Not All Catholic Traditions Are . . . Catholic    Link

We protestants are sometimes too quick to throw anything that even sounds Roman Catholic under the bus. I don't blame us for some of that paranoia; what happened to me the other day was as odd as anything the protestants have to offer on TBN (with the possible exception of their very miraculous hair style exhibits). What happened was - I received a phone call from my own VERY Catholic mother who insisted on paying my airfare to Lourdes France, which is the location of some very famous "healing waters". My well-meaning but superstitious mother thought we ought to give my recent bone fractures a whirl in some of that not-for-export European holy water. Well that's just one example of a Catholic tradition that most protestants run away from and never look back. Another one is "catechism", right? If you grew up Catholic you might remember a nun or priest teaching these dry classes on what seemed like - the most irrelevant topics in the universe. But if the Lord has since saved your soul, it's time for you to discover that catechism isn't necessarily Catholic; there are a variety of protestant ones too. In fact a good catechism that summarizes many of the high-points of scripture can be one of the best friends of a protestant. That's the sense you get when you listen to this sermon by Joel Beeke on the Heidelberg catechism. Some have nicknamed it "The Book of Comfort", and it's easy to see why - even from it's very first sentence: "What is your only comfort in life and death?". In this post however, my friend Nathan White talks about his recent study of the Baptist and Westminster Catechisms. These are all great catechisms that deserve your attention, even if you may not agree with them in full. ... [Read Link]

The Sabbath: A Burden or a Delight?

It is indeed a sad thing among Christians that the moral law of God which is the Ten Commandments is so widely disputed. There seems to be an endless controversy among Christians as to what the moral law of God is and what it is that God requires of His people. This need not be so. The scripture is quite plain on this. There are indeed many things in the bible that may be difficult to understand but God's moral law is not one of them. There is an eternal moral law which reflects the very nature of God himself. To violate this is to sin. This law is the Ten Commandments and it is clear and concise. There should be no dispute about this what so ever and no other law of the Decalogue is so maligned as that of Sabbath keeping. ... [Read More!]

Tune-Out God's Holiness, Then Goes Sin and Grace   David Wells

The loss of the traditional vision of God as holy is now manifested everywhere in the evangelical world. It is the key to understanding why sin and grace have become such empty terms. What depth or meaning, P.T. Forsyth asked, can these terms have except in relation to the holiness of God? Divorced from the holiness of God, sin is merely self-defeating behavior or a breach in etiquette. Divorced from the holiness of God, grace is merely empty rhetoric, pious window dressing for the modern technique by which sinners work out their own salvation. Divorced from the holiness of God, our gospel becomes indistinguishable from any of a host of alternative self-help doctrines. Divorced from the holiness of God, our public morality is reduced to little more than an accumulation of trade-offs between competing private interests. Divorced from the holiness of God, our worship becomes mere entertainment. ... [Read More!]

Why Does God Permit False Prophets?   AW Pink

This is a very solemn question, and we must restrict ourselves to what the Scriptures say by way of reply. "You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul". (Deuteronomy 13:3). From those words it is clear that God allows teachers of error for the same reason as He does persecutors of His people: to test their love, to try their fidelity, to show that their loyalty to him is such that they will not give ear unto His enemies. Error has always been more popular than the Truth, for it lets down the bars and fosters fleshly indulgence, but for that very reason it is obnoxious to the godly. ... [Read More!]

Legalism: What Does It Really Mean?    Link

Who is a legalist? Depending upon who you ask, you may get different answers. So often it seems that Christians who prioritize cultural relevancy consider legalists to be: Anyone who interprets scripture more carefully than they do, or refuses to push the envelope of "almost sinning". Some examples: If your study of scripture leads you to believe that trendy 'rap' music in church has more to do with appealing to the flesh and the pattern of world rather than on worshiping God in spirit and in truth, and you openly disagree with those who embrace such "worship experiences", then you are likely to draw the charge of being a legalist! After all, the bible doesn't explicitly SAY in neon letters "rap music is sinful", we are told. Twice this year we ran across influential blogosphere pastors who recommended Hollywood movies with nudity or excessive profanity. Those Christians who would not put aside these "minor objections" in an effort to see the greater cultural message of these films were considered by some to be legalists. But on the contrary in these examples, it may just be that some of these so-called "legalists" were simply being a more diligent scriptural Workman (2 Tim 2:15), while the ones pushing the envelope may be licentious antinomians who are recklessly throwing around the legalist charge as a knee jerk response to criticism. So how do you know who is right? And what is legalism anyway? That's the question that Pastor Tom Chantry of CRBC Milwaukee endeavors to answer in his latest blog series. In this first post, he defines some necessary terms for understanding this topic. Be sure to bookmark his blog and check it weekly for more in his series on legalism. ... [Read Link]

What Does God Have To Do With Disaster?

So, what do you think of when a major natural disaster strikes, when thousands are killed, homes destroyed, and crime and looting run rampant. What about when epidemics of deadly disease strike? What do you say to people who ask you, "What kind of a god would do such a thing?". What do you say to people who ask such things of you? Do you believe that God is behind such things or do you believe that these things are somehow happening outside the will of God? Do you believe that God simply allows these things to happen or do you believe there's more to it than that? If you were to ask a Christian from centuries ago these questions, you'd probably get a different answer than you would from today's Christians. So who is right? ... [Read More!]

The Best Safeguard Against False Doctrine   JC Ryle

Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous. There is an undeniable zeal in some of the teachers of error: their "earnestness" makes many think they must be right. There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe guides. There is a general tendency to free thought and free inquiry in these latter days: many like to prove their independence of judgment, by believing novelties. There is a wide-spread desire to appear charitable and liberal-minded: many seem half ashamed of saying that anybody can be in the wrong. ... [Read More!]

Mailbag: Does Anyone Really Stay in Hell Forever?

An email just in, says: "Hi Jim, You have a very interesting site. I have just started looking at it. I am believer in Jesus. But my theology is different from yours. I would like to ask you: Does the doctrine of HELL bother you? It bothers me. It seems to me that if God predestinates people to go to HELL, then GOD is evil. Why would God burn a 14 year old girl in a lake of lava for eternity because she failed to pick the right religon?". Let's see if we can work through some of this in the comments of this post. ... [Read More!]

Which Biblical Doctrines Are 'Non-Essential'?

After my earlier post, which addressed today's tendency to classify unpopular biblical doctrines as "non-essential", I received an anonymous email from a reader in the seeker-sensitive camp. In their protest against all of this attention to doctrine, they said: "What???. . .the basics are what matters! Jesus was born of a virgin, died for our sins, and rose again! Does all this theology and doctrine study make us more like Christ or more like a Pharisee?" With the backdrop of that modern sentiment, I thought I'd allow someone from times-past to express his views on what biblical doctrines, if any, should be considered non-essential. ... [Read More!]

Definitely Not Church As Usual

I will admit it, the church that I attend is not normal, at least by today's standards. The seeker church that I was once a part of had a sign outside the building that said the words "definitely not church as usual". Years later now, I actually think that my former church is pretty typical, and the church that I attend now is the highly UNusual one. Let's face it, now days - it's really unusual to care a whole lot about what you believe, and so - just in that area alone, my church would probably be thought of today as having an unnecessary obsession with things doctrinal. Is that valid criticism? Take a short tour with me and find out. ... [Read More!]

"Deeds Not Creeds" is Alive and Well in Church Growth Movement    Link

I had literally spent 2 hours writing a multi-post response to Steven Furtick's "deeds not creeds" blog posting and his sermon on the same topic. As it turns out however, Chris over at Extreme Theology was working on the same thing, and what he came up with is so much better. So this post will link you over to his. Chris highlights one of the most destructive teachings that I've encountered in the megachurches. To further drive home the point, Friday I will be running a repost of an article that I ran a while ago from Horatius Bonar. From his 19th century perspective, Bonar provides the remedy to this errant teaching of deeds without creeds, aka: "close your bible and get busy for Jesus". We've heard similar sentiments from Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, and just a couple of days ago in point #3 of Perry's post in which he equates "going deep" (study of biblical theology) with "giving the world the finger".
Little men with big churches folks. ... [Read Link]

"Am I Doing Enough To Get God To Forgive Me?"

I have a Roman Catholic relative who actually believes that he is maintaining the ten commandments in his own life, and once expressed to me that one of his deep concerns is that, on the occasion that he does break a commandment, what would happen to him if he were to get in a car accident and die before having a chance to do an act of contrition. In this post, Chad VanRens is back with us and is speaking once again on the subject of sanctification; he will demonstrate some of the more subtle protestant versions of that "I must do some 'work' to make myself clean again" thinking. Along the way, Chad is going to give you an excerpt from a very important book that could help you come to a better understanding of how to fight sin biblically. That's something that every true believer takes great interest in. ... [Read More!]

Man's Religion versus God's Religion   Horatius Bonar

Man's religion makes man its center. It is constructed so as to revolve around himself. He is its Alpha and Omega - its first and its last. It makes him live for himself, think of himself, magnify himself. It teaches him to lessen the distance between himself and God, for the purpose of enabling him to remove that distance by his own endeavors; so that God is not the infinitely glorious Being, nor man the helpless and unworthy thing which Revelation declares him to be. Man's religion is like the old astronomy, with the vast earth in the center, and the puny sun revolving round it! ... [Read More!]

"Deeds Not Creeds"? The Reformers Knew Better   Horatius Bonar

In the Reformation we find doctrine, life, and action, nobly blended. Between these there was harmony, not antagonism. Some who have decried doctrine have set up life and dogma as antagonists; lauding the former at the expense of the latter. This is foolishness. What we accept, as the true adjustment of conflicting claims, is life and dogma in harmony; not life without dogma, nor dogma without life; not theology without religion, nor religion without theology. "Religion without theology" is a phrase meant to sound well; yet, after all it is a deception. There can be no such thing. ... [Read More!]