Tried With Fire

 Here are links to the talks from the final day of the Ligonier conference: Session 11 : Ignorance is not bliss  Robert Godfrey Text: Psalm 49.  Dr. Godfrey gave an overview of the decline of Christian thought and the consequences of it not being taken seriously.  Christians throughout history have been maligned for their deeds, i..e the crusades. But the death toll from the ideologies that have rejected God is far worse. What vision of the life and the life to come should Christians hold up? How do we engage ourselves in this world for the cause of Christ? Dr. Godfrey then used Abraham Kuyper as an example of someone who was actively engaged in bringing Christ to bear in the time and place where he lived. We are responsible for the sphere in which we find ourselves, but we are responsible and accountable to Him.  If we love God and love our neighbor, we will offer an alternative to the shepherds of death - the Good Shepherd.  Ignorance is not bliss...

(FYI: You can watch the messages on the Ligonier site for free, which is far better than reading my posts.) Break out session: The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon  Steven Lawson (If you love Spurgeon, love the gospel, and love the doctrines of grace, please watch this. It will be worth every minute of your time. My notes are sparse because I was listening rather than writing.) Charles Spurgeon had the depth of Calvinism and the breadth of evangelicalism. If you only have Calvinism, you can get stoic eggheads staring at their navels. If you only have evangelicalism, you can get  a manipulative gospel. Spurgeon combined both. He was born June 19, 1834 and was raised in a Christian home. He was converted at age 15 and started preaching at age 16. He was called to pastor the New Park St. Chapel at 19. Within a year, it was standing room only.  By age 20, Spurgeon preached at Exeter hall to 5000. He became pastor of the Metropolitan at age 26, which seated 6000. He ...

Session 7 - The Rock of Ages and the Age of Rocks  Stephen Meyer The New Atheism has declared that science reduces the belief of God as untenable. Life only gives the appearance of design, and to believe in a Designer is delusional. But we believe Ps. 19:1-4 and Rom. 1:20. Science reveals a Creator. Historically scientists like Boyle, Kepler, Newton, and Gallileo believed science was a high calling to think God's thoughts after Him. But how did we get from Newton to Richard Dawkins? Pierre LaPlace, author of Celestial Mechanics, the first attempt to explain natural phenomena without a hypothesis of God. Charles Darwin - not just science but a worldview and philosophy that views the theological and spiritual as superfluous. To attempt a coherent answer to the essential questions of life, the prime reality formerly was metaphysical.  But scientific materialism renders God as an idea in the mind of man. Therefore the prime reality is matter and energy.  By the end ...

Session 5 - The True Scandal of the Evangelical Mind  R.C. Sproul, Jr. Text: 1 Cor 1:18-31. The gospel is what unites us: the incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, 2nd coming. This is our story, but to those outside, it is a scandal and foolishness.  We often think of them (non-believers) in the light of our story, but we don't consider what they think of us in the light of this story. We are considered blind, stupid, gullible, easily led, etc. 1. We are offended that they are offended by us. We complain about how the world treats us. We are insisting that Paul is wrong, not just Paul but the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, because we think we should not be a scandal.  Therefore, we reshape ourselves and our story to remove the stumbling block to establish our credibility. i.e. Emergent/Pomo - It's just our story. Everyone has their own narrative. Seeker sensitive - Remove the sharp edges such as talking about sin, wrath, judgment. 2. We aren't reall...

(Here are some snippets from my notes from Day 1.  They don't do the talks justice, but it may whet your appetite to get them and listen for yourself.) Session 1 - Have you lost your mind?   R. C. Sproul We are living in an anti-intellectual time. Not necessarily anti-academic or anti-scientific but anti-mind. This not just in the world but in evangelicalism. Mind and the body - There is a biblical relationship between our minds and what we do with our physical bodies. We are responsible for our actions and how we think will attribute to this. If I want to know what you really believe, I will look at your life. Our lives tell as what we think. If a Christian is interested in how he lives, he needs to consider how he thinks and what he thinks. Mind and the will - The will is the mind choosing (Jonathan Edwards). A voluntary, conscious choice. I will choose what my mind deems best at that particular moment, doing what you are most inclined to do at that moment...

Dr. R.C. Sproul during his last address As I have to catch up with work, this is a quick post on impressions of the conference. Lord willing, I'll post more detail on the sessions this week. - I have never been with so many Christians, let alone reformed folks, all in one place at one time. - Rosemary , you were right. The singing was wonderful. To lift your voice in classic hymns of the faith with so many brethren accompanied by a huge pipe organ and small orchestra moved me to tears more than once. It seemed like a small preview of "that yonder sacred throng." The video quality isn't very good, but this will give you an idea. - It's good thing the conference was only 3 days or my brain would have exploded. The days were packed with 3 morning sessions, Q&A, an afternoon session, 2 breakout sessions, and an evening session.  I nearly developed a blister from writing so many notes. - The bookstore was a sight to behold. This was taken at the...

The trailer for the 2012 Ligonier National Conference : .