UPDATE Below 7/9/13 Original Post July 2, 2013 On June 20, 2013 the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, the mainline (liberal) and oldest Dutch Reformed denomination in the US removed the “conscience clause” from its Book of Church Order. . . . Continue reading →
A legal preacher is a preacher who majors in the law to the neglect of the gospel. In practice, he preaches nothing but law. Continue reading →
Earlier this year the Rev. Greg Reynolds (DMin), gave the DenDulk lectures at Westminster Seminary California. He’s pastor of of Amoskeag Presbyterian Church in Manchester, New Hampshire; author of The Word Is Worth a Thousand Pictures: Preaching in the Electronic Age (2001); and editor of Ordained Servant: . . . Continue reading →
The confessional Reformed churches face many struggles. In Recovering the Reformed Confession I classified some of them under two headings, QIRC and QIRE, the quests for illegitimate religious certainty and experience. There are others. We are still playing Whack-a-mole with the Federal . . . Continue reading →
Michael writes to say that he recently read an article I wrote in 1999 on the Trinity and to ask if I’m willing to consider an analogy for the Trinity. I reply: Honestly, no. All illustrations of the Trinity end up in . . . Continue reading →
I happend to see the back of an old LT&T building last summer as I was driving across town. I was struck by how well preserved the old sign was. Re-painted perhaps? To what end? LT&T hasn’t existed for quite a while. . . . Continue reading →
UPDATE 7/5/13 Below. Original Post 7/1/13 PCA Pastor Robert Dekker, pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church wanted to hold worship services this summer on the beach near Lewes, Delaware. He applied for a permit from the city to use public space. The . . . Continue reading →
The PCA Ad Interim Report On The Federal Vision
D. G. Hart’s latest is just out: Calvinism: A History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013). It just arrived in the post so I’ve not had time to read it and we have a dinner guest arriving any minute. I hope to . . . Continue reading →
Introduction: What Do You Want? I spent an encouraging evening with a enthusiastic group of young people at pastor’s house recently. Over dinner we discussed the challenges of planting Reformed Churches. We agreed that whatever we do we need to be strategic, we . . . Continue reading →
This past season on Office Hours (season 4) we focused on the book of Hebrews. The theme is “Jesus Is Really Better.” Our commentators were Bob Godfrey, Steve Baugh, Dennis Johnson, Mike Horton, Dave VanDrunen, Joel Kim, and Hywel Jones. So, we had . . . Continue reading →
A congregation at prayer, hearing God’s Word preached and responding by singing God’s Word should be the safest place in the world. According to a story in Christianity Today, however, in 2012 it was not. Security experts describe them as “soft targets,” places . . . Continue reading →
As a follow on to the post of the 24th, On Being Critical, it seems useful to think a little about how to navigate the choppy waters of criticism and especially how to deal with it in our new media age. There’s . . . Continue reading →
There are 3000 + posts on the HB. Some of them contain dead links, i.e., links that go to a site that no longer exists or that has moved. When I find them I try to fix them but I probably won’t . . . Continue reading →
The uniqueness and centrality of the official preaching of the Word is diminished when we equivocate between the official, public, ordained administration of the Word and the unofficial witness to the gospel by the laity. The tendency among evangelical is to describe all . . . Continue reading →
I’m cleaning out my office and clearing out a great lot of books One of the volumes I found is Carl F. H. Henry, Basic Christian Doctrines (New York: Holt, Rhinehart, Winston, 1962). Included in this collection of very brief entries are G. . . . Continue reading →
In a 15 May essay in The Christian Century, Richard Mouw argues that we Protestants should perhaps re-think the question of praying to deceased Christians. He confesses that he wasn’t really well acquainted with the Roman doctrine of prayer and the intercession . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours talks with our new Library Director, James Lund. This is James’ second stint at WSC. He was Library Director from 2001–05. He took a couple of public library positions in Minnesota but now he’s back home at WSC. In this . . . Continue reading →
Have you ever stared at a word on the page until it lost all context and began to move around or just seem silly? That happens to writers. Consider the word “critical.” It’s a word we use frequently and in a variety . . . Continue reading →
