Reformation21

Derek cites a Dutch professor, Ellen van Wolde, who is presumably of liberal persuasions, for her novel assertion that bara in Genesis 1 does not mean "create". But is this really much different from the tactics currently en vogue in our own "conservative" Reformed circles for getting around the...

In the beginning God separated pre-existing matter according to the Dutch professor, Ellen van Wolde. In an article that appears here , Professor Wolde claims the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1 has been mistranslated until -- yes, until she came along and understood what the Hebrew "bara" (customarily...

The Free Church of Scotland has announced that Rev David Meredith, minister of Smithton-Culloden Free Church, is to be the Moderator of the 2010 General Assembly. More details here .

Our poor friend Tim Keller suffers the fate of having his every word parsed over a thousand times, which is the inevitable result of the vast influence his every word exerts over the Neo-Evangelical, Young, Restless, and Reformed. For this reason, I try to avoid such parsing, but Tim's recent...

In my sermon on John 14:16-17 last week, I introduced the important topic of the Holy Spirit as the "other Paraklete". I talked at some length about how the Spirit carries forward Christ's work as the Spirit Anointed Messiah in the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. Sensing that this was a lot...

It is a question that came my way recently: will God really condemn good people to hell? And the answer is yes. However, we need to approach the answer with some deliberate sensitivity. First, we need to assert three inviolable truths taught in Scripture: (1) Hell exists . No matter how distasteful...

Derek's post really got me thinking . . . about dogs. Just kidding. He got me thinking about loving the church. My memories are the same as Derek's but have a different starting point. They go way back past when I was 17. Since my dad was a pastor, I essentially grew up in the church, was there all...

You may be interested in the re-launched and re-designed website of my own denomination, the Free Church of Scotland. Click here .

"Love me, love my dog," they say, and my poor dog has been sick all summer and continues to be in bad shape. But it is not dogs I am writing about here; it is the church. Jesus seems to say, again and again: "Love me, love my church." Something is terribly wrong when professing Christians do not...

I have been using Spurgeon's Morning and Evening readings more or less for the past thirty years, and they never fail to amaze me with their pastoral insight and their constant relevance. Having been thinking recently of the number of Christians who have received, or are dreading receiving, bad...