Category: Theological Thoughts

At least for now, this is what you see:

With DeSantis out of the race and Nikki Haley offering her candidacy as a gift to comedians, only one candidate is left. He is far from ideal, but he is the other Floridian the country needs.

In my latest substack, I make a case for the Donald as the synergist the Republican Party must have to defeat Kamala Harris or her clone, Joe Biden, in the coming elections.

I also offer some notes from David Bahnsen’s upcoming book soon to be published on Work and the Meaning of Life. This is already becoming one of my favorite books of the year. I wish I had read it before I wrote my chapter on labor and leisure in my dissertation.

The implication that I need to break off friendships and relationships with people of different Christian political and theological traditions is absurd. While I will have continual public and private disagreements with them, I will also remember that 99% of pugilism on social media NEVER translates to pugilism face-to-face.

A quick story to make the point.

In my doctoral study days, I sat in a class at RTS with several pastors, some of whom were well-published and recognized in the Reformed tradition. We had to post our names in front of our seats. While this was several years past the Federal Vision controversy, some people still talked as if it were 2002 perpetually. The pastors in that class knew who I was and were even privately sympathetic to the objectivity of the covenant.

As everyone was walking into class, a particular figure who had been renowned for his opposition to Federal Vision, even becoming a sort of itinerant traveler to Presbyterian courts across the country functioning as a prosecutor of all things FV– which he believed was polluting NAPARC congregations–sat down across from me.

Once he glanced at my name and I took a peek at his, it was apparent we had heard of each other. He had read some of my articles and was keenly aware of my affiliations and associations. I had read plenty of him to determine that certain human beings don’t deserve my attention, and he was a frontrunner for that title.

I watched his demeanor closely during class. The class was an overview of Puritan practices. At one time, a poem from a great Puritan was read, and he was emotionally moved. Despite his effort to condemn virtually all my friends, he was humanized in my eyes.

When the lunch break came, I immediately went towards him. I shook his hands, and my first words to him were: “How about lunch tomorrow after class?” It’s as if we both knew instantly it needed to happen.

I don’t need to go into details, but our lunch was extraordinary. We asked each other forgiveness for things that were said behind the scenes and even publicly in writing. He had already been going through some transitions in his thinking and realized that much of his disdain for the FV/CREC was eating him up inside and damaging his soul.

Ever since, we have exchanged thoughts and notes and read each other’s doctoral thesis, and have had meals together here in Pensacola when he visited.

The idea that relational lines are set on social media and that friendships must be ruined makes no sense. There is a clear reason the Apostle John writes that he prefers to see you face-to-face than write in ink. He knew that warnings are received more persuasively through fleshly interactions.

Remember these things.

I have resumed my reading of Tietz’s biography of Karl Barth, which is considered the definitive work of the Swiss theologian. Tietz notes that Barth had a distaste for the German-ethno-nationalism formed in the 1920’s. He was outraged by them (113). However, his criticisms were tamed by his deep love for being around the German people and exploring the beauty of Germany.

Tietz observes that Barth underwent a vast transition in his thinking when working on a second edition of his Commentary to the Romans. He was deeply struck by Franz Overbeck’s analysis of the vast difference between speech about God and man. Barth viewed Overbeck’s daunting critique of Christendom as a requirement for his seminary students. God was “wholly other” and, as such, must be kept distinct from any human speech since no speech can speak accurately about the transcendent God.

He further notes that the kingdom of God does not pertain to earthly things but is a “NO to the world” (122). There are overt platonic movements in Barth’s perspective wherein he attempts to dichotomize God from the world, usurping a healthy theology of the imago Deo (112-125).

Every institution will go through difficulties sooner or later. Building structures for handling these problems is helpful at this stage, and they would not be limited to but at least must include:

a) Forming strong bonds among leaders. Invest in them with encouragement and lots of good food and drink. Most institutions are not broken from the bottom but from the top.

b) Emphasize unity with fervency. Make it central to the church’s life, but don’t water down unity to a bare minimum. Build unity on the essentials primarily and the distinctives of the flock secondarily.

c) Locate the strong men in the church and give them assignments that will equip them for future diaconal or eldership calling. Preparing future officers is an absolute necessity for bringing coherence to the life of the body.

d) Meet with those wishing to make tertiary issues into primary, even if you find those issues appealing. Do not allow them to build a following that exalts the odd. Warn them of the social and ecclesial consequences of fracturing the body. These individuals need to be shepherded into catholicity, not away from it.

e) Sing together a lot. At church. At home. At gatherings. A church that sings together stays together. Every institution needs its songs of lament in times of trial. We sing them now in times of peace to be tuned for times of grief and division.

Hallmark movies used to be the exclusive domain of tasteless and self-defeating relational polemics or artistic sentimental drivel as the cool kids would say. But thanks to the times, now it is more than that: a starless display of sexualized logorrhea:

“Hallmark Channel is making a little bit of Christmas history with its first holiday movie centered on a lesbian romance. On the heels of last year’s The Holiday Sitter, the network’s first gay romantic comedy, Friends & Family Christmas hopes to keep the LGBTQ streak going.” https://www.tvguide.com/…/hallmark-lesbian-christmas…/

The idea, of course, is to normalize the gay agenda within a genre that could be easily described as the gayest. Not only will audiences find themselves exposed to an array of worthless dialogues befitting the vocabulary of thuggish elves, but now they will have the added layer of lesbian interactions openly mocking biblical ethics.

As one of the actresses so eloquently put it:

“I hope that there will always be queer Christmas movies every year — at least one but maybe, like, three — and see different people in these roles.”

Like yeah. Like for realz. Like, no!

We will need to do more than simply shout “Merry Christmas” these coming twelve days but also make it abundantly clear that these attempts at synchronizing the festivity of the Incarnate Son of God with unnatural unions (Rom. 1:27) have nothing in common.

This is merely a pagan approach to make evangelicals already sympathetic to these lame-worthy causes even more compelled to give the L a chance. But these will not do.

So, in the masculine, traditional spirit, here are ten great Christmas classics to stir your heart to genuine Trinitarian jolliness. Most of these are available on YouTube for free:

a) A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

b) It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

c) Miracle On 34th Street (1947 & 1994)

d) Die Hard (1988) *NOT FOR KIDS*

e) White Christmas (1954)

f) Klaus (2019)

g) A Christmas Carol (1951)

h) Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 & 2000)

i) Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

j) Holiday Inn (1942)

I’d love to hear some other suggestions.

One of the most fruitful benefits of seminary education was the ability to sit at the feet of academically gifted men and experience a few years of intellectual submission.

When I entered RTS, I had completed a degree in pastoral theology. I had a certain air of superiority over others who did not receive theological education in college or university. But after three months, I quickly realized that sitting in a room with John Frame, Richard Pratt and Simon Kistemaker was to sit in a room where my only solution was to listen, and my duty was to engage quietly. We were all equal as students because none of us had the enormity of these men’s biblical, theological, and systematic knowledge.

While formal training is not absolutely necessary to produce longevity and faithfulness among pastors, it offers intellectual humility. It prepares men to assume their jobs not as the smartest ones in the room but as those upon whom God has called to communicate truth with a gentle and contrite heart.

The best pastoral training is the one that puts you under others before you embrace the great responsibility of leading those under your care.

The narratives of the Old Testament point us to various wars over who answers our longing with greater efficiency and who comes to our aid when we call.

In this essay, I offer an overview of the great battle between Yahweh and Dagon. When Dagon tried to steal Christmas, he discovered that those who get decapitated are made as examples of humiliation for the nations.

No false god and no individual can manipulate the true God. Yahweh Advents at his own pleasure. Christmas is coming!

My top five are not ordinary classics but essential foundational works in the Reformed tradition.

a) Martin Luther’s Catechism: https://catechism.cph.org

It is known for its unique pastoral fervor in both life and practice. His distillation of the Ten Commandments is excellent.

b) Calvin’s Dedication to the Prince in his Genesis commentary: https://ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom01/calcom01.v.html…

Calvin’s prefaces are usually the most personal notes to dignitaries of the day. I wish we could restore such dedications, but they also summarize his general project.

c) Benjamin Warfield’s “The Plan of Salvation” is less than 100 pages, but it is one of the finest defenses of Postmillennialism in the 19th century: https://amazon.com/Plan-Salvation-B-Warfield-ebook/dp/B06XSNJB1F/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2FQ1IWIVYCWBG&keywords=the+plan+of+salvation+warfield&qid=1676508216&sprefix=The+Plan+of+Salvation%2Caps%2C84&sr=8-4…

d) Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism is the most thorough devastation of dualism. He continues in the spirit of Geneva. Shameless plug: I wrote the introduction to the newly printed version from Canon Press: https://canonpress.com/products/calvinism-the-stone-lectures/…

e) The Holiness of God by my old pastor, R.C. Sproul, remains one of the finest classics and expositions of Isaiah 6: https://amazon.com/Holiness-God-R-C-Sproul/dp/B002KCR0LS