my burg

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"  (Revelation 7:9-10 ESV) "There are actually only two options for human society: true worship and war. Only true worship humbles human pride. False worship and war go together, because false worship exalts the worshiper, who is really only worshiping an idol of their creation or imagination. Only in worship of the true God will people be brought so low our aspirations to greatness will be removed, and our empire-building plans abandoned. Only in true worship will we live together in weakness and without pretensions."  (Christopher Ash) I am currently reading Remaking a Broken World .  The author, Christopher Ash, ...

Detail, Perelandra, painting by Jeremiah Briggs In Perelandra , the second book in C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, the protagonist, Ransom, seeks to protect the innocent woman (the Eve of Venus) from the temptations of the Unman, who would bring about the fall of the planet.  The dialogue, like that of The Screwtape Letters,  illuminates the nature of the conflict between good and evil -- and the resolution takes a surprising turn.   But at one point the battle of wits between Ransom and the Unman takes this direction, beginning with the Unman's words...  "Ransom... Ransom..."   "What is it?"  "Nothing." “Ransom,” it said again.  “What is it?” said Ransom sharply.  “Nothing,” it answered.  Again there was silence; and again, about a minute later, the horrible mouth said: “Ransom!”  This time he made no reply.  Another minute and it uttered his name again; and then, like a minute gun, “Ransom . . . Ra...

"...in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect..."  (1 Peter 3:15 ESV) Apologetics is the study and practice of giving a reasonable defense (from Gr., apologia ) of the Christian faith. As a field of study this has grown immensely in recent years.  I thought I would list ten of the books that I have found most helpful in this area.  This is just my opinion of the top ten, but I hope it may be useful for you in deciding out of all the resources who or what might be best to read.      There are a number of approaches represented in this list.  It's a bit of a mix, but all of them have been helpful to me.   I've starred two books that are recommended as good introductions to apologetics, along with some honorable mentions.  Blomberg, Craig L. The Historical Reliability of the Gosp...

“Fierce was the wild billow  Dark was the night; Oars labored heavily  Foam glimmered white; Mariners trembled  Peril was nigh;  Then said the God of God --  ‘Peace! It is I!’ “Ridge of the mountain wave,  Lower thy crest! Wail of Euroclydon,  Be thou at rest! Peril can none be –  Sorrow must fly –  Where saith the Light of Light --  ‘Peace! It is I!  “Jesus, Deliverer!  Come Thou to me: Soothe Thou my voyaging  Over life’s sea! Thou, when the storms of death  Roars, sweeping by,  Whisper, O Truth of Truth! --  ‘Peace! It is I!’” ~ Anatolius of Constantinople (d. 458),     Hymns of the Eastern Church  (J. M. Neale, trans.)   "We need our brothers and sisters down through the ages.  We need the whole church for this task of explaining God's word."   (Michael Horton) Summer reading suggestion:   Church History in Plain Language (4th. e...

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."   (Matthew 28:19 ESV) "As the Father is God, so is the Son,  And as the Son is God, so is the Holy Spirit;  And the Three are likewise One God when seen together.  Each is God because they are of the same essence,  And they are One God because of the single principle of Deity. And when I see the Three together, I see only one torch,  And I cannot divide or share out the Undivided Light." ~ Gregory of Nazianzus (AD 329--390)  [Cited by Nick Needham in Daily Readings – The Early Church Fathers ] Image above: an icon of the three Cappadocians -- Gregory of Nyssa, Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory of Nazianzus.   Continuing this Sunday: "Highlights in Church History", a summer adult class, meeting first hour (9:45 am) in the fellowship hall.  Topics include Council of Nicaea, Chalcedon, the gre...

Above, No Compromise was the second album by Christian singer/song-writer Keith Green, released in 1978. WHY STUDY CHURCH HISTORY? "For the past two-thousand years of our history, Christians have wrestled with Scripture. They have preached sermons, written commentaries,  defended orthodoxy (right belief) against heresy (false teaching), and articulated biblically faithful statements of doctrine in form of the historic  confessions of the faith.  If we disregard all this, choosing instead to remain ignorant of this treasure-trove of spiritual wisdom, is that not arrogant  of us?"   REDISCOVERING FORGOTTEN CLASSICS Here's a treasure trove of lesser known works that you may want to investigate. PASTORAL CONCERN ABOUT EVANGELICAL PROPHECY "The belief that God continues to grant special revelation through personal experience fosters unhealthy experientialism." THOMAS MORE'S ANTIDOTE TO MODERN IDEOLOGIES "By now, the recipe is sadly famil...

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."  (Romans 1:18-20 ESV)  "Here [Paul] is saying that the universe and its form and the mannishness of man speak the same truth that the Bible gives in greater detail.  That this God exists and that he has not been silent but has spoken to people in the Bible and through Christ was the basis for the return to a more fully biblical Christianity in the days of the Reformers.  It was a message of the possibility that people could return to God on the basis of the death of Christ alone.  But with it came many other realiti...

Since the snow is still coming down outside, I'll continue the reviews of the 12 best books I read (or am still reading) in 2018.   Not a Chance: God, Science, and the Revolt against Reason , by R. C. Sproul and Keith Matheson (Baker Books, 2014).  Excellent interaction with  issues related to chance, design, and causality, especially as put forward by proponents of the new physics.  Many years ago in seminary I had an  interest in this field and so did graduate research under Norman Geisler on "Reason, Rationality, and the New Physics."  I muddled through that  research and so, it's a great joy to find R. C.'s acumen put to this topic.  His classical training (and influence from John Gerstner, I would suppose) is so  helpful in making sense of the quantum world.  Or rather, making sense of those who are making nonsense of the quantum world.  Excellent  apologetic work on the value of logic, causality, and the sci...

Continuing with the list of twelve best books I read this past year...   The Everlasting Man , G. K. Chesterton (1925).   I studied this work with a reading group I attend.  In his unique way of thinking and writing,  Chesterton deals with how Christianity, and Jesus in particular, is the fulfillment of the religious hopes of philosophers and pagans down through  history.  It's a very winsome presentation of historic Christianity.  This book was instrumental in moving C. S. Lewis from atheism to faith.  Lewis  wrote, "I read Chesterton's Everlasting Man and for the first time saw the whole Christian outline of history set out in a form that seemed to me to  make sense..."   Enough said.  The Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-42 , by Ian Toll (W. W. Norton & Co., 2012).  And I'll add to this the second of his trilogy,  The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-44 ...

So, I made a list of the twelve best books I read this past year.  I don't know why I do this, but it seems appropriate to share this, rather than, say, my favorite dog videos or Instagram photos of what I'm eating tonight.  So, in no particular order I'll dive in:  Setting Our Affections upon Glory: Nine Sermons on the Gospel and the Church , by Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Crossway, 2013).  At least once each year I  find myself reading a book of sermons preached by Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981).  Simply put, he's just in a category by himself and his  sermons always feed my soul, as well as stimulate thought and affections.  Snippets: "There is only one thing [ the Christian can ] do with time, and  that is to take it and put it into the grand context of eternity."  And, "The great need of the church today, in our sadness and in our slowness, is to  discover the secret of the burning heart." The Christian View of Man , by J. Gres...

In no particular order... Reformation:Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow ,  by Carl Trueman (Christian Focus, Reprint 2011).  In this reprint, Trueman (professor of church history) gives a number of important applications for today's church from the Reformation.   How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds ,  by Alan Jacobs (Currency, 2017).  Hard to describe this little book, but it is profound. How community  affects the way we think.  I enjoyed two collections of sermons by Martyn Lloyd-Jones : Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, (Crossway reissue, 2009). The Cross: God's Way of Salvation, (Crossway, 1986)  Awakening the Evangelical Mind:  An Intellectual History of the Neo-Evangelical Movement ,  by Owen Strachan (Zondervan, 2015)  Along with  Confessions of a Theologian, by Carl F. H. Henry (Word Books, 1986).  Strachan chronicles the rise of the new evangelicals in the 1950s and beyond.  Carl ...