As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Most of us took our church history classes1 in Bible college or seminary (or both) because we had to complete another requirement to graduate. Of course, there were some famous episodes within the last 2,000 years of Christian history that we wanted to know about.
Discussing Romans 14, Larry recently said:
I continue to believe that identifying who is “strong” and who is “weak” is irrelevant to the overall point.
The idea is that while each believes he has the mature, knowledgeable position, he should admit that he might be weak “Maybe I’m weak.” Each believes the other is likely weak and should treat him on that basis by not judging or despising.
“When the Episcopal Church recently announced cuts to its national staff, it was the latest in a long-running cycle among historic U.S. Protestant denominations…. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) also announced recent cuts to staff at its headquarters and in its global missions program.” - RNS
By Jonathan Moreno. From DBSJ 22 (2017): 75-90. Republished with permission. Read the series.
Grappling with the problem of evil is a notoriously dubious endeavor due in part to the complexity of the problem. Therefore, if any viable solutions are to be reached, the specific kind of evil must be recognized and defined, and the theological system in which that evil resides must be identified.
“What I intend to do in this discussion is to take a fresh look at and break down the sacred-secular divide. I have a new idea that may cause us to think a little deeper about this critical topic in the theology of work.” - IFWE
“God isn’t just in life’s monumental things. He’s present in the little things: rain drops, the artistry of spider webs, and the sound of an acoustic guitar. A child’s laugh…. If we disregard these and thousands of other gifts, we don’t just fail to notice them, we fail to notice God.” - Randy Alcorn
“The first book is by far the richest for Christian devotion. Here Augustine distinguishes between things that should be ‘enjoyed’ (God alone) and those that should be ‘used’ (everything else, including Scripture, as a means to lead to God). He teaches his famous ordo amoris (order of loves)” - Churches Without Chests
“Is it just about using God’s name irreverently, or is there more to it?….the historical, linguistic, and theological dimensions of this command, including how it relates to bearing God’s name as His people.” - Word by Word
Read the series.
Let me begin with a statement that will have to be defended, but which I think is difficult to argue against:
Nowhere does the OT tell us that the New covenant is only intended for Israel.
“I try to suggest in the book that the struggle between wanting to know, curiosity, and wanting not to know, which is a resistance to knowledge, that those two forces are present in our minds all the time.” - L&L
Discussion