Archives for 2013

You’ll need to wear your thinking cap, but it’s worth it for this article.

Alan Strange writes:

All Presbyterians agree that there are at least two special offices in the church—elder and deacon. The question that divides good Presbyterians, however, is this: Do the minister and the ruling elder hold the same office or is the office of minister, while sharing governance with the ruling elder, a distinct office in its own right?

Let’s begin our exploration of this question by focusing on the nature of “office.”

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1 December 2013 — 10 AM Worship

1 December 2013 — 3 PM Worship

Carl Trueman writes:

“When one asks the most influential thinkers in the modern evangelical church are, one might find names such as Jim Packer, John Stott, and Don Carson.

“I would like to suggest, however, that there is one whose influence is perhaps much greater than we are aware of, yet whose thinking all but pervades the modern evangelical church: Marcion.”

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To further whet your appetite, here is Trueman’s conclusion:

“As our reading, our sermons, and our times of corporate worship neglect and, sometimes, simply ignore the Old Testament, we can expect a general impoverishment of church life and, finally, a total collapse of evangelical Christendom. Indeed, there are mornings when I wake up and think it’s already all over, and that the church in the West survives more by sheer force of personality, by hype and by marketing ploys rather than by any higher power. We need to grasp once again who God is in his fullness; we need to grasp who we are in relation to him; and we need teaching and worship which gives full-orbed expression to these things — and this will only come when we in the West grow up, ditch the designer gods we build from our pick-n-mix Bible where consumer, not Creator, is king, and give the whole Bible its proper place in our lives, thinking, and worship. Think truncated thoughts about God and you’ll get a truncated God; read an expurgated Bible and you get an expurgated theology; sing mindless, superficial rubbish instead of deep, truly emotional praise and you will eventually become what you sing.”

Also, see:

• Who Needs the Old Testament?
  by Charles D. Drew
• Is the Old Testament for Christians?
  by Graeme Goldsworthy
• We Need the Old Testament to Understand the Work of Christ
  by Curtis I. Crenshaw

David Feddes writes:

Is it possible to steer clear of church and still be a good Christian? Many people would say yes to that question, and perhaps you would agree. You believe in God; you pray once in a while; you consider yourself a Christian; but you feel you can get along just fine without church. The important thing is how you relate to God, not how you relate to church. Right?

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Nick Batzig writes:

If you were hoping to read a post about the temperance movement, wineries, micro-brews or an illegitimate use of the Bible to fuel the health food revolution (or perhaps I should have said, “health food religion”) then you could very well be disappointed. If, however, you are looking for an explanation about what the Scriptures tell us that Jesus drank when He spoke of “this cup” (Matt. 26:39) then my hope is that you’ll find this to be one of the richest subjects for the well being of your soul. So how are we to know what Jesus meant when He spoke of “the cup” that He had to drink?

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