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Contrition
Recent Posts
God? Who Needs Him?May 31, 2013
Self-sufficient humanism. Paul saw it coming – “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Imago Dei
September 12, 2012
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Why Can't I Pray?
August 18, 2012
The bible gives us several reasons, but according to Jeremy Taylor, a deceitful heart is at the root of prayerlessness.
It's Not Rocket Science
July 23, 2012
To keep in step with the Spirit should be our daily quest. And if we are successful at that, all of life falls into place.
Theological Steak
April 10, 2012
These words by P. T. Forsythe on the magnificence of Christ's work are to theology what Ruth's Chris is to a good steak.
Describing the Indescribable
February 11, 2012
What we have in Christ will take all eternity to describe. But for one segment of one sermon, a great preacher made a mighty attempt.
Making Sense Of It All
January 30, 2012
Where are things headed? Is there rhyme and reason to the endless cycle of summer, fall, winter and spring? Is there a plan in place, or is randomness the explanation?
Lumps Of Walking Clay
July 22, 2009
God "gets in the way" of our freedom. So we have hit the "delete" button. And if God is not mocked as He says He is not, then something has to give. Stay tuned.....
Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
"Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters." Psalms 2:1-3
In THE AGE OF VOLTAIRE, volume 9 of Will and Ariel Durant's The Story Of Civilization, Durant faces squarely the uprising of philosophy against religion. In speaking of the 18th Century, he states:
The Renaissance had gone back beyond Christianity to explore the pagan mind; the Reformation had broken the bonds of doctrinal authority, and, almost despite itself, had let loose the play of reason.
Now these two preludes to modernity could complete themselves. Man could at last liberate himself from medieval dogmas and Oriental myths; he could shrug off that bewildering, terrifying theology, and stand up free, free to doubt, to inquire, to think, to gather knowledge and spread it, free to build a new religion around the altar of reason and the service of mankind. It was a noble intoxication.
Philosophy has been a pied piper, and Durant lets his misgivings be known. "It (philosophy) draws us ever onward because it never answers the questions that we never cease to ask." And again, "Reason is for the philosopher what grace is for the Christian."
For what are we but lumps of clay?
Why should we swell?
Whence should our spirits rise?
From a poem by Sir Henry Wotten (1568-1639) entitled D.O.M. (commonly meaning Deo Optimo Maximo - To God, the best, the greatest)
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
"Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters." Psalms 2:1-3
In THE AGE OF VOLTAIRE, volume 9 of Will and Ariel Durant's The Story Of Civilization, Durant faces squarely the uprising of philosophy against religion. In speaking of the 18th Century, he states:
The Renaissance had gone back beyond Christianity to explore the pagan mind; the Reformation had broken the bonds of doctrinal authority, and, almost despite itself, had let loose the play of reason.
Now these two preludes to modernity could complete themselves. Man could at last liberate himself from medieval dogmas and Oriental myths; he could shrug off that bewildering, terrifying theology, and stand up free, free to doubt, to inquire, to think, to gather knowledge and spread it, free to build a new religion around the altar of reason and the service of mankind. It was a noble intoxication.
Philosophy has been a pied piper, and Durant lets his misgivings be known. "It (philosophy) draws us ever onward because it never answers the questions that we never cease to ask." And again, "Reason is for the philosopher what grace is for the Christian."
For what are we but lumps of clay?
Why should we swell?
Whence should our spirits rise?
From a poem by Sir Henry Wotten (1568-1639) entitled D.O.M. (commonly meaning Deo Optimo Maximo - To God, the best, the greatest)
Don't Worry! Be Happy!
May 15, 2009
In denial. Nero, who apparently fiddled while Rome burned, would be the classic example of it. Jesus faced it while here on earth. And the disease is still with us. What are its symptoms? Diagnosis is the first step to finding a cure.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
Wikipedia says that denial "is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead.
The Bible is a mirror that doesn't lie, telling us with no sugar-coating that outside of Christ, we are a mess, hopelessly lost, unable to fix things for our selves, and desparately in need of a Savior.
P.T. Forsythe, to an audience of pastors at Yale in 1907, spoke of man's ability to put the best human spin on life, and how we in essence tell God, "I'm doing fine without your help, thank you very much. If I need you - which I probably won't - I'll let you know."
Our moral eyes still have scales, he contends. It is a sign that "sin still has not bitten" when there "is not yet resistance unto blood; that the holy has not yet outgrown the homely; that grace is untasted still, however the heart takes its fill of love.
The holy has not become the one reality. It indicates the ethical amateur brisk in his studies, though at times abashed; but not the broken man, the broken and contrite spirit, shamed, desperate, and delivered, lost and found.
In such a Gospel as that of man's natural and indelible sonship we not only have no need that God be reconciled to us, we hardly seem to need to be reconciled to God.
All we seem to need is to be reconciled to our inner truer selves. Be true to yourself, is the note of this youthful Gospel, and stir up one another to love. Cultivate the Spirit of Jesus. Believe and work for spiritual progress.
Meet with a shining face the dawn of God who loves to see His children happy. Yes, but in the meantime, where is the anguish of the new birth? And where the stricken confession 'God be merciful to me, a sinner?'"
When the crowd that had gathered heard this, they were pierced to the heart. They asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Acts 2:37
Wikipedia says that denial "is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead.
The Bible is a mirror that doesn't lie, telling us with no sugar-coating that outside of Christ, we are a mess, hopelessly lost, unable to fix things for our selves, and desparately in need of a Savior.
P.T. Forsythe, to an audience of pastors at Yale in 1907, spoke of man's ability to put the best human spin on life, and how we in essence tell God, "I'm doing fine without your help, thank you very much. If I need you - which I probably won't - I'll let you know."
Our moral eyes still have scales, he contends. It is a sign that "sin still has not bitten" when there "is not yet resistance unto blood; that the holy has not yet outgrown the homely; that grace is untasted still, however the heart takes its fill of love.
The holy has not become the one reality. It indicates the ethical amateur brisk in his studies, though at times abashed; but not the broken man, the broken and contrite spirit, shamed, desperate, and delivered, lost and found.
In such a Gospel as that of man's natural and indelible sonship we not only have no need that God be reconciled to us, we hardly seem to need to be reconciled to God.
All we seem to need is to be reconciled to our inner truer selves. Be true to yourself, is the note of this youthful Gospel, and stir up one another to love. Cultivate the Spirit of Jesus. Believe and work for spiritual progress.
Meet with a shining face the dawn of God who loves to see His children happy. Yes, but in the meantime, where is the anguish of the new birth? And where the stricken confession 'God be merciful to me, a sinner?'"
When the crowd that had gathered heard this, they were pierced to the heart. They asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Acts 2:37
Keeping The Heart Tender
April 20, 2009
God has the power to change hearts. He can give us brand new ones. But just like what we eat can keeps us living longer, so we can live in a way that keeps our spiritual hearts beating for the living God.
The Cross and "Whatever"
March 6, 2009
It is not possible for there to be more pathos than what is packed into the death of our Lord Jesus on the cross. But often there is no "correspondingly" from us to match the significance of the moment. How do we move from cold indifference to melting?
Thank God For Lancelot Andrewes
February 6, 2009
Who? In the 1500's in England, Lancelot Andrewes compiled for his own use "Private Prayers," which formed the structure he used to poured out his heart to God. Why reinvent the wheel? How might his "method" help us in the 21st Century?
