Two of the four gospels mention in their account of the Triumphal Entry that Jesus rode upon a colt “on which no one has ever yet sat” (Mark 11:2; see also Luke 19:29). The colt is a fulfilment of prophecy (Zechariah 9:9), but what’s the significance of a new colt? Perhaps it alludes to Jesus’ divine control over nature, similar to the calming of the storm (Mark 4:35-41). More likely, it calls back to the Old Testament, where only those animals who had never known a yoke were fit for divine service (Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3). In calling for this kind of animal, Jesus is asserting the divinity of his mission, and possibly hinting at his coming atonement for sins– he too was to be a sacrifice without blemish.
CALVINIST: A Review
Les Lanphere offered a free rental of his new documentary CALVINIST to anyone who would write a review of it on their blog. I wanted to watch the movie, so I took the bait. (“What are you going to say if you end up hating it?” Kara asked me. “Have you ever read my blog?” I answered her.)
“It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy…”
If I were to write a story about a faerie wood like George Macdonald did, I think I’d have my young Anodos travel to a section of the wood where the forest itself, like a great sylvan phoenix, would seem to catch fire at the end of every year, leaving only bones and ash. And, like the phoenix, it would rise again from its own remains at the beginning of the next year, clothed in green plumage once more. Continue reading ““It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy…””
Fighting Sin in Bunches
Doug Wilson has said that virtues, like vices, come in bunches. Continue reading “Fighting Sin in Bunches”
Fight Before You Fight
In reality, there are a thousand, thousand good reasons not to sin, to be holy, to pursuit purity; and there are no good reasons to sin. Our sin problem, then, concerns the word “good.” “Good” is a word concerned, here, in the making of moral value judgments. However, that faculty within us which makes those judgments is broken. This, therefore, gives us a problem with the second word, “reason.” “Reason” has to do with rational decision making. You and I are, sadly, incapable of true rational in this process because we love sin, our faculty for making moral value judgments being broken. Continue reading “Fight Before You Fight”
Physician, Heal Thyself
Once there was a nation that may or may not have been built on Christian values, but certainly contained a lot of Christians. In fact, even the unbelievers in this society were non-Christians, not non-Buddhists or non-Muslims. Their values were Christian (or at least Christian-esque), and their culture took on a certain flavor which was decidedly influenced by aspects of Christianity.
This state of affairs continued for some time, until one day it didn’t. The Old Guard had gotten too old, and the New Guard decided that they had had enough of a mildly Christian-themed America. So they took down the old decor, changed a few slogans, and generally redecorated the place. They threw out the old stodgy puritan morals and came up with beautiful new ones, like Tolerate Everyone and Love Without Discrimination and Don’t You Dare Tell Me I’m Wrong. It was a shining city on a hill, this new utopia. And they all lived happily ever after.
Except they haven’t. Continue reading “Physician, Heal Thyself”
“I have made, and I will bear”
Isaiah 46:1-4
“I have made, and I will bear”
April 23, 2017
Denny Chapel
Cultus and Culture 