Authority and Authoritarianism
When authority is usually discussed, about three sentences later, the word authoritarian will make its entrance. In fact, for some, authority is authoritarian – there is… Read More »Authority and Authoritarianism
When authority is usually discussed, about three sentences later, the word authoritarian will make its entrance. In fact, for some, authority is authoritarian – there is… Read More »Authority and Authoritarianism
When the topic of music and worship comes up, a favorite slap-down argument against thoughtful discrimination of music is that pastors need not study music… Read More »Pastors – Become Literate in Christian Culture
The English words authority and author come from the same Latin root, auctor – an originator. Strange how far we’ve come from older ideas, where… Read More »Authority – Its Origin
The popular consciousness has knee-jerk reflexes when it comes to authority. Play the word-association game with the average person, show him the flash-card “Authority” and… Read More »Authority
Modern Christians are in the habit of labelling all sorts of things as ‘matters of Christian liberty’ or ‘areas of preference’. We do not doubt… Read More »Judging Matters of Freedom
Scripture devotes two sections of the New Testament to explain how certain choices in the Christian life are not explicitly or implicitly forbidden or prescribed:… Read More »Matters of Conscience and Freedom
A church is a voluntary society. Baptists believe that people join churches not by birth but by choice. People freely associate, and can freely disassociate.… Read More »Freedom and Churches
Liberty is the absence of unwarranted coercion, leaving the human open to persuasion and his own agency to choose what he ought. Freedom does not,… Read More »Freedom – Societal and Individual
I still confess the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The Scriptures teach repeatedly that no man is or can be saved by his works. This matter… Read More »On the relationship of faith and works
Freedom is another word that the disingenuous enjoy. Just as the Tolerazis cry ‘intolerance’ and pose as victims even while they terrorize and bully others,… Read More »Freedom
How do we rehabilitate this word? First, we must insist that tolerance does not mean agreement, nor does disagreement mean intolerance. Tolerance actually suggests disagreement,… Read More »Rehabilitating “Tolerance”
It is becoming abundantly clear to many that the call for tolerance has in fact not been a call to tolerate all opinions everywhere, but… Read More »Tolerance (2) – We Oppressed Left-Handers
Gospel ministry is filled with both great difficulty and great encouragements. When ministers are discouraged, one of the ways that the Lord strengthens them is… Read More »Encouragement to Ministers
97. What is our ultimate hope? Our ultimate hope is to see God’s glory in His realized presence (Rev 21:2-3, 22:4; Joh 17:21-26), where we… Read More »A Worship Catechism (15)
91. What are the disciplines of perpetual worship? The disciplines of perpetual worship are gratitude, discernment, fasting , and stewardship, which seek to behold, reflect,… Read More »A Worship Catechism (14)
Every pastor and Christian leader feels a certain pressure to be relevant. We do not want Christianity to slip away into an oblivion. We do… Read More »Horatius Bonar on Trendiness in Religion
84. What are the disciplines of public worship? The disciplines of public worship are recognition, service, discipleship, and corporate worship, which seek to behold, reflect… Read More »A Worship Catechism (13)
76. What disciplines will nurture faith and maintain abiding in God’s presence? We must embrace disciplines of private worship, public worship, and perpetual worship. 77.… Read More »A Worship Catechism (12)
67. How is faith nurtured? Faith is nurtured through the grace-enabled practice of the spiritual disciplines (2 Pet 1:5-7). 68. What is spiritual discipline? Spiritual… Read More »A Worship Catechism (11)
Christmas: the one time of the year that most churches actually sing good hymns! Some of our traditional Christmas hymns really are quite profound, the… Read More »The profound simplicity of “Away in a Manger”