In spite of all the bad news, there are a lot of good things happening in the world. The Lord has given us many opportunities as well as challenges in our day. One opportunity and blessing is the growth of Christianity throughout the world. Mark Tooley, President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, published an [...]
Archive for February 2011
Thriving Christianity
Monday, February 28, 2011The Glory of Marriage
Monday, February 28, 2011In 1905, Madison Peters wrote in his book Will the Coming Man Marry?: The divorce rate in the United States is at present something like 612 out of every 10,000 — a greater number than that of any other so-called Christian nation. Germany lags pitifully behind us with a bare 165, and even France can [...]
The Gospel of the Priestly Garments
Sunday, February 27, 2011by Samuel Mather, from The Gospel of the Old Testament “And Moses put the tunic on him, girded him with the sash, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him; and he girded him with the intricately woven band of the ephod, and with it tied the ephod on him. Then he [...]
Majority of presbyteries now reject BCO 14-2 amendment
Saturday, February 26, 2011I know most of you are not sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for the results of the BCO funding plan amendments. However, today we reached a significant milestone in the voting. All that was necessary to defeat the amendments was 1/3 or 27 of the presbyteries. Today, the 40th presbytery, Western Carolina [...]
The ARP, Erskine Seminary, and Inerrancy
Thursday, February 24, 2011Last week I published an article on the issue of inerrancy at Erskine Theological Seminary. You can read it here. Ken Pierce has written a follow-up article on the issue on The Aquila Report with a strong challenge to Erskine Seminary. He writes: Dr. Burnett wants to take refuge in the word “evangelical.” Erskine has [...]
How Do You Circularize a Court?
Wednesday, February 23, 2011How do you circularize a court? In 1984, the PCA amended its constitution to tell us that we should not circularize a court before an appeal or complaint is made. Book of Church Order 42-4 now reads: Notice of appeal may be given the court before its adjournment. Written notice of appeal, with supporting reasons, [...]
Sola Fide or Sola Fidelity?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011The Federal Visionists want to replace the great sola fide (faith alone) of the Reformation with a doctrine of sola fidelity (justification by faithfulness alone). What’s wrong with a doctrine of sola fidelity? The answer is simple. If we adopt or allow the Federal Visionist sola of sola fidelity, then our justification becomes primarily about [...]
ByFaith: Reeder appoints funding plan sub-committee
Tuesday, February 22, 2011For all my criticism of byFaith, they do often have the inside story in Atlanta. Here’s some new info on the “funding plan sub-committee”: At its January 26 meeting, the Cooperative Ministries Committee (CMC) authorized Dr. Harry Reeder, moderator of the General Assembly and current moderator of the CMC, to appoint a sub-committee to consider [...]
GA 2010: How many elders can you identify?
Monday, February 21, 2011It’s Just That Pesky Blogosphere
Monday, February 21, 2011I have added a new category, “new media,” to my blog because it is an important issue that we all need to think about and that is not going away. Everything we do will face greater scrutiny than it ever has before by more people than it ever has before. Interested readers throughout the nation [...]
Opportunities budding as the Presbytery of the Pacific Coast (RPCNA) nears 100th anniversary
Monday, February 21, 2011by Pastor Nathan Eshelman The Presbytery of the Pacific Coast met in San Diego this weekend to hold the annual spring meeting. Ruling Elder Hal Reyburn was elected Moderator and commented that he was thankful to be elected and that the agenda of this meeting “could be the most exciting agenda” he has seen in [...]
Anglican Communion on the Verge of a Breakdown
Sunday, February 20, 2011One of the most interesting developments in Protestantism over the past decades is the interaction of Western liberals in mainline denominations with their conservative daughter churches outside of the West. Anglicans throughout the world are united in the Anglican Communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury as the presiding bishop of this communion. I have enjoyed [...]
On the Christian’s Debt of Love, How Great It Is
Sunday, February 20, 2011By Bernard of Clairvaux, “Chapter V” of On Loving God From the contemplation of what has been said, we see plainly that God is to be loved, and that He has a just claim upon our love. But the infidel does not acknowledge the Son of God, and so he can know neither the Father nor [...]
Erskine PCUSA Theology Professor on Inerrancy
Friday, February 18, 2011Last month, I published an overview of the Erskine Theological Seminary controversy in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP) by Seth Stark. I am still trying to wrap my mind around the issues. This week, the controversy flared up again. The controversy surrounds a statement made in 2008 by the ARP Synod. The statement reads: [...]
“Practical presbyterianism” is the new proposed strategic plan theme
Thursday, February 17, 2011byFaith reports that the Cooperative Ministries Committee has proposed a new theme for the General Assembly. What do you think of it? Below is the byFaith article: Heated debates and friction within the PCA might be mollified if elders and church members better understood—and practiced—“practical Presbyterianism.” That’s the premise behind the recommended fourth theme of [...]
New book unlocks Reformed history
Thursday, February 17, 2011The Westminster Standards and the Reformed Confessions in general are the product of what is commonly called “Reformed scholasticism.” Reformed scholasticism is simply the name for the academic theology of the pastors and theologians of the Reformed Church in the 16th–18th centuries. After the Reformers separated from Rome, the “Reformed scholsatics” sought to codify the [...]
Report from the PCUSA battlefront
Wednesday, February 16, 2011by Pastor Brian Carpenter A complaint in a case involving the candidacy and potential ordination of a self affirmed lesbian is scheduled to be heard by the Presbyterian Church-USA’s General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) in late July. The hearing, originally scheduled for the April GAPJC meeting, has been postponed without official explanation, though some [...]
Meyers: “If he’s been baptized, he’s a Christian. Period.”
Tuesday, February 15, 2011The following is an interaction between TE Jeffrey Meyers and an RUF staff member on the Wrightsaid yahoo group, a group devoted to discussion of the theology of N.T. Wright. RUF (Reformed University of Fellowship) is the PCA’s ministry to university campuses. The RUF staff member tried to explain to Meyers why there is concern [...]
Overture two seeks terms limits for elected leaders
Monday, February 14, 2011byFaith Online reports: South Florida Presbytery has submitted an overture for consideration at the 39th General Assembly that would impose term limits on coordinators for the four program committees (Christian Education and Publications, Mission to North America, Mission to the World, and Reformed University Ministries) and the Stated Clerk. Overture 2 proposes modifying the Rules [...]