Latest Articles on Guard the Deposit
Why I’m Now a Credobaptist
(Edit: I have since changed this view, but I keep this post up because of its importance to me for remembering the development of my theology. For information on my change, read ".") As some of you may know, I...
Letter to the DN
I would have stayed out of the whole "Corpus Christi" debate (a bunch of Christians protested the UNL production of a play that portrays Jesus as a homosexual) within the DN over the last few weeks, but when the DN satirized Narnia ("Christians angered over portrayal...
(Prophetic) Songs and Hymns and Spiritual Songs
Does the Bible portray the role of music to be essentially prophetic? Certainly, I don't necessarily mean prophecy in the sense of "history written in advance" (a quote I got from an interesting book I read about fundamentalist end-times theology, including varieties...
Beeson and John Piper
This week (Monday night through Thursday), I am touring Beeson Divinity School as a potential seminary. They had a preview day today, where several members of the faculty talked to us about what they saw as Beeson's distinctive elements, where we attended a chapel...
Islamic Calvinism
Today in my History of Islam class, we talked about the two major strands of ideology concerning human nature, the authority of the Qur'an, and God's sovereignty. In short, there were originally two main views within Sunni (the majority sect) Islam: one was...
Bethlehem Baptist Baptism Update
Bethlehem Baptist's (John Piper's church) is weighing a decision to change their membership requirements from including mandates of a person's being immersed in a believers' baptism. There is an 84-page paper on the history and specific bylaws amendments that the...
God is Love and God is God
This morning, I listened to an amazing sermon by John Piper about why God would inspire biblical texts that are difficult to interpret and understand, given that he is omniscient as well as a perfect communicator. Piper's main ideas were that difficult texts make us...
Conquering the Qur’an
As an introduction to the History of Islam class that I will be taking this semester, our professor handed out a New York Times article from August 20, 2002 entitled, "Assigned Reading on Koran in Chapel Hill Raises Hackles." Unfortunately, the New York Times requires...
Desiring God
I have of late been entranced by pastor, preacher, and writer John Piper. I just finished his book, The Pleasures of God, and I have started working my way through his Romans sermons series (I've finished about twenty sermons, and we aren't out of chapter 1 yet!)....
On the Cohesiveness of the Scriptures
So, I was reading from Numbers 10 about the use of silver trumpets within the nation of Israel. It was interesting, but I was sort of thinking about it as being on par (in terms of importance) with prohibitions against boiling an animal in its mother's milk or...
By the Grace of God
The Proper Attitude of Man Under Grace: To believe, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret. To refuse to make "resolutions" and "vows"; for that is to trust in the flesh. To expect to be blessed, though realizing more and more lack of worth.......
For the Love of God – Book Review
I have been using For the Love of God, Vol. II by D. A. Carson, as well as the first volume for about four years. The reason I have used it so much is because it, more than anything I have found, puts an incredible emphasis on the importance of saturating ourselves in...