Over the years of battling the moralists (Federal Visionists, Norman Shepherd et al) I’ve not always been certain whether the moralists understand the orthodox doctrine of justification and reject it or if they think they are really teaching it. Here’s a post . . . Continue reading →
Colson Calls for Doctrinal Boot Camp: But Which Doctrine?
In 1994 Chuck Colson attempted to convince evangelicals that the decline of the culture was so precipitous that they needed to set aside the historic Protestant doctrine of justification in favor of an intentionally equivocal statement about how we are accepted by . . . Continue reading →
"Tough Grace" Is Not Grace (and It’s Not Law Either)
In an unsigned editorial yesterday CT came out in favor of what it calls “tough grace.” The presenting issue or symptom is CT’s concern that Christian institutions are failing to be both “tough” and “gracious” simultaneously. The argument is that the fall . . . Continue reading →
Tabletalk: Divorcing Doctrine from Scripture
What follows is from the latest issue of Tabletalk, which contains a series of letters from “Legion” to his young assistant, the style of C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. Dear Pithius, Our dear boy, you quite misunderstand the problem. So long as Christians . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: From Mainline to Sideline
In this episode Office Hours talks with the Rev Mr John Bales, interim Library Director at Westminster Seminary California about his journey from the Protestant mainline (RCA) to the confessional Reformed sideline.
Legal and Gospel Mortification
Ralph Erskine (1685-1752) was the brother of Ebeneezer Erskine and a defender of the Reformation doctrines of justification and sanctification against the neonomians and legalists of his day. Mortification is the old-fashioned way of saying, “dying to self.” In the Heidelberg Catechism . . . Continue reading →
Radon Thoughts Is Reading Always Reformed
He likes the essay about Sister. Read more».
Is the Gospel Preached or Lived?
Re-published from February 17, 2008. Colin raised this question a while back on Unashamed Workman. He asked for comments and, as Mike had just touched on this during the WSC “Missional and Reformed” Conference, I piped up:
More From Pastor Dave on Always Reformed
Pastor Dave Sarafolean has been reading Always Reformed. He writes, “…Godfrey warns about the danger of blindly adding beliefs, practices and insights from other traditions simply because they make sense, are appealing, or may work.” Read more»
This Christian Life (Link Updated)
Next to The White Horse Inn, one of my favorite radio programs is This American Life starring Ira Glass. I stumbled across this show several years ago, and for a while I did not understand why I was so attracted to it. . . . Continue reading →
Leithart: Apostasy Happens
Dr Peter Leithart is a minister, a teaching elder in the PCA, who labors “out of bounds” (with permission of his presbytery) in a CREC congregation in the Moscow, ID area. He’s an explicit advocate of the Federal Vision doctrines and has . . . Continue reading →
Looking for a Reformed Congregation?
Thanks to Camden Bucey for updating the NAPARC site including this very useful link to the various church directories.
Truth and Consequences: The Politics of Abortion
URCNA Pastor, the Rev Dr Brian Lee, a WSC grad, has another stimulating OpEd piece in today’s Daily Caller. “The course of my life roughly coincides with the post-Roe v. Wade abortion debate in America. The Supreme Court decision was issued on . . . Continue reading →
When Community Isn’t
The contemporary use of the word “community” has troubled me for some time. I couldn’t put my finger on it until today. It came to me during a drive across the vast wasteland that is Nevada. Folk routinely speak about the “online” . . . Continue reading →
Lee: Christianity Neither Conservative Nor Socialist
URCNA Pastor, the Rev Dr Brian Lee, a WSC grad, has an stimulating OpEd piece in today’s Daily Caller. He argues “Both the Christian Right and the Christian Left get the question of Christianity and politics wrong. Christianity is not politically conservative . . . Continue reading →
Candidate Suspected of Being "An Evangelical" Wins Settlement
Last month we learned that the University of Kentucky denied an appointment to a qualified candidate on the basis that he might be an evangelical. Yesterday news emerged that the UK settled Gaskell’s religious discrimination suit with Gaskell for $125,000 (HT: Rhett . . . Continue reading →
Riddlebarger Reviews Zaspel on Warfield
According to Hugh T. Kerr, Benjamin B. Warfield Professor of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary after Warfield’s death: Of [Warfield’s] printed and published work, there are ten large, and I mean large, volumes of posthumously selected and edited articles known as the . . . Continue reading →
Happy Birthday to the Heidelberg Catechism
As several others have noted, today is the birthday of the Heidelberg Catechism. On this date, in 1563, the Heidelberg Catechism was published. Westminster Seminary California student Jared Beaird has a nice summary and some resource links. What is a catechism? It’s . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Preaching Christ
The Rev Dr Derke Bergsma is a minister of God’s Word. That isn’t just an office he holds but it is what he is, sola gratia. By definition, a minister is a servant of God’s Word, he only announces what God’s Word . . . Continue reading →
Was Dr King Nice?
Before I encountered evangelical Christianity I had an opportunity to learn a little about African-American history. I’m not sure why, as a middle-class white kid, I was attracted to it, maybe because no one else was? Maybe it was the underdog aspect . . . Continue reading →