subjectivism

The Predicted Darkness Upon Us?

by on May 9, 2015 | 1 Comment

We are approaching a darkness in the land. Boys and girls are emerging from every level of school with certificates and degrees, but they can’t read, write or calculate. We don’t have academic honesty or intellectual rigor. Schools have abandoned integrity and . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 67: The Sacraments Are True Signs And Seals Of Christ And His Gospel (1)

by on May 14, 2015

67. Are both the Word and the Sacraments designed to direct our faith to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation? Yes truly, for the Holy Spirit teaches in the Gospel and assures us by . . . Continue reading →

Heidelberg 91: What Are Good Works? (1)

by on July 9, 2015 | 4 Comments

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 →

Heidelberg 91: What Are Good Works? (2)

by on July 16, 2015 | 1 Comment

The source, fountain of good works is true faith. By using this expression, the catechism deliberately takes us back to Heidelberg 21, where true faith is defined and to Heidelberg 60 which are among the several places where true faith is said to be the sole instrument (sola fide) of justification and salvation. True faith is also the instrument of union and communion with Christ and it is the headwaters of the believer’s new, Spirit-wrought life in Christ. In other words, true faith is essential to good works. Continue reading →

Jesus, The Ninth Commandment, And Objective Truth

by on September 3, 2016 | 2 Comments

The 2016–17 academic year has begun. It’s time for introductory and orientation lectures. Yesterday I was talking with the Ancient Church (patristics) class about the what history is or what historians do and why history is important. Americans, in particular, it seems . . . Continue reading →

The Oxford Dictionaries’ Word Of 2016: “Post-Truth”

by on November 17, 2016 | 3 Comments

The BBC reports that the word of the year for 2016 the compound “post-truth.” Oddly, however, there is no entry in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) for “post-truth.” It does not occur in my computer’s Oxford American Dictionary. Nevertheless, apparently, in some . . . Continue reading →

A Wonderful Illustration Of The Necessity Of An Objective Definition Of Reformed

by on February 9, 2017 | 13 Comments
Recovering the Reformed Confession

Trevin Wax and David Fitch have been in a dialogue in which each of them has published a post expressing appreciation for the other’s tradition. Wax identifies as Reformed and Fitch as Anabaptist. The reader can draw his own conclusions as to . . . Continue reading →

“Biased Facts,” Objective Reality, The Reformation, And The Resurrection

by on April 6, 2017 | 4 Comments

A few days ago someone, somewhere on social media, in objection to something I wrote, used the arresting expression “biased facts.” I learned from the Dutch Reformed philosophical theologian Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987) that there are no such things as uninterpreted facts . . . Continue reading →

The Resurrection, Piety, And Pietism

by on November 22, 2017 | 12 Comments

And with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all (Acts 4:31). Perhaps since the rise of the late-medieval mystics, who desired nothing so much as to be absorbed . . . Continue reading →

The Late-Modern Oppression Olympics In Biblical Perspective

by on May 13, 2019

If you are, as I am, bewildered at the sight of biological males competing in female athletic events (e.g., track, wrestling, and weight lifting) or by the sight of wealthy, privileged Yale undergrads screaming at faculty members (for writing a memo asking for toleration for diversity in Halloween costumes), or by the prospect of a leading scholar and physician of gender dysphoria being banned from social media platforms for daring to suggest that minors should be required to wait until age 21 before undergoing permanent sex-reassignment surgery), or by rhetoric that implies that the social and economic conditions of ethnic minorities in the USA is virtually unchanged since the 1860s, there are two words that provide at least a partial explanation: subjectivism and oppression. Continue reading →

Grammar Guerrilla: Punctuation Is Not Mean Spirited. Full Stop.

by on August 26, 2020 | 10 Comments
Guerilla-Gorilla

According to a number of media stories (the original story appeared in the UK Telegraph) Generation Z, those born 1995–2015, find certain punctuation marks threatening. The argument is that the use of the period (“full stop” in the UK) in text messages (and . . . Continue reading →

This Is A Trap

by on July 17, 2021 | 17 Comments

Dear pastors and elders. No matter how well intended, I'm rather afraid that your words are not always heard the way you think. Here, let me translate.(If you'd like to educate yourself, you can start here: https://t.co/U1lM9kfHTF) pic.twitter.com/AWoCL40zMi — Greg Johnson | . . . Continue reading →