the socially transforming purpose of . . . Continue reading →
Sneaky Squids And Sola Scriptura
When I saw Chris Rosebrough tweet something about a “sneaky squid spirit doctrine” I thought it must be something from The Onion or the Babylon Bee. It is not. It is the latest thing from the world of charismatic continuing prophecy. The . . . Continue reading →
The Dramatic Story Of Peter Martyr Vermigli
Pope Paul III, however, was not sitting idle in this rapidly changing climate. In 1542, after a failed attempt to conciliate Roman Catholics and Protestants at the Diet of Regensburg, he agreed on renewing the earlier practice of the Roman Inquisition under . . . Continue reading →
What Pastors Shouldn’t Tell Their Wives: The Danger Of Too Transparency
Megan Hill, a Presbyterian pastor’s wife, has been writing about what pastors tell their wives and what they should tell them. I can answer that question in one word: nothing. By nothing, I mean “no confidential information.” A pastor may tell his . . . Continue reading →
Campus Rage Is A Sacrament Of A New Religion
when a mob at Vermont’s Middlebury College shut down a speech by social scientist Charles Murray a few weeks ago, most of us saw it as a another instance of campus illiberalism. Jonathan Haidt saw something more – a ritual carried out . . . Continue reading →
Thomas Müntzer’s Doctrine Of Scripture And Revelation
Müntzer stretched Karlstadt’s distinction between the Spirit and the flesh still further by discarding baptism altogether and by setting aside the Scriptures as in themselves constituting no more than a dead letter. ‘Bible, Babel, bubble!’ was his slogan. A. Skevington Wood, “The . . . Continue reading →
Inclusion And Exclusion: Getting It Right
Perhaps the most intense and difficult part about growing up is learning how to fit in, when to try, and when it does not matter. I suppose, we probably never really outgrow those questions but perhaps, as we mature, it matters less . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours—Steve Baugh On The Majesty On High: The Kingdom Of God In The New Testament
Right at its beginning the Gospel of Mark characterizes the gospel as a message of good news about the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:15). According to Scripture, Jesus’ gospel maybe summarized this way: “The time is fulfilled and the and the Kingdom . . . Continue reading →
Augustine’s Retractations, Perfectionism, And Fakespectations (2)
Secular institutions and even extra-ecclesiastical Christian institutions have always been, in their essence, law. The civil magistrate may exercise mercy—Calvin’s first published work was a commentary on Seneca’s De Clementia (On Clemency), Seneca’s defense of the virtue of mercy to Nero. When . . . Continue reading →