This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm the importance of beginning our pursuit of sound worship and holy living within the bounds of traditions that we have inherited from the saints of the entire church age (2 Tim. 2:2, Phil. 3:17). Many of these believers,… Continue Reading
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that expressions toward God, be they prayers, preached sermons, poems, or music, may be parsed for their meaning and judged for their appropriateness for worship. We affirm that understanding of meanings is gained both from Scripture and from… 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
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that ordinate affections are often expressed and evoked through works of imagination, which function through simile and metaphor. Among these are music, poetry, literature, and other arts. The Word of God itself is a work of imagination. At least… Continue Reading
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that the worship of God is regulated through his Word. Innovation, however well-intentioned, is “will-worship” (Col. 2:23), violates the free consciences of individual Christians (Rom. 14:5, 23), and is therefore displeasing to God (Matt. 15:9). We affirm that the… Continue Reading
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that manipulation of the visceral appetites is dangerous to rightly ordered worship and Christian piety (Phil. 3:19). We deny that the transmission of biblical truth can be rightly administered through the use of methods that appeal to the appetites.… Continue Reading
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that Christians are able to speak of orthopathy, or rightly ordered affections and appropriate worship (Deut. 6:5, Matt. 100mg viagra sale 22:37, Heb. 12:28). As the doctrines of the gospel are fundamental to Christianity, so is rightly ordered love… Continue Reading
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that truth, goodness, and beauty are transcendent realities rooted in the nature of God and ultimately inseparable from each other (Phil. 4:8). Beliefs are true when they correspond to God’s understanding; acts are good when they correspond to God’s… Continue Reading
. In his farewell address to the Ephesian elders, Paul declared that he was “innocent of the blood” of all, because he had not shrunk from delivering to them “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26–27). At its core, conservative Christianity aims to follow Paul’s example in successfully transferring the whole counsel of God to… Continue Reading
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that the center and apex of Christian faith and fellowship is the whole counsel of God, including right belief, right living, and right affection (Deut. 6:1–9). We further affirm that the transmission of biblical Christianity necessarily involves the preservation… Continue Reading
This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the boundary of Christian faith (1 Cor. 15). We also affirm that to ignore this boundary by granting Christian recognition to those who deny the gospel is to demean the gospel itself… Continue Reading
Click here for the print edition (and Kindle) of this Declaration. To affirm this declaration and join the Conservative Christian Network, click here. Fulfilling a desire I’ve had for some time now, in July, 2013 I gathered together a group of pastors and ministry educators to discuss the future of conservative Christianity. As a result… Continue Reading
Many Christians today are understandably concerned about the state of our nation. There seems to be corruption on many levels, and very few politicians appear worthy to be trusted. Where will our nation be in 10 years, when my children reach adulthood? What will it look like? What kinds of things that are mildly tolerated… Continue Reading
Some time ago, I posted a link here to one of my favorite quotes from the eminently quotable C. S. Lewis. Lewis offers a comparison between liturgy and dance: both must be learned, he suggests, so that when they are employed, they needn’t be thought about. When dancing (I suppose, not having any experience here myself),… Continue Reading
Dear saint, You have been reading about orthopathy and ordinate affection, and perhaps it all sounds rather perplexing and intimidating. The controversy around these matters is unnerving and unsettling, and you wish it would go away. It has caused you some real anxiety. You are close to real distress, or worse, to dismissing the whole… Continue Reading
As conservatives, it can be easy to grow discouraged. There are very few of us. It seems that all of American Christianity (sorry, David de Bruyn) is abandoning the way of worship that we understand to be reverent. The good, the true, and the beautiful rarely brings in an audience. Our churches are shrinking. Fundamentalism… Continue Reading
To understand reality, a child must think. Thinking that brings understanding is not the thinking that a cow does when it notices a car passing its pasture. It is the kind of thinking about ideas. To think about ideas, a child must know language. Language is the technology of thought. Language, as we are using it… Continue Reading
All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God… The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems . . .but even if the multiple burdens of time may… Continue Reading
I’m currently reading Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy and plan to share some quotes over the coming weeks. From the preface, here is the first. The message of this book does not grow out of these times but it is appropriate to them. It is called forth by a condition which has existed in… Continue Reading
Conservative Christian churches are not eccentric. They believe they are merely consistent in their understanding and application of Christianity. They believe that the Christianity they have received must be passed on without diminution. Where they differ from many other Christians is that they believe there is more to Christianity than the gospel and a statement… Continue Reading