The White Horse Inn – The Word Made Flesh

      

The Word Made Flesh

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Christianity is the religion of a book, and this particular book contains a good deal of words to be read, reflected upon, and applied. But God’s word contains more than instructions on how we should all behave. Ultimately it points to a person, the Word of God made flesh, who descended from heaven in order to save the fallen race of mankind.

RECENT BROADCASTS

The Word Made Flesh – 12/20/2009

The End of Secularism – 12/13/2009

What is Discipleship? – 12/6/2009

Christianity Confronts Islam – 11/29/2009

On the Origins of Easter

Building Old School Churches Blog’s

by Andrew Webb

On the Origins of Easter

I noted in a previous post that Samuel Miller, the first professor of ecclesiastical history and Church Government at Princeton, New Jersey had been asked by the Presbyterian Board of Publication to write a book on what Presbyterians believed. When that book was published in 1835 it included Miller’s detailed explanations for why, as he put it, “Presbyterians do not observe Holy Days.” With those explanations, Miller also included a scholarly explanation of the origins of two of the most widely celebrated Holy Days amongst Christians – Christmas and Easter. Having previously included an explanation of the origins of Christmas, I thought it would be worthwhile to also include an explanation for the origins of Easter, drawing on what Miller, the early British church historian the Venerable Bede (673- 735), and Socrates of Constantinople  (b.380 – d.?) wrote on the subject:

Miller writes: “The festival of Easter, no doubt, was introduced in the second century, in place of the Passover, and in accommodation to the same Jewish prejudice which had said, even during the apostolic age, “Except ye be circumcised, after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” Hence, it was generally called pascha, and pasch, in conformity with the name of the Jewish festival, whose place it took.  It seems to have received the title of Easter in Great Britain, from the circumstance, that, when Christianity was introduced into that country, a great Pagan festival, celebrated at the same season of the year, in honour of the Pagan goddess Eostre, yielded its place to the Christian festival, which received, substantially, the name of the Pagan deity.  The title of Easter, it is believed, is seldom used but by Britons and their descendants.”

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The Heidelcast – #13 Why the Focus on the Confessions?

Heidelcast Episode 13: The Confessions and Sola Scriptura

Posted on December 20, 2009 by R. Scott Clark

Heidelcast Episode 13 Dec 21 2009 Why the Focus on the Confessions?

The Heidelcast answers the question, “Why the focus on the confessions?” Doesn’t a focus on the confessions tend to unseat the doctrine of sola Scriptura?

The HeidelBlog – The Trouble with TULIPS

The Trouble with TULIPS

Posted on December 19, 2009 by R. Scott Clark

When the young neo-Evangelicals, Billy Graham, Carl F. H. Henry, & co. established Christianity Today in 1956 they did so to offer an alternative to the more liberal Christian Century magazine. In its early years there was a strong confessionally Reformed presence in the magazine as writers such as Gordon Clark, (Henry’s mentor), Corneilius Van Til, and G. C. Berkouwer appeared regularly. Further, though not confessionally or ecclesiastically Reformed, Henry was influenced by Reformed theology. In the fifty-three years since the relationship between broader evangelicalism and confessional Reformed Christianity has changed markedly.

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More from Dr. James White on Manhattan Declaration

The Manhattan Declaration: Review of an Interview with J. Ligon Duncan

12/18/2009 – James White

We started half an hour early yesterday on the Dividing Line so that I could play the majority of the comments made by J. Ligon Duncan in defense of his signing of the Manhattan Declaration. We also read through some material by Dr. Nielsen who likewise signed. Hopefully we found a solid ground upon which to speak to the issue without losing our balance and throwing such brothers as Dr. Duncan or Dr. Mohler under the bus. Took a few calls toward the end of the program as well.

 Here’s the program.

Measuring Oral Roberts’ Influence

Dr. John MacArthur examines Oral Roberts’ Influence

Measuring Oral Roberts’ Influence.

Good post on the observance of Holy Days

Building Old School Churches Blog’s

WHY DO PRESBYTERIANS OBSERVE HOLY DAYS?

WHY DO PRESBYTERIANS OBSERVE HOLY DAYS?

Dr. Samuel Miller, Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government at Princeton Seminary wrote confidently in 1835 “Presbyterians do not observe Holy Days.” ¹ Yet some 164 years after the book in which Miller made that bold declaration was published, an informal survey of 30 churches in the Presbyterian Church in America, the largest of the theologically conservative Presbyterian bodies in the United States, indicated that 83% of the churches do regularly celebrate Holy Days.

What happened in those intervening 164 years? Did the practice of Presbyterians change significantly in that time or was Miller’s declaration inaccurate when he made it? What might have brought about such a radical change if it did in fact occur? This essay will seek to answer these questions. Because of space constraints, considerably more time will be spent examining the history of the development of Presbyterian practice in the United States regarding Holy Days than in examining the theological foundations for that practice. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to begin by discussing the theological reasoning behind Dr. Miller’s declaration.

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Another Good Post on the observance of Holy Days

Old Life Theological Society Blog

When Did Reformed Christians Become Adventists?

December 16th, 2009 by Darryl G. Hart

I remember a time when Advent was foreign to most Protestants except for Episcopalians and a few Lutherans. Now one hears regularly of the Advent season in conservative Reformed and Presbyterian churches. Some even bring out the wreaths, the candles, and orchestrate Hallmark moments where an entire family will be involved in a reading and lighting that Sunday’s candle. The observance of Advent among the low-church Christians are usually ham fisted, of course, because technically Christmas carols should not be sung until December 25th – and that’s because Jesus isn’t born until then. Before Christmas, expectations of Christ’s advent are supposed to be properly advental, which makes “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” an Advent hymn, and “Joy To the World” a Christmas hymn. How the liturgical calendar comes back to bite.

The objections to Advent – not to mention Christmas – are legion in the Reformed tradition. The regulative principle is one of those reasons.

But beyond the obvious confessional concerns are some more trivial and some more substantial. Among the trivial is the idea that Advent has become the commercial bridge between the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas, thus baptizing a time of much consuming, both by the mouth and the wallet, with the religious patina of “Come, Lord Jesus, Come Quickly” (but not so fast that merchants fail to generate the seasonal profits on which their enterprises depend). Leigh Eric Schmidt’s book, Consumer Rites, is among the best on the commodification of holidays in American history and he notes the following:

In a market philosophy organized on the guiding priniciple of growth, every year Christmas advertizing was said to get “bigger and better,” and seemingly the only question that remained was how early in November to begin the blitz. The Dry Good Economist candidly noted in 1902 that many retailers consider 15 November or even 1 November “none too early” to open the “Holiday Campaign.”

To Cont. Reading…..

Reformed Family – Celebrating the Sabbath

Celebrating the Sabbath

December 7th, 2009 by Ben Stahl

No Christian approves of worshiping idols or disapproves of honoring parents. No brother or sister will accuse you of being legalistic if you’re against stealing or are in favor of telling the truth. But I know many people who object to Sabbath keeping and approve of using the Lord’s Day for work or personal pleasure. We don’t argue about the other nine; why is the fourth commandment a catalyst for more heat than light?

These are some of the questions the Rev. Bruce Ray considers in his book, Celebrating the Sabbath: Finding Rest in a Restless World. Ray laments the low view of the fourth commandment in churches today. Churches today cater to the busy lifestyles of churchgoers by creating more services on more days for shorter periods of time. Ray uses the term “McSabbath” to describe the state of the Lord’s Day in most churches in America.

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Apprising Ministries – CATHLIMERGENT NETWORK

KEN SILVA AND CATHLIMERGENT NETWORK

By Ken Silva pastor-teacher Dec 11, 2009 on Apprising Ministries Blog

I’ve mentioned a few times now at Apprising Ministries that I am a former Roman Catholic that, through absolutely no effort of my own, God mercifully delivered from the religious bondage of the Church of Rome into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, by His grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work on the Cross of Christ alone. 

This is why the other day in Roman Catholic Church Infiltrating Evangelicalism  I again discussed a nauseating slide away from the proper biblical doctrine of the Reformation by more and more within now largely pretending to be Protestant evangelicalism. For example, previously in the AM article SBC Protestant Pastor Rick Warren Double-Minded On The Reformation And Roman Catholicism I documented for you the personal position of Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren, concerning the Roman Catholic Church, “I really do feel that these people are brothers and sisters in God’s family.” 

To Cont. Reading ……