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What exactly is “free will” anyway?
As a Christian who is Reformed and Presbyterian in my theological convictions, I’ve done a little bit of thinking about the issue of free will. It’s hard to avoid the topic if you’re a theological nerd and you spend a little bit of time online. For example, I found this posted on X/Twitter a few Continue reading
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Easter Wings – a poem
Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store, Though foolishly he lost the same, Decaying more and more, Till he became Most poore: With thee O let me rise As larks, harmoniously, And sing this day thy victories: Then shall the fall further the flight in me. My tender age in sorrow did beginne And Continue reading
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Eight barriers to biblical exegesis
1. Ignoring context. This is the big one, but so many people fall prey to it (including me, at times). All written words derive their intended meaning from enculturated grammatical and syntactical patterns, expressed within a larger literary context. It’s always helpful to remember the axiom, “a text without a context is a pretext for a Continue reading
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The role of the children of believing families in Paul’s letters: the presumption of inclusion (pt. 1)
When we read Paul’s letters, what can we tell about the status of children in the believing community? How does Paul speak of them? Let’s pose a few questions: Does Paul consider children as a sub-group of ‘little unbelievers’ in the midst of the ‘real’ believers in the church? Does any of Paul’s teaching betray Continue reading
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in totidem verbis – considering a problematic hermeneutic (part 6)
I have been arguing something fairly obvious to most people who take the Bible seriously: there is much more to the Bible than just the bare, explicit words we read. Hence my concern with the in totidem verbis, “in just so many words” approach. To be sure, almost all of the big things that the Continue reading
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Kuyper on church & state
“To be sure a father regulates in his family the religion of that family. But when the government was organized, the family was not set aside, but remained; and the government received only a limited task, which is defined by the sovereignty in the individual sphere, and not least of all by the sovereignty of Continue reading
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Suppressing the truth, much?
If you ask the average person in the Western world whether they believe in God, you’ll usually get one of three responses: ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘maybe’. Statistically, most people in Australia – somewhere around 55-60% – think there is a god of some sort. Yet a growing number of people are convinced there is no Continue reading
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When all is Foggy – a poem
Peering into the mists of gray That shroud the surface of the bay, Nothing I see except a veil Of fog surrounding every sail. Then suddenly against a cape A vast and silent form takes shape, A great ship lies against the shore Where nothing has appeared before. Who sees a truth must often gaze Continue reading
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Who are the 144,000 in Revelation?
You might not know this, but a lot of ink has been spilled over the famous “144,000” of Revelation chapter 7:1-8. Some, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, claim it applies to them. Numerous other cults have claimed to be the 144, 000, such as the Skoptsy cult that gained notoriety more than 150 years ago in Russia. Some Continue reading
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Paradise Lost – John Milton
Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reignBoth God and man, Son both of God and Man,Anointed universal King. All powerI give thee; reign for ever, and assumeThy merits; under thee, as head supreme,Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce:All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bideIn Heaven, on Earth, or under Earth in Continue reading
spes clara 