21
Sep
2021
Reading for the New Student
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Today in the library, I stumbled upon four new students toiling away on a research and writing assignment. This encounter reminded me of when I started seminary, and what I wish I knew then that I know now in my final year. Over the past four years, numerous books have encouraged and instructed me. Along... Read More
17
Sep
2021
How Should Believers View Government?
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The last several months have included a lot of opportunities for Christians to think about the government. Contested elections, controversial judicial decisions, political scandals, progressive laws, and changing health orders have led believers to wrestle with what they may have previously thought about their government. As Christians have been forced to reconsider their understanding of... Read More
7
Sep
2021
Review of “Rejoice and Tremble” by Michael Reeves
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Books don’t often make grown men cry with joy, but I have heard that Reeves’s book on the Trinity (Delighting in the Trinity) has done so. That book is still on my reading list, but when I heard Reeves recently wrote a book on the Fear of the Lord, I knew I had to read... Read More
31
Aug
2021
Convocation Address by Pastor Ken Brown
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This is a lightly edited version of the challenge delivered to our seminary body at our recent convocation dinner. Among the many things for which I’m thankful as a proud alumnus of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary is the remarkable consistency that has characterized the school since its founding in 1976. For example, DBTS has enjoyed... Read More
27
Aug
2021
New Faculty Book: “Augustus Hopkins Strong and the Struggle to Reconcile Christian Theology with Modern Thought” by John Aloisi
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Dr. John Aloisi recently published a book on Augustus Hopkins Strong. Because of a grant, the book is freely available in PDF format, though it is also available in print. Here is the publisher’s introduction: In the wake of the publication of DarwinsOrigin of Species in 1859, Christianity, or at least many peoples understanding of... Read More
25
Aug
2021
With Great Rigor Comes Great Reward
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“Fifty years ago many colleges and universities and theological seminaries were devoted to the truth of God’s Word. But one by one they have drifted away, often with all sorts of professions of orthodoxy on the part of those who were responsible for change.” It sounds like something that was written yesterday. However, this comes... Read More
10
Aug
2021
Some Thoughts about Heaven
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“The Christian does not desire going to heaven; they desire to go to Christ, and wherever He is, there is heaven.” The twitter post caught my eye, and left me perplexed. Had the statement been that the Christian does not merely desire to go to heaven, but also (and firstly) to be with Christ, I’d have accepted it. The idea... Read More
30
Jul
2021
Is It Dangerous to Let Individual Christians and Local Churches Decide When a Specific Government Ruling Does Not Need to be Obeyed?
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I suggested in a previous post that something like the following is a good foundation for determining the limits of governmental authority over the church: Christians/churches must submit to every government regulation unless it would mean disobeying God (i.e., cause them to sin) or the government is seeking to regulate something outside its sphere of... Read More
7
Jul
2021
What Are the Limits to Governmental Authority over the Church?
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As Christians in North America continue to transition from governments that were largely favorable or neutral to Christianity to governments that demonstrate an increasing animosity toward traditional Christianity, believers and churches will be forced to wrestle more and more with the relationship between church and state (and family and state). When churches faced public opposition... Read More
29
Jun
2021
Government Regulations and the Gathering of the Church
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With Tim Stephens’s[1] recent arrest in Calgary, Alberta under the charge that his holding church worship gatherings outdoors was a violation of current health regulations, many have been arguing rather vociferously that Tim and other pastors in Alberta (like James Coates) are in clear violation of Scripture and, thus, deserve their current situation. The most... Read More