So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers (Matt 27:7). Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.” (Acts 25:12) When . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 84: When Marriage Is Decoupled From Nature
With episode 84 we are taking a brief hiatus from our series on the moral law to talk with one of my favorite authors, Stella Morabito, about an article she published in The Federalist, “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to . . . Continue reading →
Grammar Guerrilla: Counsel And Council
Faith Is The Open Hand Of A Beggar
Question 36. But how are we justified by faith? Answer: Not because of the worthiness of our faith, as if God justifies us because of it, as the Remonstrants would have it, and [as if] faith is here reckoned as a virtue . . . Continue reading →
Can Sharia And Freedom Be Friends?
(HT: Prager University)
Why Brian Williams’ Lies Mean More Than You Think They Do
By now you know that anchor of the NBC evening newscast, a position once held by the likes of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley,1 has admitted fabricating stories about his experiences reporting from Iraq. He is under investigation by his network. When . . . Continue reading →
The Bait And Switch Of Gay Monogamy
…Michaelson confesses: “there is some truth to the conservative claim that gay marriage is changing, not just expanding, marriage. According to a 2013 study, about half of gay marriages surveyed were not strictly monogamous. This fact is well-known in the gay community—indeed, . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: The Wisdom Of Ecclesiastes
The book of Ecclesiastes has often been taken as a counsel of despair, as a non-Christian view of the world. There is an alternative way of reading Ecclesiastes, however. Consider that it is included in God’s Word and thus we regard it . . . Continue reading →
A Lonely Citadel Against The 24/7-Culture
If you’re old enough to remember when blue laws were common, Bergen on a Sunday is a nostalgia trip. Kids play road hockey, skateboarders practice kickflips on open swaths of pavement, and you may suddenly notice the cawing of blue jays. The . . . Continue reading →
The Echo Zoe Interview On The Federal Vision
The Federal Vision is still an issue. That should not surprise anyone. Some version of this error has been with us at least since the mid-16th century, when the Protestant doctrine of justification was severely threatened. It became a serious issue in . . . Continue reading →
Inventing Grievances
As Riley-Smith explains, however, the Muslim memory of the Crusades is of very recent vintage. Carole Hillenbrand first uncovered this fact in her groundbreaking book The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives. The truth is that medieval Muslims came to realize that the Crusades were . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 83: The Holy Law Of God (7)—The Fifth Commandment (pt 1)
In this episode we consider the fifth commandment: “Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you.” In Heidelberg Catechism 104 we interpret this commandment to require “that I . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 57: The Comfort Of Resurrection And Glorification
The European Enlightenment(s) posed as world-expanding, mind-expanding movements. They promised to free us from the shackles of a benighted, narrow view of the world. Ironically, however, the Enlightenments did just the opposite. Whether through rationalism (what the human intellect cannot comprehend cannot . . . Continue reading →
Heidegger And Turretin Contra Amyraut
Canon IV: Before the creation of the world, God decreed in Christ Jesus our Lord according to his eternal purpose (Eph 3:11), in which, from the mere good pleasure of his own will, without any prevision of the merit of works or . . . Continue reading →
Household Baptisms In Acts And Teen-Aged Children Of Adult Converts
Adam writes to ask about the baptism of fifteen-year old children of an adult convert. Should they be baptized before or after catechesis? § Hi Adam, This is a great question and a difficult one. I think it is correct to say . . . Continue reading →
Amyraut As Neo-Ockhamist
Given the above Amyraldian scheme, instead of a divine decree as being unconditional or absolute, (perhaps, in our ideas thought of as a set of such unconditional decrees) Amyraut seems to have preferred to think in terms of an antecedent will of . . . Continue reading →
James, Luther, and Justification In James 2:24
I’m convinced that we don’t really have a conflict here. What James is saying is this: If a person says he has faith, but he gives no outward evidence of that faith through righteous works, his faith will not justify him. Martin . . . Continue reading →
Cincinnati Conference: Reformed In America Feb 5–6 2015
Two NAPARC congregations in Cincinnati are hosting a conference on the history of the Reformed and Presbyterian traditions in America. Good Shepherd OPC and Westside Reformed Church (URCNA) have invited Rev. Dr. Alan Strange and Dr. Darryl G. Hart to address this . . . Continue reading →
Of Confessional Christianity And The Cult Of Personality
The danger of the cult of personality has ever been with us. Paul warned the Corinthian church: I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among . . . Continue reading →
Moses Hid His Face
Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, . . . Continue reading →