David de Bruyn pastors New Covenant Baptist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a graduate of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Minnesota and the University of South Africa (D.Th.). Since 1999, he has presented a weekly radio program that is heard throughout much of central South Africa. He also blogs at Churches Without Chests.
The topic of beauty suffers not only because its definition is disputed, but because beauty is often a victim of misidentification. These wrong associations lead… Read More »Beauty’s Difficulties: A Case of Mistaken Identity
High upon a volcanic plateau was a village, about an hour’s walk from the Everlasting Spring. Once a week, on the Day of Worship, the… Read More »The Bowl
“The unexamined life is not worth living”, said Socrates. Socrates was teaching the need to live a life where all things are parsed for their… Read More »The Unexamined Life
For a while, it seemed chic to be able to say the word postmodern in a sermon. The belief-system behind the word is rather drab.… Read More »Beauty’s Difficulties: A Christian Response to the Subject-Object Dilemma
Perhaps the most frequent objection levelled at those wishing to see beauty restored to a central place in Christian thinking is that beauty represents “subjective”… Read More »Beauty’s Difficulties: Subjective and Objective
The discussion of beauty among Christians is often stymied before it starts. Some of this is due to a long-standing suspicion towards philosophy felt by… Read More »Beauty’s Difficulties: Philosophy versus Biblical Authority
As surprising as it might sound, beauty lies at the heart of motive. Why we do what we do is a question of desire, and… Read More »Beauty and Motivation
Sometimes throwaway lines leave a deep impression. One of those were words written on a blog I avidly followed about fifteen years ago. The writer… Read More »Beauty, Ethics and Worship
Many years ago, Al Mohler published a widely-read article on doctrinal triage, a method for evaluating the seriousness of doctrines. Kevin Bauder then pointed out… Read More »Doctrinal Triage for Worship
Our technologies have come a long way from when John wrote, likely using a reed-pen on a papyrus sheet, “I had many things to write,… Read More »Live Images Are Not Living Persons
During last week, I read one man rage at ‘conservative Christians’ for their desire to re-open churches. He then proceeded to point out that Hebrews… Read More »Disembodied Christianity
“John, we’d love it if you and Susan would join us for a meal on Thursday evening.” “Uh…well, Mike, thanks but…isn’t that illegal? I mean,… Read More »Let Us Break Bread Together On Our Screens
Words are not just names. If they were, we’d have no problem swapping out one label for another. No, words are things. Yes, they are… Read More »Ten Mangled Words: Conclusion
His name was Polycarp, and he was a disciple of the apostle John. He later became the pastor of the church at Smyrna. When he… Read More »“Hate” – A Word Like “Atheism”
The exact day of the week of Christ’s death has been debated for centuries. The day, while not fundamental to the gospel, is of some… Read More »The Crucifixion: Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday?
When Israel lost its Temple in A. D. 70, you might imagine it would have prompted much soul-searching and repentance among the rabbis that had… Read More »Wrong Responses to a Loss of Corporate Worship
Left-click the bread icon to consume the bread. >Click< >>> Thank you. You have eaten the bread. Left-click the cup icon to consume the cup. … Read More »Why We Won’t Livestream During Lockdown (Though We Could)
No one should love what God hates. No one should hate what God loves. But, as we have seen, God has the ability to love… Read More »The Complexity of Hating What God Hates
Does God hate the sin and love the sinner? We have seen it is more biblical to say that God both loves and hates the… Read More »God Loves (and Hates) You
God’s hatred is a necessary part of His love. Whatever opposes, harms, defiles or otherwise threatens what He loves experiences His displeasure, often erupting in… Read More »Does God Hate Sinners?