If you aren’t a baby boomer or a student of religious history, it can be hard to fathom the cultural influence and social cohesion that once resided in mainline Protestantism. At its height in 1965, mainline Protestant churches counted 31 million members . . . Continue reading →
2022 Archive
Against Berenson: Why Abortion Should Not Be Legal
The classic Reformed theologians distinguished between three uses of the moral law (e.g., the Ten Commandments): 1) the pedagogical use, whereby sinners come to know the greatness of their sin and misery; 2) the civil use, whereby the moral law—traditionally both tables . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Heidelberg Catechism 83—What Is The Office Of The Keys?
The Heidelberg Catechism is one of the most beloved and well used catechisms to emerge from the sixteenth and seventeenth century Reformation. Published in its final form in 1563, the catechism has been used by millions of Christians to teach the faith . . . Continue reading →
Trueman: Expressive Individualism LGBTQ Style Comes To Baylor
The news that Baylor University has officially chartered Prism, an LGBT student organization on campus, marks an important moment in Christian higher education in the USA. …The charter itself is interesting. It contains no reference to Christ or Christianity, an odd lacuna . . . Continue reading →
Hammers And Nails (And PCA Overtures)
Prior to the 21st century, it was not uncommon for one’s elders in home, church, or community to have a significant influence on one’s attitudes, beliefs, and general outlook on life. If Marc Prensky was right (I believe he was), this changed . . . Continue reading →
New Resource Page: On Mainline (Liberal) Christianity In North America
The expression “mainline church” is drawn from an old-money neighborhood in Philadelphia known as “the main line.” The mainline churches were what are sometimes called the “tall steeple” church along the mainline. Scholars of American Christianity sometimes speak of the “Seven Sisters . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Heidelberg Catechism 82—Are The Obviously Impenitent And Unbelieving To Come To The Lord’s Table?
The Heidelberg Catechism is one of the most beloved and well used catechisms to emerge from the sixteenth and seventeenth century Reformation. Published in its final form in 1563, the catechism has been used by millions of Christians to teach the faith . . . Continue reading →
Vos: All Our Works Are Excluded From Justification
Not only the works that we do in our own strength, or that we do before regeneration, or that we do without the merits of Christ, but all works, of whatever sort, are excluded from justification. This is so repetitively certain Scripture . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: We Believe In The Free, Well-Meant Offer Of The Gospel
The Reformed churches confess the well-meant and free-offer of the gospel. Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Heidelberg Catechism 81—Who Are To Come To The Lord’s Table?
The Heidelberg Catechism is one of the most beloved and well used catechisms to emerge from the sixteenth and seventeenth century Reformation. Published in its final form in 1563, the catechism has been used by millions of Christians to teach the faith . . . Continue reading →
Parachurch or Pastoring (Part 2)
Previously began a discussion about parachurch ministries in relation to the church. The point was to raise a concern about how, frequently, parachurch ministries implicitly, if (perhaps) unintentionally, try to usurp the visible, institutional church’s primary role in God’s plan to save . . . Continue reading →
Keele: The Kingdom Of God In This Life Is Paradoxical
And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” (Luke 13:20-21) A similar dynamic is brought out with . . . Continue reading →
A. A. Hodge: Contra Rome: The Protestants Say That Love Is The Fruit Of Faith
What are the different opinions as to the relation between faith and love? 1st. The Romanists, in order to maintain their doctrine that faith alone is not saving, distinguish between a formed, or perfect, and an unformed faith. They acknowledge that faith . . . Continue reading →
Warfield On Faith Contra The Edwardsian Definition
Kim Riddlebarger, who did his doctoral research on Warfield, has a nice set of quotations from him on the nature, character, and definition of faith in the act of justification. Continue reading
Rosaria: You Need The New Reformation Catechism On Human Sexuality
In contrast to the world’s anthropology, a biblical anthropology understands that after Adam’s transgression (Genesis 3), we, his posterity, have a sin nature that compels each person to love something that God hates. If nothing checks our will, our sinful desires will . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Heidelberg Catechism 80—The Difference Between The Lord’s Supper And The Pope’s Mass
The Heidelberg Catechism is one of the most beloved and well used catechisms to emerge from the sixteenth and seventeenth century Reformation. Published in its final form in 1563, the catechism has been used by millions of Christians to teach the faith . . . Continue reading →
Sabbath Perspective
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, And on his head are many . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 224: From Every Tribe, Tongue, And Nation (2)—Introduction To The Canons Of Dort (2)
In this episode Dr Clark continues the series on the Canons of Dort (1619). There is a popular narrative among Arminians (and perhaps others) that the Arminians were the victims of an unprovoked theological, ecclesiastical, and political attack by Calvinists. Nothing could . . . Continue reading →
News From The Emmaus Reformed Church Of East Africa
Our brothers Benard Okongo and Evans Mokua have made great progress in planting a new Reformed church in Kisii Town, Kenya. This town is at the center of a county of over a million people. The Seventh Day Adventists have been very . . . Continue reading →
Justin Holcomb To Speak On “Abuse, Healing, And The Church” At Christ Reformed in D. C. May 12, 2022
Jesus is the Great Physician, and the church is his hospital. It is a place for sinners—and those who have been wounded by the sins of others—to heal. Justin Holcomb describes in his speaking and writing how the heartbreaking statistics on abuse . . . Continue reading →