or The Practical Expression of Commonality in Primary Doctrinal Truth
Presbyterians and Baptists have a long history of working together. As is God’s way, any new endeavour must take the past into account but not be bound by it. This is a guest post by my friend Matt Carpenter.
The questions surrounding the origins and necessity of denominations have been discussed at great length and I don’t intend on bringing them up here. But it doesn’t mean we have a license to continue without giving it another thought. This isn’t another call for lip-quivering ecumenism. Fellow soldiers in God’s army can learn a lot from one another and the two groups I currently have in mind are Baptists and Presbyterians. Traditionally they have shared a lot in common.
God’s Kitchen: Theology You Can Eat & Drink is a collection of “foodie” posts from Bully’s Blog, plus some new meditations. Some of the material was intended for The Covenant Key, but ended up on the cutting room floor, well, the kitchen floor. As we all know, some of the best meals are made from leftovers.
Some excerpts from David P. Goldman’s essay, “Admit It, You Really Hate Modern Art,” in It’s Not the End of the World, It’s Just the End of You: The Great Extinction of the Nations.
Why is it that the audience for modern art is quite happy to take in the ideological message of modernism while strolling through an art gallery but loath to hear the same message in the concert hall? It is rather like communism, which once was fashionable among Western intellectuals. They were happy to admire communism from a distance, but very few chose to live under communism.
Following a masterful and beautiful explanation of Israel’s priestly glory, Alastair Roberts writes:
In 1 Corinthians 11:7 we encounter a verse that many might find perplexing.
For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.
I believe that careful attention to the logic of this verse is absolutely crucial to unlocking the puzzle of the difference between the female helper apostle, and the male helper apostle.
Here’s a brilliant video just uploaded by my online friend Daniel Foucachon. It levels the playing field in the Creation/Evolution debate. Continue reading
Check out the matrix pattern in 1 Samuel 16. It’s an easy one, but it’s so beautiful. And it makes sense of the (rare) physical description of David, related to the Holy Place. Each of the seven sections follows the matrix, but here is the overall pattern:
“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.
Would that you were either cold or hot!” (Revelation 3:15)
The world is a cosmic Tabernacle. The first domain of Mediatory Man was between the waters. The waters below (springs) were necessary for life but they were not “a place to live.” The waters above did likewise. However, these were temporary veils, boundaries to be crossed in an increasing advance-by-faith.
James Jordan is never afraid to throw a new idea on the table. As he says, “that’s my job.” But he’s also ever quick to remind his audience that what he has said is never the last word on a subject.
Mike Bull is a graphic designer who lives and works in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, Australia. His passion is understanding and teaching the Bible, and he writes occasionally for Theopolis Institute in Birmingham AL, USA.
