Regeneration, Christian Graces, and Assurance of Salvation (Gurnall)
Sometimes a Christian sees one of his graces more than another, but it doesn’t mean that other graces aren’t there.
Why is this important? Well, as Gurnall noted, knowing this fact gives relief to the Christian when he’s in doubt of his salvation. Just because a Christian can’t immediately discern godly fear doesn’t mean he should “unsaint” himself. If you don’t have godly fear but you do have a sincere desire to please him, be... Continue Reading
Why C. S. Lewis’ ‘Mere Christianity’ Received Bad Reviews
Despite the book's influence today, early reviewers felt little fondness for Lewis's work or his vision of Christianity.
Traditional Christians (over against those who identified as modernists) were enthusiastic about the book because of the winsome way it made a case for Christianity. But “Progressive Protestants,” Marsden writes, “were alarmed at ‘backward-looking Christianity.'” They took aim at Lewis for making a winsome case that undid “centuries of theological progress.” Mere Christianity is... Continue Reading
The 4 Gods of the Public Education System
In his book The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School, former NYU professor Neil Postman names the four “gods” that he believes America’s children are being taught to worship within the walls of today’s public schools.
In my experience, the typical man of today does not question the validity of at least three of these gods, and more often than not, willingly accepts all four. These gods have become axioms of modern education—which, by the way, significantly diverge from the educational philosophy that prevailed in the West for over 2,000 years—and... Continue Reading
Overcoming The Stain of Racism
"We’ve inherited the systems stained by racism because of racialization, even as our hearts are genuinely transformed by the gospel."
“Dr. Mohler preached through Genesis 11 during one of our chapels, and what he said in that message verbatim was we have a ‘stain of racism.’ So, following the chapel service in our faculty meeting, there were some other discussions about it, and I just felt this unrest: ‘Yeah, we know the stain is there,... Continue Reading
Justifying a Non-Repeatable Justification
Justifying a Non-Repeatable JustificationVos' reasons for the belief that justification is non-repeatable are as follows
One might say that it is an absurd idea that future sins, which are not yet committed, would be forgiven. But this idea contains nothing absurd if one only considers that for the Judge who pronounces forgiveness, the record of sins, their guilt, does not lie hidden in the darkness of the future but in... Continue Reading
Divine “Hunches” and the Sufficiency of Scripture
How does a Reformed view of Scripture lead away from believing in continuing revelation from God?
“There is one very important consequence of this fact [of the sufficiency of Scripture]. God does not today guide people directly without using the Scriptures. There are no divinely given ‘hunches.’ God does not give people direct mental impressions to do this or that. People do not hear God’s voice speaking within them. There is... Continue Reading
Three Old and New Errors on the Atonement
“We must acquire, as much as lies in us, sharply defined ideas on the atonement from the gospels themselves.”
“In all true progress in spiritual knowledge, men will make advances in the knowledge of His atonement as well as of His person. The history of the disciples before and after His crucifixion is a proof of this. The more fully we enter into Christ’s truly human experience, and trace His checkered course of joy... Continue Reading
The Professionalization of the Home
If our work is not five-star quality, can it really be of value?
We live in a modern society, where the work of the home is increasingly outsourced and professionalized. This is a large part of why we have a hard time as seeing it as valuable when we are doing the work only for the home—and not some other enterprise. Consider Martha Stewart, a woman who has... Continue Reading
Why Did Christ Mention His Atonement So Rarely?
Fulness is more important that frequency. And so full are these references that Christ mentions every possible blessing connected with the atonement.
How many times did Christ mention his atonement? So few times that heretics have often used this to argue against Christ’s death being an atoning sacrifice for sin. Christ did not believe this himself, they say; rather it was a later addition or perversion by the apostles. In Christ’s Doctrine of the Atonement, George Smeaton takes on... Continue Reading
Broken?
Instead of sin in evangelicalism today you’ll notice words like broken, numb, shattered, and wounded
“This psychologizing of sin and salvation has an immediacy about it that is appealing in this troubled age, this age of broken beliefs and broken lives. The cost, however, is that it so subverts the process of moral understanding that sin loses its sinfulness, at least before God. And whereas in classical spirituality it was... Continue Reading
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- …
- 235
- Next Page »