Disqualified pastors and riotous children
Contrary to modern opinion, a pastor with unbelieving or debauched children is prima facie disqualified from ministry.
Why people are weird about head coverings
By instantiating a symbol of a larger spiritual pattern, they hope to instantiate the whole pattern. The Enlightenment didn’t escape magical thinking; it intensified it.
Not veiling is a sin just like not baptizing your babies
Contrary to a common objection bandied about today, there is nothing sectarian about head covering, and to disallow it on such grounds is grossly inconsistent with how these very same people approach other important doctrinal disagreements.
The hair is not the only covering in 1 Corinthians 11
It is impossible for the covering that Paul is speaking about in 1 Corinthians 11 to be merely the woman’s hair. Verse 6 makes this reading incoherent, and verse 15 directly signals that it is wrong by using a different word for covering than the rest of the chapter.
Prayer and prophecy are not just supernatural gifts in 1 Corinthians 11
Prayer and prophecy in scripture can be supernatural gifts. But they can often be exercises of our natural faculties too. Paul’s use of these terms is broad, and certainly encompasses what women do in worship today.
Why I cannot worship at your lockdown-compliant church
At what point does a difference of opinion about submission to state authority become a difference in worship? When the submission to state authority functionally unseats Christ as the head of that worship.
Excommunicated
Facing false charges in a judicial process that denied the presumption of innocence, the right to be fairly tried before being condemned, and the right to speak in my own defense, I was found guilty of slander, false teaching, and division, and excommunicated from Trinity Reformed Baptist Church.
Head coverings #1: the logic of glory and veiling
While head covering debates get mired in disagreement about cultural customs and what Paul meant about the angels, they ignore the central logic of 1 Corinthians 11—that only one glory should be on display in worship. Veiling still matters in the modern day because God’s glory still matters in worship—and that is what is at stake.
It’s Good To Be A Man
In partnership with Michael Foster, I have launched a new website dedicated to developing a positive doctrine of masculinity.
Q&A: why should Christians attend church?
A reader asks on behalf of himself and his daughter. I briefly demonstrate that the Bible doesn’t just consider it normal to worship with other believers, but really a practice of such critical importance to our spiritual growth that avoiding it carries an expectation of furious judgment.
Are women made in the image of God?
Both Genesis 1:26–28 and 5:1–2 are plain in ascribing the image of God to mankind in the plural: male and female. Men alone cannot order the world in a way that fully represents God, and women alone cannot either. Only together can they completely carry his rule into creation by both subduing and filling.
Q&A: how not to throw out the biblical baby with the blue pill bathwater?
A Christian reader asks for advice in grappling with unplugging from blue pill conditioning without losing his faith. I suggest that the answers primarily lie in understanding the creation mandate, the fall, and God’s providence. These are key differentiators between the theology of biblical sexuality, and the ideology of red pill sexuality.
When italics won’t cut it
In which I find a difference of emphasis with Doug Wilson, and proceed to emphasize its importance.
Straddling the stallion and the mare
In which I hope to sharpen some iron with Doug Wilson over whether 1 Corinthians 7 really gives a believing spouse license to separate from a nasty piece of work.
It’s OK for a man to be a helpmeet
A progression of observations about Wesley Hill, based on his own testimony, that do not make him look very good.
Baptism as a pledge of allegiance
Baptism is (among other things) a public renouncement of one’s former enslavement to Satan and the other spiritual rulers of this present darkness, and a vow of fealty to the enthroned king, Jesus.
Is lack of healing a failing of the church to exercise authority for their king?
In response to a reader’s question, I suggest a moderate path between taking kingdom theology to humanistic extremes that presume upon God’s authority, and swinging so far the other way that we refuse to represent his authority at all.
What is the kingdom of God? Part 7: where we are now, and what we can look forward to
God’s end-game is a human kingdom that is not just restored, but glorified, with believers taking their place as new sons of God, ruling with Jesus forever.
Is it right to ask God to forgive you again and again, when he has already forgiven you on the cross?
Short answer: yes, we should continually ask God for forgiveness.
Evangelical complementarian leaders mostly just teaching feminism
The Gospel Coalition tries to teach complementarianism by rebranding feminism, and I demur.
Christianity, confidence, and certainty
We can have complete certainty in the existence of God, and a high degree of confidence in the truth of Christianity specifically. This is justified not only by philosophical, prophetical and historical arguments, but especially by the direct knowledge imparted by the Spirit of God.
How to better profit from personal Bible reading
Some thoughts and questions to ponder when seeking to apply the Bible to your own life in your personal devotions.
Calvinism, masculinity and niceness
In some ways, this isn’t really about Calvinism. That’s just how the conversation started. It’s about Christianity abandoning masculinity, and thus replacing love with niceness.
The role of elders according to Scripture
What are they supposed to do, and what kind of people should they be?
What is being born of water in John 3:5?
Is it baptism, amniotic fluid, or is John tracing a trajectory of Old Testament allusion and physical metaphor?
Are the first and second commandments morally distinguishable?
It’s a bit of a trick question when I ask it.
Should women wear head coverings?
For what it’s worth, this is why I don’t read the Gospel Coalition.
Why I love the name Yahweh like I love the name Jesus
If you find it off-putting when Christians speak of Yahweh instead of the LORD, this testimony is for you.
What’s the big deal with translating Yahweh as LORD?
A reader wishes to know.
Humiliating head coverings
Daniel B Wallace thinks we should abide by the principle rather than the practice. I wonder why we can’t do both.
This is what we’re up against
A real-life demonstration of how the wolves have formed a protective circle around the pulpit to prevent the sheep getting near, while they tear all the offensive pages out of the Bible.
Qualifications for elders
David’s shepherd work prepared him for personal combat with a giant.
What is love? Part 6: revisiting the standard definition
What does it mean that God is love, that he loves us, and that we are to love him? In part 6, I return to the broader definition of love, to demonstrate how to presupposes onetogetherness, but also points us to other biblical concepts.
What is love? Part 5: the nature of our love for enemies
What does it mean that God is love, that he loves us, and that we are to love him? In part 5, I consider what loving our enemies means in light of onetogetherness, and whether it entails pacifism as some Christians think.
What is love? Part 4: the nature of our love for God and neighbor
What does it mean that God is love, that he loves us, and that we are to love him? In part 4, I move into examining what God means when he commands us to love him, and each other, in light of love as onetogetherness.
What is love? Part 3: the nature of God’s love toward us
What does it mean that God is love, that he loves us, and that we are to love him? In part 3, I delve into the notion of triune love as “onetogetherness”, and what it therefore means when God says he loves us.
What is love? Part 2: the nature of triune love
What does it mean that God is love, that he loves us, and that we are to love him? In part 2, I sketch out some of the important characteristics of God’s love.
What is love? Part 1: how to find the right answer
What does it mean that God is love, that he loves us, and that we are to love him? In part 1, I explain how we should approach this question, and why.