Prayer in the life of Jesus

The journalist Ambrose Bierce once defined praying as asking “that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy”.

Whatever you make of that, according to one poll, Americans as a whole today have more faith in prayer than that definition would indicate Bierce had. We are a prayerful people—well, that is, about three quarters of us believe that prayer has the power to actually help heal an injury or illness (even if most people who say that to pollsters don’t really spend much time praying themselves).

People who were least likely to affirm that this is the case, the poll reported, were men, Democrats, white, under 35, making more than $50 000 a year, and those with college degrees. Lest you be encouraged by the faith of the nation, I should tell you that most Americans also believe that it doesn’t matter who you pray to.  Continue at Mark Dever

Jesus, Friend of Sinners: But How?

Everyone who knows anything about the gospels—and even those who Luke 15:2). Jesus clearly recognized that one of the insults hurled against him was that he was “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Luke 7:34). As Christians we love to sing of this Pharisaical put-down because it means that Jesus is a friend to sinners like us. We also find ourselves challenged by Jesus’ example to make sure we do not turn away outsiders in a way that Jesus never would.

As precious as this truth is—that Jesus is a friend of sinners—it, like every other precious truth in the Bible, needs to be safeguarded against doctrinal and ethical error. It is all too easy, and amazingly common, for Christians (or non-Christians) to take the general truth that Jesus was a friend of sinners and twist it all out of biblical recognition. So “Jesus ate with sinners” becomes “Jesus loved a good party,” which becomes “Jesus was more interested in showing love than taking sides,” which becomes “Jesus always sided with religious outsiders,” which becomes “Jesus would blow bubbles for violations of the Torah.”   Continue at Kevin DeYoung

The Attraction Of Legal Preaching

Scott Clark has posted an important, creative, and compelling piece on the attraction of “legal preaching.” He writes:

 

A legal preacher is a preacher who majors in the law to the neglect of the gospel. In practice, he preaches nothing but law. He thinks that mentioning Jesus periodically or even regularly means that he’s not a legal preacher and he can’t imagine that people are concerned about the tenor of his preaching because he doesn’t see anything wrong with it. It’s the sort of preaching he heard as a young man and it’s the sort of preaching he heard in seminary and it’s the sort of preaching he admires in other preachers.

He turns every passage into a law, because he doesn’t know any other way to read the Scripture and he doesn’t know any other way to preach. He preaches the law and he doesn’t even know he’s doing he it, even when, in his mind, he’s preaching the gospel. When he finds a bit of good news in his passage, he doesn’t end with that because he doesn’t want his people to get the idea that there are no obligations to the Christian life.    Continue at Tullian Tchividjian

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart

If there were a Guinness Book of World Records record for “amount of times having asked Jesus into your heart,” J.D. Greear is pretty sure he would hold it. Like so many church kids he asked Jesus into his heart when he was very young, and then again when he was slightly older, and then again every time he wondered if he really loved Jesus, and then again whenever he felt the guilt of sin. For years he wrestled with assurance and fought for an answer to this question: How can anyone know, beyond all doubt, that they are saved?

It is a question most Christians ask at one time or another; it is a question every pastor faces on a regular basis. Greear’s new book Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart tackles this question head-on and does so very effectively. Greear sets out to accomplish two things: to help the Christian find assurance that he has been saved, and to help the unbeliever resting on a false assurance see his danger and to turn to Christ. “My prayer is that by the time we’re done, you’ll know exactly where you stand with God. I hope to show you how to base your assurance on a promise God gave once for all in Christ and not on the fleeting memory of a prayer you once prayed.” What Greear teaches is consistent with what the best theologians have been drawing from Scripture for so long, that “what saves the sinner is a posture of repentance and faith toward Christ, that and that alone. Any ‘sinner’s prayer’ is only good insofar as it expresses that posture.”   Continue at Tim Challies

Jesus Faithful Israel?

In the New Testament, there are some parallels between ancient Israel and Jesus Christ that give warrant to the view that Jesus is faithful Israel whose obedience brings blessings to others. For example, in the Gospel of Matthew, like Israel, Jesus goes to Egypt and then is called out of Egypt. Listen to Matthew 2:13-15.

¹³ Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” ¹⁴ So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. ¹⁵ He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.” (Matt. 2:13-15)

After Jesus’ baptism (Matt. 3:13-17), He “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matt. 4:1). Matthew tells us that “after He had fasted forty days and forty nights” (Matt. 4:2), He was tempted. But unlike Adam in the garden and Israel in her wilderness wanderings between Egypt and Canaan, Jesus did not succumb to temptation and sin. Recall that Israel’s wilderness wanderings occurred over a forty year period due to sin (cf. Num. 14, especially verses 31-35) and after she passed through the Red Sea waters (Exod. 14-15). Jesus, however, passed through the waters of baptism, was tempted after forty days of fasting, and did not sin.

Another example of the New Testament relating ancient Israel and Jesus Christ comes from the apostle Paul. It is agreed upon by most Bible scholars that the redemption of the Old Testament was Israel’s exodus from Egyptian bondage, as stated above. God rescued Israel from Egyptian bondage. The Israelites were under a dark and oppressive Egyptian ruler and God Himself delivered them from bondage and took them to the Promised Land through the human leadership of Moses and then Joshua. In Colossians 1:12-15 there are some interesting echoes of the exodus in the words of the apostle Paul. Here’s what he says there:

¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. ¹³ For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Col. 1:12-15)    Continue at Richard Barcellos

Did Jesus Turn Water into Wine or Grape Juice?

The issue of alcohol and the Christian is an incredibly volatile subject causing great division and stern judgments upon both sides. I have been deeply affected by this issue myself as there are many of my friends and family members who are controlled by alcohol. I am not a teetotaler, but I rarely drink. I don’t like wine. Some beers are pretty good. I like Tequila. But if the comsumption of alcohol were made illegal, I would not even really notice.

There are so many different positions out there with regard to this issue. Let me try to name a few:

1. Those who abstain from alcohol and believe that this is the biblical position for everyone.
2. Those who abstain from alcohol but don’t believe that this is a biblical mandate to enforce on others.
3. Those who drink alcohol only for “celebratory” purposes (i.e. Lord’s table), but don’t get drunk.
4. Those who casually drink wine or beer, but abstain from “hard liquor” and don’t get drunk.
5. Those who casually drink alcohol in order to feel “merry” or “tipsy” but don’t get drunk.
6. Those who drink alcohol and get drunk occasionally but are not “drunkards” (i.e. addicted).

Outside of this, all Christians would (or should) agree that being addicted to alcohol is expressly forbidden in the Scripture as it relinquishes control of our faculties to the alcohol rather than to the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Paul warns Timothy about such abuses with regard to the qualifications of a deacons (1 Tim. 3:8) and elders (1 Tim. 3:3).

Concerning the above positions and which is correct, I am not going to directly discuss here. However, I do want to discuss one passage of Scripture that vexes the problem of alcohol with great passion. It is the subject of Christ and his relation to alcohol while here on the earth. Most specifically, I want to ask the question of whether Christ, during the miracle at the Wedding of Cana in John 2, turned the water into wine, unfermented grape juice, or something else. Here is the text:    Continue at C Michael Patton

Pointing Preschoolers to Jesus

A reader named Chasity wrote us an email and asked about pointing preschoolers to Jesus:

“I recently found your blog and have been greatly encouraged. I have a question regarding the mundane-ness of days at home. I have a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, and when we have full days at home, we all seem to be bored and I seem to lack vision. What do you ‘do’ with your children during the days?

Sometimes I try to do little crafts or play games, but it seems there must be more to pointing my children to Christ. Would you mind sharing some ideas on how to fruitfully and purposefully fill the day?”

Those are fantastic questions, aren’t they?

I asked several moms to briefly answer Chasity’s questions so that I could post their replies here on Domestic Kingdom. As the replies are published (scattered over the next several weeks) then I’ll link them together at the bottom of each post in an index and tag them: “pointing preschoolers to Jesus.”

When the replies to Chasity’s questions started popping into my inbox I couldn’t help but smile at the similarity of the answers. The simplicity of the gospel of grace just lifts my heart!

I think these answers will make you smile, too. In the plurality of replies there were several important things that rose to the surface: Continue at Gloria Furman

See also: 10 Tips for Destroying Your Children’s Souls

What Does Jesus Do With Sin?

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”

– John 1:29

John the Baptist commands a beholding of the sin-taking-away Lamb. What do we see in this beholding? How exactly does Jesus take away our sin?

Here are 6 things Jesus does with sin:

1. He Condemns It.

Jesus puts a curse on sin. He marks its forehead.

Romans 8:3 – “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”

Jesus says to sin in no uncertain terms, “Sin, you’re going to die.”

2. He Carries It.

Like the true and better scapegoat, Jesus becomes our sin-bearer.

1 Peter 2:24 – “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

3. He Cancels It.

He closes out the account. (Even better, he opens a new one, where we’re always in the black, having been credited with his perfect righteousness.)   Continue at Jared Wilson

100 Names Of Jesus

After personally experiencing the authority and power of Jesus as He spoke peace to a raging sea, the disciples were left sitting in the stillness, wet from the rain and wondering:

“Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”  –Matthew 8:27 (NLT)

Over and again the Bible answers this amazing question by giving us glimpses of the character of Jesus through the names and descriptions we find of Him.

Here is a list of 100 Names of Jesus we find in the pages of the Bible.  You can find the verses and study the context of each name by accessing the Logos Online Bible.

• Advocate (1 John 2:1)
• Almighty (Rev. 1:8; Mt. 28:18)
• Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8; 22:13)
• Amen (Rev. 3:14)
• Apostle of our Profession (Heb. 3:1)
• Atoning Sacrifice for our Sins (1 John 2:2)
• Author of Life (Acts 3:15)
• Author and Perfecter of our Faith (Heb. 12:2)
• Author of Salvation (Heb. 2:10)
• Beginning and End (Rev. 22:13)
• Blessed and only Ruler (1 Tim. 6:15)
• Bread of God (John 6:33)
• Bread of Life (John 6:35; 6:48)
• Capstone (Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7)
• Chief Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20)
• Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4)
• Christ (1 John 2:22)
• Creator (John 1:3)
• Deliverer (Rom. 11:26)
• Eternal Life (1 John 1:2; 5:20)
• Everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6) 

Continue at Emmanuel Fellowship

The Church: The Gospel Made Visible

What Does the Bible Say?

The Nature of the Church

The church is the body of people called by God’s grace through faith in Christ to glorify him together by serving him in his world.

The People of God in the Old Testament: Israel
In order to understand the church in the full richness of God’s revealed truth, we must examine both the Old and New Testaments. Christians may sometimes use the phrase “a New Testament church,” but the shape of the visible church today bears a clear continuity—though not identity—with the visible people of God in the Old Testament.

God’s eternal plan has always been to display his glory not just through individuals but through a corporate body. In creation God created not one person but two, and two who have the ability to reproduce more. In the flood God saved not one person but several families. In Genesis 12 God called Abram and promised that Abram’s descendents would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore. In Exodus God dealt not only with Moses but with the nation of Israel—12 tribes comprised of hundreds of thousands of people yet bearing one corporate identity (see Exod 15:13–16). He gave laws and ceremonies that should be worked out not only in the lives of individuals but also in the life of the whole people.

In the Old Testament, Israel is called God’s son (Exod 4:22), his spouse (Ezek 16:6–14), the apple of his eye (Deut 32:10), his vine (Isa 5:1–7; Nah 2:2), and his flock (Ezek 34:4). Through these names God foreshadowed the work he would eventually do through Christ and his church.   Continue at B&H Blog

Would Jesus Have a Facebook Page?

“When [Jesus] came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.’ And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

A recent article in USA Today by Cathy Lynn Grossman cites examples of the growing tendency in churches to treat the Internet as a genuine ministry-provider. It’s not just about having websites and email contacts, but about assuming that digital contact is actual ministry. [Cathy Lynn Grossman, "Church Outreach Takes on a New Technical Touch," Wednesday, April 18, 2012.] According to the report, for example, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association offers a page for visitors to sign on the sinner’s prayer and “turn up in a real-time scroll of latest ‘decisions’ at www.SearchforJesus.net…” Grossman writes, “Technology should ultimately be an enhancement, not a replacement, for gathering in person for worship, discussion, debate and service to others, Drew Goodmanson says. Goodmanson is chief executive officer of Monk Development, which helps churches use the Internet to fulfill their missions. He appreciates that ‘you can have a digital Bible in the palm of your hand or connect with others in prayer any time anywhere.’ Nevertheless, Goodmanson says, ‘Jesus would not have a Facebook page. He wouldn’t be stopping in an Internet café to update his status.’” Thank God.

Responding to the USA Today article, Al Mohler helpfully points out some of the costs and benefits. It’s a great benefit that we can read lots of content on-line to which he had limited access before. Yet, he observes, “A digital preacher will not preach your funeral. The deep limitations of digital technologies become evident where the church is most needed. Don’t allow the Internet to become your congregation. YouTube is a horrible place to go to church.”   Continue at Michael Horton

Jesus As the New Israel

The New Testament authors understood Jesus to be the culmination of the Old Testament. He is the Last Adam, true Israel, the suffering servant, the son of David, the faithful remnant, the ultimate prophet, the reigning king, the final priest.

Here is a good, concise summary of the Israel/remnant theme from a New Testament perspective:

. . . Jesus had become a remnant of one. He was the embodiment of faithful Israel, the truly righteous and suffering servant. 

Unlike the remnant of the restoration period, he committed no sin (Isa. 53:9; 1 Pet. 2:22). 

As the embodiment of the faithful remnant, he would undergo divine judgment for sin (on the cross), endure an exile (three days forsaken by God in the grave), and experience a restoration (resurrection) to life as the foundation of a new Israel, inheriting the promises of God afresh. 

As the remnant restored to life, he becomes the focus of the hopes for the continued existence of the people of God in a new kingdom, a new Israel of Jew and Gentile alike. 

As the nucleus of a renewed Israel, Christ summons the “little flock” that will receive the kingdom (Dan. 7:22, 27; Luke 12:32) and appoints judges for the twelve tribes of Israel in the new age (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30).  Continue at Justin Taylor

Atheists Cower in Fear of Creation Museum

The Budget Travel website recently started a contest asking people to vote on the top 15 places that kids should see before they turn 15. The Creation Museum started well. When I first saw the site, it was ranked first with about 640 votes and about 80 positive comments. Well, word got out to popular atheist PZ Myers and on Wednesday morning (2/15/12), he encouraged his blog readers to visit the site and start voting on this “awful poll” for any tourist attraction that had a chance of beating the Creation Museum (which had slipped to #2 by the time he posted). His readers (one person called them the PZombies) immediately followed his advice and started voting.

I don’t have a problem with anyone voting in the poll. They have every right to do it, and there are some fabulous places that a person can vote for in addition to the Creation Museum. However, it’s the behavior of many of these atheists that is so enlightening. As I am typing this, there are eleven fake names that have been added to mock the Creation Museum, such as the Creation Tower of Jesus, Creationism & Fairy Tales Museum, and the Creation Museum of Child Indoctrination Anti-Intellectualism.

Those fake names are the least of my concerns, although they show the immaturity of some of these atheists (for the record, I don’t believe PZ Myers encouraged his readers to add these to the list). What is far worse are the numerous comments that have been added to the Creation Museum’s link for voting. Over 500 comments have been made about the Creation Museum, but by my count, no more than 13 comments exist for any other place. The first 50 or so comments were overwhelmingly positive for the museum. That was until the atheists arrived. It’s certainly okay for people to express their opinions, so I’m not calling on anyone to ban these folks from the site. I want to use this as an example to point out their utter hypocrisy and their irrational fear of biblical creationists.   Continue at Tim Chaffey

Your Own Personal Jesus

Citing examples from TV, pop music, and best-selling books, an article in Entertainment Weekly noted that "pop culture is going gaga for spirituality." However,

[S]eekers of the day are apt to peel away the tough theological stuff and pluck out the most dulcet elements of faith, coming up with a soothing sampler of Judeo-Christian imagery, Eastern mediation, self-help lingo, a vaguely conservative craving for 'virtue,' and a loopy New Age pursuit of 'peace.' This happy free-for-all, appealing to Baptists and stargazers alike, comes off more like Forest Gump's ubiquitous 'boxa chocolates' than like any real system of belief. You never know what you're going to get. (1)

The "search for the sacred" has become a recurring cover story for national news magazines for some time now; but is a revival of "spirituality" and interest in the "sacred" really any more encouraging than the extravagant idolatry that Paul witnessed in Athens (Acts 17)? 

Not only historians and sociologists but novelists are writing about the "Gnostic" character of the soup that we call spirituality in the United States today. In a recent article in Harper's, Curtis White describes our situation pretty well. When we assert, "This is my belief," says White, we are invoking our right to have our own private conviction, no matter how ridiculous, not only tolerated politically but respected by others. "It says, 'I've invested a lot of emotional energy in this belief, and in a way I've staked the credibility of my life on it. So if you ridicule it, you can expect a fight." In this kind of culture, "Yahweh and Baal-my God and yours-stroll arm-in-arm, as if to do so were the model of virtue itself."

What we require of belief is not that it make sense but that it be sincere....Clearly, this is not the spirituality of a centralized orthodoxy. It is a sort of workshop spiritu-ality that you can get with a cereal-box top and five dollars....There is an obvious problem with this form of spirituality: it takes place in isolation. Each of us sits at our computer terminal tapping out our convictions....Consequently, it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that our truest belief is the credo of heresy itself. It is heresy without an orthodoxy. It is heresy as an orthodoxy. (2)  Continue at Michael Horton

Salt of the Earth

What follows is an article I wrote for the current issue of TableTalk—my favorite monthly periodical. You should subscribe if you're not already a subscriber. Also, heads up: You won't want to miss "The Pursuit of Holiness: An Interview with Jerry Bridges" in the January edition.

 "You are the salt of the earth . . . . You are the light of the world . . . . Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:13-16).

That text is often cited as if it were a mandate for the church to engage in political activism—lobbying, rallying voters, organizing protests, and harnessing the evangelical movement for political clout. I recently heard a well-known evangelical leader say, "We need to make our voices heard in the voting booth, or we're not being salt and light the way Jesus commanded."

That view is pervasive. Say the phrase "salt and light" and the typical evangelical starts talking politics as if by Pavlovian reflex.

But look at Jesus' statement carefully in its context. He was not drumming up boycotts, protests, or a political campaign. He was calling His disciples to holy living.

The salt-and-light discourse is the culminating paragraph of the introduction to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. It comes immediately after the beatitudes. Jesus was pronouncing a formal blessing on the key traits of authentic godliness.

What's most notable about the beatitudes is that the qualities Jesus blesses are not the same attributes the world typically thinks are worthy of praise. The world glorifies power and dominion; force and physical strength; status and class. By contrast, Jesus blesses humility, meekness, mercy, mourning, purity of heart, and even persecution for righteousness' sake. Collectively, those qualities are the polar opposite of political clout and partisan power.  Keep Reading >>>

The First Christmas: Myths and Realities

I. A Reality Check

Here’s a true-false quiz:

1. Mary and Joseph had to travel as quickly as possible to Bethlehem because Mary could have given birth at any moment.

2. The Bethlehem innkeeper was fully booked, and so Mary had to give birth to Jesus in the barn/stall nearby/behind the inn.

3. Initially, this experience must have been frightening and lonely for Mary and Joseph.

4. “The little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.”

5. The angels who appeared to the shepherds had wings.

How’d you do on the quiz? Check your answers below. (Some of these thoughts are taken from a talk I gave on what really happened that first Christmas.)

Marcus Borg, a member of the liberal Jesus Seminar, claims that the Gospels are in serious conflict: Jesus was born “in a stable” in Luke but in a home in Matthew (Marcus Borg [and N.T. Wright], The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions [San Francisco: HarperSF, 1999], 180). As it turns out, this isn’t really a conflict at all. Contrary to the traditional Christmas story, Jesus was indeed born in a home! Borg’s claim is based on the notable King James Version’s mistranslation of Luke 2:7: “there was no room for them in the inn.” But the KJV rendering goes against Luke’s in(n)tention.  Keep Reading >>>

4 Interpretive Guidelines for Understanding Jesus’ Parables

1. Don’t treat parables like allegory.

An allegory is most often completely filled with symbolic meaning. Every detail means something that can be traced to the overriding principle that is being illuminated. Parables usually have one basic, central meaning. Trying to oversymbolize them can have the effect of tearing them apart. A person doesn’t understand the beauty of a flower by disassembling it. Like a blossom, a parable is best understood by seeing it in its simple and profound entirety.

2. The Rule of Three.

Like all good storytelling, parables usually follow the Rule of Three. Do you remember the stories you heard as a child—such as “The Three Little Pigs” and “The Three Bears”? Both of these stories are filled with more “threes”: three wolves, three beds, three bowls of porridge. Jesus did this often in the telling of the parables. And is it any wonder that many parables deliver three important truths or that most sermons rest on three important points?   Keep Reading >>>

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Who Saves Whom?

‘God casts His vote; Satan casts his, but you must cast the deciding ballot’?

 

The touchstone question in the running debate between Jesus and the Pharisees, Paul and the Judaizers, Augustine and Pelagius, the Dominicans and the Franciscans, the Reformers and the medieval Roman Catholic church, and the Calvinists and Arminians is this: Who saves whom? 

In this article I want to offer some brief scriptural responses to the common objections concerning the doctrine of election. If one does not believe in the doctrine of unconditional election, it is impossible to have a high doctrine of grace. As Luther told Erasmus, ignorance of this great truth is in a real sense ignorance of the Christian gospel. ‘For when the works and power of God are unknown in this way, I cannot worship, praise, thank, and serve God, since I do not know how much I ought to attribute to myself and how much to God.’ This distinction is essential, he added, ‘if we want to live a godly life.’ Further, ‘If we do not know these things, we shall know nothing at all of things Christian and shall be worse than any heathen.’1 As Luther pointed out in his debate with Erasmus, this issue of free will and election is essential in maintaining the doctrine of justification by eliminating any element of human decision or effort as a foothold for merit. Therefore, let’s take a brief survey of the biblical support for this important doctrine by considering one of the principal passages: Romans chapter nine.   Continue Reading...

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Jesus and Addiction: Is He Really Enough?

Growing up in the church is probably exactly like growing up in a five-story mansion on the side of a snow-laden mountain overlooking a rainbow valley where you daily see flocks of unicorns grazing: it’s a beautiful thing, but you run the risk of over-exposure.  For a while you appreciate it, then one day you wake up finding yourself unable to be moved by what’s before you.  Even though my official “rebellion years” ended when I got to college, since then I’ve continued to run the risk of being overly exposed (and therefore hardened) by the beautiful truths that are constantly before me.  Thanks be to God though, because I’m slowly relearning the beautiful truths behind Bible verses and Christian jargon that for a long time had been cold to my soul.  In that relearning process though, I’ve found myself particularly cautious about Christian phrases that get thrown around as often as the plot to Zookeeper.  This entry is about one such phrase:

“Christ is Enough”

This phrase (or the trinitarianly-appropriate equivalent “God is enough”) was my banner for a long time through college.  Chris Tomlin’s ”More than Enough” was my theme song.  I started reading books like John Piper’s Desiring God and Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God to fuel my growing conviction that finding everything I needed in Jesus would increase my joy and destroy my sin addictions.  It wasn’t quite that simple though. Keep Reading...

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Following Jesus While Rejecting the Bible? Yet Another Tragedy in Mainline Protestantism

Yet another denomination has voted to ordain openly homosexual candidates to its ministry. Yesterday, the Presbyterian Church (USA) presbytery of the Twin Cities in Minnesota voted to approve a change to the church’s constitution that will allow the denomination’s 173 presbyteries to ordain persons without regard to sexual orientation.

The Twin Cities presbytery cast the deciding vote in what is now a 33-year effort to remove all restrictions on homosexuals serving in the church’s ordained ministry. It became the 87th presbytery to affirm the action of the church’s 219th assembly last summer authorizing the constitutional change. The action not only concludes over three decades of controversy over the ordination standards; it also reverses actions taken in 1997, 2001, and 2008, when similar efforts failed.

In 1996, the denomination restated its ordination requirements to include “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.” That policy had also required that candidates “refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders or ministers of the Word and Sacrament.” Keep Reading...