What is Orthodox Protestantism? A Brief Response to Rod Dreher
As there is no single orthodox Protestant church, the question is inevitably more challenging.
Institutional unity is important as a witness to the truth. I for one do think it ridiculous that in the USA alone there are numerous presbyterian denominations who hold substantially the same doctrinal position but exist as separate institutional bodies. Yet even so, the problem of defining Protestant orthodoxy is not simply a Protestant problem.... Continue Reading
Earthly Categories for Spiritual Things
General revelation includes all the ways that God reveals himself in creation—in the ordinary course of nature and the general course of history.
We move horizontally between the images, among the things of earth, understanding how they relate to each other, so that the whole picture and experience of the world can then lead us to God. God draws us into this web of creation so that we might know him through it. It’s how he reveals himself... Continue Reading
The Stewardship of What Is
In God’s created world we never “peak” at knowing all there is to know because our Maker is infinite.
As Christians, because we believe God greatly values the inner life of man, it’s a little easier to make peace with the physical peaks we face. Our aging bodies are calling cards from heaven to remind us of Who awaits us. But, lately, it’s the looming peaks in my inward life have caught me off... Continue Reading
4 Ways to Respond When Christians Hurt You
When a professing believer hurts our feelings or reputation, how should we respond?
In the house of God, Christians must learn to remember the identity of their brothers and sisters, humbly pray for their brothers and sisters, lovingly cover the sin of their brothers and sisters, and privately confront their brothers and sisters. As we do, we will see God’s grace healing and sustaining our relationships in ways that the world will... Continue Reading
Pomponio Algerio and His Resolute Faith
With clear conscience, he replied frankly to the bishops’ questions. He admitted he didn’t recognize the authority of the pope, since Christ is the only head of the true church.
In 2008, the University of Padova erected a memorial plaque in Algerio’s honor, remembering how he was arrested and executed “for his religious beliefs, which he inflexibly defended” and how he “faced the stake with exceptional composure and courage.” Most tourists to Rome stop by Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, in... Continue Reading
The Path to Personal Integrity from First Command to Tenth
If we are not supposed to be led astray by rivalry or boasting over others, how much more is it wrong and perverse to be consumed by envy and resentment?
If we trust God, then we can be confident that our problems are tests meant for us and that God is providing what we need. We can serve Him and help others without being distracted by perceived inequality. God establishes our place and allows us to develop personal integrity. Ultimately, the prohibition on covetousness means... Continue Reading
We Can Know Who Jesus is by Observing What He Did
Jesus performed many miracles that verified he had control over the physical realm.
Jesus is described as the Word, who is God. “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:3). When asked for evidence of his identity, Jesus—the creator of space, time, matter, and the spiritual realm—performed miracles showing his power over space, time, matter,... Continue Reading
Toward A Catechism on Mortification
Mortification is evidently fundamental to Paul’s conception of the believer’s new life.
What benefits may believers enjoy through mortification? A. The benefits that believers may enjoy through mortification include the following: that their strength and peace—indeed, their power and comfort—in their life with God will be stirred up, increased, and built up through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of adoption (Col 1:10–11; Eph 3:16–19; Rom 7:4-6; Gal 5:16,... Continue Reading
What’s in a Name?
The only way Abram becomes Abraham is by the power of God through the never-failing word of God.
Leon Kass comments, “The change of Abram’s name, offered in conjunction with God’s abundant promise, is in fact deeply significant. ‘Abraham’s very identity is now inextricable from God’s promise of abundant offspring. His being depends on God’s speech. If God breaks his promise, Abraham ceases to be Abraham.’”1 Abraham cannot be Abraham unless God is faithful. It... Continue Reading
Peace on Earth
A Culture at War with God
The current suppression of the self-evident truths of sexuality and gender in the unrighteousness of perverse diversity and the cruelty of genital mutilation is unsustainable. These things will eventually and inevitably end. Pretend marriages, make-believe families and ruined bodies will become sad relics of our present darkness. The creational and natural truth of human, heterosexual,... Continue Reading
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