On Republicans and Presbyterians

One of the byproducts of the Reformation is that the Founding Fathers had an organizational system that was already republican in form: the Presbyterian Church. The anti-Rome and anti-Anabaptist impulses of the Presbyterians ran parallel with the anti-monarch and anti-mob impulses of most of the Founding Fathers.

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Preparing for Reformation 500

Reformation Day 2016 will mark the 499th anniversary of the unofficial start of the Reformation. This upcoming year is sure to be filled with excellent scholarship, writing, and reflection. I hope that all Christians, but especially Reformed Christians, use this milestone as an impetus to assess the health of our churches and denominations.

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“We Don’t Know”

How does one cope with the haunting truth of “We Don’t Know”? In the song, hope provides the antidote. This point is reinforced in the music video when the protagonist “Hope” defeats “Lord Doom.”

But, hope in itself is vacuous. Is it just a cheerful emotion? No, it must be connected to some objective reality or being. In what do we hope?

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Christians can’t hedge

I’m not tempted to jettison my faith and replace it with the latest flavor of the month or total despair. That’s simply not an option. What tempts me, and I suspect you as well, is a nagging and persistent desire to hedge my bets.

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