May 17, 2013

John Owen on Why God Decreed the Fall

by Eric Davis

handwriting (fountain pen)It’s a question that every Christian eventually asks. “Why did God allow the world to go the way it did?” For believers, and often unbelievers, it doesn’t take much to see that God did not have to create a human race destined to fall. He was not obligated to create that tree in the garden, nor was he obliged to allow Satan’s fall, the subsequent deception, Eve’s taking of the fruit, Adam’s sin, and subsequent billions of his image-bearers birthed in high-handed rebellion. Why did he create a world upon which he would pronounce a curse that leaves no corner of the creation, image-bearing or not, without carnage, spiritual and physical?

Sometimes the whole opening scene of our world—the tree, serpent, the innocent pair—on  the surface, it appears as an ominous arrangement. It almost seems scripted for failure.

Why would God seemingly stack up the odds against them? Why couldn’t he have just left the sterilized utopia without the tree, the snake, and the command? Why the curse?

Continue Reading…

in Devotional, Theology with 6 Comments
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May 16, 2013

The Church Fathers & Sola Scriptura

by Nathan Busenitz

Gregory_of_NyssaArius was arguably the most notorious heretic of the early church.

Though Arius’ heretical views were soundly condemned by the Council of Nicaea (in A.D. 325), the controversy he sparked raged for another fifty years throughout the Roman Empire. During those tumultuous decades, the defenders of Trinitarian orthodoxy often found themselves outnumbered and out of favor with the imperial court. Yet they refused to compromise.

Among them, most famously, stood Athanasius of Alexandria—exiled on five different occasions for his unwavering commitment to the truth. He was joined by the Cappadocian Fathers: Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzas, and Gregory of Nyssa.

But how did these early Christian leaders know that the doctrine they were defending was, in fact, a truth worth fighting for? How did they know that they were right and the Arians were wrong? Was it on the basis of oral tradition, a previous church council, or an edict from the bishop of Rome?

No.

They defended the truth by appealing to the Scriptures. Continue Reading…

in Apologetics, History with 21 Comments
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May 15, 2013

Ryrie on how to find your spiritual gift

by Jesse Johnson

HolySpiritRyrieHow does a believer go about identifying his spiritual giftedness? The New Testament gives at least three lists of spiritual gifts (Rom 12:6-8, 1 Cor 12:7-12, Eph 4:11-13; cf 1 Cor 7:7, 1 Peter 4:10), strongly implying at the very least that every Christian has a kind of spiritual gift, and that not every Christian has every gift. So how do you find out what your gift is?

First, remember that every believer has the responsibility to be a faithful member of their local church, and that gifting is discovered, identified, and validated in that context. So if you are not a member of a church, fret about that before you fret about what you are supposed to do in that church.

Second, practice the commands that the New Testament gives all believers. It is through the practice of those commands that you discover the particular area in which you are gifted. We are all called to evangelism, giving, and showing mercy, for example. There are times and situations where service is required, and we are the one at hand to serve. By prayer and obedience to God we serve to love and meet the needs of others regardless of our gift.

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in Shepherding with 7 Comments
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May 14, 2013

Gosnell’s grisly trial and why I care

by Jesse Johnson

gosnellThe Gosnell Trial ended yesterday, when a jury found him guilty of murder, among 258 other charges. What is the deal with this case? One view is that the entire episode was much ado about nothing, that Gosnell was providing a service to his community and was unfairly prosecuted by an attention-seeking DA (aren’t they all?). As the story goes, Gosnell’s clinic deteriorated over the years because of the oppressive nature of Pennsylvania’s restrictive abortion regulations, and the whole trial shows the danger of having laws governing abortion.

Obviously, that line of thinking is severely twisted, and comes from a mind set on defending the right of women to kill their babies at will. But regardless, those who hold the “much ado about nothing” narrative really cannot be all that familiar with the facts of the case. I wanted to blog about it because this whole trial pulled back the curtain and displayed the reality of the culture of death created by a society that tolerates and funds infanticide.   Continue Reading…

in Shepherding with 26 Comments
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May 13, 2013

Roe v. Abortion: the Radical Repentance of Norma McCorvey

by Clint Archer

In June 1969 Norma McCorvey tried to get an abortion. Her lying failed to secure legal permission, and her scheme to obtain an illegal abortion also ended unsuccessfully. She then gathered a diabolical duo of fee-hungry attorneys to gear up for a protracted legal fight. Fortuitously, the baby reached full term before the menacing lawsuit did, and in 1970 the suit was filed under the alias Jane Roe. The Dallas County DA was Henry Wade, and thus the infamous case was christened Roe v. Wade.one missing

By the time the case popped out of the Supreme Court, the law was on the side of executing unborn people, a monstrous legality that began to rapidly and incessantly devour millions of unborn babies. Legally. The rest, as they say, is history. And a bloody one at that.

But in 1994, Norma McCorvey flipped sides. She made the acquaintance of pastor Flip (yes, Flip) Benham who ran a pro-life outfit based adjacent to the pro-choice (for death) reproductive health clinic (read: infant abattoir) where McCorvey was working. On her outdoor smoke breaks she would engage in heated banter with the pro-lifer next door. She eventually began to see him as a caring man, and even agreed to visit his church. Within a year she publically declared that she had converted to Christianity, and was baptized in a backyard pool on national television.

Continue Reading…

in Shepherding with 17 Comments
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May 10, 2013

3 Reasons to Think about Heaven

by Nathan Busenitz

The Word of God is far from silent on what eternity will be like in the eternal heaven (i.e. the New Earth). But why has God seen fit to reveal these truths to His people?

There are at least three reasons why the future reality of heaven ought to influence believers in the present. These might be summarized as: hope, holiness, and the honor of God.

001Hope. The reality of heaven provides hope for the future, even in the face of trials or death. Thus Paul could tell the Thessalonians that believers do not grieve “as the rest of the world who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). As Charles Spurgeon observed:

The very happiest persons I have ever met with have been departing believers. The only people for whom I have felt any envy have been dying members of this very church, whose hands I have grasped in their passing away. Almost without exception I have seen in them holy delight and triumph. And in the exceptions to this exceeding joy I have seen deep peace, exhibited in a calm and deliberate readiness to enter into the presence of their God.

Writing about his trials, the apostle Paul similarly explained to the Corinthians, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Because believers know what the future ultimately holds, they can face the temporal troubles of this life with confidence and courage. Continue Reading…

in Devotional with 4 Comments
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