These are contentious issues but the popular discussion of them, including some ecclesiastical publications, is not always well-informed by the history of Christian thought. These two resource pages are composed partly out of the HB archives and partly of bibliography. Both sets . . . Continue reading →
Nature and Grace
Grammar Guerrilla: Pronoun Primer
In yet another indicator that the West is collapsing, Webster’s Dictionary has apparently named they, used to designate a particular, non-gendered person, the word of 2019. This seems to call for a quick refresher on basic grammar: There are two kinds of . . . Continue reading →
The Reformation Of Vocation
In the period between the early post-apostolic church (e.g., the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD) and the Reformation (beginning in the early 16th century AD) the church came to develop some unbiblical and therefore unhelpful and unhealthy ways of relating creation and . . . Continue reading →
Same-Sex Attraction Is Not A Means Of Grace Or Why We Distinguish Nature And Grace
Jeffrey Stivason has a helpful interaction with an August 2018 essay by Wesley Hill in which Hill seeks to justify the Revoice Conference, held last July (2018), and in which justifies his conclusion that he has an immutable same-sex attraction. Stivason notes that . . . Continue reading →
What Passion City Gets Right And Wrong About The Sabbath
The last time we saw Atlanta Pastor Louie Giglio it was January 2013 and he was embroiled in controversy because he had been invited by President Obama to participate in his second inauguration. It had been discovered that Giglio held the biblical . . . Continue reading →
Nature, Gender, Rage, The Emperor’s Clothes, And Evangelical Docetism
The controversy over transgendered bathrooms is really a symbol of the success of subjectivism. Hans Christian Anderson (1805–75) anticipated this crisis in the early 19th century and told us a story about the “Emperor’s New Clothes.” If ever there was a parable for this age, this is it. In it people are told repeatedly to deny their sense experience in favor of political correctness. A small boy, however, unaware of the potential socio-economic consequences (or the rage of the LGBT lobby) of telling the truth, speaks truth to power to the everlasting shame of the adults. So it is in our time. The Transgender Emperor has the wrong clothes. Continue reading →
Strangers And Aliens (13c): Living Among The Pagans (1 Peter 3:1–6)
1Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3Do not let . . . Continue reading →
The Making Of Lawrence Phillips
There must be many ex-football players or ex-athletes and at least a few famous athletes who have ended their athletic careers by committing crimes. Most of those cases simply fall into obscurity but not that of Lawrence Phillips (1975–2016), who was a . . . Continue reading →
Franciscus Junius On Natural Law And The Mosaic Law
Moreover, the law of Moses is an example of the natural law, most suitably expressing the common notions of nature endowed by natural law. For the principles and conclusions of the natural law, that is, those common notions of nature, are perfectly . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 104: Authority And Submission
In the fall Adam chose to exercise autonomy, to rebel against God. Since the fall humans have carried on Adam’s ignominious tradition. Cain rebelled against worshiping God truly and, in a jealous rage, murdered his brother who did worship God truly. We, . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 103: The Christian Sabbath (1)
If there was a time when the church needed to stop its business, to rest, to worship, and to set aside time for the care of the poor in their midst, that time is now. At no time in its history has . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 91: What Are Good Works? (1)
he objectively, clearly revealed moral law as the baseline for Christian ethics is essential to Christian living and Christian liberty. James calls it “the law of liberty” (James 1:25) because it frees us from the tyranny of human opinion. It does not answer every question (it does not intend or claim to answer every question) but it is an essential starting place. What must a Christian do in response to God’s grace and in union with Christ? Love God with all his faculties and his neighbor as himself. Continue reading →
Social Media Puts Us All In A Covenant Of Works
Even before the NSA spying scandal, Zygmunt Bauman studied the contemporary surveillance society in collaboration with sociologist David Lyon, director of the Surveillance Studies Centre. In the digital age, no one could ever be sure they weren’t being monitored—leading to a kind . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 88: God’s Holy Law (11)—The Seventh Commandment
In this episode we consider the 7th commandment: “You shall not commit adultery.” Warning: since this episode discusses sexual ethics, it may not be suitable for younger listeners. In the seventh commandment the Lord asserts his authority over our sex life. What . . . Continue reading →
Van Til On The Perspicuity Of Natural Revelation
Finally we turn to the perspicuity of nature which corresponds to the perspicuity of Scripture. We have stressed the fact that God’s revelation in nature was from the outset of history meant to be taken conjointly with God’s supernatural communication. This might . . . Continue reading →
True Philosophy Contains Truth As A Ray Of The Wisdom Of God
Reduced to a system by wise and earnest men
True philosophy, although it also differs very much from the doctrine of the church, yet, it does not array itself against it nor is it a wicked fabrication and device of Satan, as is true of the false doctrines of the sects, . . . Continue reading →
Defining Nature-Grace Dualism
In the ongoing dialogue regarding the relations between “Christ” and “Culture” one of the slogans that gets tossed about concerns a “nature/grace dualism.” I see people using this expression as if everyone knows what it means or as if it means the . . . Continue reading →