“A pastor’s primary responsibility is to his family.” One hears that sentiment expressed so frequently and with such genuine conviction that it begins to feel logically irrefutable, despite the fact that it is clearly at odds with the teaching…

Parenting is a significant theme in the Book of Samuel. Three of the four major characters have difficulty with their children: Eli, Samuel and David. Ironically, the only major character in the book who seems to have produced a truly great kid is…

Peter Krol recently wrote (or actually re-wrote) an article called “Why ‘Proverbs Aren’t Promises’ is Misleading”. In the opening paragraph he admits that he is really directing his argument against those who intensify this admittedly ubiquitous…

I saw an article the other day with the title: “Stop Calling The Church A Family“. The argument being made by the author was that the Bible doesn’t call the church a family, and using the term sets the bar too high for most congregations to achieve. …

In some Christian circles, it has become common to hear people say that forgiveness is conditional. To a new believer who is perhaps not acquainted with the nuances of this argument, that can be hard to square with the seemingly unconditional things…

It is interesting to note that while feasting is a fixed and permanent aspect of biblical religion, fasting is occasional and provisional. We see that very clearly in two passages, one in the Old Testament and one in the New. In the Book of…

We recently did a 16 week series on Biblical Anthropology in which we talked a lot about what it means to be a human being, what it means to have a body and what it means to be resurrected. The material covered in the series gave rise to a number of…

Do I have to forgive someone who has never repented of what they did to me?  This question usually comes up when a person has encountered what Jesus says in Luke 17:3-4: “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he…

Can a Christian get a tattoo? I get asked this question a couple of times of year, usually after a relatively new believer has successfully read through the Book of Leviticus for the first time. Leviticus 19:28 says: “You shall not make any cuts on…

I can’t remember the last time I preached my first draft of a sermon. I’m sure that I’ve done it, but I’m also sure that it isn’t my ordinary practice. This past Sunday I preached D4 of a sermon on Genesis 3. The Sunday before that I preached D4b of…

There are certain events that can change the course of an entire generation. Historians often speak about how the Great Depression in the 1930’s and the Second World War in the 1940’s worked together to forge what we call now the Greatest Generation.…

Every pastor has been asked some version of this question: “My son/daughter is doing X which of course, as a Christian, I don’t approve of, but they want me to do Y; should I compromise so as to maintain the relationship?” I’ve been asked that…