Not a thing of the senses but of faith

A reader sent me the article “Spiritual Singing” by A. W. Pink,* in which he writes,
The majority of the hymns (if such they are entitled to be called) of the past fifty years are full of maudlin sentimentality instead of divine adoration. They announce our love to God, instead of His to us. [...]

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Goulash

Ben Witherington and Christopher Butler have both responded to the tomb “controversy” being propagated by noted antiquities scholar … archeologist … historian … Hollywood director James Cameron, though I am not sure much more of response is needed than simply, “It’s James Cameron. This “documentary” has been made to entertain Americans. This is not [...]

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Clement of Alexandria, the first fundamentalist

This is priceless.
From The Instructor [Pædagogus] (2.11)

“Neither is it seemly for the clothes to be above the knee, as they say was the case with the Lacedæmonian virgins; nor is it becoming for any part of a woman to be exposed.”
-Clement of Alexandria

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O What Their Joy

 This hymn by Peter Abelard and translated by John Mason Neale (sung to O QUANTA QUALIA) is one my favorites.
O what their joy and their glory must be,
Those endless Sabbaths the blessèd ones see;
Crown for the valiant, to weary ones, rest;
God shall be all, and in all ever blessed.
What are the Monarch, His court, and [...]

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BWV 635

This is an arrangement of a catechism hymn Dies sind die Heiligen zehn gebot (“These are the Ten Commandments”) played by one Sander Booij.

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Why making reverence relative, or even undefinable, is such a problem for a Christian

One time I was speaking with a young woman who was an advocate of praise and worship (P&W). In fact, she was on a P&W team for her church. When I told her that I objected to P&W, she asked why. I told her, among other things, that it was irreverent. She wondered how I [...]

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Greg Linscott gets his man

Manchild, that is…
Congratulations, Greg and Jen, on the birth of Reginald Conrad!
Psalm 144:12-15 (ESV)

May our sons in their youth
be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars
cut for the structure of a palace;
may our granaries be full,
providing all kinds of produce;
may our sheep bring forth thousands
and ten thousands in our fields;
may our cattle be heavy [...]

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Immoderate Hash

Have you heard about B-flat?
I’m not too familiar with Wallace and company’s NET Bible, but they do offer a toolbar for your browser. Their “NeXt” Bible, despite its cheezy name, also looks like a helpful resource. And if anyone wanted to get their Diglot (English/Greek Bible) for me, I would not complain at all.
For those [...]

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We should not rashly or perversely abuse his Holy Word and worshipful mysteries either for the sake of our own ambition, or greed, or amusement

Today I continue this little unplanned series on the third commandment. A few days ago we had Childs and yesterday we had Mohler. Today I have a selection from Calvin’s Institues of the Christian Religion interpreting this commandment, “You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain”:
The purpose of this commandment is: [...]

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There is no revealed musical taste, but there is a revealed Name

A couple days ago I posted something from Brevard Childs and others on the third commandment. Today I have a bit more. Last fall Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. preached this SBTS chapel message on “The Third Commandment.” He criticized the typical contemporary evangelical understanding that applies this commandment merely to a prohibition on a [...]

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If God Himself Be For Me

by Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676)
If God Himself be for me, I may a host defy,
For when I pray, before me my foes confounded fly.
If Christ, my Head and Master, befriend me from above,
What foe or what disaster can drive me from his love?
I build on this foundation, that Jesus and His blood
Alone are my salvation, [...]

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Childs (and others) on the third commandment

Is the third commandment about not cussing? Well, every ninny knows not to be profane. Perhaps there is a bit more to it. Brevard Childs summarizes the meaning of the third commandment this way:
The initial problem of this commandment turns on its translation. An important ancient tradition renders the sentence: ‘You shall not swear falsely’ [...]

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CCW Podcast 12: Dagg’s Origin & Authority of the Bible, part 1

I am taking a short break from Machen for a two part series reading Dagg’s Origin and Authority of the Bible. Dagg was a 19th Baptist pastor and educator. If you want to read more about Dagg, I recommend Mark Dever’s article in Theologians of the Baptist Tradition (eds. George and Dockery).

For more information, you [...]

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We can distinguish between higher and lower cultures

Like a breath of fresh air, T. S. Eliot puts it so plainly:
A new civilisation is always being made: the state of affairs that we enjoy today illustrates what happens to the aspirations of each age for a better one. The most important question that we can ask, is whether there is any permanent standard, [...]

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