It is common to hear admonishments to read the Bible and interpret it in context; that is, that we ought to avoid detaching a particular verse, story, or portion of Scripture from the immediate and original context in which it was written. . . . Continue reading →
HeidelQuotes
SCOTUS Rebukes Ninth Circuit For The Fifth Time, Sides With Religious Freedom Versus California
…The Ninth Circuit’s failure to grant an injunction pending appeal was erroneous. This Court’s decisions have made the following points clear. First, government regulations are not neutral and gener- ally applicable, and therefore trigger strict scrutiny under the Free Exercise Clause, whenever . . . Continue reading →
This Heartbreaking Story Is Being Repeated With More Frequency
But the further my transition went, the more I realized that I wasn’t a man, and never would be. We are told these days that when someone presents with gender dysphoria, this reflects a person’s “real” or “true” self, that the desire . . . Continue reading →
Federal District Court Rules Against Wayne State University And In Favor Of Religious Liberty And Free Speech
Plaintiffs InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Wayne State Chapter, (“Intervarsity”) has for 75 years operated a Christian student organization on the campus of Wayne State University, but in 2017 was denied continued official recognition or registration as a legitimate student . . . Continue reading →
British Christians Object To Vaccine Passports
Dear Prime Minister, As Christian leaders across a range of denominations, we continue to pray at this time for your government “and all in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity” (1 . . . Continue reading →
“Woman, Why Are You Weeping?”
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
Silent Saturday
During this season, which many Christians call “Holy Week,” I am perversely drawn to Saturday.
“Bearing with one another in love”: Robert Rollock on Ephesians 4:3
We owe a debt of gratitude to Reformation Heritage Books and General Editors, R. Scott Clark and Casey Carmichael, for the latest publication in their “Classic Reformed Theology” series, Robert Rollock’s Commentary on Ephesians.
How To Avoid Accidentally Becoming One Of Job’s Friends
During my treatment, two friends with cancer reached the end of the line, moving from experimental chemotherapy to palliative care, to dying, to death. It all happened so quickly. I was in remission, but for what? To wait around for this to . . . Continue reading →
Can The PCA’s “Big Tent” Hold?
Which Way Will The Moderates Swing?
Is the PCA’s big tent capacious enough for “gay Christian” officers and Revoice doctrine? Adherents of a certain type of “missionalism” might consider Revoice-style contextualization and accommodation to be absolutely essential; thus they would make room in the tent. Moderate evangelicals in . . . Continue reading →
Herman Witsius Against The Donum Superadditum
God gave to man the charge of this image, as the most excellent deposit of heaven, and, if kept pure and inviolate, the earnest of a greater good; for that end he endued him with sufficient powers from his very formation, so as . . . Continue reading →
Bavinck Contra The Donum Super Additum
It was called a “covenant of nature,” not because it was deemed to flow automatically and naturally from the nature of God or the nature of man, but because the foundation on which the covenant rested, that is, the moral law, was known . . . Continue reading →
The Dillenburger Synod Abolished Organs In Worship
Latin songs, as well as organs (first introduced into the churches by Pope Vitellianus about 665) are for the most part abolished in the churches of this land. Not that use of the Latin language or of music is rejected of itself . . . Continue reading →
Is Your Pastor Beginning To Dress Strangely At Work?
To this very end have the Papists brought in such a variety of mass vestments, surplices, and other special clothing for the priests, in order that thereby they would have so much the more splendor and magnificence, as in the Old Testament . . . Continue reading →
The Hungarian Reformed Church Contra Instruments In Worship
The musical instruments, however, adopted for the pantomime (saltatrici) Mass of Antichrist, together with images, we abhor. There is no use for them in the church, and indeed they are marks and occasions of idolatry. Hungarian Reformed Church, Articles (1567) art. 17 . . . Continue reading →
A Brief History Of The Corruption Of Worship
…Through these witnesses of the Holy Scriptures and a hundred more, which one may provide here, we say the pope’s Mass, which he claims to be an offering for the living and the dead, is false, and an impure sacrifice of bread . . . Continue reading →
It Happens In The Church
I grew up in the church. Some of my favorite memories come from the time I spent there — Sunday school, AWANA, VBS, youth group, and fellowship meals. For hours we would play hide-and-seek, run up and down hallways, and occasionally sneak . . . Continue reading →
Sarah Edwards’ Encounters With The Divine (Or Neglected Aspects Of The First Great Awakening)
The “extraordinary affairs” at at home referred to the beginnings of what was among the most revealing episodes in the whole Edwards saga. On Wednesday morning, January 20, 1742, Sarah Edwards was enraptured by a spiritual ecstasy that continued for more than . . . Continue reading →
What I learned About Courage And Fidelity From A Farmer
Unlike Father Neuhaus, I guess few readers of this space will know who Henk Navis was, but he died today. Henk did not participate in any famous negotiations with anyone. He did not leave one communion for another. He wasn’t celebrated or . . . Continue reading →
It Is All Sola Gratia, Sola Fide
From first to last, the Christian life is a life of faith. At no point can fleshly works do anything to move the soul one inch closer to God. Do you believe this? I am not sure that all of us do. . . . Continue reading →