To this point, the passages studied in our series on discernment have been pretty straight-forward. Whether Philippians 1:9-11, Romans 12:1-2, or Colossians 1:9-10, each passage has clearly taught the importance of discerning the will of God. In each context, knowing the will of God (which I define to be discerning God’s will as to how… Continue Reading
Two propositions summarize why a conservative Christian church is concerned with meaning: Christians are humans, and Christians live in the world. What is the world? The world Christians live in is a world that is the handiwork of an intelligent Being, filled with all His purposes and designs. What is a human? A human is… Continue Reading
This is a series on Christian discernment. My first post argued that Christian discernment is necessary for living for the glory of God (Phil 1:9-11). Last week I argued that the ability to choose between right and wrong is a crucial part of spiritual worship to God in living holy lives (Rom 12:1-2). In Romans… Continue Reading
My post on Sola Scriptura from last week certainly generated a lot of discussion here, on Facebook, and in my e-mail box. Reviews were quite mixed. For example, a seminary professor e-mailed me and said, Just a quick note to thank you for your latest post on sola Scriptura. . . . But I just… Continue Reading
One of the most abused doctrines in evangelical Christianity is Sola Scriptura. Everybody uses it to prove their side of some argument, and as I’ve been thinking about it lately, I’m convinced it really proves very little for anyone. Now one caveat before I move to my main point: the doctrine obviously does prove something;… Continue Reading
Yesterday, Phil Johnson highlighted the “preposterous claims, unhinged behavior, and spiritual quackery” of the charismatic movement, with Mark Driscoll as “Exhibit A.” I agree with the substance of Johnson’s post (though I’m not sure I would go so far as to infer that Driscoll is lying), but I want to highlight something I think Driscoll… Continue Reading
Some recent internet discussions, some sprung from Ken Brown’s very fair review of my book, have once again led to all sorts of folks slapping their “Sola Scriptura” trump card down on the table, as if playing that card gives them the high ground and silences all argument. Don’t get me wrong; I firmly believe… Continue Reading
Included in faulty ideas of what legalism is are the notions that it is interpreting Scripture literally, making applications for modern living, exhorting submission, and judging various cultural phenomena for their meaning. Now it is obvious that legalism cannot be all of these things. In fact, when examined closely, legalism is not any of these… Continue Reading
Christians often imbibe facile and unhelpful definitions of legalism. One of these is the idea that legalism is the act of judging the meaning cultural phenomena, or to put it another way, the act of judging the meaning of things in our world. Christians live in the world, and therefore Christianity is to be lived out… Continue Reading
The purposes and positions of Religious Affections (the ministry and blog, not [necessarily] the book) are not obscure; this granted, I expect that our readers are primed to hear the strains of grinding axes in all our posts. Everything we say looks like a camel’s nose in your tent. You have the gnawing suspicion that… Continue Reading
Conservative Christians are often accused of legalism. To understand what legalism is, we must first understand what it is not. One common misconception is that legalism is teaching and requiring God’s people to submit to Him. People take to authority today like they take to a cold slap in the face. Anti-authoritarianism is preached in… Continue Reading
In this discussion, I am using the term form, quite broadly, to denote those features of the biblical text that express (in additional to their propositional content) a mood or manner about the propositional content. This means, therefore, that I am not using form in any sort of strict literary sense. Let me explain why… Continue Reading
Avoiding legalism is firstly a matter of rightly understanding what it is. To begin with, we must reject incorrect definitions of legalism. One such error is the belief that interpreting Scripture literally and applying it to modern living is a form of legalism. For some people, legalism is another word for taking Scripture literally, and… Continue Reading
In the first post of this series, I offered this thesis: “because the Bible is itself expressed in certain forms, and because the Bible is our final authority for faith and practice, we have an obligation to mirror biblical forms in our own expression of biblical truth.” I will continue this practice of clearly stating… Continue Reading
Conservative Christians are not strangers to the charge of legalism. Begin tinkering with the sacred cows of worship music and Christian culture, and you will attract the title legalist like running past a hive with honey on your head attracts a swarm. As a pastor, one of the most painful things that can be said… Continue Reading
Dr. Matt Olson, president of Northland International University, opened a recent sermon on music thus: “What about the music? You know, it’s interesting, as we dive into this discussion: I don’t find one verse in the entire New Testament that addresses the style of music, and that’s usually where our controversy is.” I highlight Dr.… Continue Reading
Continuing to clarify a truly biblical understanding of Sola Scriptura (you can read other posts here and here), I post for your consideration John Piper’s thoughts on the topic: The sufficiency of Scripture does not mean that the Scripture is all we need to live obediently. To be obedient in the sciences we need to… Continue Reading
I continue to receive e-mails concerning seemingly more and more common explanations of Sola Scriptura that in effect strip it down to nothing more than what Kevin Bauder calls Nuda Scriptura. You can read a good explanation of the doctrine by Jason Parker here, along with links to more pertinent articles. Along the same lines,… Continue Reading
In light of some recent sermons about music and the sufficiency of Scripture (about which I’ve received dozens of concerned e-mails), I’d like to link to a great summary of the what the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture means and what it does not mean by my good friend, Jason Parker: This is a… Continue Reading
If the Church today is going to be able to rightly apply biblical principles to music and worship, it must recover important categories that are either assumed and implied or explicitly taught by biblical authors. Music communicates by means of emotional metaphor. buy viagra from india Spiritual response of the affections is fundamentally distinct from… Continue Reading