Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Proof as Moral Obligation by Douglas Wilson

Yesterday I started reading the book Proof as Moral Obligation by Douglas Wilson. I did not know what to expect when I started reading it, but I was a Geometry teacher for 25 years, so I have a natural affinity for proofs; therefore I started reading. 

I would give you a summary, but I am not sure that I would do it justice. The essential premise, though, is that when one proves something, there is an included obligation for the one who has been shown that proof. This occurs, not in the experience of the presentation of a proof or its arguments, but when the arguments of that proof are coherent and consistent with the actual world and the listener has followed that coherence and consistence.  In other words, when someone has proved something to someone else they are then obliged to believe the thing proved. 

I was especially intrigued in the chapters dealing with the humility of believing and the arrogance of not believing anything. That to say that one can't actually know know something, the question becomes, "Well... do you know that?"  This is a question that must then be answered. Pair this with the idea that there really isn't anything that can be known absolutely, but there are things that we can absolutely know. 

I, of course, am not doing any of these thoughts any justice. I guess that is why I would recommend that you read this book. It only took me about an hour to complete. I started it last night, made my way halfway through it, and completed it just now after school was dismissed. 

This book is currently free on Amazon. I encourage you to snag it for you Kindle while this deal lasts. 

Proof as Moral Obligation
By Douglas Wilson


No Problem Passages

I'm reading a book from Douglas Wilson called Proof as Moral Obligation. I had no idea what the book was about when I started it, but have found it to be really interesting. I am in chapter 8 and thought I would share an excerpt. 

One of the best things my father ever taught me -- and there were many to choose from -- was the idea that the Christian should resolve in his heart never to have any problem passages in Scripture. It was permissible to have a problem with how best to understand a passage, but it was not permissible to have any problems with it once you understood it. Once the exegesis was done, the thing was settled. And you wanted to make sure there was no funny business in the course of the exegesis either ... appealing to Greek word studies to get yourself off the hook, for example. 

This is not, as many would represent it, a mindless fundamentalism. It is not a means of sticking to your guns after some haphazard attempt at exegesis. But while it is not a ramshackle dogmatism, it is right at the foundation of a true biblical absolutism. It is not a chaotic and shambolic bluster, but rather a sane decision to look to the light in a very dark world. 

God is a Rock, and His Word is a rock. unregenerate man wants to believe that he is stable, and his basis for thinking this is that there are periodic times of tranquility and calm, and he thinks he has a root in himself simply because of inertia. The first part of Newton's first law tells us that an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Autonomous man is a billiard ball that believes himself to be immovable simply because a cue ball hasn't hit him yet. 

In contrast, the believer trusts in his God, who is a Rock. And when believers trust in Christ, and do what He says, they are building their house on a rock (Matthew 7:25), one that is fully capable of withstanding any storm. 

There are probably other excerpts that would better represent this book, but this is the one that was before me at the moment. The Kindle version was still free, last I checked. I would like to encourage you to pick it up. 

Proof as Moral Obligation
by Douglas Wilson


Monday, November 10, 2025

Galatians Sermon Number 4 - The Issue

 What was the actual issue that prompted the harsh reaction from the Apostle Paul? In this sermon, I attempt to break down the cultural/historical situation that the Galatians were facing. 



Canon Press... New Set of Free Books This Morning!

Canon Press has set a few more books to be free. I'm guessing it is the next round of free books for No Quarter November. Here are the new ones I found: 

Mother Kirk: 
Essays on Church Life
by Douglas Wilson


Against the Church
by Douglas Wilson

Easy Chairs, Hard Words: 
Conversations on the Liberty of God
by Douglas Wilson


Untune the Sky: 
Occasional, Stammering Verse
by Douglas Wilson

If you pick any of these up and read them, let me know!

Saturday, November 8, 2025

Boast Not Against the Branches by Douglas Wilson

Boast Not Against the Branches
By Douglas Wilson

 I just finished reading Boast Not Against the Branches by Douglas Wilson. It is still free on Amazon, but only for another day, I believe. I finished it about 2 minutes ago and I started it this morning. It took me about an hour to read the entire book. I started it, I read it, I finished it, and now I am recommending it. 

The subtitle of this book is The Reformed Tradition and the Jews. The first half of the book works through a multitude of quotes and references from the 16th century to the present, regarding how those influential theologians, authors, and preachers/pastors have referenced the Jews, based on their understanding of the Scriptures. Meaning: how did they view the Jewish people of their day and how they perceived their future. The second half of the book is an updated and revised portion of Douglas Wilson's commentary on Romans. In the portion he includes, he exposits the 11th chapter of Romans. This exposition combined with the insights of those pastors and teachers from the last 500 years builds a helpful foundation, not only for understanding the Jewish people, but also for how we might consider our and their futures. 

Again, I highly recommend this book. Get it while it is still free. 



Thursday, November 6, 2025

Ephesians Sermon Number 13

 Ephesians Sermon Number 13

This sermon was originally delivered on January 8, 2012 at Edgewood Baptist Church in Danville, IL. 



All Ephesians Sermons

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

The Gospel of the Kingdom in Galatians

Galatians sermon number 4 is on its way. 

As I prepare, not everything I learn makes it into each sermon. Here is a tidbit from J.V. Fesko that may or may not make it into the next message:


Galatians by J. V. Fesko

Three of the key topics that are covered by Paul in Galatians are Justification (by faith alone), Sanctification (as a work of the Spirit in the believer), and Eschatology (specifically regarding its reality for individual believers, whether Jew or Gentile). 

It may be a surprise to many to think about the idea that "The new creation does not begin at the conclusion of all things but in the middle of history." but when you consider this in light of how Jesus actually talks, it makes complete sense. Think, for example, of how Jesus spoke of the Kingdom. He would say that it is coming, but then he would say it is already here or in your midst. The repeated phrase, "...the kingdom of God (or of heaven) is at hand..." It is the Gospel of the Kingdom that we are to proclaim. It is a gospel of a kingdom that is now and is coming.

The question then becomes... as it was with the Galatians... who is in this kingdom? Who are the inheritors of the promises? Is it only those ethnic Jews who are followers of Jesus or are we all now a part of this great kingdom? Is there a distinction between Jew and Gentile? ... If you've read your Bible for any amount of time, you will know that there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. Romans 10:12 (ESV) -- "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek (Gentile); for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him."

This matters. Not simply as an aside to the Gospel, but as a main tenet of the Gospel.

First Baptist Church - Galatians Series with Matt Harmless

Monday, November 3, 2025

1689 Confession - Chapter 1 Paragraph 7

 


The 1689 London Baptist Confession 

Chapter 1: Of The Holy Scriptures 

Paragraph 7 -- All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all;12 yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, may attain to a sufficient understanding of them.13


12 2 Pet. 3:16

13 Ps. 19:7; Psalm 119:130

NO Quarter November 2025 has started!

 

Image by @Grok

No Quarter November by Canon Press and Douglas Wilson always includes free books!  Well... free Kindle Books. There are already several of them that are already free. Here are the ones that I found today. 

Rules for Reformers

Ploductivity: A Practical Theology of Work and Wealth

Proof as Moral Obligation

A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking 

Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life

Get the Girl: How to Be the Kind of Man the Kind of Woman You Want to Marry Would Want to Marry

Same-Sex Mirage: Phantasmagoria at the Altar & Some Biblical Responses

Ecochondriacs