The Most Powerful Thing We Can Say (Welch)

I've mentioned this helpful book before: Side by Side by Ed Welch. It's a very good resource on friendships and the details of Christians walking through life with other Christians - together. In the fourth chapter Welch discusses the weight of sin. One section of the chapter discusses some of the blessings or benefits that …

The Quest for Illegitimate Religious Certainty (Clark)

Sometimes Reformed churches and Reformed Christians mix up essential and non-essential religious beliefs and practices. For example, some people are certain that Scripture is without error and they are certain that their favorite translation of the Bible is only true translation. Others are certain that Adam was a historical person and they are certain that …

Emotions, Depression, and Body/Soul (Borgman)

One major part of being human is having emotions and feelings. We all have emotions. From joy to anger to terror to elation, we experience a range of emotions each day. Although the words "emotion" or "emotions" aren't found in biblical Hebrew or Greek, there are plenty of biblical words that convey emotion (e.g. despair, …

The Impossibility of Preaching Jesus Without A Creed (Vos)

A church without a creed is a church to avoid.  Why?  Because a big part of the Christian's faith includes knowledge of biblical doctrine, factual truth-statements to which faith clings.  Geerhardus Vos said it quite well: "Faith presupposes knowledge, because it needs a mental complex, person or thing, to be occupied about.  Therefore, the whole …

Prayers of Repentance/Confession

(This is a repost from August, 2012) In August of 1662 around 2,000 ministers left the national church of England for the sake of conscience (they were called the non-conformists).  You’ll have to read about this significant church history event elsewhere since I simply want to point out a few prayers of repentance that two …