I have just recently finished my one year program at Toronto Baptist Seminary, and I’ve produced four essays for four different courses that I thought would be a good idea to publish online because of their value in Theology and Apologetics. I hope people find these articles useful in helping to better explain the issues at hand.
To the cross I look And to the cross I cling Of its suffering I do drink Of its work I do sing On it my Savior Both bruised and crushed Showed that God is love And God is just
At the cross you beckon me You draw me gently to my knees And I am lost for words, so lost in love I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrendered
What a priceless gift Undeserved life Have I been given Through Christ crucified You called me out of death You called me into life And I was under your wrath Now through the cross I’m reconciled
At the cross you beckon me You draw me gently to my knees And I am lost for words, so lost in love I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrendered
In awe of the cross I must confess How wondrous your redeeming love And how great is your faithfulness
At the cross you beckon me You draw me gently to my knees And I am lost for words, so lost in love I am sweetly broken, wholly surrendered
How Deep The Father’s Love For Us ~ Phillips, Craig and Dean
How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
And make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which marr the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory
Behold the man upon the cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”
In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
Matthew 27:37-42 (New International Version)
It wasn’t the nails that held him there, but, as the famous John Newton hymn goes, “It was my sin that held him there, until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life….” Despite the mocking challenge of the chief priests to get down and save himself, he stayed on the cross. He stayed there, held, not by nails, but by his own will.
“…I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
John 10:17-18 (New International Version)
Therefore, be thankful this Easter, for your Lord who laid down his life has risen for you who trust in him.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
I just finished listening to this video of Bruce Ware laying out the problems with Arminianism’s view of libertarian free will and presenting a positive biblical case for Calvinistic Compatibilism. He argues his case with clarity and persuasion, and I think everybody should take a listen.
For those who are not familiar with Louis Ruggiero, he runs an apologetics website called the King Messiah Project. He is quite Arminian in his theology, and has been charged by some of being a Pelagian (although he denies this charge). He is known primarily for his diatribes against Calvinism. For example, some time back, he and Matt Slick tried to set up a debate on Total Depravity, but the debate was scrapped because Lou would not stick to the topic at hand. More recently, he has published a book called The God of Calvinism: A Rebuttal of Reformed Theology. He attempts to present it as a rebuttal to Dr. White’s The Potter’s Freedom, and interestingly enough, the foreword is written by none other than Ergun M. Caner. Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of the book with me right now (although one of my friends who has dialogued with Ruggiero before does, and perhaps I can borrow it from him). So, until I can get my hands on the book, I will instead deal with an article he has posted on his website titled, Refuting the Tulip With the Fear of the LORD.[1]
So I recently discovered some interesting corners of a web site I was aware of but never really explored before—Reddit.com. And I may have continued in my ignorance about this site, except that one of my various alerts told me that someone there had directed attention to the Aristophrenium. After I checked it out—someone pointing atheists to an article of mine and some colourful commentary following—I was intrigued to find out what other type of sections the site had besides Atheism.
One section that caught my interest (for the time being) is DebateAChristian, and one of the threads I chose to engage was titled, “More un-Christian advice from the word of God” by a gentleman we might safely assume is not a believer who presented what he considered a challenge for Christianity. He cited 2 John 1:9-11 and then contrasted it against Luke 5:29-32, following it with his challenging question, “How are we supposed to call sinners to repentance if we cannot welcome them?”
What follows is the brief conversation between Basilides and myself. (To be updated as the conversation progresses, so check back.)
I recently ran into this video by a fellow named Farhan who attempts a response to David Wood’s video entitled How Can God Die? I have decided to post a video response of my own, so here it is:
Please excuse the less than perfect video editing. I used a different editing program than I usually use for making this video.
I have a better idea for your consideration, Rick Warren:
I challenge any church in America to match the spiritual maturity, godliness and commitment of Jesus Christ.
And when you realize you don’t, repent daily.
~*~
(Rick Warren subsequently deleted this tweet. But since he did so without any comment, it is impossible to know his reason for doing so. We might pray that it was because he was convicted by the Spirit and repented. Nevertheless, it is illustrative as an object lesson.)
The Plumb Line Collective – Repent For the Glory of God
Are you right with the God who’s righteous ‘Cause the dangerous duty of delight is Binding ‘cause his beauty’s the brightest If you search the Scripts you’ll find this He’s holy and beautiful! See the Throne! Wholly inscrutable, ‘cause he alone Is solely immutable! It’s irrefutable Indisputable: delight is dutiful So in response to the King’s royalty It’s suitable to give supreme loyalty Adoringly; lay low at his say-so Elohim’s authority! You’ll perish with inferior pleasure ‘Cause you don’t cherish the superior Treasure
The gates of Heaven I would never make it in With a holy God who is forever hating sin Used to love always committing the same sins Then I got saved and I ain’t been the same since Yeah I’m joyous that I’m saved but I’m still grieved ‘Cause I got friends and family that don’t believe But I wanna cry for them, wishing I could die for them Praying 2 Timothy 2:25 for them Praying one day you’ll hate your sin Read 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 God is sovereign, but it’s a choice you make So please don’t wait until it’s too late I don’t wanna leave you with the wrong conclusion ‘Cause God might send you strong delusion Don’t think he won’t do it—man, that’s erroneous For the record, just check it in 2 Thessalonians
Bow to the Way! Love to hate sin! Now is the day of salvation Don’t follow Satan; he’s the Great Deceiver You don’t wanna repent; he don’t want you to either Repentance is the the main thing you need to ask for Heed what Peter was pleading in Acts 4 Stay up all night praying ‘til you pass out ‘Cause all who come to him he’ll never cast out Revelation 3:19—tell us what he meant He loves with rebukes; be zealous and repent Is there anything we gotta tell more ‘Cause there ain’t nothing on Earth that’s worth going to hell for Gotta chance to repent so you better take it You wanna wait another day, but you might not make it Please consider these 16 lines Don’t be those in Revelation 16:9
