On the internet over the past few years, Christian leaders have taken time to voice their opinion about IRS form 4361 (Russell Moore, Gospel Coalition via Justin Taylor, Matt Wittmer and Dave Ramsey have all spoken on the matter). For those unfamiliar, form 4361 is the form that a minister may sign within his first two years of ministry to opt out of Social Security.[1] In order to opt out the minster must sign the...
This last weekend, 11 freshman stood in front of our congregation, affirmed their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and expressed their intention to journey with our church through life, at least until they move away for college. As part of this moment, we anointed each student with oil and said, “Because you belong to Christ, you belong to us, and we belong to you.” It was incredibly beautiful. Before the service, I...
On my trip to India over spring break—which you can read a little bit about here—I brought along a delightful little introduction to Old Testament Criticism by Mark S. Gignilliat, called, A Brief History of Old Testament Criticism: From Benedict Spinoza to Brevard Childs (check it out on Amazon). Gignilliat, who is Associate Professor of Divinity/Old Testament at Beeson Divinity School (Samford University), holds a doctorate from the University of St Andrews (which is, btw,...
“Follow Your Arrow,” the catchy tune by singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves, has found a home on country music radio and is getting love from those who embrace its message: be who you are, live for the moment, stop caring what people think. Like many of today’s chart-toppers, it tends to clash with my beliefs. But that melody, those sweet-as-honey vocals make it hard to change the station. So I sing along, critiquing the worldview as I...
What does it mean that the “word of God is living?” That’s a big question, but I will only focus on one part. I think that it is of fundamental importance to recognize that, in every day speech, there are two very different sorts of existence that we describe as “alive.” Before we apply the label of “living” to a text we have to decide what sort of living thing it is. These two sorts...
Committed Christians go to conferences. Or so the narrative goes. Christian conferences are everywhere, all the time. They are at hotels, convention centers and churches. They also come in all shapes and sizes. You can go to a big conference or a little conference. You can go to a regional conference or a national conference. You can go to a three-day conference of a week-long conference. As American Christians, we love our conferences. And yet...
As I settled into the book of Deuteronomy this evening for a little devotional reading, I was taken aback by the following verses: “Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the LORD had commanded him to say.” (Deut....
Here in Sydney I’m currently co-teaching a seminary class on the doctrine of the Trinity. We’ve spent the first few weeks of the course reading and discussing some sermons by Gregory of Nazianzus. The next section will focus on parts of Augustine’s De Trinitate. In the final third of the semester we’ll work through §59 of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics–“The Way of the Son of God into the Far Country”. Anyways, one of the things we’ll be...
“For this we labor and strive…” God is a giver. So much of Christian belief and action rests on this elementary observation that it is almost shameful to put into words. God’s gifts of grace and mercy are daily refreshed (Lam 3:22-23), and the gifted grace of Christ Jesus is held as the defining “giving” of God. Following that, the Bible has been received as apostolic testimony to God’s person and ways in the world....
I recently got into my first Twitter battle – and it was epic. Sometimes, when I am done pouring through old books and ancient citations, I do searches in Twitter for various subjects that I had been reading about. A few days ago that subject was Apollonius of Tyana. I quickly found a tweet that simply read: “Jesus = Apollonius of Tyana” I decided that I would start a conversation. I don’t know about the...
© 2024 — Highend Theme
Created with in London, UK.
Recent Comments