Bobby Howell’s piece yesterday suggested to me an article I wrote last fall, “Why Are the Politicians I Like So Disappointing?” In that article, I observed (from listening to conservative political podcasts) how dependent conservative politicians are on Natural Law. Natural Law is almost a synonym for General Revelation, that is, God’s revelation of himself…
“Long-held Christian beliefs about everything from the nature of God to morality have been reshaped and have become unimportant to many people.”1 Mark Dever’s statement is a sad testament to the reality of the church today. As we continue our discussion on the topic of the health of the church, we must consider the beliefs…
This week our family had the sweet privilege of witnessing the marriage of our youngest son to a wonderful Christian young woman. It was a joyful time for all of us. Marrying someone is taking a huge risk. Unfortunately, there are many who want all the benefits of marriage without marriage itself because they believe…
A recent addition to our site is our Baptist History page. Our blog focuses on making Biblical applications to modern life from a fundamentalist Baptist perspective. An important component of that perspective is Baptist History, and especially our history as the FBFI. Dr. Larry Oats is the curator of this portion of our site. We…
Introduction This is the second of three articles exploring these truths: Those who endure to the end are true believers (first article). Church discipline reveals true saving faith. Levels of growth vary between believers. Life “Baggage” and hindrances can make change difficult. The goal in pondering these four truths is to better understand what our…
I was raised in what is called a ‘holiness’ denomination (of the Pentecostal variety) which meant that our church took seriously the Bible’s commands to live distinctive lives (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Peter 1:16). While I am genuinely thankful for this emphasis and the character-shaping effect it had on me, unfortunately the form…
A recurring topic of conversation among Christians is the loss of young people who grew up in church. Some want to cast this as a particularly “fundamentalist” or “evangelical” or “[insert-name-of-denomination-here]” problem. A recent headline, for example: “Why some younger evangelicals are leaving the faith.” The article is unsurprising as far as it goes, but…
1 Timothy 5:1-16 The local church is not an interest group, it is a family—a household. Families are intergenerational. In fact, the intergenerational relationships in families are what families are all about. However, there can be conflicts between the competing interests of the generations in the local church family, so Paul gives Timothy (1 Timothy…
The Disciple-Maker’s Challenge Everyone who seeks to make disciples in obedience to Jesus Christ faces the same difficulty: We all try to discern whether or not those we lead to profess Jesus Christ have genuinely believed. None of us wants to give an unbeliever false hope of salvation if they have not yet repented and…
“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let…