Revelation Does What Philosophy Cannot
Thomas Paine, who famously wrote Common Sense and The Rights of Man, also wrote The Age of Reason. It was in The Age of Reason that Thomas Paine sought to undermine historic Christianity in favor of Deism, or, as he saw it, “pure religion”. Calvinist Baptist pastor Andrew Fuller responded to Paine’s work. In this quote, Fuller says that philosophy (or reason) can only take one so far. [I]t might be proved that every...
Was it for crimes that I have Donne, He groaned upon the tree?
How great was my sin before, how tightly I find it clinging now, and how I look to that day when I shall be glorified and called by a unique name…Lord haste the day! “A Hymn to God the Father” [thought to have been written in 1623] I. Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun, Which was my sin, though it were done before? Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run, And do run still: though still I do deplore? When thou hast done,...
Doubt in the Spiritual Life
George MacDonald was a Scottish preacher and author, whose writings played a significant role in C.S. Lewis’ conversion. Here is what he says about spiritual doubt: “[F]or a man may be haunted with doubts, and only grow thereby in faith. Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to the honest. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have to be, understood. . . . Doubts must precede every deeper...
Better a Broken Neck than a Stiff Neck
This passage from the first book of John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, tells of the imagined experience of that place of eternal damnation and the absolute refusal of Satan even in this condition to bend his will to God’s. It encourages me always be on guard for the stiffening of the neck that the prophets decried so heartily. At once as far as Angel’s ken he views The dismal Situation waste and wild, A Dungeon horrible, on all...
Christ & His Church
I recently came across this beautiful passage where Martin Luther remarks on Christ and His bride, the Church: “Here this rich and divine bridegroom Christ marries this poor, wicked harlot, redeems her from all her evil, and adorns her with all His goodness. Her sins cannot now destroy her, since they are laid upon Christ and swallowed up by Him. And she has that righteousness in Christ, her husband, of which she may boast as of...
Is Synergism Necessarily Semi-Pelagianism?
More often than not, Arminians are characterized as “semi-pelagian”. Is there truth to this? Nathan Finn’s recent blog post on the subject is a helpful orientation: “It is with great hesitation that I break with my usual practice and blog about a topic related to Calvinism and Arminianism. Anytime someone blogs on this subject, an angel loses its wings. I want to apologize, in advance, to the poor angel who is...
Recent Comments