Not too long ago my pastor decided to recommend to his congregation one book per week for ten weeks. This was the list that resulted: Knowledge of the Holy—A.W. Tozer The Glory of Christ—John Owen The Everlasting Righteousness—Horatius Bonar The Shadow of the...
Piety
Another Verse in the KJV You Probably Don’t Understand Either
What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? (Hab 2:18 KJV) Is “the graven image” a direct object of “profiteth” or the subject of...
Balancing Edwards
It is appropriate and necessary for preachers to judge the needs of their congregation when they teach Scripture. I do it every time I preach, because my goal is to help the people use the Bible. As someone has pointed out, people don’t really understand a portion of...
Praise for Hodge
Mark Noll writes in the New Dictionary of Theology the following praise of Charles Hodge (whose Systematic Theology I’ve recently been dipping into with some heart-warming profit): He occasionally misread his opponents to their disadvantage; but by and large, he...
Two Sides of Legalism
A reporter goes up to smokers in a New York City park and asks them to put out their cigarettes. It’s an experiment, because smoking in such public places could possibly become illegal there. A few smokers approached in parks were courteous, or cowed, enough to put...
Edwards Quote Success!
John Piper’s foundational sermon for his philosophy of Christian Hedonism is entitled “Let Your Passion Be Single.” In it he quotes Jonathan Edwards as saying this (I’ll include Piper’s two interpolations): I should think myself in the way of my duty, to raise the...
Modern Pilgrim
I just got to write a fun article for a brand new BJU Press online publication, Modern Pilgrim. Feel free to check it out!
How to Get Married
Every few months I take a detailed look at my blog stats, and for several years I have had one unexpectedly popular post: “How to Get Married.” The post was actually a joke. My advice was to get Parallels Desktop for Mac software; pretty soon you’ll be married (worked...
Spiritual Health
Why ever disagree with anyone—much less battle him or her—over theology? Does it really matter so much whether or not people believe in God’s sovereignty as long as they’re saved? Do they really have to understand and uphold the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity? Is it...
Ironic Reminder
If you want to watch a ten-minute video clip reminding you not to waste your life watching video clips, watch this video about Bhutan (warning: there are a few brief objectionable elements because they show American TV). It’s old news, but still relevant. Bhutan was...
CONTROVERSY! AGAIN!
Three controversies are going on right now among people close to me. The only one in which I’m involved personally hardly deserves the title, but it could have deserved a worse one—mêlée, fracas, altercation—if the participants had not loved the Lord and one another....
Hessians vs. Yankees
How did the word “mercenary” get a metaphorical sense and a literal one? It started in classical Latin, says the OED, long before English was a twinkle in the Celtic eye. Mercenarius back then could refer straightforwardly to a soldier paid to serve in another...