HARMLESS THOUGHTS

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be trust as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be. It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest.  B.B. Warfield [from bbwarfield.com ]

"I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt...I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth." Martin Luther

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The Government Can!

Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo . [ht: TNW ]

"For never will man take diligent care for the salvation of others who neglects his own salvation." John Calvin (as quoted by Richard Baxter in The Reformed Pastor)

From Richard Baxter's The Reformed Pastor : Your study of physics and other sciences is not worth a rush, if it be not God that you seek after in them. To see and admire, to reverence and adore, to love and delight in God, as exhibited in his works -- this is the true and only philosophy; the contrary is mere foolery, and is so called again and again by God himself. This is the sanctification of your studies, when they are devoted to God, and when he is the end, the object and the life of them all. Though not as eloquently, I have thought this many times myself.  It has been my philosophical struggle while teaching in a public school.  Even in a "Christian" school, this can be a danger.  Consider the rest of what Richard Baxter has to say on this topic. And, therefore, I shall presume to tell you, by the way, that it is a grand error, and of dangerous consequence in Christian academies, (pardon the censure from one so unfit to pass it, seeing the necessity of the...

I just started my new book this last week.  It is called The Reformed Pastor and it is by Richard Baxter.  I purchased this book at a used book store while on a short vacation in Brown County.  It sat on my shelf with a few other "to be read" books, slowly making its way to the top of the heap.  So far I am really enjoying this book.  It is mentally stimulating and spiritually challenging.  I would offer a brief synopsis, but I thoroughly enjoyed Richard Baxter's own subtitling far more than anything that I could come up with.  Here is an image I found on the ever-informative Wikipedia. click to enlarge I love this first page.  Notice that is says, Showing the nature of the Pastoral work; especially in Private Instruction and Catechizing.  With an open Confession of our too open Sins.  Prepared for a day of Humiliation kept at Worcester, December 4, 1655, by the Ministers of that County, who subscribed the Agreement for Catec...

My wife is helping a friend with her blog and her social media stuff.  The blogging platform that she is using is Worpress.  As you can tell from the title to this post, after spending a portion of my evening trying to figure it out, I now officially hate Worpress.  The interface is cluttered and, well, just ridiculous.  I guess I'm spoiled though.  The Blogger interface is so streamlined.  It is friendly to the mind and to the eyes. What I can't figure out is why anyone would ever switch.  I just don't get it. Here is a youtube video from Blogger, highlighting their new look.  

I finished the book God in Action by Karl Barth about a week ago, but haven't had the time to devote to writing a proper book review.  I still don't have the time, but I would like to take a moment to post a quick review, one not quite worthy of the book. God in Action is one of Karl Barth's early theological works.  It is a compilation of a set of lectures.  I have read that this book is a great way to get an understanding of Karl Barth's theology.  I found that its primary focus was on the authority of scripture and the reality of the Church.  He would define and reiterate the necessity of understanding the doctrines related to these topics.  As he discussed each, there was an emphasis on a logical flow of thought, this is what drew me in. God in Action made me think.  I've had a couple of posts quoting this book already.  You can read those posts here  and  here .  There were several other occasions where I felt t...