The Hard Truth About Mr. Right
An excerpt from “Party of One: Truth, Longing, and the Subtle Art of Singleness.”
Now, I love you, but if you believe this—this idea that God made you and another person as a perfect complement to each other—I need you right now to put this book down, take out a piece of paper, and list all the biblically sound reasons you believe the One or soul mates or other... Continue Reading
Regrets of a “Stay-At-Home” Daughter
Writing books at twenty, when life is so much simpler than it will be at thirty, is a perilous undertaking. I wish I hadn’t.
Of course, I was fourteen — that was literally half a lifetime ago. Very few of us are doing now what we said we’d do in junior high. But my course wasn’t changed by a growing and maturing, but by the jarring new philosophy presented in a book I read, called So Much More. In it,... Continue Reading
Young Teens and Social Media
We should not hand kids a smart phone or other connected device without first proactively shaping how they think about and interact with this new technology.
Our children are growing up in a world that thrives on technology, and we must be faithful in helping them engage with it. As with many things, technology can be a useful tool and a source of enjoyment, connection, and education. It can also become an addiction, idol, or tool for malice. The more we... Continue Reading
BCO 25-3 Amendment Defeated; Not Approved By Requisite Number of PCA Presbyteries
The Amendment failed since it did not receive the required approval of two-thirds of the Presbyteries.
The GA approved the amendment and sent it to the Presbyteries; the BCO requires that amendments be approved by two-thirds of its Presbytery. It is now clear from an unofficial tabulation of the Presbyteries that have voted, that 30 Presbyteries have voted against approving the amendment, which means that the two-thirds requirement cannot be met.... Continue Reading
Christians: Rebels Deserving Death
"The Caesars would not tolerate this worshiping of the one God only. It was counted as treason."
“No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state and its actions. The Christians had that absolute in God’s revelation. Because the Christians had an absolute, universal standard by which to judge not only personal morals but the state, they were counted as enemies of... Continue Reading
Who’s Who in the Church
Understanding the Differences Between Senior, Associate, and Assistant Pastors
I’d like to take just a few minutes of your time as you read this to try and explain the basic “types” of pastors in the PCA: senior (or solo) pastors, associate pastors, and assistant pastors. All of these are also different from various “directors” that are in churches. I hope by the end you... Continue Reading
The New View of Heaven Is Too Small
Our recent emphasis on “kingdom work” misses the real hope of the afterlife.
Heaven and earth will come together as Christ’s kingship is recognized by all creation. Moreover, we should embrace “the kingdom work” that calls us, as the revised song states. Yet, I also sense that we impoverish our hope for heaven when we turn it into an expression of our current activist emphasis upon “kingdom work.”... Continue Reading
4 Books that Made a Priest Leave the Church
Luther didn’t become a full-fledged protestor of the medieval Catholic church in a single moment.
Have you ever wondered what Martin Luther was reading during this crucial time in his life? Maybe I’m just a nerd, but I thought at least someone else might be interested in what Luther was reading during his slow, but steady, transition out of the medieval church and into the world of reformation. The... Continue Reading
When is a Lutheran not a Lutheran?
The phrase “radically inclusive” actually means “radically exclusive in conformity with whatever the mores du jour happen to be.”
The church needs to be a place where all such people are welcomed—with a key qualification. Being welcomed does not entail being affirmed in the beliefs or the identity one has when one walks into the sanctuary. The gospel is, according to Paul, foolishness to Greeks and an offense to Jews. In short, it contradicts... Continue Reading
Finding the Seed of “I Want to Kill.”
I live in a culture where people want to kill people, and when people want to kill, they will find a way to do it.
Though a thousand oversimplified flame wars rage across Facebook, driven by fallacies and recalibrated semi-facts–though a thousand micro-attacks diffuse the adrenaline and cortisol we rightly feel in a world gone all wrong, linear answers like “Arm the teachers!” and “Destroy the guns!” are two sides of the same coin, really–two variants on the core lament... Continue Reading