Seven Marks of a Healthy Church

Posted on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 by Carl Trueman on Postcards from Palookaville

Luther was more concise than Mark Dever.  But hey, Dever's an American.  What do you expect?

As the church in the West faces social marginalization unknown for over 1500 years, the question of the marks of the church, those identifying features which she possesses, is likely to become more pressing.  Standard Reformed approaches tend to offer three marks: Word truly preached, sacraments properly administered, and church discipline correctly applied.  There was always some flexibility within the Reformed tradition on these points.  Calvin argued for only two explicit marks, Word and sacraments, while the Westminster Assembly put worship in the place of discipline.&nbs

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The Theological Significance for Laughter

Posted on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 by Aimee Byrd on Housewife Theologian

Finally we have apologetic for a sense of humor. Go ahead Protestants, it's okay to laugh.

Conclusions can often be unimpressive. But this is not the case in Carl Trueman’s latest book, Luther on the Christian Life. One thing that stuck out to me while I was reading this excellent book was that there is a lot of Carl in this biography on Luther. You can sense the enjoyment it was for him to write it.

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Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

Avoiding Catechetical Snobbery

by Joe Holland • March 10, 2015

The benefit of doctrine is discovered in the way in which our Lord Jesus uses it to equip us for everyday life. Life is multiplex and experiences differ from person to person. And yet the truth of God, the activity of the Holy Spirit, and kingly rule of Jesus never change. Do our stories, told together, reflect the varied care of our God over us? If they don’t, I think it’s time to write some new stories.

I was a theological polyglot before my arrival at seminary. It took three years to sort through the junk drawer of Evangelical aphorisms that filled my head. But seminary did its good work, a part of which was forcing me to memorize the Westminster Shorter Catechism. It was a blessed suffering. I can remember during a disappointing time of memory work reading the following excerpt from B.B.

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Standing up to your friends

Posted on Thursday, March 5, 2015 by Todd Pruitt on 1517

David Moore registers some concerns about The Gospel Coalition...

Over at Scot McKnight's blog David Moore has written what is sure to be a provocative post. He does what many are not willing to do. He criticizes The Gospel Coalition. Certainly there is nothing small, petty, or mean about Moore's criticism. His words are thoughtful and his critique is needful. I hope he will be heard. 

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The Happy Exile

Posted on Thursday, March 5, 2015 by Carl Trueman on Postcards from Palookaville

Dave Moore's ecumenism

Over at Jesus Creed, Dave Moore has some interesting observations on the current state of reformed evangelicalism, on my own happy exile from the Beautiful People (not enough hair, Dave, nothing to do with my writing), and on the need for the occasional whistleblower to indicate that in the Lan

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Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.
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Sidekicks and Second Best

Posted on Wednesday, March 4, 2015 by Carl Trueman on Postcards from Palookaville

Rumors of my celebrity have been greatly exaggerated.

Yes, indeed, rumors of my celebrity have been greatly exaggerated.   True, I have met many MoS listeners at the Shepherds Conference but nearly all of them have commented on how great it is to have Aimee on the show as this means it is something their wives will listen to as well.  And then there was the now-traditional humiliation a

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Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.
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Calvinism in the SBC

Posted on Wednesday, March 4, 2015 by Todd Pruitt on 1517

The MOS team talks Calvinism with Southern Baptist Tom Ascol...

 

This week the MOS podcast features an interview with Dr. Tom Acol on the subject of Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention. When I came to embrace the Doctrines of Grace as a young SBC pastor Tom Ascol and Founder’s Ministries were a big help for me. The issue of Calvinism continues to be a bone of contention for many.

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California Carl

Posted on Tuesday, March 3, 2015 by Todd Pruitt on 1517

Carl heads west...

Our friend Carl Trueman is one of the featured speakers at this year's Shepherds Conference at Grace Community Church. That is in Southern California for those of you who may not know. And what fits better in Southern California than a pasty white English history professor? Word has it that Carl is already sporting a pooka shell necklace and flip flops. Dr.

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Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

A Hilarious Providence

Posted on Tuesday, March 3, 2015 by Aimee Byrd on Housewife Theologian

The top men have nothing on this gift basket.

At my last speaking engagement, I had a Pinterest-worthy basket of goodies waiting for me in my room. I could tell that the women who put it together had researched my taste a little bit. There was a cute bag of granola by “Mama Bird,” a tin can of Jittery Joe's coffee (The Freudian Drip), Trader Joe's chocolate, along with some other cool stuff.

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Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

A Biblical Theology of Clothing

by Nick Batzig • March 03, 2015

In order to understand a biblical theology of clothing we have to go back to Genesis 3 and understand the problem of spiritual nakedness and the correlation that it holds to physical nakedness...The biblical teaching about the first and last Adam helps us understand a biblical theology of clothing. The first Adam disobediently ate from, self-righteously sought covering from and shamefully hid behind a tree. The second Adam hung naked and shamed on a tree in order to heal, cover and accept us as righteous in His sight. In the last Adam we have our glorious dress renewed and restored forever.

 

Many years ago I was involved with an evangelistic ministry in New Jersey. A group of us would go out on the Boardwalk ask people if we could talk with them about the Gospel. In the course of our conversations, I would sometimes ask if they knew why they wore clothing.

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