The Good Fight
It is fascinating to see how St Paul looks back over his Christian life in face of his fast approaching departure from this world. Writing to Timothy, he describes it as a race to be run, a faith to be…
Tag Christian Living
Overload
Do you ever get overwhelmed by all the things you need to get done, and discouraged by all the things you probably won’t? Almost every day, right? I felt overloaded when we made a few small domestic renovations, leaving our…
Bathsua Makin and the Education of Women
As the news challenge us to think biblically about the place of women in today’s world, it might be useful to remember there was a time when women were discouraged from reading, studying, and thinking independently. In fact, the Roman…
Insuppressible Truth: The Glory of Creation
The Bible teaches that God has created all things. His purpose is ultimately to display His glory and majesty. Thus, creation is “good” and “very good” in Genesis 1 because God made and ordered the creation. He is pleased with…
Discipline: the Misconstrued Grace
It was John Knox, the Scottish Reformer, who added discipline to the word and sacraments as the third mark of a faithful church. Perhaps it was because the Celts are an unruly lot by nature and he felt the latter…
Jonathan Edwards as Father
Many see Jonathan Edwards as a terrifying preacher. Some consider him one of the greatest American theologians. A few know a couple of endearing details of his life, such as his loving relationship with his wife Sarah. Very few know…
Persecution in Turkey – From Polycarp to Fikret Böcek
If it’s true, as the ancient Tertullian said, that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church,” much seed has been sown on Turkish soil, from the 2nd-century martyrdom of Polycarp to the massacre of Christian Armenians in…
Getting the Garden Right: The Fall
Throughout Genesis chapters 1 and 2, the reader understands that it is God alone who gets to determine and pronounce what is good (each of His created days – 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31) as well as what…
Walking in the Light: Insights from Vaclav Havel
My father’s family escaped the Soviet Union in 1934, a few months after the United States established diplomatic relations there, in 1933. They had Russian roots and naively returned to visit an ailing relative in 1922. The Russians said “Welcome…
The Apostles’ Creed: He descended into Hell
Perhaps the phrase that gets stuck in the throat when reciting the Apostle’s Creed is “He (Christ) descended into hell.” And if it does, it wouldn’t surprise me. It was difficult for John Calvin to utter the phrase despite having…