IV. Second, they falsely argue from the ignorance of a thing to its negation, as if it was necessary for a thing not to be because it is not known. And yet the truth of the thing is to be measured from . . . Continue reading →
Author Archives: Heidelblog
Where Was Our Church Before Zwingli And Luther?
I. Although from what has been said in the preceding question concerning the obscurity of the church, it is easy to answer the proposed question (for if the church can sometimes be so obscured and concealed as to the nowhere conspicuous on . . . Continue reading →
Reason Is Not The Principium But Instrument Of Faith
The question is not whether reason is the instrument by which or the medium through which we can be drawn to faith. For we acknowledge that reason can be both: the former indeed always and everywhere; the later with regard to presupposed . . . Continue reading →
The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
I think what we’ve learned in Britain is that we’ve gradually, over the last certainly 12 or 13 years, with perhaps a little interruption, gone slowly further and further away from the free society towards something else…. At the same time we’ve . . . Continue reading →
Good Thing They Didn’t Say This Under Moses
“And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that . . . Continue reading →
Mohammad Talked A Lot About Jihad Because It Worked
Mohammed preached the religion of Islam for 13 years in Mecca and converted only a 150 people. He was driven out of Mecca and went to Medina. In Medina he became a politician, jihadist and warlord. He averaged a jihad event on . . . Continue reading →
Why “Nice” Is Such An Impotent Category
The news is filled with comments made by people who knew the Boston Marathon bombers that they were “nice”, regular people. They cannot believe that the Tsarnaev brothers could be violent. This is not the first time we have heard such observations, . . . Continue reading →
Kass: Children Are Not Merely A Product Of The Will
Consider abortion. After years of calling for abortions that are “safe, legal and rare,” the Democratic Party in its 2012 platform dropped such language altogether in an attempt to appeal to its feminist base. But viewing childbearing solely as a matter of . . . Continue reading →
Ridderbos: The Kingdom Of God Is Not Brought By Human Action
[The] absolutely theocentric character of the kingdom of God in Jesus’ preaching…implies that its coming consists entirely in God’s own action and is perfectly dependent on his activity. The kingdom of God is not a state or condition, not a society created . . . Continue reading →
What Is The Article Of The Standing or Falling Of The Church?
Articulus iustificationis dicitur articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae (the article of justification is said to be the article of the standing or falling of the church)” —J. H. Alsted (1588–1638), Theologia scholastica didactica (Hanover, 1618), 711. For the sense and origins of . . . Continue reading →
From Taboo To Conformity
The conversation also reminded me of one of the supreme ironies of the contemporary politics of homosexuality. A movement originally built upon the idea of transgression, the breaking of taboos and the crossing of boundaries has become one of the most intolerant . . . Continue reading →
Idolatry Isn’t Just An Ancient Superstition
The evolutionary tendency in modern thought has inclined the church to think of idolatry as a superstitious habit of primitive peoples which has no place in the scientifically sophisticated modern mind. A lack of technological development is often mistakenly equated with a . . . Continue reading →
Why Hebrews 9 Is Referring To A Covenant Not To A Testament
Most modern translations and commentators take diatheke as “will” or “testament” in vv. 16–17, but understand it as “covenant” in vv 15 and 18. As we have seen, the context of v. 15 seems to demand the sense of “covenant” because only . . . Continue reading →
Peter Lombard On The New Perspective On Paul
That the observances of the old law are better called signs than sacraments. For those things which were instituted only for the sake of signifying are merely signs, and not sacraments; such were the carnal sacrifices and the ceremonial observances of the . . . Continue reading →
What Is The Cost Of Bringing Christianity To Bear On Public Life?
The lesson for the religious right should be obvious. The effort to bring religious values to bear on public life is similar to what Protestant modernists did seventy years ago when they advocated prayer and Bible reading in public schools, Prohibition, and . . . Continue reading →
Being Nice Is Not What The Christian Walk Is About
Being “nice,” of course, is not ultimately what the Christian walk is all about. But neither is it just a low-level option for those who are commanded by Scripture to “speak the truth in love.” Even the order of that commandment—truth first, . . . Continue reading →
Perkins On The Mediatorial Kingship Of Christ
Therefore Christ, as he is God, has under him, emperors, kings, princes to be his vicegerents; who therefore are called gods (Ps 82:1). But as he is Mediator, i.e., a priest, prophet, and king of the church, he has no vicegerent, vicar, . . . Continue reading →
Openhanded And Naked
I continued reading the Bible, all the while fighting the idea that it was inspired. But the Bible got to be bigger inside me than I. It overflowed into my world. I fought against it with all my might. Then, one Sunday . . . Continue reading →
Paul Cites Homosexual Behavior As Proof Of Natural Law
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of . . . Continue reading →
The Nine FV Points Rejected By The PCA General Assembly 2007
1. Rejects the bi-covenantal structure of Scripture as represented in the Westminster standards (i.e., views which do not merely take issue with the terminology, but the essence of the first/second covenant framework) An individual is “elect” by virtue of his membership . . . Continue reading →