One of the most confusing aspects of Protestant-Romanist dialogue is trying to determine “who speaks for Rome?” and trying to answer the question, “What does Rome believe?” One reason it can be difficult to answer these questions is that Rome likes it . . . Continue reading →
HB reader Joseph Grigoletti pointed me to an interesting article on the website of the Christian Reformed Church in North America that seeks to explain to visitors what it means to be Reformed. The article says, in part: Reformed Christians are a . . . Continue reading →
Dad had been a staunch defender of a somewhat cramped version of Calvinism formed by his upbringing in the Gereformeerde Kerk in the Netherlands. Early on, his parents had put the kibosh on his aspirations to ministry; unless he had a distinct . . . Continue reading →
That it repeals the decision of the Synod of 1926 regarding choir~singing, and declare that there shall be no singing in our public services except by the congregation as a whole, on the ground: a) That there is no place for such . . . Continue reading →
The criticism of Classis Illinois was levelled especially against that part of our proposed Order of Worship which we called “The Service of Reconciliation,” more particularly against the elements of Confession of Sin and Absolution which we sought to combine organically with . . . Continue reading →
…The denomination had decided to allow the ordination of women as elders (1966) and as ministers (1968). The verbatim record of these assemblies show that this was declared to be merely permissive legislation and evangelicals were assured it would never be forced . . . Continue reading →
I am not certain what it means but pastors resort to military analogies with surprising frequency. One of them is the metaphor of “dying on a hill.” The image is that of a marine charging up a hill or fighting to hold . . . Continue reading →
To this end, one of the board members of A1B gave the audience a piece of advice: Do not use Scripture to convince your fellow CRC members of the beauty of full inclusion. Instead, rely on personal stories. “Everyone has a story,” . . . Continue reading →
If you aren’t a baby boomer or a student of religious history, it can be hard to fathom the cultural influence and social cohesion that once resided in mainline Protestantism. At its height in 1965, mainline Protestant churches counted 31 million members . . . Continue reading →
For quite some time now, various labels have been used to describe those who hold to the orthodox Christian faith, such as orthodox, conservative, traditional, or even biblical. While these can be helpful terms, I believe that the term confessional is a . . . Continue reading →