As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
It was a warm, sunny autumn Wednesday afternoon when our bus rolled into Worms, Germany—the second-to-last stop on the final day of touring on our 500th anniversary Reformation trip.
The town was decorated almost as if Luther himself were returning.
At the side of the road, we saw signs that read “Solus Christus,” “Sola Gratia,” “Sola Fide” and “Sola Scriptura”—like the placards that city residents might post to salute a winning sports team.
“Taking its cue from social redefinitions of the Trinity, evangelicals have redefined the Trinity as a society, one in which each person has his own center of consciousness and will. As a result, a core doctrine like inseparable operations is foreign to many and sometimes held in disregard.” - Credo
“I think that Calvinism appeals to young Christians because it claims to have all the answers and a highly systematic explanation of God and the Bible. As they mature, many, of not most, of them change their minds.” - Roger Olson
Although it is not an annunciation story, it is proper to include here some thoughts about how John begins his Gospel. John self-consciously invokes the creation narrative, but he introduces the “only begotten Son” (Jn. 1:18), Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:17), as the Logos or “Word” as a Principal in the making of the world:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:1-3)
“Some abortion advocates point to a passage in the New International Version as Biblical justification for abortion. But the NIV’s speculative translation clouds rather than clarifies” - WORLD
“in a stunning vision of the future, the book of Revelation describes how, when Christ’s eternal kingdom comes, the heavenly temple will stand open (Rev. 11:15). The ark of the covenant…will be seen by all (Rev. 11:19). No curtain blocks the way.” - TGC
“When on the cross, not only was the Father’s justice satisfied by the atoning work of the Son, but in bearing our sins the Lamb of God removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. He did it by being cursed.” - R.C.Sproul
“Four reasons Christianity offers unparalleled confidence that history is headed somewhere good.” - C.Today
What a tumultuous week it had been for Jesus’ disciples. Talk about going through a whirlwind! By Sunday evening, they were practically—almost literally—driven out of their minds.
Each of these men had spent—wasted?—three years in the school of Christ.
But now, suddenly, it was over. This was the end—and now it was time to return to the mundane tasks that had been all but forgotten over the course of the previous years.
But they did not realize that, for each of them, life—real life—was actually just about to begin.
The so-called “long day” recorded in Joshua 10:12-14 has generated much discussion among Bible scholars. Before Copernicus’ heliocentric solar system gained acceptance, interpreters argued that the sun’s and moon’s orbits were halted. Martin Luther, for example, reportedly denounced Copernicus and declared, “I believe the Holy Scriptures, for Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, not the earth.”1 But with the advent of modern astronomy and science, serious objections have been raised against this interpretation.
Discussion