Tozer on amusement and entertainment

In his 47th sermon on John, “Let not your heart be troubled,”* Tozer has a few good things to say about amusement and entertainment.
I believe that amusements were created by the devil to take the minds of dying men off of their dying. I believe that entertainment and amusements are the work of the enemy [...]

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Theophilus on the shape of the earth

If you think fundamentalists have problems with science, try this:
“Writers who do not know these things want to call the world spherical or to compare it with a cube. How can they speak truthfully in these matters when they do not know how the world was created or how it was inhabited? As men gradually [...]

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How carnal men worship

“Carnal men, that know nothing of the other, whose souls are not at all moulded or affected by any pure act [...]

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Theophilus of Antioch on the veracity of Scriptures

Theophilus of Antioch believed that the prophets, in contrast with the poets and philosophers, were “possessed by a holy Spirit” (πνευματοφόροι πνεύματος ἁγίου) and were inspired and taught by God. Because they were righteous persons, the Lord saw fit to use them to receive his Wisdom. This Wisdom enabled them to speak of such matters [...]

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Bach psalmody

I have been systematically “ripping” all my CDs onto my computer for some time now (I am not yet complete). Nevertheless, I have nevertheless built a couple of playlists of particular themes (Psalms, hymns, chant, Bach, etc). A couple weeks ago I was playing my “everything Bach playlist” on my Windows Media Player at home, [...]

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Weekly pithiness (6/25/06)

“The Son of God died. It is immediately credible because it is foolish. He was buried and rose again. It is certain because it is impossible.” – Tertullian (Incarnation V) for the week of June 25, 2006

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O God, thou art the Father

Columba, 6th century missionary to Scotland, wrote this hymn.
O God, thou art the Father
Of all that have believed,
From whom all hosts of angels
Have life and power received.
O God, thou art the Maker
Of all created things,
The righteous Judge of judges,
The almighty King of kings.
High in the heavenly Zion
Thou reignest God adored,
And in the coming glory
Thou shalt [...]

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Video of Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations

Go here.

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Some people would rather die than be called a ‘fanatic’

A. W. Tozer said the following in his sermon "In the beginning was the Word," the second in his sermon series on John. Tozer said that he was called a fanatic because of his emphasis on the supernatural fullness of the Holy Spirit (which he describes as an accusation of "stigmata"), his conservative (a.k.a. "fundamentalist") [...]

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What the early church thought about dancing

Because I like to beat dead horses, I will continue the theme of the past few days with a few thoughts from the church fathers on dancing. This will hopefully illustrate at very least just how much baggage many today bring to the text when discussing these matters. I do not intend to prove my [...]

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Ad Pitchford

After noting the unusal length of this response to my guest "Pitchford," I thought I would promote it to a main post. You can read Pitchford's original query here, which originally appeared on my "The SBC has issues" post.
________
I will begin by saying that you in fact do not have a complete understanding of my [...]

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Are you a Yankee or a Rebel?

You can take the test for yourself here. The site says, "The test is based on research by the Harvard Computer Society enhanced by Dr. Beard's own research here at alphaDictionary."
My result: 48% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom.
That has to be some mistake.

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Arius knew the Bible

This section, cited from J. N. D. Kelly's Early Christian Doctrines, reminds us that heretics cite the Scriptures to develop their aberrant theology, just as the orthodox do to develop their understanding of the true apostolic teaching. Moreover, the Arians used language very similar to the orthodox Trinitarian formula. They were so persuasive that they [...]

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Early Christian hymn

GREEK EVENING HYMN 
Gracious light of the holy glory
      of the holy, blessed,
      immortal, and heavenly Father,
      Jesus Christ!
Having come to the setting of the sun,
      seeing the evening light,
    [...]

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