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Pluralism as Dogma

by Tim Keller & Charles Garland

About every other week, I confront popular pluralist notions that have become a large part of the way Americans think. For example, pluralists contend that no one religion can know the fullness of spiritual truth, therefore all religions are valid. But while it is good to acknowledge our limitations, this statement is itself a strong assertion about the nature of spiritual truth. A common analogy is often cited to get the point across which I am sure you have heard — several blind men trying to describe an elephant. One feels the tail and reports that an elephant is thin like a snake. Another feels a leg and claims it is thick like a tree. Another touches its side and reports the elephant is a wall. This is supposed to represent how the various religions only understand part of God, while no one can truly see the whole picture. To claim full knowledge of God, pluralists contend, is arrogance. When I occasionally describe this parable, and I can almost see the people nodding their heads in agreement.

Fri, 06/07/2019 - 11:26 -- john_hendryx

Recommended Expositions on Romans (MP3 Format)

The following are some expositons on Paul's Epistle to the Romans that we highly recommend.  

Exposition of Romans (MP3 Series)
by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Exposition of Romans (MP3 Series)
by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Exposition of Romans, 6-16 (MP3 Sermon Series)
by Voddie Baucham

Exposition of Romans (MP3 Series)
by Edward Donnelly

Expositon of Romans (audio series)
by R. C. Sproul

Exposition of Romans (MP3 Series)
by Thomas R. Schreiner

Exposition of Romans (MP3 Series)
by Steven Lawson

Exposition of Romans (MP3 Series)
by William Still 

Exposition of Romans (MP3 Series)
by Eric Alexander

Exposition of Romans (MP3 Series)
by J. V. Fesko

Thu, 06/06/2019 - 17:36 -- john_hendryx

The Secularist Dilemma

Modern society tends to be deeply incoherent. On the one hand our culture demands justice for the oppressed and impartial benevolence toward all. On the other hand it teaches that no one has the right to declare right and wrong to anyone else, as secularism asserts that every person must determine his or her own moral values. This is cognitive dissonance. It demands moral behavior of others and yet insists morality is relative. The idea undermines itself. The promotion of universal justice, human rights, self-sacrifice, a commitment to human dignity and considering the poor can only coherently make sense in a world where morality is objective and whose source is God.

But the inconsistency does not end there.  Their view of the world also forces them to pretend in many other areas as well. 

----The Secularist Dilemma ---
There is no meaning, but let's pretend there is.
There is not objective morality, but let's pretend there is. 
There are no voluntary choices, but lets pretend there are. (since choices are hardwired)

The Christian view makes more sense of the real world we live in because we do not have to pretend thee is meaning, morality and real choices.   The reason there appears to be objective morality, meaning, logic, responsibility, and coherence is because there actually are such objective things in reality.  

Tue, 06/04/2019 - 17:50 -- john_hendryx

Can someone receive Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord?

Question: Can someone receive Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord?

Answer: When God opens someone's eyes to recognize and trust Jesus as Savior, they already affirm Him as Lord. The concepts are so interrelated that cannot really be separated. Here's why:

If, by grace, you want Jesus to save you from the guilt and power of sin, then it shows that you no longer want to be under sin's tyranny, but want Him to rescue you from it. And if you want to be out from under sin's tyranny then it reveals you want to be under the yoke of Christ. For to be under anything apart from Christ is sin.

On the other hand, those who want Jesus to rescue them from sin's guilt, but leave them under its power, have not understood the gospel. A truly regenerate person wants Jesus to save from both sin's guilt AND power.

Jesus did not come to approve or validate us in our sins, but to rescue us from our sins. That is why He is called the Savior.

That is why the no-Lordship position makes absolutely no sense. If you are not coming to Jesus to save you from sin then what are you coming to Him for?

-----

 Matthew 1:21, John 8:10-11, Romans 10:9, Romans 14:9, Acts 10:36, Philippians 2:11

Tue, 05/28/2019 - 11:58 -- john_hendryx

List of Heresies

  • Adoptionism The belief Jesus is not eternally God but became God sometime after His birth
  • Antinomianism The belief that Christians are not bound by God’s law and are free to sin as they please; That Jesus' rescues from the guilt of sin but not its power..
  • Anti-Paulism The belief that the Apostle Paul was a heretic and that the books he wrote are not a part of Biblical Canon
  • Arianism The belief that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were lesser, created beings and  not persons of the Godhead .
  • Christian Deism The belief that God does not intervene in or interact with the world.
  • Docetism - The belief that Jesus was divine but only seemed to be human.
  • Donatism - The belief that the efficacy of the sacraments depends on character of the minister.
  • Dual Covenant Theology The belief that Jews can still be saved without believing in Jesus
  • Eutychianism - The belief that Jesus' finite human nature is swallowed up in His infinite divine nature.
  • Gay Theology - The belief that homosexuality is not a sin.
Tue, 05/21/2019 - 18:05 -- john_hendryx

Is Covenant Theology the Same as Replacement Theology?

Israel in the Plan of God

Replacement theology is understood to be the view that the Church has replaced God's chosen people, the Jews, entirely, and that God wants nothing more to do with them as a people. It says that since Israel rejected their Messiah, they forfeit all of their God-given promises over to the Church. So given this definition, is Covenant Theology the same as Replacement Theology? This phrase is often used as a pejorative term for what some imagine Covenant Theology to be, but as the following resources point out, it is a false accusation.  The following are some resources we have found that gives some thought to the subject.

Essays

The Church, Israel, and "Replacement" Theology - Part 1 by Sam Storms

The Church, Israel, and "Replacement" Theology - Part 2 by Sam Storms

The Church, Israel, and "Replacement" Theology - Part 3 by Sam Storms

The Church and Israel in the New Testament by Keith Mathison

Not Replacement... Expansion! by Fred Klett

Fri, 05/17/2019 - 12:03 -- john_hendryx

The Nature of the Fruits of Repentance: Piety Toward God & Charity Toward Men

by John Calvin

From Calvin's Institutes 3.3.15-21, pg 607-617

15. Repentance according to 2 Cor. 7:11

It is for a very good reason that the apostle enumerates seven causes, effects, or parts in his description of repentance. They are earnestness or carefulness, excuse, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and avenging [2 Cor. 7:11]. It should not seem absurd that I dare not determine whether they ought to be accounted causes or effects, for either is debatable. And they can also be called inclinations joined with repentance. But because, leaving out those questions, we can understand what Paul means, we shall be content with a simple exposition.

Therefore, he says that from "sorrow … according to God" [2 Cor. 7:10] carefulness arises. For he who is touched with a lively feeling of dissatisfaction with self because he has sinned against his God is at the same time aroused to diligence and attention that he may escape from the devil's snares, that he may better take precaution against his wiles, and that he may not afterward fall away from the governance of the Holy Spirit, nor be lulled into a sense of security.

Thu, 05/16/2019 - 20:46 -- john_hendryx

The Doctrines of Election and Final Perseverance

by John Newton

Dear Sir,

Your letter breathes the spirit of a Christian, though you say you are not a Calvinist. I would have still confined myself, in my letters, to the great truths in which we are agreed, if you had not invited me to touch upon the points wherein we differ. If you were insistent in your present sentiments, I would not think it my duty to debate with you: in that case, we might contend as much for victory as for truth. But as you profess yourself an inquirer, and are desirous of forming your judgment agreeably to the word of God, without being influenced by the authority of names and parties, I willingly embrace the occasion you offer me.

You say, that though you are not prejudiced against the doctrines of election and perseverance of the saints, they appear to you attended with such difficulties, that you cannot yet heartily and fully assent to them. May the Lord the Spirit, whose office it is to guide his people into all truth, dictate to my pen, and accompany what I shall write with his blessing. It is not my intention to prove and illustrate these doctrines at large, or to encounter the various objections that have been raised against them. So much has been done in this way already, that I could only repeat what has been said to greater advantage by others. Nor need I refer you to the books which have been professedly written upon this argument. In a letter to a friend, I shall not aim at the exactness of a disputant, but only offer a few unpremeditated hints, in the same manner as if I had the pleasure of personally conversing with you.

Tue, 04/23/2019 - 16:36 -- john_hendryx

"Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani!"

by F. W. Krummacher (1796-1868)

Once, when a voice spoke from heaven to the people who were assembled around Jesus, the evangelist relates, that "some said it thundered; others, that an angel spoke to him." No one exactly knew what to make of the wondrous sound, although all were affected, amazed, and thrilled by a secret awe. Such are our feelings on the present occasion, on hearing the echo of the cry, which sounds down from the cross; and I confess that my soul trembles at the idea of approaching the unfathomable depth of suffering, from whence the cry of "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" proceeded. How much rather would I lie prostrate on my face in silence before this awful incident, than write or speak upon it! You know what happened to Luther, when he plunged himself in profound meditation on this most enigmatical and affecting part of the whole of our Savior's sufferings. He continued for a long time without food, and sat wide awake, but as motionless as a corpse, in the same position, on his chair. And when at length he rose up from the depth of his cogitation; as from the shaft of a mysterious mine, he broke into a cry of amazement, and exclaimed, "God forsaken of God! Who can understand it?" Yes, who is there that is able? We find ourselves surrounded by an impenetrable darkness. But if the understanding has here reached the boundary of all human comprehension, yet faith finds a path amid these mysterious shades. A holy light precedes it, and that light is derived from the Savior's Mediatorship. Enlightened by it, let us now contemplate, more closely, the awful cry of the dying Redeemer.

Fri, 04/19/2019 - 17:07 -- john_hendryx

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