It’s all modernism’s fault

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Chapter 7 of Why we’re not emergent (by two guys who should be) explores the ways in which emerging church people have tended to make a bogeyman out of modernism.

Kevin DeYoung summarises the emergent approach:-

Once upon a time the church was a brighter, fairer place.  And then the Enlightenment happened, and the scourge of modernism – systematic theologies, propositions, foundationalism, certainty, creeds, monological preaching, individualism, inerrancy, logic, indoctrination, deductive reasoning – began to crack down on the church.…

When is the sermon the low point in the service?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Much of the time, unfortunately.  We have been uplifted by hymns and songs that celebrate the mighty works of God with clarity, joy and biblical faithfulness.  Then we settled down to a mumbled Bible reading and a muddled sermon and breathe a sigh of relief when the final ‘Amen’ is uttered.

Well, perhaps that’s a bit unfair.  But it too often feels like that.  David Day asks the question, ‘When is the sermon the ‘low point’ in the service?’…

The Word made flesh

Walking With Giants Posted on by

This is based on an article by Prof Donald MacLeod in The Monthly Record, Jan 1981.

Christmas is ‘that curious amalgam of paganism, commercialism and Christianity which Western civilisation has invented to tide it over the darkest days of winter.’

‘The church…appears content to leave the supreme mystery of its faith only vaguely hinted at in the glitter and gaity of what it calls its greatest festival.  Christmas is a lost opportunity, a time when the world invites the Church to speak and she blushes, smiles and mutters a few banalities with which the world is already familiar from its own stock of cliches and nursery rhymes.’…

Biblical foundations of penal substitution 1 – Exodus 12

Walking With Giants Posted on by

“The doctrine of penal substitution states that God gave himself in the person of his Son to suffer instead of us the death, punishment and curse due to fallen humanity as the penalty for sin.”  (Jeffrey, Ovey & Sach, Pierced for our Transgressions, p21).

A while ago, I summarised objections to the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement as set out and responded to by Jeffrey et al.

I’d now like to examine the biblical basis for this doctrine, using the same authors as guides.…

Theology of Prayer 9 – Objections to Prayer (v)

Walking With Giants Posted on by

B.M Palmer, Theology of Prayer, ch 9

The fifth objection is that prayer leads to fanaticism and mysticism.

This objection states, ‘that the claim to such personal and intimate communion with the Divine #Being open the door to the dreamiest mysticism or the wildest fanaticism.’

The objection is shallow, in that it overlooks the important checks thrown around prayer, guarding against such a result.

1.  ‘All true prayer is bounded within the limits of God’s sovereign will.’ …

Suffering and the existence of a God of love

Walking With Giants Posted on by

John Blanchard discusses this in his book Does God Believe in Atheists?  The argument against the existence of an all-loving, all-powerful God may be summarised as follows:-

1. Evil and suffering exist
2. If God were all-loving, he would wish to prevent evil and suffering
3. If God were omnipotent, he would be able to prevent evil and suffering
4. Evil and suffering are not prevented. Therefore, there is no such thing as an all-loving, all-powerful God

It is not incumbent on the apologist to demonstrate why or how such a God allows evil and suffering to exist.…

Isa 7 – Immanuel, God with us – sermon notes

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The time is 735 BC or thereabouts.  The southern kingdom of Judah is under threat from its northern neighbours, Israel and Syria.  King Ahaz and his people are beside themselves with fear.  The prophet Isaiah steps forward and announces, “Though your enemies have been plotting your downfall, it is they themselves who will be ruined.  Stand firm in your faith (v9).”  Then, v10f, the Lord makes Ahaz an offer: “Ask the Lord for a sign that this is true – anything you like.” …

Derek Kidner, 1913 – 2008

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Derek Kidner, the Old Testament scholar and teacher, has died recently, at the grand age of 95.

I only heard him preach once – a number of years ago, at Holy Trinity Norwich.  But I have acquired most of his commentaries on various parts of the Old Testament and they are all gems.

Kidner’s contributions to the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series (Genesis, Ezra/Nehemiah, Psalms and Proverbs) and to the Bible Speaks Today series (Hosea, Ecclesiastes, Jeremiah) are models of their kind. …

Doctrine, anyone?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

In chapter 5 of Why we’re not emergent (by two guys who should be) Kevin DeYoung discusses the emergent attitude towards doctrine.   Quoting Doug Pagitt, DeYoung notes,

Instead of saying, “Here is truth; take it or leave it,” the emergent crowd calls Christians to declare, “Come and experience the story of God in the life of this community.”

And a member of Pagitt’s church, Solomon’s Porch, speaks for many when she says, ‘I feel like dogma never works, like people are hungry to see a better life.’…