What equipment does a newly minted Ruling Elder need? I would propose the following: the Bible, the Westminster Standards, the Book of Church Order (BCO), a phone for texting members and fellow elders (there is lots of texting), an email account, and that . . . Continue reading →
HeidelQuotes
Bredenhof: Reasons Why Wilson Should Not Be Regarded As Reliable
…Wilson presents his [theonomic] position as something distinct from theonomists like Greg Bahnsen. However, as an OPC minister, Greg Bahnsen affirmed the Westminster Confession too. He too affirmed what the Westminster Confession says about “general equity.” He was a “Westminster theonomist.” What . . . Continue reading →
Using Strength to Serve
We live in a time where it is thought that strength must be shown for it to be “strength.” Arguing online is the norm. Brash politicians are lauded. The bolder the talking head, the better. For men to be men they must . . . Continue reading →
Did Jesus Really Turn Water Into Wine?
The account of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding of Cana is a well-known story from the Gospel of John. When commenting upon this passage, many focus on the exceptional quality of the wine that Jesus produced, while others prefer . . . Continue reading →
How “Pride” Month Became a Religious Holiday
The month of June hadn’t even begun yet when Donald Trump became the first Republican president to express his support for LGBT Pride Month. On May 31, President Trump tweeted about celebrating LGBT Pride Month and how we should “recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT . . . Continue reading →
Ray Of Hope: Parents With Inconvenient Truths About Trans
We are writing with some concerns about our child’s experience in school around the issue of gender. We understand this is a challenging and controversial topic in schools, and respect that different children and their families have different needs and beliefs regarding gender . . . Continue reading →
The Establishment Principle
In my mind, the Old Testament model of theocracy doesn’t clearly correlate with the New Testament or Apostolic Church practices, or even the Patristics for that matter, which suggests that applying Old Testament concepts to Christian statecraft might be anachronistic or misguided. . . . Continue reading →
Dear Abusive Men In The Church
Dear abusive men in the church, I so often feel like berating you, but in what follows I actually want to give you a compliment of sorts. You are succeeding in changing hearts and minds about a key issue facing the church . . . Continue reading →
Synod Turns Back Neland Ave CRC Appeal
Synod 2023 of the Christian Reformed Church in North America rejected an appeal by the council of Neland Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, Mich., of a Synod 2022 order that called for the congregation to rescind its decision to ordain a deacon . . . Continue reading →
The Early Church Fathers On The Anti-Christ
The earliest Christian documents which mention the Antichrist contain slight theological reflection, apart from a brief mention of him in connection with a particular biblical passage. Over time, the short-shrift given him begins to change. Some tie Antichrist to heresy (appealing to . . . Continue reading →
Activists Are Controlling Scientific Research
A significant social-science paper, co-authored by my casual friend Michael Bailey, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Northwestern, was just retracted by the prestigious Springer-network journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. It’s worth looking at exactly why this happened. …All right: enough wordplay. In reality, anyone . . . Continue reading →
Ruling Elder Renaissance
The recently-concluded 50th Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly in Memphis, TN was the second-largest ever with (unofficially) 2250 elders in attendance; only the previous year’s assembly was larger with 2385 in attendance. More significantly, this year’s meeting solidified a trend of . . . Continue reading →
Three Myths About Public School
Myth #1: Public schools are equally open to all American kids. The vast majority of children are assigned to a public school by their district, based on geography. This means that coveted public schools are allowed to turn children away based on . . . Continue reading →
The Significance Of The Covenant Of Grace In Reformed Theology
It is correctly said that covenant theology is the center of Reformed theology. In Eden, while under the covenant of works, all of humanity fell when the first of our race (Adam), rebelled against his creator, thereby plunging the entire human race . . . Continue reading →
Christian Nationalism’s Discomfort With The American Founding
In certain sectors of the Christian world, such patriotic excess is in marked decline. For several years a gifted set of Roman Catholic thinkers, sometimes known as integralists—Edmund Waldstein and Adrian Vermeule among them—have taken a dim view of the American founding and its subsequent . . . Continue reading →
Recovering The Art of Persuasion
“Of all things that human beings do,” Mortimer Adler once observed, “conversing with one another is the most characteristically human.” Unfortunately, in our day, we no longer have many opportunities for meaningful conversations. Virtual conversations abound—we watch talking heads on television or . . . Continue reading →
How We Can Make Reformed Churches More Welcoming
Hospitality is vital to the life of the church. How we treat someone, whether they’re a visitor or longtime member, may affect their involvement within a church. It may also impact their decision to continue attending a church. Most of us have . . . Continue reading →
From Science To Sophistry
One way to observe the death of scientific rationality is to watch the triumph of sophistry over empirical science. We see this everywhere these days and a recent article in Scientific American is a particularly egregious example of outright sophistry. This article asserts that “human sex . . . Continue reading →
How Bright Students And Professors Are Being Destroyed By “Anti-Racism”
On the sunny first day of seminar, I sat at the end of a pair of picnic tables with nervous, excited 17-year-olds. Twelve high-school students had been chosen by the Telluride Association through a rigorous application process—the acceptance rate is reportedly around . . . Continue reading →
Beza: No Good Works Can Save You
Therefore, this is our thesis: No good works of the regenerate, even which are most excellent before others from themselves or in themselves, can endure the judgment of God, because they are imperfect, impure, and mixed with vice, and therefore they have . . . Continue reading →