The Old Man Crucified: Putting Off & Putting On
The terms old and new are like the terms high and low, tall and short and big and little; they are relative terms; we know what they mean as they are used in relation to a fixed measurable standard. I…
Tag Reformed Theology
Wibrandis Rosenblatt – A Quiet Matriarch
Wibrandis Rosenblatt – A Quiet Matriarch Wibrandis Rosenblatt (1504-1564) is often nicknamed “the Bride of the Reformation,” because she became successively the wife of four men, three of whom were famous Reformers. Her memory is often limited to this oddity,…
Heaven on Earth? The Beatific Vision
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). I am captivated by this beatitude. All of them are deeply searching and logical. There is precision in every statement and in every promise. But I am…
Natural Theology: The Design of Creation
Genesis 1-2 reveals that God created in an orderly way and a cosmic order with everything having a function based on what he created it to be. In other words, when we use the phrase “the design of creation” we…
Natural Revelation: Is Natural Theology Reliable?
Natural theology, to be contrasted with Revealed Theology, is that human response to divine revelation where truths about God, or arguments for his existence, are discerned from the created order without aid of special revelation. In a sense, natural theology…
Still Protesting: Trent Ruins Everything!
I teach a small weekly Bible study that is attended by a couple of Roman Catholics one of which is practicing and the other is not. A third member has embraced the Gospel and broken ties with Rome. Recently, in…
Natural Theology & Christian Apologetics: A Brief Primer
The topics of apologetics and natural theology are, to say the least, complex and controversial. Yet as Christians we have to deal with them. So let us try informed by God’s word and the history of the Church. We must…
Still Protesting: the Donum Superadditum
“Why can’t you get past the objections of Luther and his progeny?” That was the question that came plaintively from the man who sat opposite the pastor in the coffee house. The Pastor, whose name was Peter, looked at him…
Still Protesting: The Protests of the Spirit
Five hundred years ago the Protestant Reformation changed the theological and ecclesiastical landscape forever. And yet, was that something that only made sense in their historical context? Is the Reformation over, a quirk of history, only brought up in Church…
Still Protesting, a Pastor’s Perspective
Let’s be honest: the evangelical and Protestant church has seen better days. We have our own scandals. In a fast-paced world, our faults are replicated through our communities at a much quicker rate than in previous generations. We may not…