As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“Sixteenth-century scholar Richard Hooker saw this problem unfold in his time over a question of governance for the Church of England. In his work, Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Hooker explains the kinds of arguments made by his contemporaries in this debate, while shedding light on why bad arguments manage to persuade large numbers of people.” - Intellectual Takeout
Mark’s Gospel is terrific for the preacher. It really comes into its own when expounded. Any commentary on this book that keeps flipping back and forth between Mark, Matthew and Luke should not be considered a first choice. There is now an embarrassment of fine resources. Here is my list:
Links for purchasing is book can b found here: Thread in Church and Biblical History
One aspect that gets a full treatment is the Pillsbury Debacle. I’ve read a comment in another forum which termed it a temper tantrum and a bad church split.
Few doctrines divide God’s people like the doctrine of election. Since both the word, “election” in its various forms, plus the concept using different words is found repeatedly in the Bible, some explanation must be offered. It cannot simply be ignored.
Although there are various shades of interpretation, in the end, it boils down to two possibilities. Either election means God chose His people without reference to anything He saw in man (unconditional election), or God chose people based upon something He saw or foresaw within them (conditional election).
“Many youth even in evangelical churches think God is distant and uninvolved, though still concerned with our good behavior. Mostly, though, he just wants us to be happy. So religion in our secular age aims to give us what we want, in material or therapeutic terms.” - 9 Marks
“Some, however, have seemingly abandoned any interest in systematic theology, thinking that it is merely a man-made construct of the modern era that kills the liveliness of Scripture. Nothing could be further from the truth.” - Mark Farnham
In this excerpt1 from his classic work, Knots Untied, J.C. Ryle defines “the evangelical religion” as he seeks to defend the faith against apostasy and theological revisionism in the Church of England in the latter portion of the 19th century:
“Paul says something far more often: He uses the phrase “in Christ” 165 times.” - C.Today
Discussion