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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Apologetics

Do I Have to go to Church?

Imagine driving up to Canada and stopping at a restaurant to get a bite to eat. While you’re sitting at the table, an enthusiastic young man comes over to you and says in an excited voice, "Are you an American?" You reply, "Yes, I am." "Wonderful! I have so little…

by Mark HorneNovember 15, 1999
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Biblical Horizons

The Prayer of Manasseh

1 O Lord Almighty, God of our fathers, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and of their righteous posterity; 2 You who have made heaven and earth with all their order; 3 who have shackled the sea by Your word ofcommand, who have confined the deep and sealed it with…

by James B. JordanOctober 4, 1999
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Biblical Horizons

The Apocrypha: Bel and the Dragon

Part 1: 1When King Astyages was laid with his fathers, Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom. 2 And Daniel was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of his friends. 3Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they spent on it twelve bushels…

by James B. JordanOctober 4, 1999
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Church Government

Ministers and Ruling Elders Do Not Occupy the Same Office

This debate has been going on for some time. But with few exceptions, almost all explanations of Presbyterian church polity claim that a “church” (meaning a single local congregation) must be ruled by “a plurality of elders” of whom one may happen to teach and work full-time doing so. This…

by Mark HorneSeptember 2, 1999
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Biblical Horizons

The Apocrypha

I hope that those who are advocating reading more of the ancient, "classical" literature of the ancient, "classical" world, are also promoting the Apocrypha. I’m afraid that many Christians don’t realize what great literature much of the Apocrypha is. It is not, of course, inspired by God, and perhaps because…

by James B. JordanAugust 4, 1999
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Church Government

What is Presbyterianism?

PRESBYTERIANISM is a term referring to a system of government in the Church. It is commonly contrasted with Congregationalism and Episcopalianism. Presbyter is a Greek word that is translated as “elder” in our English New Testaments. Thus, Presbyterianism is commonly defined as “rule by elders.” This is a misleading definition.…

by Mark HorneJune 5, 1999

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Not Like a Nuptial

In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing , there are two wedding scenes. The first is the wedding of Claudio and Hero, and it's a disaster. Claudio has been convinced by the evil Don John that Hero, his finacee, has been meeting with other men during their engagement. He thinks he’s…

December 23, 2015

Muslims, Christians, and the Gods

The controversy over Wheaton College's Larycia Hawkins, put on administrative leave because she claims that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, took a higher profile with a Washington Post piece by Yale's Miroslav Volf. Volf argues that there is no theological justification for Wheaton's action: “Her suspension is not…

December 23, 2015
Sexuality

Reversing the Revolution

Jeremy Neill is currently bullish on the sexual revolution: “If I were a broker and the sexual revolution were a stock, at this point, I would still be urging my customers to buy shares” ( Public Discourse ). But it won't last forever. No revolution does. Someday, the children of…

December 22, 2015

Articulus stantis et cadentis?

John Webster offers a subtle, careful assessment of the claim that justification is the articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae, the article of doctrine on which the church stands or falls ( God Without Measure ). Webster worries that this slogan can “distort exegetical or dogmatic proportion” (168). That happens, he…

December 22, 2015

Restoring Zion

According to Micah, Yahweh begins to restore Zion by gathering the lame, outcasts, afflicted, all who has suffered the invasion of Assyria and been devastated by the nations. Like a shepherd gathering His flock, Yahweh is going to gather the remnant. In Micah, as in other places in the OT,…

December 22, 2015

Mark of the Beast

GB Caird ( Revelation of Saint John , 174-176) offers a neat summary of the options for interpreting the mark. The number appears to be a gematria, a numerical value given to a name, popular in the first century. It is the numerical value of the name “Neron Caesar,” but…

December 21, 2015

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