Category: Theology
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ardent Arminians
Last night I preached on predestination from Romans 9, which reminded me again of Charles Wesley’s anti-Calvinist hymn, “The Horrible Decree.” It’s hard to imagine anyone singing all 15 stanzas, even to the tune of Gilligan’s Island, but you can read the entire thing here. Wesley’s passion for Arminianism seems equal to John Piper’s commitment…
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forum on the mound
My family just returned from a week in Myrtle Beach–a time to celebrate my parents’ golden anniversary with my three brothers and their families–and last night I unpacked enough to attend Forum on the Mound. This is an exciting event put on by several area churches for college age youth at Fifth Third Ballpark. We…
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for the love of doctrine
I am put off by the title of a Christianity Today interview with Jamie Smith. The title is “You Can’t Think Your Way to God: Christian Formation means shaping our loves, says Jamie Smith, not just educating our minds.” The title is true enough, but I wonder why it singles out “thinking” as the way…
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against naturalism
This is the title of Alvin Plantinga’s opening chapter in a collegial debate he recently wrote with atheist Michael Tooley called Knowledge of God. Plantinga thanks Tooley for “his clear, rigorous, and detailed statement of a version of the atheistic argument from evil (p. 151),” and then pretty much dismantles it. As I read Plantinga’s…
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the new legalism?
Anthony Bradley’s essay in World magazine is receiving some well-deserved attention. If that piqued your interest and you want to read more on the subject, I highly recommend Larry Osborne’s recent book, Accidental Pharisees. Osborne wisely and pastorally explains how we’re never free from the temptation to legalism. In fact, the more zeal we have…
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top billing
Last night I attended the installation ceremony for Todd Billings, who will now occupy the Gordon H. Girod Research Chair of Reformed Theology at Western Seminary. The evening was bittersweet, as Todd has been diagnosed with a rare blood disorder that has no known cure, but as he reminded us last night, the Heidelberg Catechism…
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evangelical funerals
Readers of this blog know that I rarely reference my books in these posts–not because it would be wrong but because I don’t like the feeling that I’m trying to sell you something. I perhaps too naively believe that good writing will find readers, and am content to leave it at that. Someone mentioned last…
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into the closet
Yesterday I drove through Mitch McGary’s hometown and realized this Buckeye was going to “cheer” for the Wolverines tonight. I’ve got three reasons: 1. Rick Pitino (don’t Google Pitino and Applebee’s) 2. It’s not football. 3. Speaking of football, it might be a long time until Michigan will be able to compete with Ohio State,…
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the
I don’t like how April Fool’s Day comes the day after Easter, as if theological liberals are now controlling the calendar. “Jesus is alive! Just kidding. But cheer up, for his spirit goes on, beating in every heart that reaches out and loves the other, just as he showed us when he died on the…
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Easter weekend
Karl Barth offers wise counsel this Easter weekend. He warns that we must not fixate on the cross alone, “like the ox which is bound to a stake and, driven by the owner’s whip, has to trot round and round the turning wheel.” Rather we must remember that we stand on the other side of…
Mike Wittmer 