When I was a kid, my grandfather would often talk about his hypothetical outline for what he would do if he won millions of dollars. He intended to pay off his own debts and the debts and expenses of all his children . . . Continue reading →
Can we learn anything from the disputes between two seventeenth-century theologians in England, John Owen and Richard Baxter? In this book, Tim Cooper makes the case that we can. And if we can, there are few better-qualified guides than Dr. Cooper. Extensively . . . Continue reading →
The phrase often goes around that “blood is thicker than water.” One of the ways people use this phrase is to mean that family relationships are more important than relationships made by baptism. In other words, when a family member does something . . . Continue reading →
When I lived in the UK, I had to go on one occasion to the US embassy in London. As I entered the embassy, I was struck by how different the atmosphere of the whole place was. A list of things stood . . . Continue reading →
I lived in New Zealand for a few months during college for a mission trip. We went to help a church start outreach efforts on the nearby university campus. One day, we attended an event where various organizations set up tables to . . . Continue reading →
Eschatology is one of those perennially discussed (and often debated) topics in Christian theology that, in my estimation, can often miss the main point by getting caught in the details. Usually, the first question it prompts is about what someone’s view of . . . Continue reading →
Casablanca is one of the most famous movies in cinematic history, leaving us with more than its fair share of artifacts ingrained in cultural memory even eighty years later. Humphrey Bogart alone left us with a stack of lines most of us . . . Continue reading →
It is a common bug of humanity that we do not like saying goodbye. We even have stock phrases like, “I’m bad at goodbyes,” or, “Let’s say ‘see you later’ rather than ‘goodbye.’” Even “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” as true . . . Continue reading →
The Trojan Horse is the classic example of a bait and switch. Legend says that, for ten years, the Greeks waged war on the city of Troy. This war went so long because Troy was so well fortified. One morning, the Trojans . . . Continue reading →
If I were speaking to an audience and asked them what the word reed means, from the sound of the word, the majority response would likely be something like “processing written words.” When I explain that the word in my notes is . . . Continue reading →
One of the common questions that Christians face in conversations with unbelievers is, “How could a loving God send anyone to hell?” Although we certainly have to keep a clear focus on God’s love and how his mercy is truly available to . . . Continue reading →
One of the flavors of the day in movies and television seems to be the reboot. You take an old story and retell it in a new way. Or you take an old character and reset the storyline, setting aside the previous . . . Continue reading →
The American posture is dominated by pragmatism—meaning that our biggest question for whether or not we should learn something is, “Does it work?” We need ideas to do something for us to think they are at all worthy of our attention. A . . . Continue reading →
“What’s in a name?” A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So, we might easily assume that what we name something is unimportant. And yet, there seems to be some sort of natural affinity in most ears for the . . . Continue reading →
Every sectarian and heretical school of thought initially begins with an appeal to Scripture against the confession and would have us believe that its deviation from the doctrine of the church is required by Scripture. But in most cases further investigation leads . . . Continue reading →
The covenant theology roundup continues with part 2. Continue reading →
An old joke pokes at the irony of rejecting God by describing an atheistic scientist talking to God about why we supposedly no longer need him. He says to God, “You know, it used to be that we needed you to help . . . Continue reading →
Growing up in the craggy mountains of Southern California, I developed a healthy fear of snakes, particularly of the venomous variety. As a young lad, whenever I would climb rocks and boulders, every crevice was considered a dark pit of hell from . . . Continue reading →
One question meant to trap Christians in an unsolvable philosophical problem is, “If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so heavy that even he can’t pick it up?” Or as my philosophy professor from college, who was an atheist, . . . Continue reading →
Antonio Coppola’s Faithful God: An Introduction to Covenant Theology Faithful God is a pastoral treatment of covenant theology meant to equip ordinary Christians to see the categories of law and gospel and to understand how Christ is at the center of redemptive history. Continue reading →