"Blogging the Institutes" is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin's work, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Ourselves Are Connected Wisdom—if it’s any good—has two parts: knowledge of God and ourselves. Now, knowledge of God and knowledge of…
Blogging the Institutes: Introduction
A spiritual goldmine exists in the writings of past Christians. John Calvin is no exception. Calvin’s writings and theology has shaped much of church history from the time of the Reformation to the present. His Institutes of the Christian Religion, (or just Institutes for short) is considered a theological masterpiece. It is also surprisingly devotional. Unfortunately, I have found that many…
What Does God Really Promise Us? 10 Always True Promises
The problem with the prosperity gospel--the belief that God wants you healthy and wealthy--is not that it promises too much, but that it promises way too little. It forfeits the pattern of suffering now, glory later, which runs through the New Testament. Such teaching is also deceiving because it can lead people to despair, for…
Jesus was probably Born in a Cave
The Christmas associations of an inn and an innkeeper, however, do not reflect the language of Luke's text in 2:7. Rather, the word usually translated as "inn," seems to refer to either some type of reception room in a private home or some type of public shelter. Since this place was full, refuge was sought…
Daniel’s 70 Weeks: Interacting with Jim Hamilton’s book, With the Clouds of Heaven
With fear and trembling, I am interacting with Jim Hamilton’s interpretation of Daniel’s 70 weeks found in his new book on Daniel, With the Clouds of Heaven. Fear and trembling, because Dr. Hamilton is just that—a doctor in biblical studies. And having gone to Southern, I know his grasp of the biblical languages! Now as…
Radical by David Platt: An Interaction and Review
We love one-sided coins. What I mean by that is that we love to take one “side” of a Biblical teaching and amplify it to the exclusion of a coordinating truth. For example, faith and works. In recent history, “grace alone” preachers have come along and emphasized the undeserved kindness of God toward us in…
Why Does LBC Have Multiple Pastors, Pt. 2: The Practical Benefits
This is the second installment on a two-part series on our church structure. You can find the first part here. In the first post, I looked at what the Bible has to say concerning how a local church should be structured. I believe that the consistent pattern of Scripture is that local churches are lead…
Why Does LBC Have Multiple Pastors?
This is Part One of a two-part series on our church structure. At Lincroft Bible Church, we have multiple pastors on staff as well as six other pastors. (The other pastors are also called "elders." The term is interchangeable in Scripture. To be an elder is to be a pastor and vice versa). Moreover, we…
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering by Tim Keller: A (Short) Review
My wife miscarried in early 2013, which led us to wrestle with the question, “Where is God in the midst of suffering?” It is not easy. If anything else, however, Christianity is a religion which causes you to wrestle through such questions because at the center of the faith is the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.…
A Shot of Faith to the Head: A (Kind of) Review
A (kind of) review of A Shot of Faith to the Head by Mitch Stokes. This book unnerved me. In a good way. But it still unnerved me. Because it challenged much of what I believed about we as humans know stuff. One challenge to belief in God is “show me.” As in, show me the evidence…
Raising Lazarus 