from schaeffer's letters

"What we must ask the Lord for is a work of the Spirit . . . to stand on a very thin line: in other words, to state intellectually (as well as understand, though not completely) the intellectual reality of that which God is and what God has revealed in the objectively inspired Bible; and then to live moment by moment in the reality of a restored relationship with the God who is there, and to act in faith upon what we believe in our daily lives."


--Francis Schaeffer, Letters of Francis A. Schaeffer: Spiritual Reality in the Personal Christian Life.  

spurgeon on election

"So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills."  (Romans 9:18 ESV)


"I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite sure that if God had not chosen me I should never have chosen him; and I am sure he chose me before I was born, or else he never would have chosen me afterwards; and he must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why he should have looked upon me with special love." 


(Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students)

he loves me just the way I am

My friend Harry keeps me supplied with theologically-pertinent comics.  


Today it is the Calvin & Hobbes version of "God loves me just the way I am, so [therefore] I don't need to change anything."

The first statement, of course, does not imply the second.  He may receive me in his love, mercy and grace, but he loves me too much to let me stay the way I am.  


"Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV)

dogma that is drama

Trevin Wax shared a good quote recently from Dorothy Sayers' Creed or Chaos?

Official Christianity, of late years, has been having what is known as a bad press. We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine—dull dogma as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama.

It is the dogma that is the drama—not beautiful phrases, nor comforting sentiments, nor vague aspirations to loving-kindness and uplift, nor the promise of something nice after death—but the terrifying assertion that the same God who made the world, lived in the world and passed through the grave and gate of death. Show that to the heathen, and they may not believe it; but at least they may realize that here is something that man might be glad to believe.

--Dorothy Sayers, cited at The Gospel Coalition.

in search of adam

Here is Christianity Today's report on the state of the debate: "The Search for the Historical Adam" found here. 


I appreciate Tim Keller's evaluation...

Another participant, much-respected local pastor Tim Keller, offered a workshop paper laying out in irenic but firm terms a conservative stance on Paul's view of the first humans. "[Paul] most definitely wanted to teach us that Adam and Eve were real historical figures. When you refuse to take a biblical author literally when he clearly wants you to do so, you have moved away from the traditional understanding of the biblical authority," Keller wrote. "If Adam doesn't exist, Paul's whole argument—that both sin and grace work 'covenantally'—falls apart. You can't say that 'Paul was a man of his time' but we can accept his basic teaching about Adam. If you don't believe what he believes about Adam, you are denying the core of Paul's teaching."

powerful