Before @larsonhicks and I started doing the “Got a Minute?” podcast together, I went on Larson’s podcast to discuss wisdom from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Here’s a blast from the past:
—
Progressives have their own version of postmillennialism and the covenant — they claim the next generation and they expect victory.
—
The welfare state is massive wealth distribution scheme — from productive workers to government bureaucrats, from whites to minorities, from men to women.
—
A golden age for the church might break out if Presbyterians and Baptists actually believed what’s in their catechisms!
—
My Calvinism is neither high nor low – I’m a covenantal Calvinist – I think the divorce of predestination from covenant is the root of the problem
It has produced a lot of bad exegesis
It’s interesting that Owen’s ultra narrow view of limited atonement became THE standard in Reformed theology, just like a very technical view of IAO somehow became the standard
Norm Shepherd and especially John Murray attempted to deal with this structural problem, and of course FV continued that project
I would argue that common grace flows from the cross
I would argue non-saving covenantal benefits flow to non-elect covenant members from the cross (cf Hebrews 10:29)
All good things come from the cross
Owen had to write 7 volumes on Hebrews in a vain attempt to make the book “work” according tohis (basically) non-covenantal Calvinism
—
We are going to have to radically revise what we mean when we say that men are “equal” because all too often, equality is used to open the door to androgyny. We must also notice that our culture’s view of equality is at war with nature. Either we must acknowledge the natural “inequalities” between men and women or we must use the force of technology and law to make nature conform to our ideological wishes. Men paying child support is an example of this (since women almost never have to pay child support even when they do not get custody or when they make more than the man). This is a legal inequality for the sake of trying to create an artificial equality nature has not granted. Likewise, abortion is necessary to feminism because nature “penalized” women by making them the ones who carry babies. Only if a woman can be completely free from the obligations of bearing children (while still being “free” to engage in promiscuity) can there be equality between men and women. The logic of equality necessitates legal abortion. Transgenderism is a technological attempt at equalization; it is forcing gender fluidity onto nature. Androgyny is another example — make the whole culture as unisex as possible, e.g., men and women become interchangeable cogs in the bureaucratic machinery of the modern corporation. Abraham Kuyper saw the coming androgyny and transgenderism from afar: “Finally Modernism, which denies and abolishes every difference, cannot rest until it has made woman man and man woman, and, putting every distinction on a common level, kills life by placing it under the ban of uniformity.” Feminism promised a utopia but has given us something closer to a dystopia. The survival of our civilization depends upon reversing feminism’s effects and returning to some form of biblically-shaped, creational patriarchy.
—
The greatest lie of feminism was convincing women that under the patriarchal order men oppressed women rather than protected them. In reality, patriarchy promotes men as protectors, not oppressors; indeed one purpose of the patriarchy is to enable good men to protect women from predators (bad men). Men were designed to be leaders, spiritually, physically, and economically; they have authority over their households but also take responsibility for every aspect of their household. Their authority and privileges were coordinated with responsibilities and obligations. Under the classic patriarchal order there were certainly cases of abuse, but they were not systemic in places reached by the gospel. The claim that patriarchy produces abuse is a fabrication. Just the opposite is true. Abuse happens when patriarchy collapses. Abuse happens when masculinity collapses and men become effeminate cowards. If one wants to understand the real source of abuse, it would be better to look at a place like Hollywood, perhaps the most abusive culture in the world for women. Does anyone think Harvey Weinstein was motivated by complementarianism or a biblical theology of patriarchy? No; in fact, there is no doubt he would be some kind of egalitarian or feminist, who would claim he is “empowering” women even as he treats them like garbage. Historically, the patriarchy has been the biggest friend women have had. As the Western patriarchal order evolved over the centuries, building upon the Scriptures and observations from the created order, things like domestic violence were outlawed and abuse of all sorts became criminal. Calvin’s Geneva made wife-beating a civil and ecclesiastical crime, and nations influenced by the Reformation followed suit over time. But feminism led women to believe the evil patriarchy was all that stood between them and happiness, so they began dismantling the patriarchal legal order, replacing it with an egalitarian one, really beginning in the late 19th century, but kicking into high gear in the 1960s. The result has left men and women confused and alienated from one another. Patriarchy is not the problem, it is the solution.
—
The gospel is wrapped up in the paradoxes of the cross.
The Light of the world was covered in darkness. The one who had eternal fellowship with the Father and Spirit cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The friend of sinners was betrayed by sinful friends. The righteous one was condemned by the unrighteous for the sake of the unrighteous. The one who has Life in himself died. The Creator of the earth was buried in the earth. The one who was crucified on false charges of blasphemy was blasphemed. The one who had a crown of thorns placed on his head crushed the head of the satanic serpent. The all-glorious one endured the ultimate shame to bring shame-ridden people to glory.
He died that we might live. He was condemned so we could be acquitted. He bore his own wrath to free us from the wrath we deserve. He was exiled so we could experience a new exodus.
This is why Christians glory in the cross.
—
The Lord’s Supper is a table, not a tomb. It is a feast, not a funeral. It is communion with our present and reigning Savior, not a toast to an absent friend. Our celebrations of the Supper should be frequent (preferably weekly) and truly celebratory.
—
Pastors, if no courage is required to preach your sermon each Sunday, you’re doing it wrong.
—
Cornelius Van Til is the ultimate realist. He is not a subjectivist, fideistic, or idealist.
Classical apologists presuppose reality, then add God to that. Van Til presupposes Reality (God), then adds everything else to that.
—
It’s amazing God would make a world in which men have so many deep flaws and women virtually none. At least, that was the lesson I got last time I talked to an evangelical feminist.
—
Polygamy/polygyny is bad for men and women both.
Western civilization was built on Christian marriage, and monogamy was central to that.
There is virtually no case of polgyny in the OT that works out well. Rivalries inevitably develop, if not between the wives, then between the children. Women do not thrive when they have to share a man, even a “high value” man. And for every man who takes an extra wife, some other man will be left with no wife at all.
—
A disturbing thread. I certainly don’t have the insight or expertise to vouch for it, but these kinds of scenarios seem plausible. (And if weren’t for Trump’s victory in ‘24, the US would be in almost exactly the same predicament.)
This is what happens when you invite an invasion into your nation. Bring in millions of people who hate your culture and heritage, who have no interest in assimilating, who are intent on conquering, and this what you get.
I really hoped Brexit would change Britain’s direction, but their self-loathing “elites,” crippled by guilt and trying to atone for past sins with toxic empathy, have only doubled and tripled down on cultural destruction and chaos.
Bottom line: play Marxist games, win Marxist prizes. The current situation in Britain is not sustainable so *something* will have to give way. There will be a revolution, the only question is what kind of revolution.
—
Prioritizing “diversity” over competence and integrity comes at great cost.
—
I realize this has not always been the case historically, but the church would be healthier if her worship music was primarily written by men who are ordained to pastoral office, and have therefore demonstrated theological competency and have presbyterial accountability.
—
We can debate markets, government regulation, tariffs, and so on (I certainly have definite opinions on each of those issues), but the reality is that there is no economic system that can bring lasting prosperity to people who have broken families (or no real family at all). At a societal level, healthy families are a necessary precondition to prosperity. Family formation is necessary to building generational wealth. Fatherlessness is the leading indicator of poverty.
—
Collapsing fertility rates is the crisis that looms over much of the world, especially the industrialized world. Without people there can be no prosperity. People are the greatest “natural resource” there is. It’s a cliche, but it’s true — the children are our future.
Many governments have tried to fix the problem by financially incentivizing people to more children, but with very little success thus far. Some think if the American economy improves (eg, more affordable housing, higher wages), people will automatically start having more children. But there’s no guarantee. While economics does make difference, it seems creating a healthy economy is only one aspect of solving the problem (and it should be noted that some very poor countries still have high fertility rates).
The root of the fertility crisis is spiritual and religious. People who have hope for the future have children; people who are hopeless about the future do not. People who know true joy is found in sacrificial living have children; people who are selfish do not.
Even in America today, this is evident. We all live in the same economy, but fertility rates vary widely between secular and religious people. Secular people have very few children, and often criticize those who do have a lot of children. Secularism is anti-family because it lacks any hope for the future. Children are seen as an obstacle to happiness rather than a source of happiness. Conservative Christian churches, on the other hand, typically teach on the blessings of children, call their members to lives of love and sacrifice, and teach their people to trust God’s plan for his people. As a consequence, they still have large families. My own denomination, the CREC, is noted for its large families. (@uribrito , has anyone calculated the fertility rate in the CREC?)
One thing is clear: no matter what victories secularists and progressives win in the present, they have already lost the future. The future belongs to the fertile.
—
Some people create narratives ex nihilo to justify their own prejudices. They want us to think they are connecting the dots. In reality, they’re just exercising their imaginations.
—
The Christian’s primary conflict should be with the world, not other Christians.
—
The overly empathetic are easily manipulated.
—
Wokeness is the weaponization of Christian virtues against Christian truths. It is, as Chesterton would put it, the old virtues gone mad.
—
There is a huge difference between being “anti” a certain race or ethnicity, and being “anti” a false religion or lifestyle.
—
Men, you always get the sex your wife feels you deserve. – Will Knowland
—
David French wrote, “The application of the Golden Rule should be clear in this case. If Christians want the freedom to participate in the American marketplace without facing reprisals for their faith or their beliefs about God’s design for the family, shouldn’t they extend that same courtesy to those who disagree?”
My reponse:
Because Christians want Muslims to worship our God, the golden rule requires us to worship Allah. That’s French’s logic. (If you’ve read Moby Dick, you’ve seen this before…)
This a wicked twisting of Scripture to serve an anti-Christian political agenda. We have to stop thinking of society as a “marketplace.” We have to think in terms of the Great Commission – discipling nations by teaching them everything Jesus commanded.
—
Romans 8:28 famously says all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
But what is the good for which all things work together? Your comfort? Your prosperity? Your pleasure?
Verse 29 answers the good towards which God is working: It’s that we might “be conformed to the image of his Son.” The good God is working out, the good which all things serve, is your Christ-likeness. Everything God does in the life of the Christian serves this end – that we might grow in holiness and righteousness.
—
I believe the gifts God gives me in corporate worship are what make my private devotions effective. Corporate worship is foundational to the Christian life; everything else flows out of the Divine Service.
—
In John 13, the standard for loving one another is Jesus’ service – in washing the disciples’ feet and in going to the cross. Christian love is Jesus-shaped and cruciform.
In John 17, the bar for Christian love is set by the Trinity – we are to love one another as the Father and Son love one another. Christian love Trinitarian, in that it is to image the Trinitarian life of God.
—
How pastors teach their congregations on suffering is crucial to the faithfulness of their ministry. Teaching on suffering effectively requires wisdom.
We should not assume all sufferers are innocent, nor can we assume they are all guilty.
Sometimes people do suffer for their sins (eg, the sluggard in Proverbs). Sometimes people suffer, but there is no link between their suffering and their sin (eg, the man born blind in John 9). Sometimes people suffer precisely because they are righteous (eg, Daniel when he is thrown into the lion’s den, Paul facing persecution in the book of Acts).
Faithful preaching, teaching, and counseling must take these various complexities into account. Reality is messy. Scripture gives us a map to navigate suffering, but we have to be careful how we locate people on that map or we can do serious harm.
—
We need the gospel of the kingdom, not gospel centeredness.
The gospel of the kingdom > gospel centeredness
The “gospel centered” movement ended up giving preachers a pass to not preach on culturally controversial topics because those topics are not “the gospel.” The “gospel centered” movement created a new kind of pietism, in which the Bible is only applied to a narrow set of personal issues; thus, it left most of culture in the hands of secularists and progressives. The “gospel centered” movement preached a reductionist gospel concerned only with personal soteriology and thus skirted around issues like masculinity/femininity, sexed piety, discipling children, standing up to political tyranny, abortion, surrogacy, etc. The “gospel centered” movement therefore (in most cases) all too easily married Christians to a progressive worldview. This is why it needs to die. It served as the gateway for liberalizing otherwise conservative churches and denominations. It was sinister precisely because this liberalizing was fine in the name of “gospel centeredness.” The man in the pew knows he is supposed to be in favor of the gospel, so how could he resist?
Faithful preachers will preach tota Scriptura – the whole counsel of God, including the parts that cut against the grain of contemporary culture.
Faithful preachers will not just preach the gospel but the gospel of the kingdom, declaring the reign of Christ over all life, politics, and culture, and spelling out what this means in practical terms.
—-
The world makes more sense if you remember:
Most men are scared of their wives, most mothers are scared of their children, most pastors are scared of their congregations (especially the women).
Everyone lives under someone’s gaze – whoever it is they are desperate to please or scared of offending. To fear God means to live under his gaze – and the fear of God is the only way to drive out these other fears that lead to compromise and capitulation.
—
What Paris is to France, what London is to England, what Rome is to Italy, the church is to the kingdom of God. The institutional church does not exhaust the presence of God’s kingdom in the world, but it is the heart of it.
—
Fallen reason is the desire to escape reality. The noetic effects of sin are emphasized by Paul in Ephesians 4:16-18 and elsewhere. But, yes, as created gifts, our reason and our senses were given to us to know reality as God made it.
—
A key question at the moment, central to discussions of Christian nationalism and many other issues:
Can American culture and politics be fixed when American churches are still in disarray and mired in immaturity? Will God give us a faithful Christian prince when we do not have very many faithful Christian pastors? Can cultural/political renewal precede ecclesiastical reformation?
Church and state both need fixing, but how do these two renewal projects relate?
For example: Can we expect statesmen to be tough on crime when pastors don’t discipline their congregations according to Matthew 18? Can we expect beautiful art, architecture, and music in the wider culture when our churches sing trash and are full of kitsch? Should we expect magistrates to shape public policy according to God’s law when most Christians are so poorly catechized, they cannot name the 10 commandments? Can Americans be united as a people when our churches are deeply divided? Can American culture recover masculine and feminine virtue, the proper ordering of the household, and the blessings of children, if our churches do not preach and embody these truths? And so on.
Godly statesmen don’t grow on trees. Christian princes don’t fall from the sky – anymore than Bachs and Rembrandts. Where will the Christian prince come from if our churches are languishing and compromised, if they teach nothing more than a privatized “personal relationship with Jesus” version of the gospel?
—
The church is the body of Christ, not the soul of Christ.
—
Culture is religion externalized this common place is usually attributed to Henry Van Hill who wrote what is an overall excellent book on Christian culture, but I questioned the definition of culture as religion externalized because it assumes that religion is essentially internal and private and then is only externalized at a second stage This is obviously faults. The Christian life starts with baptism which is public and external certainly all of life is religious, but religion is always already embodied.
—
God does not want his children to be latch-key kids. He’s given you a mother to take care of you, nurture you, train you, and discipline you — she is Mother Church.
—
If you think private devotions are more important than corporate worship, you are more Gnostic than Christian.
[Responses to this tweet have revealed how impoverished many Christians are today in their liturgical theology and ecclesiology. I’ll need a post a few follow ups at some point. A key question: Does God offer me something in gathered worship I cannot get elsewhere?]
If you think Genesis 1 merely teaches the idea of God as Creator rather than actual, historical acts of God building the cosmos, you are more Gnostic than Christian.
If you do not think the chronologies of Genesis 5 and 11 give us an unbroken history, tracing back to creation, thus allowing us to date the age of the earth, you are more Gnostic than Christian.
A mark of Gnosticism is substituting ideas for history. It ends with substituting the idea of new life for the historical event of Jesus’s bodily resurrection. Gnosticism and theological liberalism are just two sides of the same coin.
—
“Show me what you celebrate and I’ll tell you who you are.”
– Alexander Schmemann, paraphrased
—
The psalms are a soundtrack for cultural transformation. The church sings her way to dominion.
—
Christian faith is not an ideology and the church is not a propositional nation.
—
The church is the proper context for the Ordo Salutis (order of salvation). The Holy Spirit works out “redemption applied” through the means of grace entrusted to the church. An Ordo Salutis that makes no reference to the church is more gnostic than Christian. The church is integral to God’s work of salvation. Not only the preaching of the Word, but baptism and the Lord’s Supper must have their place in any truly Reformed and biblical Ordo Salutis. They must be integrated into our understanding of salvation from the outset, not tacked on as an afterthought. The gathering and perfecting of the elect takes place in and through the church. The church is both the fruit of the Spirit’s application of redemption and the instrument through which the Spirit works.
—
The church had been given the mission of conquering and subduing the world with the gospel of Christ. As a race of new Adams, we are to tame the beastly empires of the world (cf. Daniel 7).
—
Alexander Solzhenitsyn: “You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”
—
Fathers should be inspirational and aspirational figures. The rest of the household should be proud to bear his name. His wife should respect him and be see herself as his glory and glorifier. His sons should want to be like him and his daughters should want to marry someone like him.
—
Even pagans show more reverence to their gods than many evangelicals do to the true God.
—
The poverty gospel has done as much damage as the prosperity gospel. What we need is the productivity gospel.
—
Jim Jordan regularly warned about having overly strong convictions on peripheral matters, especially in the area of diet and health (see his excellent Studies in Food and Faith.):
“We can lay it down as a basic rule that in the area of health specifics no extremely strong convictions are permitted. We are only allowed to have strong convictions where the Bible speaks. In other areas, we may have personal convictions and opinions, but we need to hold them with a light touch….When people around us are promoting strong convictions in the area of diet and health, it can be annoying. It can become oppressive if it is coming from the leadership or from a sizeable group within the community. It can become cruel when it leads to ostracism.”
None of this is to say everyone’s opinion is of equal value; some people certainly have greater expertise in certain areas. But in many areas of life, we should be cautious about becoming overly dogmatic. So do not let different opinions on these kinds of issue interfere with loving one another.
—
Effeminate dads lead to overprotective mothers.
Effeminate men are at the root of toxic femininity – the overbearing, overprotective mother.
—
The proper to question about creation care is not, “How can we minimize human impact on the environment?” but “How can we maximize human flourishing?”
—
The patriarchy isn’t going away. It’s built into reality. Read Goldberg. If the patriarchy is inescapable, then what?
—
The problem with Tim Keller on LGBTQ is not that he held the wrong beliefs – other than having a massive blind spot regarding Revoice, I don’t doubt he held basically orthodox views on LGBTQ
The problem is not his beliefs
It’s that he would not preach those beliefs
Homosexuality has been one of the main battle fronts in the culture for a generation, and Keller simply would not engage the enemy from his pulpit
In fact, given his status and influence, he basically taught a whole generation of evangelical and Reformed preachers that there is no good way to address homosexuality in public preaching
That’s the real problem with Keller’s legacy when it comes to LGBTQ issues.
—
The claim that America is a propositional nation is a form of American chauvinism.
—
Guys sometimes like to complain about a woman in their life who is crazy, whether it’s a mother, wife, or girlfriend
I would say behind most (not every) crazy woman is a man who made it necessary
That is to say: Behind most every woman who acts crazy, there is a man who has failed her, either by abdicating his responsibilities to her, being a tyrant over her, or using/abusing her
That’s not to say all female sins are in reaction to male sins against them
Women can certainly sin without being provoked by a man
But intersexual dynamics are real
Men and women, in various relationships, can have a massive impact on one another
Many of the pathological behaviors observed in women, especially in modern (post-sexual revolution) women are the direct result of the crisis in masculinity that we’ve been seeing for quite some time in our culture
—
Wokeness is just a late stage manifestation of the postwar consensus. Wokeness leverages Christian compassion against Christian truth. Wokeness gets traction by saying things like, “Opposing homosexuality makes you mean and bigoted. The church has always been unkind to homosexuals. We need to repent. It’s not fair to tell homosexuals they have to be celibate because they cannot help the way God made them.” They do this with issue after issue. Wokeness is an acid that will eat through everything if not stopped. Wokeness weaponizes Christian virtues (like kindness) to subvert Christian morality. Soft-headed Christians (of which there are many these days) fall for it.
The so-called postwar consensus (PWC) used the same playbook. It used Christian opposition to Hitler’s racism (a good and necessary response) to pry open the door to an opposite kind of wickedness (postmodern relativism). The PWC relied on Christian guarding the right flank while leaving their left flank exposed. The argument went something like this: if you have strong loyalties to family, nation, or faith, you are in danger of becoming a Nazi. The Nazis were about blood and soil; if you love people and place too much, you too will end up a Nazi. Of course, no one wants to end up a Nazi, so Christians allowed their convictions and loyalties to be diluted.
The logic of the PWC is something like this: the best way to keep people from fighting (eg, sparking WW3) is to make sure they have nothing worth fighting for. Dilute religious conviction with liberal theology and relativistic ethics and critical approaches to the Bible. Secularize the public square. Dissolve national loyalties and patriotism by pushing for globalism. Break up family ties so people are disconnected individuals with no kinship bonds. Since whites have been culturally dominant, make them feel guilty for their whiteness by turning them into history’s biggest villains; magnify their sins while minimizing those of every other racial group. Keep people distracted with consumerism and entertainment, measure human flourishing by GDP rather than true indicators of well-being, etc.
The fact that much of the PWC agenda coincides with Marx and Stalin is no coincidence, even though it gets there a very different way. The Marxists and cultural Marxists also wanted to destroy nations and families, and ultimately replace religious loyalties with loyalty to the Party. Faithful Christians, obviously, must oppose all of this. We must oppose the racism of the Nazis, the relativism of the PWC, and the statism of the Marxists.
The irony is that the PWC did not produce an era of peace, but just the opposite. Trying to spread PWC secularism all over the world simply didn’t work. And the populist revolt that we are seeing arise in the West today shows that human nature really hasn’t changed. People cannot live without strong loyalties. People cannot live without the sacred. People are miserable when they live in unnatural ways, cut of off from the family ties and communal/national bonds God designed us to enjoy. The current populist movement has many problems – but in a very real sense, it is humanity attempting to snap back into shape. The PWC dehumanized us, but the bankruptcy of it finally became evident. Everyone who is paying attention knows we need something different.
—
People will risk their lives to leave a socialist or Marxist country, and get to a capitalist country, but you never see the reverse
How many Floridians are getting into dangerous rafts in order to sell to the workers Paradise of Cuba
How many Cubans are leaving behind that hellhole for workers in order to get to Florida?
—
I realize that oftentimes when the older generation comments on the younger generation it is not exactly welcomed, but here’s one observation I’d like to make (and I’m certainly not the only one to make it).
The younger generation has the terrible emotional and mental habit of viewing the ordinary hardships of life as “trauma.” The category of trauma is constantly invoked. The reality is that life has always been full of hardship for everyone. Nobody gets to go through life without all kinds of difficult challenges. It doesn’t matter how wealthy you are. It doesn’t matter how much privilege is handed to you. You are still going to face all kinds of hardships, these things are incapable in a fallen world.
But far too many today are in the habit of catastrophize, the ordinary hardships of life, turning them into some kind of special trauma, as if no one has ever suffered in a comparable way. The reality is our lives are far more comfortable, and we suffer for less than most every generation in human history, at least by objective measurements
My council to young people today would be to learn to put your suffering and deprivation and proper perspective. Not every thing is actually traumatic or traumatizing to speak. That way actually makes you weaker and you should not tell yourself things that will make you weaker instead you should tell yourself truth that will make you stronger. There’s no suffering that has seized you. That is not common to all of humanity and much of human Things that you will be spared your trials actually to serve a good purpose, and if you think of yourself as a victim constantly, or if you magnify your hardships into a special form of trauma, you’ll never really be able to learn from them and you’ll never toughen up the way you need to.
There’s only one person who has ever lived, who can say my suffering is utterly unique. No one has suffered what I’ve suffered, and his name was Jesus. When you’re tempted to turn the ordinary hardships of life into some kind of special trauma, remember the cross.
—
A few observations (posted on X 7/7/25):
- I did not think trust in our government could sink but much lower, but the latest hard-to-believe claims about Epstein put trust at an all time low.
- A nation with competent leadership would not force a choice between balancing the budget and dealing with social problems like illegal immigration. The big beautiful bill contains a lot of good things but it also continues all kinds of wasteful and destructive spending. I don’t think it was smart of Elon to turn on Trump but he did have a point: all DOGE cuts should have been made permanent and the deficit should not be increased. Leaders make hard decisions….so maybe the biggest national deficit is not in money but in leadership. Leaders who care more about the country than their careers are in short supply.
- Speaking of fiscal responsibility….it seems we could have killed two birds with one stone by completely cutting off all benefits to illegals in the recent bill. Those who are just here for welfare benefits would likely self-deport when those benefits dry up., which saves money all the way around. Also, why not pursue massive taxes on remittances? 1% is meaningless.
- The best feature of the bill is taking away Planned Parenthood’s funding. Trump further solidified himself as the most useful pro-life president we have ever had.
- Apparently, Trump thinks we still have enough money to do the whole foreign aid/foreign wars thing. There has to be a better way. I really thought Trump would figure out a way to disentangle us from these conflicts more than he has.
ADDENDUM: The Epstein list fiasco looks like suppressing the list was either part of some kind of backroom negotiations or someone is being blackmailed. Or there’s a 4D chess type play being made that will come to light later. But it’s hard to understand how we went from “the list is on my desk” to “there is no list” almost overnight.
—
While politicians obsess over economic inequality in Western nations, financial inequities are not the real issue. The great inequality in the modern world is not economic but familial. Those who come from in-tact families generally have an incalculable advantage over those who do not. The rise of identity politics, the secularization of our culture, and the general anxiety and misery that pervade so much of modern life, can all be traced back to the breakdown of the family. The failure of families to form when they should have, or the dissolution of families that have formed, have left a deep scar that cannot easily be healed. Mary Eberstadt has argued powerfully that the decline of Christian influence in our culture can be traced back to the dissolution of family life. People who grow up fatherless are (not surprisingly) skeptical of a faith that prays “Our Father.” While we often hear about privilege tied to race or gender or IQ or physical attractiveness or athletic ability, the greatest natural privilege of them all is to grow up with married parents who love you. There is no better launching pad for a successful life than this privilege, and when it lacking, it is incredibly difficult to compensate for its absence.
—
I don’t think Judges is a tract promoting the centralization of political power per se. And if it were, Israel’s later history would show that was not the answer either (the monarchy was not exactly a long term success). The last few chapters of the book attribute Israel’s failings not to a particular political structure but to the failure of the priests to lead the nation in faithful worship.
The statement is somewhat ironic. When they wanted to make Gideon king, he reminded them YHWH is their king. They always had a king – a divine king – they just wouldn’t obey him.
—
The claim that all men are made in God’s image — or the claim that are men are “equal,” or that all men have rights — is a claim based on faith. It can never be proven scientifically.
—
Test of parenting not kids but grandkids, great grandkids. Raise your own kids with your garndkids in mind.
—
The church is not a propositional nation either.
—
Quite a few wives (yes, even Christian wives) withhold sex from their husbands as a kind of bargaining chip. They think they can use sex to get what they want. They offer sex as a reward to obedient, submissive husbands (!) who give them their way because they strongly desire sex and do not know what else to do. The reality is that wives who commodify sex as a reward for their husbands are basically prostituting themselves. This is not the biblical way (cf. 1 Cor. 7:1-9). Instead of using sex as leverage, wise couples will use sex to enjoy one another and reinforce their oneness (and of course, to obey the command to “be fruitful and multiply”). Sex is not a commodity to be exchanged for something else; it is not a weapon of manipulation; it is to be a form of mutual, self-giving love between husband and wife. Sex is an obligation in marriage, to be sure, but it is a mutual obligation, so spouses should never use sex as a way of negotiating for something else.
—
Why are progressives less happy than conservatives?
Progressives see reality as fluid, so they cannot attune their lives to the way God’s world actually works, which leads to their misery. There is no way to be happy when your chosen form of life is at odds with the way God made the world. So long as you are trying to jam a round peg into a square hole (which is what everyone is doing if they are trying to be autonomous rather than submitting to God), pain is going to be the result. The only way to be happy is to conform your life to the divine design (aka reality).
—
Not too long ago, Corey Mahler argued in debate that blacks cannot be as sanctified as whites because they are prone to violence and aggression. By the same logic, men could not be as sanctified as women — since men are obviously more prone to violence and aggression. Would Mahler and his followers accept that conclusion?
—
Watching (or reading) too much news tends to make us passive towards life, as if we were mere spectators as the world passes us by. History happens; our job is to watch it. This is a deeply unhealthy approach to life.
If you’re going to watch the news, at least make a point to pray about the horror stories that come at you, one after another. Then you are at least doing *something* with what you’ve just witnessed.
—
The current critiques being made of worldview as a concept by some Reformed men are very similar to the kinds of criticisms made of systematic/scholastic theology by the Federal Vision men 20+ years ago. Worldview thinking can oversimplify complex issues. Worldview thinking can lead us to think we know more than we do. Worldview thinking can lose the richness of reality. Worldview thinking can lead us into the mistaken view that every question has an easy black-and-white answer — sometimes that’s true but not always.
Likewise, there is a way of doing systematic theology that shaves off the parts of the Bible that don’t easily fit the system (eg, the way some modern Calvinists deal with the apostasy passages, or the way evangelicals deal with Scripture’s strong sacramental language). All too often, texts that don’t easily fit the system get functionally cut out. Systematic theology can lead us to think we know more than we actually do. Systematic theology can produce neat and tidy answers, but at the expense of faithful exegesis. Sometimes systematic theology overruns the tensions, and even the mysteries, embedded in the text of Scripture.
That being said, despite these potential issues, I am in favor of doing worldview and systematics. Both have their place, provided they’re done in humility and wisdom, allowing simple matters to be simple and complex matters to remain complex. Both have their place provided we don’t get lazy and think of them as shortcuts to the truth. We need to learn to think in terms of wholes, not just bits and pieces – but our wholes need to include all the bits and pieces.
—
Pride month is aptly named. Sodomy is a manifestation of arrogance. Sodomy is a way of saying, “I know what to do with my body better than God.”
—
You cannot build a stable, coherent society out of random individuals. It takes godly families to bring structure and order to the wider culture. Godly families are the incubators of godly civilization.
—
There is no economic system that can bring prosperity of people who do not have an in tact family structure. The state can never compensate for missing fathers. The economically poor are all too often poor in family life and order. When the family goes to pieces, everything else goes with it.
—
Edginess is not the same as virtue.
—
Do you use social media or does social media use you?
—
Guess what? Sinners sin. We should never be surprised when the world does worldly things. And given that Christian are still sinners, sin in the church should not shock us either.
—
Jesus is Lord of natural law.
—
It’s amazing God would make a world in which men have so many deep flaws and women virtually none. At least, that was the lesson I got last time I talked to an evangelical feminist.
—
The best kind of man is a man who understands the strengths of his created masculinity and the weaknesses of his fallen masculinity. The best kind of woman is a woman who understands the beauty of her created femininity and the ugliness of her fallen femininity.
—
Psalm 2 reminds us the universe is not a democracy but a monarchy. More specifically, it is a Christocracy. Christ is King.
—
It’s possible to want immigration law enforced, including the forced deportations of those who are in our country illegally, without hating individual immigrants and while being concerned with how they are treated. I can even recognize an illegal immigrant as a brother in Christ while pointing out that he needs to repent of breaking the law and go back home.
It’s possible to want to see Obergefell reversed, sodomy criminalized, and gay adoption outlawed, while still loving individual people who are in bondage to the sexual perversion. I can politically oppose the entire LGBTQ package while still being kind to people who are trapped within it.
How issues are dealt with politically and how people are viewed/treated personally are two distinct things. The culture war and interpersonal relationships overlap in various ways, but they are not identical. You can fight the culture war and love those who are on the other side of it. This is one thing progressive don’t understand about Christians (perhaps because they don’t want to — progressivism really only gets traction by making false accusations against us).
—
Sadly, pagans show more reverence to their gods than many evangelicals do to the true God.
—
In light of recent studies showing children growing up with gay parents do not fare as well as those with a married mom and dad:
True sociology exists to confirm what God has already told us about ourselves.
—
Righteous anger serves a good purpose:
“When I am angry I can pray well and preach well.”
—Martin Luther
Unrighteous anger creates disaster:
“Speak when you’re angry and you’ll make the best speech you will ever regret.”
— Ambrose Bierce
—
John MacArthur fought the good fight to the very end. A saint. A warrior. A hero of the faith in his time. A long and faithful ministry. A courageous and gifted preacher who never shied away from controversy. He will be missed. He will leave a void not easily filled. May the Lord give us more like him. Thanks be to God for the life and work of this faithful man. Well done good and faithful servant.
The who famously and rightly said “Go home” has now gone home himself.
—
This is something I posted on MacArthur back in August ’24:
While my theology ended up in a quite different place from John MacArthur’s in some areas, he was a massive influence in my early years.
MacArthur’s voice was the main preaching voice (other than our local pastor) that I heard growing up. My parents would listen to him on cassette and radio.
His book The Gospel According to Jesus and then Faith Works (with its subtle corrections of the previous book) were challenging and helpful to me.
Charismatic Chaos helped me answer Pentecostal friends.
And so on.
John MacArthur has pushed back hard against errors in evangelicalism, especially antinomianism, for a long, long time.
Thank God for him and other faithful gospel preachers he helped shape.
—
I disagreed with John MacArthur on many issues over the years, particularly his dispensationalism. But this sermon proves he was no ordinary dispensationalist and was more committed to following the Bible wherever it leads, rather than an idiosyncratic system — this sermon out-theonomizes many theonomic preachers in calling our nation back to obedience to the law of God: https://sermonaudio.com/solo/johnmacar
—
I was asked how I differ from MacArthur theologically. Here goes:
I am covenantal rather than dispensationsal, postmil rather than premil, paedobaptist rather than Baptist, and presbyterian rather than congregational.
—
It is true that most older men today even in the church do not have the wisdom they should have to offer young men. Older men have generally failed their younger counterparts. Further, many older men do not understand how the world has changed and what young men today are up against. The world is a different place. But there are definitely exceptions; some older men really do have a lot to offer and should be heeded, even though young men might not like *all* they have to say. And further, young men are not infallible either. Each generation has its own blind spots. If the younger generation is only reacting to the flaws of the older generation they are likely to make mirror image mistakes of those who preceded them. A pendulum swing is not the same as wisdom. Reactions easily turn into overreactions.
How has the wortd changed? A few examples: The rise of wokeness, increasing sexual confusion especially since Obergefell, changes in the economy and job market, collapsing birth and marriage rates, more fatherlessness, the war on boys in public education, the loss of a common culture in America leading to polarization and division, the gender political divide, DEI skewing access to education and job opportunities, etc.
—
Don’t do purity spirals with brothers in Christ. Appreciate what people get right and argue with them where they are wrong in a brotherly way. But don’t demonize other believers over a handful of issues they get wrong when they get many other (more important) things right.
People are too complex for purity spirals. You do not prove your own zeal for the truth by focusing solely on the failures of others and your disagreements with them.
This joke gets at the problem with purity spirals:
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.
—
Will the real Israel please stand up?
What Does The Bible Really Say About Who The True Israel Is?
—
Even though communism and socialism always fail in the real world, they persist as ideologies (especially with people who are ignorant of history and have no firsthand experience of them) because they appeal to fallen humanity’s envy.
America was formed in part because of a tax rebellion. But today, the more pressing need is for a benefits rebellion. If our politicians will not be fiscally responsible/disciplined, we need a citizenry with the integrity to pay their own way, to say no to free stuff that the government promises to provide at someone else’s expense. And it will not do to say, “we will just redistribute the wealth of the super rich.” It will actually be our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren who foot the bill.
—
Crony capitalism is really a species of socialism more than anything related to the free market. It might have the appearance of capitalism but it isn’t.
Examples:
When Big Pharma uses its lobbying power to get the state to grant it total immunity from problems caused by its products, that’s not free market capitalism. It’s more akin to fascism or socialism. The free market does not allow liability costs to be siphoned off by the general public.
When the state requires companies to provide health insurance to full time employees and businesses respond to this perverse incentive by only hiring part-time workers to avoid having to pay for insurance, this is not the free market at work. Regulations of that sort are the opposite of freedom. They distort the market.
When states regulate the health insurance market so much that competition is basically eliminated, and health insurers can raise premiums or deny claims (which happens at an absurdly high rate in my home state of Alabama), that’s not capitalism. Free market competition would yield much better results, and lead to a more rational allocation of limited resources. People would be better served by insurance companies having to compete for their dollars.
When the state gives one or two huge corporations a monopoly over the insurance business, the quality of insurance declines. When the state takes over the college loan business from private banks, then loans exorbitant sums of money to 18 year olds to pursue college degrees with no ROI, and then forbids those loans to be cancelled through the bankruptcy process, that’s not the free market. It’s really just statism or socialism.
It’s important that we be able to correctly label the dysfunctions we see in our present day economy. For example, when a college student sits in a Starbucks drinking his $9 coffee, while scrolling through social media on his laptop, which has a “Down with capitalism” sticker on it, that student is broadcasting his own economic illiteracy (and his hypocrisy too, since he is obviously enjoying the benefits of living in an at least semi-capitalist society).
Free markets are not the answer to every social problem. Markets should not be allowed to take over every area of life. Not everything in life should be subordinated to market forces. But in many areas of life, we would benefit from more of free market approach rather than the opposite. In certain areas of life – especially when we need to know the know the true price of a good or service, when we want technological innovation, when we want to produce greater freedom and prosperity for a greater number of people – free markets have their place.
—
“True capitalism has never been tried!”
On the contrary, it has been tried – and there are mountains of empirical evidence it produces widespread prosperity when implemented.
—
Other than HR departments, family court is perhaps the place where the gynocracy of the longhouse comes to fullest expression in our society.
—
This is an interesting and short overview of why communism is even worse than fascism (with some interesting historical information about Hitler and Stalin thrown in). Communism is perhaps the most destructive, soul crushing, dehumanizing force at work in the modern world. https://youtu.be/4Jgi6kC5j3M?si=WysPCF2hpYffcqk7
—
In the book of Proverbs, a mark is wisdom is humbly receiving correction (Prov. 3:11, 12:1). The humble man knows he has weaknesses and blind spots; thus he is willing to listen when others seek to correct him, even if they don’t do so in the most gentle or loving way. The wise know they cannot improve and grow without correction, however painful. The wise grow wiser by listening to criticism, sifting it, and taking it to heart when it’s helpful. But the humble man will not be reactive in the face of criticism; he will receive it with an open mind and heart.
By contrast, fools hate those who seek to correct them (Prov. 9:7-8, 15:10). The fool is hyper-sensitive and arrogant; he feels criticized and judged by anyone who tries to improve him. He makes the cost of correcting him so high, he punishes those who correct him so harshly, that others simply give up on helping him. Thus, he stagnates. His pride stunts his growth and keeps him enslaved in his own folly.
—
Just a reminder: It’s possible to believe the “good guys” (Stalin excepted) won World War II AND believe the post-war consensus is a real problem. It’s also possible to believe the post-war consensus was just an intensification of trends that were already present in Western civilization. https://cleartruthmedia.com/articles/the-post-war-consensus-how-we-defeated-the-nazis-and-lost-our-souls… https://tpcpastorspage.com/2025/03/18/post-which-war-consensus/
After we won WW2, we won the Cold War as an encore. Yes, we have fallen off a cliff spiritually and culturally, but let’s appreciate what America got right.
—
American men were the heroes of the 20th century (insofar as the 20th century can have heroes). They won WW1, WW2, built the most prosperous civilization in history, went to the moon, then topped it all of by winning the Cold War.
—
Nazis invaded about 13 countries. Is there nothing Babelic about that? The Western allies did not fight for what we call the pwc, even if some Western elites were already conspiring towards that end and it was the eventual outcome.
The liberalism that Americans lived under in the 1940s-50s had lots of problems, but was obviously better than living under communism or fascism. We can critique what liberalism has morphed into without positing moral equivalence.
WW2 *could* have been a great win for the Christian West. We chose a different path in its aftermath.
—
Americans are the most generous of all nationalities, and Southerners are the most generous of Americans.
—
Just a reminder: Progressivism is a Satanic movement that gets most of its traction from making false accusations against the righteous.
—
The Old Testament is a Christian book.
—
An older post:
A few observations about marriage from Genesis 24:57-60
So they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her personally.” Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”
And she said, “I will go.” So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her:
“Our sister, may you become
The mother of thousands of ten thousands;
And may your descendants possess
The gates of those who hate them.”
1. Note that while this is something of an arranged marriage, the woman has veto power over it. She has to consent. She has real agency, she is responsible to evaluate the prospective husband, and and she is expected to use wisdom in determining if this is the match she wants. The declaration of consent in traditional wedding liturgies grows out of this. “Will you have this man to be your lawfully wedded husband…?”
2. The blessing pronounced on the bride-to-be is twofold: fertility and victory, fruitfulness and dominion.
They pray that she will have myriads of descendants who come from her. In our anti-motherhood, anti-natalist culture this is unthinkable. But they viewed children as gifts, blessings, and assets. They pray she will “be fruitful and multiply.” They pray for multi-generational fruitfulness and faithfulness. They pray the Lord will grow a kingdom through her offspring. (They obviously didn’t expect her to have thousands of children herself, so this prayer is future-oriented and multi-generational.)
Our world tells young single women to stay single, live for themselves, put marriage and motherhood off since they interfere with career, etc. But Rebekah was praised for embracing family life.
The second aspect of the blessing is that her descendants will be victorious — they will possess the gates of their enemies. Think of Psalm 127, where the man’s children are a quiverfull of arrows helping him contend with his enemies in the city gates. The prayer in Genesis 24 is that through Rebekah God will raise up warriors to form an army who will fight for and build the kingdom of God. The woman fights by giving birth to fighters, to covenant sons who will overcome those who hate God and his people.
In summary, the wedding prayer here is that the original creation mandate will be fulfilled through Rebekah (and her husband) — that is, that she will be fruitful and multiply and that her sons will have dominion and rule in all the earth.
This is what our wives and daughters should aspire to — to be like Rebekah. She was queen of a glorious domain. The prayer of Genesis 24:60 would be a wonderful blessing to offer at weddings , rehearsal dinners, and wedding receptions.
—
Wisdom is the art and skill of living in tune with God’s design for human life and in sync with reality.
—
Every pastor needs a pastor. Call them bishops or whatever, but pastors need pastoral care too. Pastors who are in healthy denominations usually have access to pastoral care. Outside of that context, it can be hard to come by.
—
The rise of global missions after the Reformation was largely only possible because of British colonialism. Colonialism and missions were joined at the hip for a long time. And overall, both were very good for the world (though like everything, neither was perfect).
—
Sometimes a man has to say to his wife, “Forgive me for listening to you and doing what you wanted us to do.” Adam in Genesis 3 and Abraham in Genesis 16 could have said something like this. It’s a way for the man to simultaneously take responsibility and confess his sin of failing to lead.
—
Wives, the Bible commands your husband to be satisfied with your breasts at all times (Proverbs 5:19). Do not interfere with his obedience to that commandment.
—
“We have not yet arrived at the goal. There are still treasures in the Scriptures, the knowledge of which have remained hidden to us. All the misery of the Presbyterian churches is owing to their striving to consider the Reformation as completed, and to allow no further development of what has been begun by the labor of the Reformers. The Lutherans stop at Luther, many Calvinists at Calvin. This is not right. Certainly, these men in their time were burning and shining lights; nevertheless, they did not possess an insight into the whole of God’s truth and if able to arise from their graves, they would be the first to accept gratefully all new light. It is absurd to believe that during the brief period of the Reformation all error has been banished, just as it is absurd to believe that Christian understanding has completed its task.” — John Robins (1620)
—
Every family has a head. Either the husband functions as the head, or Satan functions as the head. In Genesis 3, Adam allowed Satan to become the head of his family, and many men ever since have followed suit. There is no third option. It’s either patriarchy or Satanarchy in the home.
—
What a lot of people don’t understand about the South is that Southern culture, at least since 1865, has been very matriarchal. People think that because the South values tradition that it must be very patriarchal or at least complementarian. But actually Southern men tend to practice a kind of chivalry that defaults to a “she’s the boss” and “if mama ain’t happy, no one is happy” kind of matriarchy. You cannot understand the post-Civil War South unless you understand this fact. As a generalization, Southern men have never recovered genuine masculine headship since the War. Many Southern men have masculine hobbies (hunting, fishing, etc.) but are not actually very masculine in their core. Most Southern men are scared of their wives. They do not know how to handle their wives’ strong emotional responses. They think the way to lead is by being subservient. Even many (not all, but many) conservative Southern churches that have male-only officers tend to be highly feminized environments, led covertly by women; in other words, an all-male session may technically be the decision-maker but the elders only “lead” in ways their wives approve of and with their implicit permission. All that to say: Southern culture is far less friendly to masculinity than most people, including Southerners themselves, tend to think.
—
A woman who has grown up with a bad relationship with her father needs to do several things in order to heal. Obviously, she has to work through her wounds so she doesn’t hold the grudge and become bitter. But I think the most important way for her to move beyond her trauma is to find her feminine, to find her true feminine self, and to do that, she must submitting to a good man as her husband. Surrender to a good, loving husband is the best the way for her to overcome the wounds left from the bad man her father was.
Of course, I assuming here the context of the gospel — grace has to underlie all of this.
—
What makes a woman a reviling wife?
I think there’s usually some sense of profound disappointment with men at the root of it.
Maybe her father was absent because he abandoned her. Maybe he was unkind or cruel to her. Maybe he was too nice and too passive and failed to protect her.
Maybe she was used sexually by other men, even if she was consenting to it it damaged her it damaged her ability to trust in men it damaged the way she looks at men.
I think there’s usually some sense of profound disappointment with men at the root of it. David Edgington says 50% of reviling wives were abused earlier in life — that’s hugely significant.
At a human level, the best way for her to heal is to find a good man she can marry so she can rebuild her trust in God’s design and in men.
—
Women who have had bad fathers have a hard time being genuinely feminine.
They are usually guarded and self protective — they’ve had to masculinize themselves to compensate for what their father failed to give them. Women were made to live under the headship of a good man but because she didn’t get that, it’s easy for her to take up her pent-up rage, frustration, and bitterness at other men in her life, particularly her husband. She takes up her father-rage against her husband.
Again, at a human level, the best way for her to heal is to find a good man she can marry. She needs to surrender to his masculinity and submit to his headship. In this way she becomes truly feminine — her proper femininity is restored. She becomes softer more responsive, more nurturing, and she won’t be the reviling wife she was.
—
My hypothesis: ADHD (and related diagnoses) generally arise for a couple of reasons. It is less a matter of biology and more matter of the kind of environment the child is in. Developing ADHD depends on either (1) a child grows up in a particularly chaotic home full of conflict and contentiousness, or (2) especially in the case of boys, the child is forced to sit still in school for unnaturally long periods of time and grows bored. In the former case, the child finds the conflict in the home (usually between mom and dad or other adults) unbearable. Normally the flight-or-fight instinct would kick in, but the child is too young for either of those responses so he just shuts down. In the latter case, the issue is just a matter of giving the boy an opportunity to get his energy out at appropriate intervals. Most of these boys do fine once they find something they’re passionate about (even if its outside the classroom).
—
Many stay-at-home-homemakers/moms have contempt for their role — and when they do, it shows. Women who have no vision for homemaking, for making the home a place of peace, beauty, and glory, don’t carry out their vocation very well. They are foolish women, the opposite of the Proverbs 31 wife.
—
Far too much marriage counseling is trapped in the longhouse. It’s as if only one spouse (the wife) has legitimate needs. The man’s needs (especially sexual needs) are treated as immature and selfish.
—
This pastoral advice reminds me of the old Mark Twain line: “The worst advice you can give someone is, ‘Be yourself.’” I suppose that’s doubly true for pastors. Sometimes you should most certainly NOT “be yourself.” You should be what God calls you to be for the sake of the people you serve.
—
It’s been said, “A high churchman is someone who has a high view of the church and a low view of himself, whereas a low churchman is someone who has a low view of the church and a high view of himself.” (This is a paraphrase from Geddes MacGregor’s book Corpus Christi).
But what I have found all too often is that men who profess to be high churchmen act like low churchmen. It is not enough to be a high churchman theoretically or on paper; you have to actually live it out, which is much more difficult. It requires humility and patience.
A high ecclesiology is not enough. It needs to be put into practice. One of the biggest problems in the history of the American evangelical and Reformed church is our generally low ecclesiology. Our low ecclesiology has kept the church weak, divided, and undisciplined. Our low ecclesiology has led us to think of the church as an apolitical, private club that takes up no public space and does nothing more than supplement the spiritual lives of individuals. This is not the ecclesiology of the Reformers, eg, Calvin’s Institutes Book 4. The Reformers believed the church had real power and real authority. The exercise of the keys by pastors and elders really meant something. The communion of the saints really meant something. But many who boast of having a much higher ecclesiology are not very good churchmen in practice. If the church in America is going to experience reformation, it will entail a recovery of true churchmanship.
A churchman is another name for a Christian, but from the perspective of ecclesiology. Both clergy and laity are to be churchmen, albeit with different roles to play in the life of the church.
TPC Pastor's Page 