“Men Without Chests” is the curious title of a chapter in Lewis’ book The Abolition of Man. (You can read the chapter here). What does this odd title mean? Is this some odd anatomical reference? Is it an obscure metaphor referring to cowardice? Lewis guides us by taking us back in time. He takes us… Continue Reading
Poor Alex and Martin. Misters King and Ketley had no idea that their forgettable English textbook would unleash one of the twentieth century’s most eloquent and destructive critiques of modernism, with the two of them in the marksman’s crosshairs. The Control of Language: A Critical Approach to Reading and Writing, was published in 1939 as… Continue Reading
Because of the hymn project we’re undertaking, some of the RAM authors have been discussing the merits of the English metrical psalms. All of us see the importance of singing the psalms; not all of us are happy with the psalms commonly sung. Psalms are poems. In their original Hebrew, they were easily recognized as… Continue Reading
We behold God’s beauty and beautify it in creation when we wisely and skillfully use it and shape it. We can only act like Christ did towards the created order when we wisely, and therefore skillfully understands its use. Paul furnishes us with an example. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no… Continue Reading
Useful debate takes place when sparring parties understand their opponent’s position, and can represent it in terms the opponent would agree with. Apart from this proper knowledge, disagreements cannot be profitably discussed, for the disagreements are not even properly understood. What follows this ignorance is usually a headache of talking past one another, flaming straw… Continue Reading
2) Method: Do It Heartily Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men (Colossians 3:22-23) If God is the recipient of our actions, then that… Continue Reading
As we live with God in communion, his holy nature begins to identify ways that we displease him. We act in certain ways, think certain thoughts, or desire certain things that are offensive to our heavenly Indweller. In response, he does the work of conviction. God identifies something he wants us to confess to him… Continue Reading
How does the indwelling of the Spirit make living in God’s presence an experiential reality? The Spirit reveals God to our worshipping spirits. Since God the Spirit reveals God the Son, his presence within us becomes God’s immediate link of communion with us. Not that the Spirit works apart from his own chosen means of… Continue Reading
Our natures have been transformed in a second way by the merits of the Son upon us. 2) We are completed by God in Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2:9-10) Consider the… Continue Reading
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that twenty-first-century churches, like the churches of every age, must worship God in their own words, with their own voice. We add the qualification that these expressions must both embody ordinate affection and build on the tradition that… Continue Reading
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that inordinate expressions of worship often arise from hearts that are entangled in disordered loves. We affirm that expressions of orthopathy are grounded in harmony with God’s ultimate perception of truth, goodness, and beauty as revealed in Scripture… Continue Reading
Artworks are valued for what they do but not for any immediate function. Art is far from “useless,” even though its distinctive value is realized only when it serves no immediate function, when the viewer or listener gives up any immediate self-centered demands on the work and, instead, gives him- or herself up to the… Continue Reading
A hymn to complete another hymn, or a hymn to complete a section of worship, is how we might think of singing the Doxology, or the Gloria Patri. The Doxology known to most Protestants was composed by Thomas Ken in the 17th century, and a common version of the Gloria Patri was composed by Charles… Continue Reading
Let’s imagine that culture does not refer to anything and everything that people say and do. Let’s imagine culture is that secondary environment that incarnates an explanation of reality, emerging from a particular religion, uniting people in a particular place. Let’s imagine that, with this as a working definition, culture provided people with at least… Continue Reading
So that the presence of God, which, enjoyed in private, is but a stream, in public becomes a river, a river that makes glad the city of God. – David Clarkson The successor to John Owen, David Clarkson, preached a sermon, Public Worship to be Preferred Before Private. In it, he gave twelve reasons why… Continue Reading
To admit a worship practice as a biblically-prescribed New Testament worship element, the Regulative Principle would seek to ensure that such a practice is unequivocally and positively grounded in Scripture. However, advocates of the Regulative Principle do not always agree on which elements are unequivocally and positively grounded in Scripture. Varying theological methods arrive at… Continue Reading
When we select the songs and hymns for corporate worship, there are plenty of weak, cowardly, and even evil reasons to motivate our choices: sheer familiarity, a pledge of allegiance buy cialis 10mg to a certain tribe within Christianity, a desire to attract or placate certain constituencies in the church, or the desire to appear… Continue Reading
“My faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed.” So goes the hymn, and if taken over-literally, we might agree. Our faith does not rest in a creed, or even in propositions that explain the gospel. Our faith rests upon the person and work of Jesus Christ, which the propositions of the… Continue Reading
Reading works from the Middle Ages is a strange experience. Some of their theological blind-spots seem to us to be so obvious that only willful blindness can appear explain it, we might say. Alongside these errors, we often find ardent devotion to God, written with a fervency and vehemence that would seem forced and phoney… Continue Reading
It is strange what comfort can be gained from reading other people’s letters! Certainly this is true of many books of the Bible, and it is also true of much correspondence from one Christian to another. The Letters of Samuel Rutherford are justly celebrated as a rich devotional feast. Much of their value comes from the… Continue Reading