Pastor Mark Dever writes that Southern Baptists made a huge mistake at their convention in Greensboro, South Carolina when they refused to consider a resolution calling for intergrity in church membership. He writes: When a question was raised about the propriety of allowing those who are able to attend church, but who never do to remain members of our churches, the answer was given that this was in order to keep the names as “prospects”. Presumably, the intention is that our prior contact with them gives us an excuse for contacting them personally. . . For me to allow my local congregation to continue on, with people in membership regularly…
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Review of Richard Bauckham’s The Theology of the Book of Revelation
Rudolf Bultmann famously derided the biblical book of Revelation as “weakly Christianized Judaism” (Theology of the New Testament, 2:175). But, as Richard Bauckham points out, this phrase “betrays the influence of the tendency of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Christianity to deny its Jewish roots. It makes the extraordinary suggestion that only what is not Jewish is really Christian and that Christianity somehow came into being by negating Judaism. We should now be able to recognize . . . the unconscious tendency to anti-Semitism in this approach” (pp. 147-48). The anti-Semitic approach is not the one that Bauckham himself follows in his helpful little book The Theology of the Book of…
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Who Needs Apologetics When You Have Chick Tracts?
Who needs apologetics when you have Jack Chick’s Tracts at your disposal?Perhaps you have never heard of these little publications, but they are fascinating little pieces of literature. Chick Tracts are miniature “gospel” comic books. I first came across these tracts when I was in high school, and they immediately piqued my interest because they had a knack for the sensational–even depicting people burning in hell who had rejected Christ. I have since come to the conclusion that the best use of these little booklets is to set them forth as illustrations of how not to share the gospel. For this reason, I still use one of Chick’s tracts every…
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Why Are Emergent Pastors Reading N. T. Wright?
For those of you who think I’m too critical of N. T. Wright (see previous post), I direct you to Jim Hamilton’s recent evaluation of Wright’s theology. Jim and I have discussed this many times, and we are on the same page when it comes to Wright. There is much good, but there are also some things to be concerned about.Go check out Jim’s post: Why Are Emergent Pastors Reading N. T. Wright?.
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John Piper Is Back (with Guns Blazing)
Maybe you don’t like the war-metaphor “with Guns Blazing,” but it is a biblical one (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). John Piper is back in the pulpit after a five month sabbatical, and in his first sermon he goes to war with the New Perspective on Paul and its denial of the imputed righteousness of Christ.In particular, Piper confronts the imputation-denying theology of N. T. Wright.
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Baptism and Church Membership
You can be a lot of things, but you can’t be Baptist if you allow people to join your church who have not been baptized. That is why I am happy to see that the elders of Henderson Hills Baptist church in Edmond, Oklahoma have backed away from their proposal to admit into membership believers who have not been baptized.The Baptist Press reports: Elders of Henderson Hills Baptist Church decided against proceeding with a church-wide vote July 30 on a proposal to remove baptism as a requirement for church membership. . . Henderson Hills pastor Dennis Newkirk, in an extended entry on his weblog July 31, stated that the church’s…
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Bessie Marie Criswell, R.I.P.
“Mrs. W.A. (Betty) Criswell – “Mrs. C” as she was affectionately called – taught the Bible for over 70 years, most of those here at First Baptist Church of Dallas. She devoted herself to Dr. Criswell’s gospel ministry during his life, and after his death continued to preserve his legacy through First Baptist Church and The Criswell College.”Mrs. C was a blessing and a beacon to all who knew her, as well as the many thousands who listened from her radio audience. We mourn her loss as a church family and staff and celebrate her homegoing to see her Savior face to face, Whom she has so wonderfully served.” –From…
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Praying Beyond the Sick List
Does our corporate prayer get bogged down by praying for the sick? I was helped immensely by an article that I read today that addresses this question. I want to commend the article to you. It’s by a Christian counselor named David Powlison, and the name of the article is “Praying Beyond Health Concerns.”Powlison argues that our prayers can get bogged down and self-centered if all we do is run through a laundry list of health concerns without also focusing on Kingdom priorities. Powlison argues that we need to pray for the sick, but we need to be doing so much more. Here’s an excerpt: Many pastoral prayers don’t go…
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David Dockery Responds to NY Times on Baptist Colleges
Last week, I commented on an article that appeared in the New York Times about the battle that’s going on for Baptist colleges in various states around the country. In a Baptist Press piece today, David Dockery also responds to the New York Times. The integrated vision of faith and learning that Dockery commends is the ideal that we all should be striving for. Therefore, I recommend his article to you: “Christian commitment & intellectual inquiry.”
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Is Embryonic Stem-Cell Research Murder?
Does the destruction of human embryos amount to murder? White House spokesman Tony Snow put this question on the front burner last week when he described President Bush’s position as follows: “The president believes strongly that for the purpose of research it’s inappropriate for the federal government to finance something that many people consider murder. He’s one of them. The simple answer is he thinks murder’s wrong” (source).