Athanasius wrote a letter to Marcellinus regarding the Psalms...
For those interested in Patristics (the study of the Early Church fathers) and its relationship to modern day Roman Catholicism, there is an excellent must read article by TurretinFan here.
There's something about Mary?
Who is Mary, the mother of Jesus? According to the Roman Catholic Church, she was the only person other than Jesus who was born without original sin, she remained a virgin throughout her life, she was assumed into heaven, she is to receive prayer and devotion, she is a mediatrix between God and man, and she dispenses grace to those in need. In their reaction to Roman Catholic excesses, many Protestants have ignored Mary altogether. In this series, R.C. Sproul explains what the Bible teaches us about Mary, separating truth from falsehood, and giving appropriate honor where honor is due.
Five 23-minute messages on CD:
Hail Mary?
A Model of Submission
Mary's Magnificent Savior
Listen to Him!
Questions and Answers
Available for any sized gift to Ligonier Ministries until Sunday March 21, 2010 here.
Hallelujah, What a Savior!
If a judge acts justly, no crime is committed. It is in fact the judge's job to be just. He can actually lose his right to judge if he fails to dispense justice. Yet, here's the amazing Gospel truth - all the sins of everyone who would ever believe in Christ were transferred to our Substitute and the justice we deserved fell upon Him instead on the cross. We not only received mercy (Christ bore our punishment) and not justice, but amazingly, He took our justice.. He bore our sins in His body on the tree, He was punished in our place. God's great mercy is shown in not giving us the justice we deserved, but God went even further and then gave us GRACE because of Christ, as the very righteousness of Christ - a life that kept the law of God perfectly for more than 30 years, blameless in thought, word and deed - was credited to our account. This grace is not a heavenly substance of some kind, but is Christ Himself, of whom the Father said, "This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!" and what flows to us is totally unmerited favor - the very righteousness of the perfect God-Man, so that we can stand before God, right and clean and pure in His sight. God is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Hear the Judge's words to every believer in Christ, "I declare you just in My sight, not guilty, reckoned righteous with the righteousness of My beloved Son, and this is your standing before Me, forever!" Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The perfect Lamb took our place and bore our shame and punishment and His perfect, flawless and beautiful righteousness is now ours by God's grace alone received through faith in Christ alone, all to the glory of God alone. Hallelujah, what a Savior! - John Samson
It must be difficult in America...
An American pastor was visiting the pastor of a Church in a country where Christians are under heavy persecution. The US pastor said, "It must be so very difficult to pastor the church here." The other pastor replied, "Not so, it must be difficult in America. Here we know who the true Christians are."
Be killing sin or sin will be killing you
John Piper on the mortification of sin (approx. 62 minutes)
Ezekiel 18 and the doctrine of Original Sin
An objection to the biblical doctrine of Original Sin is sometimes raised by citing Ezekiel 18:20, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."
Here is an excellent short article on this subject dealing with the verse in its proper context. Once again we see the value of seeing a verse in its proper setting rather than in isolation.
I love the Trinity
Do you have a firm grasp of the doctrine of the Trinity? Can you defend it? Why even bother? Hear why the Trinity should matter to us from my friend Dr. James White as he explains this precious Bible doctrine on the 3/3/10 airdate (2nd hour) program here. The program lasts approximately 37 minutes, 30 seconds (commercials are already taken out). - JS
Quote from "Knowing God"
"[God] shows his freedom and lordship by discriminating between sinners, causing some to hear the gospel while others do not hear it, and moving some of those who hear it to repentance while leaving others in their unbelief, thus teaching his saints that he owes mercy to none and that it is entirely of his grace, not at all through their own effort, that they themselves have found life." - J.I. Packer, Knowing God
What Do We Mean When We Declare that Human Beings Have No Free Will?
What Do We Mean When We Declare that Human Beings Have No Free Will? @Monergism.com
We must bring clarity when we declare that man has no “free will” because many persons confuse coercion with necessity. Some believe that when we say people have no free will we somehow mean that their will is coerced from the outside into acting a certain way. But this could not be further from the truth. Apart from the Holy Spirit no one comes to Christ because people are in bondage to a corruption of nature... so they sin, not due to coercion, but of a necessity of their fallen nature. In his very helpful book, The Bondage and Liberation of the Will John Calvin clarifies" More...
All Preachers Should Get A Short Course in Logic
It is an amazingly high calling to be a teacher of God's word. It carries with it both great privilege and great responsibility. It is a holy and awesome task.
I believe it would help every teacher of the Bible to have even a short course in logic. I need it. We all need it. It definitely would stop some ridiculous stuff being taught.
In the realm of logic, I am very much a layman. However, I do know this - in logic we learn the difference between a necessary implication (because something is explicitly stated) and a statement that is a possible implication (but not necessary).
An example of a necessary implication of a statement:
Statement 1. If it snows - the school will close.
Implication - It is snowing, therefore the school is closed.
There is no wiggle room here - if the first sentence is true, then the second sentence (the implication) necessarily follows.
On the other hand, here's an example of a possible implication (that may or may not be true):
Statement 2. Timothy will work at his father's farm this summer.
Implication: Timothy will work at both his father's farm and at the grocery store.
Here if the first sentence is true, then the second sentence in the statement MAY be true, but it does not follow from the first. He may work in two different places - this is true, but that is not something that can be verified from the first sentence. It is a possible but not a necessary implication.
Here's where I go with all this. We as God's ministers should only preach and teach necessary implications as doctrine - that which is explicitly stated. Doctrine should never be built on POSSIBLE implications of a text, but NECESSARY implications - this is the essence of exegesis, drawing out from the text what is actually there. The opposite is eisegesis, reading into the text things that are never actually stated.
Just exercising this principle of logic would serve us all so well, especially over passages such as Hebrews 6:4-9:
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