The second BCO clause, which refers to prior approval by the session, is not a lower bar, but a higher one, and is rarely used. The standards that would guide the session would be the same. The difference is that the session . . . Continue reading →
HeidelQuotes
Female Predators In Public Schools
The institutions entrusted with the formation of young men are failing in their most basic duty of protection. This week, a 28-year-old female health teacher in Colorado was arrested, accused of a year-long sexual relationship with a 14-year-old male student. The allegations . . . Continue reading →
NJ AG Subpoena Of Pregnancy Resource Center Goes To SCOTUS
First Choice Women’s Resource Centers has been providing services to pregnant women since 1985. The organization exists to give women the information and resources they need to make life-affirming decisions for themselves and their unborn children. First Choice also provides counsel for . . . Continue reading →
Five Disturbing Discoveries About AI
Students are embracing the magical abilities of AI tools in ever-increasing numbers. Theological faculties and seminaries are scrambling to respond with appropriate ethical policies. Developers are forever finding new ways to foil AI detection. Unsurprisingly, specialist theological editors and proofreaders (such as . . . Continue reading →
The BCO Says Assistants Not Deaconesses
Churches should reconsider the practice of congregational nomination and election for those who assist the Diaconate. When the selection process mirrors or closely resembles the election of deacons, it creates unnecessary confusion. It blurs the distinction between ordained officers and those serving . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: God Descended From Heaven Without Leaving It
The Son of God descended miraculously from heaven, yet without abandoning heaven; was pleased to be conceived miraculously in the Virgin’s womb, to live on the earth, and hang upon the cross, and yet always filled the world as from the beginning. . . . Continue reading →
The Revivalist Appropriation Of Vaudeville
This year marks the Radio City Rockettes’ one hundredth anniversary, and the annual Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall is an aptly named feat. The century-old show has inspired big-budget iterations in evangelical circles nationwide, including in my home state of . . . Continue reading →
A World Without Books Is A Dark World Indeed
He wanted above all . . . to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind . . . Continue reading →
A Tale Of Two Trees
Even Christ’s death and resurrection inform the last Adam motif. Whereas the first Adam faced probation with a tree, so Christ’s suffering obedience culminated with a tree “by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). . . . Continue reading →
Charnock: A Lamb Is Both Clothes And Meat
A lamb is both clothes and meat; Christ is clothing to us by his righteousness to cover our nakedness, and food to us by his body and blood to satisfy our appetite, a sacrifice and a feast for us. Stephen Charnock | . . . Continue reading →
Turretin: Adam Might Have Had It By His Own Obedience
Christ alone gives us promises of eternal life in the state of sin. Yet in the state of nature, Adam might have had them by his own obedience, according to God’s pact. Francis Turretin | Institutes of Elenctic Theology (P&R Publishing, 1992–97, . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: Christ Does Not Call His Ministers To Conquer The Church
For as he who marries a wife does not call and invite his friends to the marriage, in order to prostitute the bride to them, or, by giving up his own rights, to allow them to partake with him of the nuptial . . . Continue reading →
The Mere Fact That A Westminster Divine Said Something…
The mere fact that a particular doctrine was held by an individual Westminster divine during the assembly’s debates does not automatically mean that doctrine was considered within the bounds of confessional orthodoxy by the assembly. Not everything in the WCF is a . . . Continue reading →
Ursinus: It’s Christ’s Satisfaction For Us
The righteousness with which we are here justified before God, is not our conformity with the law, nor our good works, nor our faith; but it is the satisfaction which Christ rendered to the law in our stead; or the punishment which . . . Continue reading →
Ridderbos: Postmillennial Christian Nationalism Incompatible With The New Testament
After reading hundreds of pages of PCN writing, I submit that PCN’s “this world conquest” version of eschatology 1) minimizes or ignores the NT teaching of suffering, 2) downplays the strong NT emphasis on longing for Christ’s end of time return, and . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On The Spirituality Of The Kingdom Of God
My kingdom is not of this world. By these words he acknowledges that he is a king, but, so far as was necessary to prove his innocence, he clears himself of the calumny; for he declares, that there is no disagreement between . . . Continue reading →
Lewis On Theology For Devotion
The present book is something of an experiment. The translation is intended for the world at large, not only for theological students. If it succeeds, other translations of other great Christian Books will presumably follow. In one sense, of course, it is . . . Continue reading →
Motherhood Is Not A Woman’s “Highest Calling”
Could it be that the way we speak about motherhood betrays a pharisaical tendency to self-aggrandize the ordinary, good, and faithful work that mothers do, while minimizing the ordinary, good, and faithful work of everyone else? And this mindset doesn’t only minimize . . . Continue reading →
Only Blood Can Do It
Every sin leaves a stain. Hasty words, undone duties, secret thoughts that rot in the corners of conscience. Water cannot reach them. Resolve’s solvent cannot lift them. Only one blood has power to cleanse what lies beneath the surface of the soul. . . . Continue reading →
Calvin Contra Selfishness
In a season where we are obsessed about inconveniences stemming from government shutdowns and market fears, a longer historical perspective with clearer vision is needed. Then, again, since the shutdown began, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is flat and the NASDAQ is . . . Continue reading →