Jesus and Tradition Jesus’ condemnation of Pharisaical traditions seems to supply a sufficient blow to the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW). Now when the Pharisees gathered to [Jesus], with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their … Continue reading Jesus, Calvin, and Holidays
A Festivus for the Restofus I saw a trend on Twitter for “Festivus” and discovered that Festivus is a made up secular holiday (which apparently finds its origin in Seinfeld). Festivus is strategically placed the day before Christmas Eve, and it is supposed to be a time for secularists to vent their grievances. And I couldn’t be more thrilled. Although it’s mostly celebrated in jest, … Continue reading Herod’s Ancient Dream
The New York Times is no bastion of conservative, Christian journalism, and they set out to reinforce that Easter 2019. Nicholas Kristof published an opinion article interviewing Serene Jones about the resurrection of Jesus. Below I walk through the interview point-by-point, but in case you don’t have the patience for that, I decided to front load this blog with what would usually come at the … Continue reading A “Christian Minister” Denies All Christian Doctrine
This is the third and final installment of the Christmas series on Christological heresies. I hope you have found these helpful in understanding what not to believe about the incarnation. The following heresies technically deserve a category of their own. They transcend the more narrow study of Christology, and are more closely related to the Godhead as a whole. However, because Jesus is God, a … Continue reading Merry Christology or Happy Heresy? Trinitarian Heresies
Continuing our Christmas/Incarnation series on Christological heresies, we come to what is perhaps the most complicated of these issues: the Hypostatic union. Many ancient heresies were rejected for what they believed about how the human and the divine met on Christmas night 2,000 years ago. Was Jesus a demi-god, part man, part God? Was Jesus more human than God? Was Jesus all God, no human? … Continue reading Merry Christology or Happy Heresy? The Hypostatic Union
Christology The theological event celebrated at Christmas is the Incarnation, when the Word took on flesh and became in every way human, calling us His brothers. With this, the Word taking on human form, comes the ever important necessity to then understand, from Scripture, what this means. The incarnation is crucial in answering Jesus’ famous question, “who do you say that I am?” We call … Continue reading Merry Christology or Happy Heresy? The God Before Bethlehem
If you will allow me to be a negative Nancy, I would like to make a calm, Christian plea to Christian families to leave Santa Claus out of Christmas. I do not believe this is an issue to split churches over or fight about. If you disagree with me I respectfully accept your disagreement. However, there are many reasons to leave Santa Claus out of … Continue reading Christmas Moralism
Resisting the Winds 