“He is as good of a running back as you will see in the SEC.” One hears and sees the expression, “as good of” almost constantly now and it as defective as it is unnecessary. The first part of the problem is . . . Continue reading →
2020 Archive
Editorial Note Regarding The “Shepherds” Post
A member of the Presbytery of the Southeast (OPC), who is also a member of the committee, called to ask me to remove the quotation of Rev. Mahaffy’s post. He argues that though the words quoted were said by the member, on the floor of presbytery, in open session, there is more to the story and that presbytery is addressing these issues judicially.
I continue to affirm Rev. Mahaffy’s sentiments about the role and nature of shepherds in Christ’s church and will be addressing this more fully in future.
Pray for your local confessional Presbyterian/Reformed congregation, that it might be neither “fundamentalist” nor “progressive” but faithful to God’s Word as we confess it in the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Canons of Dort, and the Westminster Standards.
Resources
Federal Court Upholds The Right Of Religious Schools To Adhere To Their Stated Convictions Regarding Sex
Or Grace Does Not Obliterate Nature
…This action concerns the expulsion of two students from a seminary school for violating school policies against same-sex marriage and extramarital sexual activity. Plaintiffs claim violations of: (1) Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681, et seq. . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 160: As It Was In The Days Of Noah (7): Christ’s Abounding Graces
One of the principal reasons I became an amillennialist in eschatology was my study of 1 and 2 Peter. One of the reasons that, after study, investigation, and prayer, I rejected the claims of the Pentecostal moment is the triumphalism of the . . . Continue reading →
Why Not Stick To History? Short Answer: The Twofold Kingdom (Duplex Regimen)
A popular political commentator published a book a few years ago titled Shut Up And Sing, in which she argued that famous athletes and other entertainers should keep their political and cultural opinions to themselves and not seek to use their fame to . . . Continue reading →
Surprising Comfort
…Does personal confidence that we will receive everlasting rewards for our works square with all the biblical data? To be very clear, the question here is not about whether we will receive those rewards, but about the issue of personal confidence that . . . Continue reading →
Two Dark Sides Of The Sexual Revolution (UPDATED)
Regular readers of this space may remember that I have been arguing for a while that we are in the midst of arguably the third great sexual revolution since the late 19th century. Let me borrow from that earlier essay: There have . . . Continue reading →
Free Speech Matters: BigSocMedia Bans New York Post Article
BigSocMedia does not want you to be able to read an article in the New York Post concerning Hunter Biden and his connections to Burisma etc. Without commenting on the merits of the article, I am only posting this link here in . . . Continue reading →
More On New Definitions (Updated)
In 2016, Advocate a leading LGBTQ news and commentary magazine published an article in which an author used the phrase “sexual preference” non-ironically and with not hint of shame. As recently as 19 days ago, this same magazine used the expression in a . . . Continue reading →
Brooks Describes The Problem But Does He Answer The Central Question: Why?
During most of the 20th century, through depression and wars, Americans expressed high faith in their institutions. In 1964, for example, 77 percent of Americans said they trusted the federal government to do the right thing most or all of the time. Then came the last two moral convulsions. In the late 1960s and ’70s, amid Vietnam and Watergate, trust in institutions collapsed. By 1994, only one in five Americans said they trusted government to do the right thing. Then came the Iraq War and the financial crisis and the election of Donald Trump. Institutional trust levels remained pathetically low. Continue reading →
What The Court-Packing Debate Teaches Us About Defining The Adjective Reformed
Since about last Friday, the expression “court packing” has received a marvelous new definition. From the “things you should have learned in school” file, it was president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Thirty-Second President of the United States, who, in 1937, threatened to . . . Continue reading →
Stephens On The 1619 Project
The 1619 Project is a thesis in search of evidence Continue reading →
On The King James Only Movement, The Majority Text, And Text Criticism
Preface As a young Christian, as I was beginning to study Greek and to learn the Reformed theology, piety, and practice, I could see the textual apparatus in the footnotes of my copy of the Greek New Testament but I could not . . . Continue reading →
11 Thousand Scientists And Medical Practioners: End The Lockdown
Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination . . . Continue reading →
National Association Of Scholars: Revoke Pulitzer Prize For 1619 Project
The Project as a whole was marred by similar faults. Prominent historians, most of them deeply sympathetic to the Project’s goal of bringing the African American experience more fully into our understanding of the American past, nevertheless felt obliged to point out, . . . Continue reading →
Back In Print! Ames On The Heidelberg Catechism And Caspar Olevianus On The Apostles’ Creed
William Ames, A Sketch of the Christian’s Catechism. Classic Reformed Theology. Todd Rester, trans. (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2008). Ames (1576–1633) exposits a particular text of Scripture that supports the main thoughts for a given Lord’s Day in the Heidelberg Catechism . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Joel Kim On Returning To Class And Forty Years Of Faithfulness
The beginning of the Fall semester for the academic year 2020–21 marked the beginning of the 40th year of Westminster Seminary California. In 1980 we were in an office complex in San Marcos, CA and in the fall of 1984 we began . . . Continue reading →
Critical Theory Seeks To Suppress Dissent In America
One of the several reasons that Americans ought to be concerned about the inroads being made by Critical Theory (e.g., Critical Race Theory, Critical Legal Theory) into American life is its fundamentally anti-American view of free speech. Rod Dreher highlights the latest . . . Continue reading →
New Resource Page: On Abortion
The sixth commandment of God’s holy moral law says, “You shall not murder.” Christians have always understood this to prohibit abortion, i.e., the unjust taking of a human life in utero. The Didache (c. AD 114), an early Christian document testifying to . . . Continue reading →
CRT Indoctrination Reminds Former Intelligence Analyst Of Communist Brainwashing Technique
If you review the training sessions for [Critical Race Theory] facilitators, the process is eerily similar to such communist processes of coercive thought reform. First of all, the employees are put into a controlled environment, isolated from other influences and under the . . . Continue reading →