And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) In our previous posts, we explored the idea that “faith” is not just really hoping for something with no basis, but faith is rooted […]
Five Solas of the Reformation (0)
A while back, the Sylvania College and Career group did a six week study on the Five Solas of the Reformation. In six weeks, the study was not, of course, exhaustive. Semesters have been taught on overviews of each one, and I’m not so arrogant to think we can discuss everything there is about Reformation […]
How Should We Then Live? (3)
In the last chapter, Schaeffer pointed out how the Middle Ages saw a split of the disciplines of theology and philosophy. In the Renaissance, the fruit of that shift continued in scholasticism in the south of Europe. The philosophers idolized the past, but not the early Church. They, instead, looked back to the pagan […]
How Should We Then Live? (2)
Francis Schaeffer on Separating Heaven and Earth in the Middle Ages One thing that echoed in my head while reading this chapter was the fact that, in the biblical account, human beings are uniquely made. We are created as a creature embodying the merge of spirit and material, heaven and earth. No other creature has […]
In the Beginning, God (Genesis 1:1-5)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) Genesis opens with the declaration that God simply is, and has been from the beginning. What an amazing way to start. There is no, “out of the primordial stew, the gods kind of formed and then realized they needed slaves to feed them.” […]
The Other Part Of The Bible…
I have been taking our young adult class at Sylvania through the first five books of the Old Testament. We’ll be coming up on four years doing this and have completed Genesis and half of Exodus. Since the beginning of the year, we have spent time in the Ten Commandments and are currently working through […]
“Practicing” sin or righteousness
I am a firm believer in the idea that church life, Christian life, should be characterized by what the Bible calls “fellowship.” Biblical fellowship is not just getting together and having a good time, a “sanctified” version of “party.” Christian fellowship is community centered around the Person and finished work of Jesus Christ. One of […]
How Should We Then Live? (1)
I meet with the young adult group on Friday nights for more targeted discussions. One of the things that Tammy and I have come to realize is that a lot of young adults do not see the value of gleaning wisdom from helpful folks who have come in generations before them. C.S. Lewis calls this […]
Beginning at the Beginning (Genesis)
Media pundits and politicians talk about “people of faith” as if these people are some strange anomaly in the world. A mutant form of thinking that must be handled with care or it will explode and keep the rest of the normal people from progressing along the inevitable evolutionary trajectory. However, every person on the planet […]
40 Key Verses for Evangelism
From time to time, I’d like to highlight some helpful stuff from around the web or stuff I’ve received from helpful people.