A critic recently approached me about our hymnal and rebuked us for (among other things) including hymns written by Catholics in our hymnal. It is no secret that we include Catholic and Orthodox hymn texts. For example, we include the very ancient Te Deum (“Holy God, We Praise Thy Name”). We include works by or attributed to… Continue Reading
Joe Carter blogs at TGC on “9 things you should know about hymns.” Though the post attempts to bring clarity, Carter only adds confusion when he avers with his last point that we should consider “worship and praise songs” as hymns, citing none less than Augustine himself. Just to be clear, worship and praise songs… Continue Reading
Keshia Mcentire at Relevant illustrates why Christians who love the gospel need to respond with bold, biblical clarity to broader evangelicals’ latest infatuation with the social gospel: The definition of social justice is, “Justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.” In a just society everyone would receive fair,… Continue Reading
With this post, I conclude my series on Scripture-regulated worship (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7). The Christian impulse to submit to Christ ought grounds our willing submission to the New Testament in all matters, including worship. If Christ is Lord, then we are obligated to obey him. The way we obey Christ in our worship is… Continue Reading
The ebook version of Douglas Wilson and Randy Booth’s A Justice Primer is available on sale for $1.00. The Blog & Mablog website describe it as “a basic introduction to the principles of biblical justice.” Source: A Justice Primer | Blog & Mablog Continue Reading
TMS grad Terrence Jones complains about a lack of emphasis on black authors in the TMS curriculum. In the entire TMS curriculum, which is 98 credit hours and approximately between 100 – 150 required books to read, not one book is written by a person of African heritage. Additionally, very few people of African descent… Continue Reading
Roger Olson* is hopeful that Mormons’s effort (now in the news) at re-branding is a sign that the cult will turn “orthodox.” Of particular interest in his remarks on the change within Mormonism is his observations on the music Mormons are listening to: Just out of curiosity, during my visit to BYU in 2017, I… Continue Reading
Many good points here made by Derek Thomas: Truth is, for all the entertainment on offer, ours is perhaps a bored generation. We have movies, malls and MP3 players and yet, the whine “There’s nothing to do” can still be heard, loud and clear. A recent survey revealed that 71% of us want more “novelty”… Continue Reading
I am forming an argument for Scripture-regulated worship from two pillars: the authority of Christ and our love for him (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6). If Christ is Lord, then we should obey him. But we should also obey Christ because we love him. The way Christ exercises authority in the church is through the apostles, and… Continue Reading
How often, immediately after a holy service, where in heart and mind we have been carried to the top of Tabor, so that we have beheld the transfiguration of all gracious truth, have we come down to the foot of the mountain to meet with very fools! They have inane remarks to offer upon the… Continue Reading
The better part of professing Christians in America are living in the sea of a Christian pep rally. So observes Nick Batzig. Source: Smells Like Teen Spirit – Reformation21 Blog Continue Reading
This is the sixth post in this series (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5). The whole of the first five parts could be summarized in the final paragraph of the last post: In sum, the Christian religion is subservient to Christ’s authority. Christ gave that authority to his apostles and prophets, and they sealed… Continue Reading
Christianaudio.com is offering their recording of Jonathan Edwards’s classic book of Christian spirituality, Religious Affections, as a free download. It’s their free audiobook for the month of August 2018. Continue Reading
I keep an eye on the classic charts, and recently noticed at this week’s #14 spot an album entitled Buxtehude: Abendmusiken (Evening Music | Amazon). I was glad I did, so I pass it along to you too. Performed by the vocal ensemble Vox Luminis led by Olivier Fortin, the recording features a fine selection… Continue Reading
My initial post in this series introduced the idea of worship regulated by Scripture alone (also known as the Regulative Principle of Worship). The second post considered important arguments for the Regulative Principle. The third introduced the argument for the Regulative Principle from Christ’s authority. This argument consists of several subpoints. First, I showed how the New Testament teaches that… Continue Reading
The first post in this series introduced Scripture-Regulated Worship. The second post considered some important arguments for Scripture-Regulated Worship. The third post showed the ways the New Testament explains the authority of Christ in churches. To summarize my argument in that third installment, Jesus Christ sent delegates (apostles) to teach his churches his will for them as churches. This… Continue Reading
The first post in this series introduced Scripture Regulated Worship. The second post considered some of the most important arguments for Scripture-Regulated Worship. The Argument from Christ’s Authority The Regulative Principle cannot be understood as a mere novel approach to worship, or even as the preferred method of worship among of Reformed theologians. Scripture regulated worship is… Continue Reading
In the first post, I introduced Scripture Regulated Worship and the topic of this series. In this post, I consider some of the most important arguments for Scripture-Regulated Worship. Wise Christians have advanced many reasons to regulate Christian worship according to Scripture. The intent here is not to list all such arguments or even interact… Continue Reading
Note: This is the first in a series of posts on the Regulative Principle. This offers documentation for and expands upon my presentation to the 2018 Knowing, Loving, Ministering Conservative Christianity Conference. Two streams concerning worship diverged from the headwaters of the Protestant Reformation. For Luther, a church may worship with any element not forbidden in… Continue Reading
It’s no secret that people sing much less than they used to. Generally, as a culture, we listen to a lot of music, but make very little. We leave music making to professionals. And this is to our loss as a society. In Wiser than Despair, Quentin Faulkner asks us to “Consider … the disappearance of community singing (whether… Continue Reading