Tried With Fire

The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden by Kevin DeYoung, illustrated by Don Clark, Crossway, 2015, 129 pages, ages 5-11. As a kid, I learned about the Old Testament as a collection of moral fables on how to be good. But the OT as a whole didn't make sense. There was no unifying thread that tied it all together let alone with the rest of the Bible. So as an adult, learning the Bible's storyline was eye-opening, specifically God's promise of the One who would crush the head of the serpent and restore all that had been lost. (Gen. 3:15) Well, you don't have to wait to be an adult to learn Biblical theology. Kevin DeYoung has written a book on the Bible's big story for children, The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher brings Us Back to the Garden . This overview covers Genesis to Revelation. This is quite a tall order, so many details are omitted given the intended audience. However, the main theme of God's promise of the Snake ...

Philosophy for Christians? You bet! I'm sharing a few mini-reviews at Out of the Ordinary of books/resources that can help Christians think and convey ideas more clearly. Read the post here .

The true Church of Christ is tenderly cared for by all the three persons of the blessed Trinity. In the economy of redemption, beyond all doubt, God the Father chooses, and God the Holy Spirit sanctifies, every member of Christ's mystical body. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three Persons and one God, cooperate for the salvation of every saved soul. This is truth, which ought never to be forgotten. Nevertheless, there is a peculiar sense in which the help of the Church is laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is peculiarly and preeminently the Redeemer and the Saviour. Therefore it is, that we find Him saying in our text, "I will build: the work of building is my special work." It is Christ who calls the members of the Church in due time. They are "the called of Jesus Christ." (Romans 1:6). It is Christ who gives them life. "The Son quickeneth whom He will." (John 5:21). It is Christ who washes away their sins. He "has...

An Ode to Sleep Deprived Parents: Words: Matthew Hodge Music: O Fortuna from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff ht: Rachel Miller

I am getting old enough to remember the good ol' days. It's fun to reminisce about life before personal computers, the Internet and smartphones. I remember when gas was less than 30 cents a gallon, and you could buy two pieces of Bazooka bubblegum with a penny. But it's also easy to romanticize the past. When you're a child, there are many things that go over your head, so childhood memories, while personally meaningful, may not be the best with which to assess society as a whole. If you go back to the days before those nasty feminists and pot-smoking radicals, what about segregation? What about civil rights for minorities? What about laws that protect women from domestic violence and give them legal rights apart from their husbands? If you step further back, what about child labor? What about slavery? What about the upper class that was terrified of teaching the lower classes to read let alone write for fear they would rise about their restricted sphere in life? Wha...

We have no right to expect anything but the pure Gospel of Christ, unmixed and unadulterated - the same Gospel that was taught by the Apostles - to do good to the souls of men. I believe that to maintain this pure truth in the Church, men should be ready to make any sacrifice, to hazard peace, to risk dissension, and run the chance of division. They should no more tolerated false doctrine than they would tolerate sin. They should withstand any adding to or taking away from the simple message of the Gospel of Christ. For the truth’s sake our Lord Jesus Christ denounced the Pharisees, though they sat in Moses’ seat and were the appointed and authorized teachers of men... For the truth’s sake Paul withstood and blamed Peter, though a brother. Where was the use of unity when pure doctrine was gone? And who shall dare to say he was wrong? For the truth’s sake Athanasius stood out against the world to maintain the pure doctrine about the divinity of Christ and waged a controversy wi...

ht: Reformed Baptist Fellowship and Theology Forum on FB