I was very curious when, if, and how byFaith would report on Overture 7 from Ohio Presbytery, which would remove the funding for byFaith from the AC Budget. Well, now we know (you can read the overture here): Ohio Presbytery has overtured the PCA General Assembly to eliminate funding for byFaith and byFaithonline.com. Such a [...]
Archive for March 2011
ByFaith on De-funding byFaith
Thursday, March 31, 2011Was C.S. Lewis an Anglo-Catholic?
Thursday, March 31, 2011By Pastor Brian Carpenter C.S. Lewis has certainly received a warm embrace by almost all sections of Christendom, and by people of all sorts of other stripes. When I was a student at St. Meinrad’s School of Theology and Benedictine Monastery (yes, you read that right) there was a whole section in the bookstore dedicated [...]
Updated: Covenant College President Niel Nielson’s next job
Wednesday, March 30, 2011Update: Dr. Nielson explains here what he’ll be doing at Covenant College before he departs. A year from now, Covenant will be saying goodbye to its beloved President, Niel Nielson, and his wife, Kathleen Nielson, as they finish off a decade of life with us. Staff and students were informed last Friday in an email [...]
Looking back on James “Bebo” Elkin’s fruitful career with RUF
Wednesday, March 30, 2011By Rachel Miller In preparation for writing my article on the history of RUF, I had the honor of interviewing James “Bebo” Elkin, one of the founding fathers of Reformed University Fellowship. Bebo Elkin, along with Mark Lowery, Jimmy Turner, Ford Williams, and Bill Smith are the men most responsible for bringing RUF into being. [...]
“Hyper-Precise” Inerrancy & Erskine Seminary
Tuesday, March 29, 2011One of the key issues in the Erskine Seminary controversy is the issue of the inerrancy of Holy Scripture. In 2008, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (which governs Erskine Seminary) made a statement affirming inerrancy: That the 2008 General Synod go on record by stating that the position of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church on [...]
Are You a Tiger Mother?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011Not being an avid follower of the latest literature on motherhood, I missed Amy Chua’s latest book, The Battle Hymn of the Together Mother. I didn’t even notice when my wife called me a “tiger mother” when I suggested that my daughter practice her piano song ten times. Now, I know what it is, thanks [...]
Great Homeschool Conventions chooses theistic evolution over creationism
Monday, March 28, 2011Great Homeschool Conventions: So, Pete, you don’t believe in the historical Adam? That’s fine. You’re in. Ken Ham: It’s wrong to deny the historical Adam. Great Homeschool Conventions (contact them here): You’re calling Pete Enns out for compromise with modernism? You’re out! From Christianity Today: “The Board believes that Ken’s public criticism of the convention [...]
Do We Pay Attention to the Providence of God?
Sunday, March 27, 2011The providence of God is God’s most holy, wise, and powerful government of all His creatures and all their actions. Or, as the Heidelberg Catechism explains it, it is “the Almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that [...]
Atomic bombs may actually help you live longer
Saturday, March 26, 2011The Financial Post describes a study of those exposed to the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Obviously, those in the immediate vicinity of the blast experienced, shall we say, adverse effects to their health, but those who were further away actually lived longer. The payoff is that those exposed to Japan’s radioactive fallout may have [...]
The Home Church Movement
Friday, March 25, 2011by Pastor Christian M. McShaffrey As the modern “home church” movement continues to gain momentum and threaten the peace and unity of congregations in every denomination, it behooves all who love Christ’s church to speak the truth in love to home church advocates. Therefore, I offer this pastoral advice: 1. Distinguish and Appreciate If by [...]
Valentin Alpuche: Planting a Reformed, Spanish-speaking Church in the Chicago Area
Thursday, March 24, 2011Glenda Mathes recently interviewed Valentin Alpuche, a Mexican who is working with Reformed Churches in the Chicago area to plant a Spanish-speaking Reformed Church. She asked: Where are you from and how did you hear about Mid-America Reformed Seminary? My wife and I are from the Southeast of Mexico, the state of Campeche, in the [...]
Rob Bell, C.S. Lewis, and Universalism
Thursday, March 24, 2011Dr. Schweitzer desired to have time to further reflect on some of the criticisms raised here, so he has requested that his article be taken down. Pastor Brian Carpenter has explained some of the same points from a slightly different angle. Consequently, some of the comments may seem a bit out of context. Here is [...]
Pakistan gets serious about religious violence
Wednesday, March 23, 2011Pakistan today asked the U.N. to help their government deal with increasing anti-Christian violence within their borders Pakistan today asked the UN to intervene because a Baptist Pastor in the U.S. has burned a mosque copy of the Koran and murdered an Islamic American government official said that the Koran was in error. From Yahoo! [...]
Responding to Muslim Hatred in State & Church
Wednesday, March 23, 2011by Daniel Mann According to Western leaders, integrating Muslims into Western culture has proved an unqualified flop. In October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the . . . tendency had been to say, “Let’s adopt the multicultural concept and live happily side by side…” But this concept has failed and failed utterly. Merkel is [...]
PCA gets a “seat at the table” of an “elite national group of volunteer agencies”
Tuesday, March 22, 2011From Byfaithonline.com: Mission to North America (MNA) now has additional resources for its disaster response efforts, thanks to its recently approved membership in an elite national group of volunteer agencies. As a member of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), MNA will have access to training, conferences, and committee meetings, as well as [...]
What’s the Big Deal with Rob Bell?
Monday, March 21, 2011What’s the big deal with Rob Bell? I have been wondering that since this controversy began on March 7, 2011 at 8:18 p.m. when Justin Taylor published his first salvo against Bell. Since then, everybody and his brother has blogged about it, though I imagine most of them (including me) have not read the book. In [...]
Dr. Philip Ryken on Preaching the Tabernacle
Saturday, March 19, 2011This past Sunday, I listened to a wonderful lecture by Philip Graham Ryken on how to preach Christ from the tabernacle. It was delivered with his usual clarity and polish (listen to it here). It made me glad that he is the new president of Wheaton College. In an interview with Glenda Mathes of Christian [...]
Nielson stepping down from Covenant College presidency
Friday, March 18, 2011The work of the General Assembly is carried out by the agencies and the committees of the General Assembly. Covenant College is one of the agencies of the PCA. Its president, Dr. Niel Neilson, is stepping down from the position of president of Covenant College. From The Aquila Report:
Reply to the Joint FV Profession, Part 8 — The FV Denies the Law/Gospel Distinction
Friday, March 18, 2011The Joint Federal Vision Profession denies the historic Protestant distinction of law and Gospel. It says: We deny that law and gospel should be considered as hermeneutics, or treated as such. We believe that any passage, whether indicative or imperative, can be heard by the faithful as good news, and that any passage, whether containing [...]