Biblical Imperatives

Canonical theology provides a robustly biblical hermeneutic for us. Within this framework, believers have the the Kethubim, Psalms through Chronicles in the Hebrew canonical arrangement, as well as the epistles for instruction in covenant faithfulness. Here are four challenging imperatives from God's Word for our "training in righteousness" (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16) as God's covenant people.

"Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you" (Proverbs 4:24, ESV).

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear" (Ephesians 4:29, ESV).

"Speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people" (Titus 3:2, ESV).

"Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge" (James 4:11, ESV).

Life According to BB

This is a photo of a quite young Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, who is one of the greatest theologians of America. I have been blessed to sit at his feet and be tutored by him. I have really appreciated Warfield at key moments in my life, and now is just such a time. Sometimes the best mentors that a fellow can have are old dead Spirit-filled Christians. This is an excerpt from his essay, "Christianity and Revelation" -

"Chriatianity is the one revealed religion. That is to say, while the tenets of other religions are the product of human thought, the doctrines of Christianity are communications from God. Christianity thus stands fundamentally in contrast with all other religions."

Color or Colour? Are you American or British?

Not again!

Well, I pulled another all nighter! I just finished my last sermon for Comm. II Lab! It was a topical/textual sermon based upon the imperatives of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. I find topical sermons extraordinarily hard to construct. Boy, I'm tired. On top of all that, I have to preach the sermon in seven hours without sleep! Ahhhhh!

I had better start my caffeine intravenous drip asap.

(I am sooo thankful that my mom bought me The Works of John Flavel! It saved my bacon!)

Coffee has gone to my head!

No one will respond to my serious blog stuff so I must resort to cheap gags and crude humor to maintain my reader base. So here I go...Find the face among the beans.

Is it all a show?

Warfield continues to challenge me. He says–"No doubt, it was as possible then as it is now to honor the Bible in appearance rather than in fact. As we may find today great "family Bibles" encumbering the "parlor-tables" of households little interested in their contents, so we read of sumptuous Bibles then, written in gold letters on purple vellum and glittering with gems, which were kept for show rather than for use. But this very practice among the wealthy is a speaking evidence of the value universally placed upon the book. It was the family -book above every other. Husbands and wives read it daily together and Tertullian knows no stronger argument against mixed marriages than that in their case this cherished pleasure must be foregone."

He just assumes that "husbands and wives read it daily together!" I fear that is not a safe assumption. Can you believe that there is no stronger argument against a believer being married to an unbeliever than - "They wouldn't read the Bible together daily!" The sense of guilt and shame that comes from thinking about Warfield's statement not only reflects the state of our marriages but our value "placed upon the book."

Are you a person of the book?

I've been reading B.B. Warfield and constantly find his work relevant and compelling. Here is what my fellow Kentuckian has to say about the Bible.

"Ex ungue leonem; the world has never known a book so distinctively a people's book as the Bible has been since its origin. In this sense Christians have been from the first, above all other people who have lived in the world, the people of a book. The book and the people have been bound so closely together that we hardly know whether it were juster to say that where Christianity has gone there the Bible has gone, or that where the Bible has gone there Christianity has gone. In the first age of the Church, pre-eminently, the Christian and his book were inseparable. The Bible was not so much the book of the Church as the book of the Christian; and from the cradle to the grave every Christian was expected to keep it in his hand and in his heart, to live in and by it."

All I Want For Christmas!

I want a Smith and Wesson 500 Magnum for Christmas!


Why? Because it is the most powerful handgun on the planet, Silly. This is a picture of a 500 S&W Magnum cartridge with a .44 magnum cartridge on the left and a 45 Colt on the right! Cool huh...


It has been used on the most dangerous safari game without incident. Mark and Bobby Hansen (left) pose with the first cape buffalo taken with a 500 Smith & Wesson Magnum.


It has even been used to take elephant. This cow elephant, also a first, was taken with the new 500 Smith & Wesson Magnum from about 40 yards with the COR-BON 440 grain factory load. When hunting dangerous game, an insurance shot to the brain is usually delivered after the game is down so the "dead ones" don't get up and kill you. Not a problem for a heavy hitter like the 500 S&W Magnum!

Reality Check

I am sure that you have seen those cheesy optimistic motivational posters. Yep, those are the ones. Well someone was finally brave enough to make some posters that reflect reality. Lets be honest...

Morning Endeavors

What does a seminary student do on the day with no classes?

1. You read Luther. Read the previous post. (I love Luther. While I would rather learn theology from Calvin, I would rather hang out and drink beer with Luther.)

2. Sing some awesome songs -

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Alas, A Did My Savior Bleed
When All Thy Mercies

3. Translate Ex. 7:14-25 from Hebrew to English and meditate on it.

When all Thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I'’m lost
In wonder, love, and praise
Unnumbered comforts to my soul
Thy tender care bestowed,
Before my infant heart conceived
From Whom those comforts flowed.

Through all eternity to Thee
A joyful song I'’ll raise
For oh, eternity's too short
To utter all Thy praise!

When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou
With health renewed my face
And when in sins and sorrow sunk
Renewed my soul with grace
Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ;
Nor is the least a cheerful heart
That tastes those gifts with joy.

Through all eternity to Thee
A joyful song I'’ll raise
For oh, eternity's too short
To utter all Thy praise!

Through every period of my life
Thy goodness I'll pursue,
And after death, in distant worlds,
The glorious theme renew.

Through all eternity to Thee
A joyful song I'll raise
For oh, eternity's too short
To utter all Thy praise!

W.W.L.S.

What would Luther say about depression and a melancholy spirit?

"In cases of melancholy and sickness, I conclude it is merely the work of the devil. For God makes us not melancholy, nor affrights nor kills us, for he is a God of the living. Hence the Scripture: 'Rejoice, and be of good comfort.' God’s Word and prayer is physic against spiritual tribulations."

W.W.L.S.

What would Luther say about resisting depression, disappointment, pride, lust, hatred, and other adversity?

"When your heart is thus established in Christ, and you are an enemy of sin, out of love and not out of fear of punishment, Christ’s sufferings should also be an example for your whole life, and you should meditate on the same in a different way. For hitherto we have considered Christ’s Passion as a sacrament that works in us and we suffer; now we consider it, that we also work, namely thus: if a day of sorrow or sickness weighs you down, think, how trifling that is, compared with the thorns and nails of Christ. If you must do or leave undone what is distasteful to you: think, how Christ was led hither and thither, bound and a captive. Does pride attack you: behold, how your Lord was mocked and disgraced with murderers. Do unchastity and lust thrust themselves against you: think, how bitter it was for Christ to have his tender flesh torn, pierced and beaten again and again. Do hatred and envy war against you, or do you seek vengeance: remember how Christ with many tears and cries prayed for you and all his enemies, who indeed had more reason to seek revenge. If trouble or whatever adversity of body or soul afflict you, strengthen your heart and say: Ah, why then should I not also suffer a little since my Lord sweat blood in the garden because of anxiety and grief? That would be a lazy, disgraceful servant who would wish to lie in his bed while his lord was compelled to battle with the pangs of death."

Show me...

Quite often we ask ourselves hard to answer questions, like, "What exactly is a jerk?" Well, often we find it difficult to provide lexical definitions to such terms, but we can provide an extensive definition for them. This is just such an occasion. The lexical definition of the term, "jerk," escapes me. However, I can show you one! The guy on the right is a member of a bomb squad in midst of a deactivation. The guy behind him...Well, he's a "jerk."