What are /r/Reformed's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Non-intelligent alien life would present no theological problems whatsoever.

Intelligent alien life would raise some very serious theological issues, both in terms of the Imago Dei and of the incarnation. Those issues aren't necessarily insurmountable, but they are rather serious. They are also entirely hypothetical until inteligent alien life is proven to exist, so I'm not too worried about it.

If this is something that interests you, I cannot recommend highly enough C.S. Lewis' <em>Space Trilogy</em> which explores how this might work out

The antidote

Edit story time:

> Be me, new Christian, ON FIRE FOR THE LORD

> Read through the entire Bible in record time, so confused, that girl really got cut into 12 pieces????

> That can’t be right, start researching

> Who are these R.C and Piper guys

> Discover the 5 points

> OH MY GOSH WHY DOESN’T EVERYONE BELIEVE THIS, they must not be real Christians shrug

> Start a debate with my wife, she ends in tears

> whoops.exe

> Find r/reformed and learn about the cagestage

> thatsme.jpeg

> learn humility ASAP

> I chilled out, wife is better now

> Recently I got a little much for her

> LIGHTEN UP CALVIN she said

> Both laugh

The cage stage will hit, but you have the advantage you know about it before hand and you can learn to keep your mouth shut until you have more humility than zeal. The doctrines of grace are beautiful when properly understood.

• Remember to always see yourself as a worse sinner than anyone else
• Everyone you meet, atheist, agnostic, or whatever else, is potentially elect. Always be preaching the gospel with humility and love.

Aren't you supposed to be Baptist? What are you doing talking about children being part of the God's covenant people /s.

Seriously though, the church has a long history of seperating the unchatechized out for part of the service for specific instruction. We also know that in Isreal the assembly included those "who could understand." Here's John Frame:

> It is important that teaching be intelligible, clear, and edifying (1 Cor. 14). When Ezra and the Levites taught the law to Israel, the assembly consisted of those "who could understand" (Neh. 8:3). Those who could not understand, evidently, were instructed in other contexts. Some Reformed people insist that all children should be present in church during every sermon, rather than being sent off to nurseries and "children's churches." There is certainly value in families worshiping together as much as possible. God deals not only with individuals in Scripture, but also with households. The family is vitally important. In worship, however, edification (1 Cor. 14:26) is more important than mere togetherness. Ideally, everybody should be taught at his own level of understanding.

~Worship in Spirit and Truth pg 92.

Why not have young kids in the service for the more "interactive" parts (particularly if it is something they can memorize) and then let them go out during the sermon. Teach them what church is about and how to act. Once they are old enough that sitting through a half-hour sermon is developmentally appropriate, then they can stay for the whole thing.

Spurgeon’s Sorrows: Realistic Hope for those who Suffer from Depression by Zach Eswine

In terms of Reformed writers on mental illness, this is the one my reformed friends who struggle with mental illness the have most highly recommended. It's about Charles Spurgeon's ongoing struggles with depression. Specific to depression, but I think it'd have wide application to other mental illness as well.

If we insist on using ~~Old~~ 17th-Century English with our children and in our churches then, ironically, we're not much different than the Roman Catholic Church insisting on the mass being conducted in Latin and not in the language of the people.

~~Old~~ 17th-Century English isn't quite as dead of a language as Latin, but no one speaks it outside of Shakespeare festivals.

(I believe this point was made in the recent MoS episode about the King James Version of the Bible.)

Edit: There are probably others, but I like the modernization of the Westminster Confession of Faith by Rowland Ward (an Australian!).

Edit 2: tried to correct the misuse of "Old English"

I spent three largely happy years as a not-so-crypto-Calvinist member of an LCMS congregation when I lived in a small town without any Reformed churches. I think the main benefit for Reformed folk from Lutherans is as a counterbalance to the excesses of broad evangelicism.

I learned a great deal in my time among the Lutherans, but oddly enough it pushed me deeper into the Reformed view of things. It was there that I really learned to appreciate things about my Reformed heritage that I hadn't learned growing up and as a young adult in Reformed churches.

• I learned to love singing a Psalm every week.
• I gained an appreciation for frequent observance of the Lord's Supper, and faced with the Lutheran doctrine of Real Presence, actually started to grasp the importance of the Reformed view of Christ's presence in the Supper.
• I gained a greater appreciation and conviction for infant baptism. Again, I wasn't convinced of the Lutheran position, but it helped me solidify my own.

For anyone wanting to learn more about the Lutheran way, I woulld recommend <em>The Spirituality of the Cross</em> by Gene Veith.

"Tisby’s review in the New York Times of <em>White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity</em> by Robert P. Jones offers a striking example. The final paragraphs contain a summary assessment of the implications of America’s history of racism:

>White Christians have to face the possibility that everything they have learned about how to practice their faith has been designed to explicitly or implicitly reinforce a racist structure. In the end, White Too Long seems to present a stark choice: Hold onto white Christianity or hold onto Jesus. It cannot be both.
>
>[...]
>
> Tisby is not merely claiming that the outward aesthetics and doctrinal emphases of white Christianity pose problems for black Christians; he is effectively claiming that Christians who are white cannot be Christians in any true sense. Such a categorical judgment is startling. It is also irrefutable on its own terms, given the inherent denial of legitimate status to anything white Christians might believe or say in response. “Of course, white Christians will object to my summary dismissal of their faith,” we can imagine Tisby saying. “That’s what their racist debasement of Christianity teaches them to do.” [emphasis mine]

Trueman takes the last sentence and runs with it to make Tisby say things he didn't say. Trueman might be able to say that Jones is saying those things, but I don't see how you can put this view on Tisby, especially for someone who has read The Color of Compromise like he says.

Friends, this is not what listening looks like, particularly in view of the past week.

>People are not worth less if they never get married or never have sex.

It's interesting. If you read Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas studies the church's attitude toward marriage for the last two thousand years and argues that until a couple of decades ago, married people were actually treated as second-class Christians. Like many of the old saints were commended for what they did in spite of family, etc. I haven't independently studied it, but it's an interesting take. If he's correct, you're probably just observing a few generations of over-compensation as we swing from one error of over-emphasis to another.

If anyone is wants to read a good book on vaccines and how ridiculous the anti-vax position is, I recommend Autism's False Prophets.

It is an incredibly enlightening read.

Edit: "anti-vax" not "ant-vax," I kinda want ant-vax...

Looking quickly at one resource (Robert Booth's <em>Children of the Promise</em>), the only comment that is made on this passage is to see this verse in its context. Baptism is being compared with the deliverance of Noah...in particular, to the deliverance of Noah and his family. So, a household context for this verse was noted.

In light of that household context, the appeal could be made by the head of the household, not by the individual member.

The 'scientific' positions they hold to are ludicrously untenable and they're very uncharitable to those who think differently. I understand their motives and respect their reverence for scripture, but that's it. For an exegetical critique of their interpretation, see:

https://www.amazon.com/Mis-interpreting-Genesis-Creation-Misunderstands/dp/0578823691

Hey there! Christian Therapist here. This book is a good introduction from what I can see. It's endorsed by the AACC (American Association of Christian Counselors) which my practice is a part of.

https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Theology-Spirituality-Christian-Counseling/dp/084235252X/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&amp;keywords=Christian+Psychology&amp;qid=1595447886&amp;sr=8-3

There's a couple of other good books from the Orthodox Perspective. "Orthodoxy and Psychotherapy" comes to mind. I believe there is "Introduction to the Science of Mental Health" by Fr. Ripperger which gives kind of a trad Catholic perspective.

There's a Catholic podcast called "St. Dymphna's Playbook" that is apparently pretty good too.

Hope some of these resources help! God bless ya, dude.

I haven't read it (I think /u/anna_in_indiana has), but Aimee Byrd's <em>No Little Women</em> is a recent book on this exact topic from a Reformed perspective.

I am with you on your frustration that there are also no Star Trek and Lord Of The Rings flairs.

&quot;You have not experienced the Psalms until you have read them in the original Klingon language.&quot;

u/PartyPastor, can you make it so?

Because I think the greatest threat to the modern Western world is what C. S. Lewis called &quot;The Abolition of Man&quot;, and more generally the denial of the created order. White supremacy, for all its manifest sinfulness and absurdity, is doing something totally different that I don't think has half as much destructive potential(not least because it has so much less chance at becoming the dominant view) in our modern world.

I'm going to be a minority opinion here, but I say hold off. Before you do, take a look at preachers, theologians, and fellow Christians you admire. Would they buy something like this? I recently read St. Basil's Sermons on Wealth and Poverty and I havent been able to shake the conviction it's given me. Two months ago I would tell you to get it. Now I'm not so sure. A third option is to get it, but also get rid of something else. Use it as an incentive to simplify your life in other areas.

I'm also going to give a personal angle. I'm in seminary. I have no money. My wife and I live in my parents basement, in my old room from highschool. I spent my whole life going to a very wealthy church. Everyone always wears nice jewelry. Last semester my deacon told me they had no money to help with my education. That's fine. I have some other grants and scholarships, I can always borrow more money. People can spend their money on what they want it's their right. It still feels like a punch in the gut sometimes. Especially because some churchgoers like to make snide comments about how people like me "spend too much money on education."

The situation at your church might be different. I'm not here to judge. I just want to give a different perspective. Before you buy it, spend some real time in prayer and reading scripture. Maybe find a volunteer oppurtunity in your area. If after that you still feel the same way, then get it. At least then you will have no doubts that you did your due diligence.

The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust Modern Translations? by James White would probably be your best bet in understanding KJVO adherents.

>I believe vaccines are a great tool but I’m also concerned about the heavy metals and chemicals that are added to the vaccines as preservatives.

Are you talking about Thimesrol? I'll assume so because that's what most people mean. If so, I just have two things I'd like to say to maybe open some things up for you.

The first thing is that Thimesrol is safe.

The second thing is that it hasn't been used in vaccinations for children in a decade.

Since you are researching, I want to very highly recommend reading Autism's False Prophets. It is a great resource on the history of the debate and, as someone who has questions like this before, helped me to completely get on board with vaccines.

God Bless, brother.

Read How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer.

Bottom line: as government grows, Christianity and government become enemies, because:

1. Christianity says God is the Lord of all creation, even government. This means the "little guy" with his Bible can say "government, you're in the wrong here". Governments want power and don't tend to like that. For example, Bonhoeffer.

2. Socialist governments are predicated on the idea that strong government is the solution to man's problems. So in that system, when the government and the people (for example the government and the Christians) disagree, the government must exert force to maintain control or the socialist system will fail.

Capitalist countries, on the other hand, are predicated on the idea that government exists to provide men with a means of forcing its citizens to do things, which is usually (not always) bad. The best path forward is to enforce laws regulating conduct but not outcome.

The more you regulate anything, the more force men need to apply to other men. Since regulating outcome requires vastly more power than conduct, socialism requires much more power to be sustainable. Concentrated power on that scale is never good in the hands of fallen men.

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything you have," as they say. Including your freedom to worship.

Sexual orientation is a term used to refer to a person's emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction to individuals of a particular gender (male or female).

This is a form of spiritual addiction and abuse. Its deepest roots are not theological so much as emotional and cognitive. You might check out When God Becomes a Drug by Leo Booth for further understanding.

There's a book by James White called 'The Forgotten Trinity' which may help. It's available on Amazon DE. I know any book takes time to read but considering the depth and the importance of this subject, I'd say making time to read will be worthwhile. Not least for the devotional value!

It's important to consider that a good understanding of the Trinity won't come easily, but it's possible to learn enough to understand correctly. We shouldn't expect it to come easily because It touches on the very nature of God himself. It's one of those things that must be studied patiently, understanding will come in time.

> history is my weakness

Then work on this. We actually have an abundance of historical evidence in favor of Christianity. I find it’s actually one of the stronger areas for apologetics.

You could read NT Wright’s book: The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol. 3) https://amazon.com/dp/0800626796/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_5WRAZC5BGKX1YSS65K5V This book is probably the strongest argument I’ve ever encountered.

Otherwise, you can ask questions here.

Zeal without Burnout by Christopher Ash is a really helpful book for those in or entering into ministry.

Anyways, things a young me with more hair needed to hear.

• I entered into ministry thinking I was going to see an entire people group come to Christ in my two years in the field. Unrealistic expectations are dangerous and lead to burnout. Burnout is real. Burnout sucks.
• Don't believe the lies of the enemy that might pop up, the ones that will fester if you take them too seriously for too long.
• Try to spend every morning in the Word and prayer
• Learn to rest. Rest is important.

If you want a Conservative Scholarly treatment of the problem of the Canon, I'd suggest reading <em>Canon Revisited</em> by Michael Kruger. He also has a series of lectures on the Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) mobile app called "The Origin and Authority of the New Testament Canon" that are really good (here is the course syllabus: PDF warning. This is a tough subject, but if you really want to dig deep into it Michael Kruger is the go-to scholar for a Conservative Reformed approach to the Canon of scripture.

I think in hindsight, and with the benefit of him being removed from the Reformed world for so many years, it's easy for us to forget that Driscoll wasn't always the pariah that he is now.

During the early and middle days of the YYR movement, he was huge. He founded Acts 29, and he was a council member for TGC. Sure, he always had a few detractors from the beginning, but by and large he was an integral part of the YRR mainstream for many years. (Heck, Colin Hanson's book that popularized the label "YRR" featured an entire chapter on him.)

Even though he eventually proved himself to be pretty awful on multiple fronts, there was a time when he was sharing the conference stage with plenty of folks we still laud today. I suspect that some of what he said would still resonate with many of us even today.

(And if it needs to be said explicitly: I wholeheartedly don't think we should be listening to him, either today or what he said in the past. I'm merely pointing out that, with the benefit of perspective, it's easy to forget that there was a time when he was a huge part of the YRR fold.)

Sinclair Ferguson once told me to get an interleaved Bible like Edwards, and read the Scriptures that way.

Then Crossway released the ESV Scripture Journals, even a digital version for my iPad (for only $12!), and it's changed the game completely. If you're a Bible-writer, definitely invest in these.

Crossway did have an interleaved edition of their Journaling Bible, but they've stopped printing them. There are a few on Amazon, though.

As a pastor, I generally discourage people from bringing Study Bibles, Journaling Bibles, and otherwise writing in Bibles for Sunday Morning services. I've been unfairly critiqued for saying something differently from another pastor, a study note, or a thought someone has had before. This is distracting. While there are certainly good times to write, meditate, and study the Bible, I believe having a plain Bible with just the text is best for sitting under sermons.

This is where paradoxically, our tradition somewhat "precedes" or "shapes" scripture, even for the Sola Scriptura folks. It's not a question of whether tradition and scripture go hand-in-hand, it's just how we think about the relationship between them.

Craig Allert's book "A High View of Scripture? The Authority of the Bible and the Formation of the New Testament Canon" is pretty fantastic on these themes.

>I also really want to show him that Christianity is not just a white religion. Being a black Muslim is like a “thing” in a way that being black Christian is not a “thing” if that makes sense.

Yeah I'm not sure where that line of logic (Islam = black religion; Christianity = white religion) came from because I've met many people who believed the same. Considering the fact that Islam has a long history of enslaving Africans ...

James White is pretty much at the forefront of the apologetic work on Islam. I highly recommend his book, What Every Christian Should Know About the Qur'an. You can also find a lot of his Dividing Line broadcasts on YouTube where he talks about Islam.

>Also is it worth reading the Koran to better understand his mindset and to build some kind of bridge or something?

It doesn't hurt just as long as understand that reading a translation of the Qur'an means you haven't read the Qur'an because it can only be read in Arabic. While English translations try to make the Bible understandable, the English translations of the Qur'an purposely use archaic language to try and give the Qur'an an air of supremacy (for lack of a better word).

Greetings - I believe/practice "exorcism" - I put it in quotes because I don't believe it's a fully biblical term. Spelled out a lot of this stuff in the other thread:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Reformed/comments/7yn3wq/casting_out_demons/

• A believer in Christ cannot be demon possessed - you are owned by Jesus and filled with the Spirit of God. You belong to God...not Satan.

• A believer in Christ can be influenced by the demonic. Scripture overwhelmingly shows the need to proactively stand against the enemy to avoid the enemy's influence in your life.

• The degree to which you surrender control of your life to sin and walking in the darkness is directly correlated to the degree that the evil one is allowed access to your life. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that the enemy will have greater access to your life.

• This tangibly means that believers in Christ who have permitted sin for a long, long time and in greater, and greater measures can have large degrees of influence from the demonic in their lives.

Been a part / witnessed a few of demonic manifestations in both the lost and saved. Happy to answer any specific questions you have here.

Also, for an excellent theological treatment of this, I recommend what /u/SeredW/ recommended:

• M.F. Unger - What Demons Can Do

A timeless classic. Free, because it's in the public domain. Nice and short, only 80-110 pages depending on who's printing it: <em>Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers</em> by John Owen with free audiobook version as well.

Are you looking for things that are not in line with the Reformed confessions or out right heresy? He seems to be a relatively orthodox theologian, albeit from a different theological tradition. If you want some straight forward critiques of his major "project", you can look at this book in the Counterpoints series. As Dan Dorinai (Covenant Seminary) and Kevin Vanhoozer offer responses, I'd wager you'll find some rather nuanced critiques on how he reads Scripture.

Now if only they took down the even more egregious patriot’s Bible with commentary notes comparing the second amendment to Abraham arming his servants and extolling the virtues of stonewall Jackson and Robert E Lee

The NKJV, American Patriot's Bible, Hardcover: The Word of God and the Shaping of America

5/5 rating on amazon

Can you find your definition of inerrancy in the writings of any theologian before 1990? I would suggest you can't.

The history of the doctrine of inerrancy is well attested. You can, for example, read a scholarly attestation of it in <em>Biblical Authority: Infallibility and Inerrancy in the Christian Tradition</em> by John Woodbridge.

Your redefinition of inerrancy has no historical basis, and continuing to let people redefine it or mean different things by it is equivocating: saying the same thing but meaning two different things by it.

This would be like me saying I'm a Lutheran because by Lutheran I mean that I have read the 95 Theses. This redefinition wholly ignores the scholarship, historical usage, and current practice of the idea of Lutheranism. It's not as innocuous as simply using a term differently. And you would certainly not call me, a Presbyterian minister, a Lutheran.

If you don't like the historical doctrine of inerrancy, that's fine. Don't use it. And certainly don't redefine it into a personal definition, which robs the doctrine of all its meaning.

While I'm not pro-women's ordination (today), I think context is actually the most compelling argument FOR women's ordination. Craig Keener makes this case in Two Views on Women in Ministry.

His basic point is that Paul's writings prohibiting women from teaching was that at the time, in that context weren't educated, and that to have women in leadership would have been onerous to the surrounding culture. There are OT examples of women in spiritual leadership, and Paul commends women for their ministry. Keener says that the prohibitions he writes to Timothy about are the result of some of the women in Ephesus being taken prey by outsiders who taught false doctrine, so he was telling Timothy to make sure they don't teach that as truth.

For those few of you interested in what long distance Presbyterian dating looks like:

This was my first gift sent to her.

This was her first gift to me.

So far, she's received reports on me from 3 different pastors from 3 different NAPARC Presbyterian denominations. Now, I just need /u/JCmathetes in order to get an ARP pastor and go 4/4...

There is a really good book, <em>Pierced For Our Transgressions</em> that does a nice exegetical study of how the Scapegoat is a type of Christ as it relates to penal substitutionary atonement. I highly recommend checking the book out if you can.

I don't really see the Scapegoat relating to Christ's temptation in the wilderness. For me, this is more of a parallel to the 40 years the Israelites spent in the desert, or perhaps to Elijah and Moses fasting 40 days and nights. I was listening to Michael Kruger's lecture series on the Gospels from the RTS mobile app, and he mentioned that some scholars have drawn parallels of Jesus' life to the Exodus. I'll have to go back and find those sources, but I found them to be quite interesting. Maybe somebody more knowledgeable than I can shed some light here.

I've heard this book is great, and it's only $2 right now- maybe you should give it a read.

Edit: If you'll read it I'll buy it for you, just pm me your amazon account address (or any email address).

My FIL is a Christian Flat-earther, and I'm not sure that is the most extreme view he has...

At any rate, I always highly recommend Plantinga's Where the Conflict Really Lies. on this topic

You should read The Marrow of Modern Divinity. Your story sounds extremely similar to one of the characters contained in it.

This is the best edition.

Dr. Esau McCaulley has an excellent chapter on it in his book Reading While Black.

Please study the distinctiveness of baptist covenant theology before deciding whether paedobaptism is proper. A great resource is Pascal Denault's The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology. I linke to amazon but you can find it cheaper at other stores online, I think.

https://www.amazon.com/Distinctiveness-Baptist-Covenant-Theology-Revised/dp/1599253666

Out of all of the Reformed ideas out there, I'm the least keen on limited/definite atonement. But my pastor has <em>From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective</em> on his bookshelf, and he has told me before that he quite likes the book.

It's a collection of essays. Although it's probably aimed more at pastors than at the general reader (so it may be some difficult reading depending on your background—I don't know), you may find it helpful.

For those interested in the entire conversation, I archived and compiled the entire interaction into a single PDF: Review and Interaction over &quot;Black and Tan&quot; between Douglas Wilson and Thabiti Anyabwile. You should be able to download it there for free - if you can't, please comment and I'll put it up via an alternative means.

Good but still worried about my dad. And you?

And Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts by Les and Leslie Parrott. Our pastor recommended it and I could suggest a thousand books that have the same info but not shrouded in pointless stories, weird sexist assumptions, and just boring writing. Hard pass.

This is all talked about if you study this. I suggest you read FF Bruce on The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0802822193/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_4WXQZ58JVMW92SGG68W2

I'm familiar with Dabney. I don't think he really has an argument to stand on. When you see the methods and the why of the methods, it is quite difficult to argue against.

Along with everything listed here, your friends may be inclined to listen to Bart Ehrman. He's an atheist New Testament scholar who has written and spoken quite a bit against Jesus mythicism. Be aware that as an atheist he has many claims about both the historicity of certain parts of the bible and the figure of Christ himself that I find problematic, but he does a good job refuting the idea that Jesus never existed period. If you or your friends enjoy reading, his book Did Jesus Exist? is a good presentation a secular case for the historical figure of Jesus. He has also been on the radio show/podcast Unbelievable?
If you like podcasts, then Unbelievable? has a ton of great episodes debating this issue if you search through the archives. (And, might I add, if you're doing any kind of apologetics it's a great resource to listen to Christians having fantastic apologetics discourse with people from all kinds of belief systems.)

You may be interested in reading Miroslav Volf's "flourishing." In a later chapter, he differentiates between political and religious pluralism / exclusivism and claims that one can be an exclusivist in terms of their religion (e.g. Christianity is the only real way) yet still positively interact with other religions and ideas in a political setting (e.g. a multicultural country). This seems to be the core of your question - how should Christians interact with others in a multi-religious political setting? And that's entirely what the book is about. It's a good read, I'd definitely recommend.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0300227132/

Just in case OP is reading this, I agree with u/partypastor on this.

Kevin DeYoung had a book that I read when I was trying to figure out the issues related to homosexuality that I appreciated alot: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433549379/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_5WMXFTQ3V9TC7260VW6J

I don't agree with him on everything (mostly all minor issues more relates to politics rather than theology) but everything he said seemed rooted in the Bible, but was also said in kind, loving ways that were focused on grace and understanding.

And, this is a personal preference, but I'd recommend staying away from MacArthur as a whole. I am not a big fan. I don't know enough about White to comment on him.

I'd say a nice fruit basket or something similar would be a safe, thoughtful option. I really like those dried fruit baskets on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CHSN691/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_28T31BC32S5KF5KA9PJ3?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1

I had a brief fascination last year with coffee lids. It stemmed from my hatred of the McDonald's lid, which is the worst example of engineering in modern history. My wife got me this book as a gift, which opened up a whole world for me. Now the book resides upon our coffee table.

Officially, no. Unofficially, my wife and I have a small group of folks who make an effort.

It’s an area of improvement that’s sorely needed. I’d recommend this book if you’re interested in the subject.

Christianity: the First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch.

It is written from a secular perspective, but I find it to be a great resource. It does a good balance of praising the church while not covering up the awful history. Also, it is written very well and a fairly enjoyable read.

> lately

I'd say he's been there ever since he started writing children's books praising Trump.

One of my former professors wrote a book not specifically dealing with mental illness but disabilities in general. And bonus, he's about as Reformed Presbyterian as you can get. Real good guy and extremely humble. His book is written from first hand experience dealing with having a child who suffered from an extreme form of disability or illness (I cannot recall which). This may be worth a look.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008JFCWLI/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

I don't know where it came from, but here is the earliest I could find the phrase in English:

https://books.google.com/books?id=qxQDAAAAQAAJ&amp;dq=%22personal%20relationship%20with%20jesus%22%3A&amp;pg=PA34#v=onepage&amp;q=%22personal%20relationship%20with%20jesus%22:&amp;f=false

Caroline M. Hallett - 1882

More searching found here.

You want Hatch and Redpath: A Concordance to the Septuagint. Free & legal scan available here. Just be aware that there is precious little English, except for the introduction it is all Greek and Hebrew.

This is a great resource on this topic. Scott Swain and Mike Allen have done a lot of work recently on the idea of Reformed catholicity, and I am a fan of it: https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Dogmatics-Reformed-Theology-Catholic/dp/080104894X/ref=nodl_

/u/partypastor:

MedianNerd has picked out my wedding present for you.

That's a tough question with a lot of nuance. As you know, depression isn't always caused by biomedical issues. Every counselee and situation is different, but I'd be against a "by-default" stance of referring everyone that says they are depressed to a secular counselor (not that you were advocating for that). But, I'm also against a "never-refer" stance as well.

I recently read a book called "Descriptions and Prescriptions&quot; by Michael Emlet that I can't recommend enough. It discusses the balance and wisdom necessary in making these sort of referrals.

Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by Packer is the seminal work, and it's a quick read. Kind of like a Bondage of the Will-size treatment of a reformed doctrine of evangelism. Amazon link.

An approach to evangelism that is not only extremely helpful for all but also places the right emphasis on the power of God in conversion is Questioning Evangelism by Randy Newman. Amazon link.

Quick link

Woke up to a pleasant surprise this morning. After getting the runaround from Amazon because my skill "targeted children," then after two weeks of "certification," the skill update was finally approved. At some point (Friday?), I will post the promised video showing a sample interaction.

The code is completely new from the previously released skill's code because of Amazon's snafu that lost the code for the better part of a week. What I am saying there is that the skill works moderately better than before so if you tried it when I mentioned this earlier and did not like your interaction it may be worth trying again.

Edit/notes:

• I have come to the conclusion that Alexa does not hear "WCF" and such things very well so you may want to instead reference the documents by saying things like: confession of faith, confession, shorter catechism.

• An update has been submitted to Amazon that changes the middle sample phrase to not display "WCF" because of that. The skill is still available and nothing will change except for the wording, whenever Amazon approves it.

You may be thinking of the one where Donald saves us when:

>the awful Swamp Creatures decided to put together a caravan of troublemakers to come back and take over the country!

>Where do calvinists stand on the Free Grace vs Lordship salvation debate?

We don't. Calvinist/Reformed folk will typically take issue with both sides. See Michael Horton's Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation. Of the two Reformed churches are probably closer to the Lordship Salvation side of the debate, but again it really isn't an either or thing.

>Also can a person who believes in Free Grace theology join a calvinist leaning church?

In general, Reformed churches will welcome any Christian who proclaims Christ as Lord and don't make restrictions on membership on finer points of theology. Trying to make waves or teach theology different from the doctrine of your Church is always going to be a problem though.

The two kingdoms don't have anything to do with sphere sovereignty or church v. state. The two kingdoms are the internal forum of conscience before God and the external, temporal forum. Both the governing authorities of the Church and the state operate over the temporal kingdom; Christ alone by His Word administrates in the spiritual kingdom.

It would take more time than I would like to spend to elaborate how that is totally disconnected from the way the doctrine is represented in this article, but comparing this summary to the logic used in the article should show that they're just not on the same page.

For further reading, I recommend Brad Littlejohn, particularly his little book on the topic: https://smile.amazon.com/Two-Kingdoms-Perplexed-Davenant-Guides-ebook/dp/B071VZFNTV

This book was so encouraging to me! I also struggle with OCD and this book talks about the many well-known Christians who most likely suffered from some type of OCD too. The title is silly and I wish he had spent more time wrapping it up but this book has truly impacted me and encouraged me and I would recommend to any believer with mental illness but especially anxiety disorders.

Edit: oops didn’t tag OP /u/AngloSaxonCanada praying for you. I know it’s a lonely battle... 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 are my life verses. Jesus’ grace and strength is the only spiritual reason I can come up with for what I experience. It’s enough for me because He has walked with me through it all and I enjoy the special, daily companionship I get to enjoy with a him because of it. God bless

Your question is really beyond the scope of a few Reddit comments. This is a highly technical and complex field to get into. I suggest finding a good Hermeneutics text and working your way through it.

If you have an Android phone, you should download RTS Mobile, go to Lectures, Find Old and New Testament, and listen to Robert Cara's lectures in Advanced Biblical Exegesis (which isn't really that advanced). This lecture series really helped me to grow in my understanding of Hermeneutics, and Cara does a great job as a lecturer. If you don't have Android, I believe these lectures can be found on iTunes University or something (I'm not an Apple guy).

Have you ever read Martin Luther? If you haven't, you should read Martin Luther, I particularly enjoy some of his rather spicy language when retorting to the devil's temptations that God is not gracious to him:

> When the devil comes at night to worry me, this is what I say to him: “Devil, I have to sleep now. That is God’s commandment, for us to work by day and sleep at night.” If he keeps on nagging me and trots out my sins, then I answer: “Sweet devil, I know the whole list. But I have done even more sin which is not on your list. Write there also that I have shit in my breeches. Hang it around your neck and wipe your mouth on it.” Then, if he won’t cease to accuse me of sins, I say in contempt: “Holy Satan, pray for me.”

Found on wikiquote.

Similarly, my personal favourite, when he felt the devil listing his sins to him:

>But if that is not enough for you, you Devil, I have also shit and pissed; wipe your mouth on that and take a hearty bite!

I really recommend the book: "The Unquenchable Flame" by Michael Reeves. It's on the Reformation and contains a section on Luther and how he came to his understanding of salvation by faith. Some great stuff on Luther and the Reformation here. Listen to some of the talks by Mike Reeves on Luther and Justification, I struggled with doubts for quite some time, until I learned about Luther from Mike and it totally opened my eyes. It's really heartwarming stuff.

For a very quick answer, I would say (and this is the traditional argument) that one must first and foremost be actually able to participate, not just eat bread and wine, which would include, at minimum, the following:

1. Competent to discern the sacred meal from common meals (1 Cor. 10:16; 1 Cor. 11:20-22)
2. Able to examine oneself (1 Cor. 11:28)
3. Able to discern the Lord’s Body (1 Cor. 11:29-31)

This, as with the Sacraments, membership, and discipline in general, is largely the discretion of the Elders of the local church. So this can either be discerned on a case by case basis, or, more normatively, in order to do all things in good order within the Church, as a set process that all are equally subject to.

Now if we are to take a cue from the Passover participation age and, arguably, the age of Christ’s first participation in the Passover, the age for the ordered process would be about 13 years old (see https://www.scribd.com/doc/279495956/Jesus-First-Passover ).

We do not believe that children are kept from the table because they are not yet Christians, but rather because they are not participants, even if they do eat bread and wine. We also do not believe that Christ is kept from them in any way as they are catechized and growing into Christian maturity.

I’ve put together a rough sketch of the traditional position with some resources here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Reformed/comments/3l4194/a_rough_summary_of_why_i_reject_paedocommunion/

I apologize, but I haven’t the opportunity right now to flesh anything out.

Check out e-Sword It's a free downloadable Bible software that you can download a number of translations, commentaries, and even dictionaries onto it for free. Some have to be paid for, but over all, the majority of it is free. It has the greek and hebrew you're looking for for sure, as well as a few commentaries.

Actually, I called the intro a breath of fresh air, as he’s not condescending and disrespectful. I haven’t gotten to read the whole book yet.

I recommend Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock’s Progressive Dispensationalism to understand the theological hermeneutic. Dr. Bock is a Messianic Jew and renowned Hebrew scholar. Here’s a link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Dispensationalism-Craig-Blaising/dp/0801022436

"Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" by Donald S. Whitney (J. I. Packer wrote the Foreword)

On Amazon

I've read it twice and highly recommend it. Pre-Covid, I would hand it out at my jail ministries for the men as often as I could.

My man, you need to read some John Polkinghorne. In fact, he had a book that's fairly dead on point: <em>Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship.</em>

It's a very short, accessible book written for lay readers. If that scratches your itch, you can delve into his more involved stuff.

Check out the short book on the topic by Alexander McLeod on the topic, to answer you question about the slave trade and slavery in modern history. It it unfortunately a bit difficult to find, and the best copy I've found is a scanned edition here, but it is short and brilliant in addressing the questions. He doesn't address those specific verses, but he does address the concept that Paul's statements approve of the practice of slavery.

As a prompt from myself: to not resist an evildoer is not to approve of their evil, lest we say Christ morally approved of his own crucifixion. Christ himself commands us to turn the other cheek when struck, but this in no way justifies or makes acceptable the other man's strike against us. Defense and rebellion are generally addressed through just war theory, and most specifically in Rutherford's Lex Rex.

>is there any scientific evidence for Jesus' resurrection?

Yes. NT Wright lays this out well in The Resurrection of the Son of God

This might be an answer to prayer. Please can you do Black Preacher to White America: The Collected Writings of Lemuel Haynes, 1774-1833? It's out of print, the publisher is no more, and it's hard to get. I could only get it via an interlibrary loan from a local HBCU college. [if not, maybe some of his works that are in the public domain?]

I'd love to read good children's book on the trinity because I want to understand the trinity. It was this children's book on Saint Patrick that lead me to believing a heresy for most of my life.

Predestination is a pretty central part of Reformed theology, but there is much more to Reformed theology than just TULIP. I'd recommend you learn about the breadth of Reformed theology first. A good resource is the slim book Reformed: What It Means, Why It Matters by Bob De Moor. You can get it for less than $4 shipped on amazon. I'd also note that the vast majority of Reformed believers don't believe in the caricature of "double predestination" that critics tend to yell about.

Can you be considered Reformed without a Reformed view of election? Maybe, but you'd definitely be going outside the Reformed tradition here. You can definitely be a member of Reformed church though - all of the Reformed churches I have been a part of have had a few members that disagreed with the churches teachings in this area. In fact, I would say that it would generally be much easier to be part of a Reformed church without believing in the Reformed teaching of election than it would to be in a confessional Lutheran church with a Reformed view of the sacraments - I've done the latter and it can be quite tricky.

>How frequently do you have date nights?

We aim for once a week, but realistically, it often ends up being about twice a month.

>Or what other rules do you have about them?

No real rules per se. The idea of date night is that its dedicated time for us to spend just with the two of us. There's also an understanding that we will have sex at the end of the night.

>what are your common Date Night activities?

Babysitters are expensive, so most of our date nights happen at home after the kids are in bed. At home options:

• Boardgame.
• Sit on the couch with a glass of wine and talk for an hour.
• Watch a TV show or movie together.
• Feed the kids dinner by themselves, then after they go to bed get takeout (or takeout dessert). Often times combined with a TV show afterwards. Still too expensive to do every week, but cheaper than getting a sitter.
• Trade extended backrubs. I actually got us a portable massage table for about $75 on amazon awhile back specificly for this purpose.
• Extended "special" sexy time - stuff that requires a bit of forethought and a longer period of time than we have on a normal night.

We used to have a babysitting swap with another couple that we'd use to go out sometimes without getting a sitter, but that's fallen apart recently since we've both had new babies in the past year. We will also occasionally spring for a sitter. When we do go out we almost always get dinner. Sometimes that's all we do, but we often do something else too:

• A (short) movie
• Go for a walk in a park or on my campus
• Shopping/browsing
• Escape room
• Local museum

We also try to have a night or weekend getaway once or twice a year when we can leave the kids with grandparents (either when we visit them or they come visit us). We get a hotel room and have at least 24 hours just for the two of us. We usually end up doing several of the above listed things.

I just saw this breaking news as well. He did write a book about the importance of Liturgy a few years ago. I am still surprised to hear this. I listened to him on the "Quick to Listen" podcast many times. First he started a feud with the Donald, and now this... sheesh I'm sure the Wheaton/CT people are probably not too thrilled about this right now.

As my flair indicates, please check out Denault's The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology before emptying the baptismal.

Yes, Christ's authority does extend to the civil realm, but that doesn't mean the civil laws of the Torah are necessarily in force.

See Theocracy Without Theonomy? at The Calvinist International.

Also, for more good stuff on how Christ's authority relates to different aspects of life, see Brad Littlejohn's The Two Kingdoms: A Guide for the Perplexed.

1. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (Currently reading; and inspired by You are What You Love by James K.A. Smith)
2. According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy
3. More about productivity in Christian perspective. I think we have a lot to learn from the Puritans (I know Challies and Mahaney wrote one but weren't that beneficial)
4. No idea, no idea, no idea

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/06/politics/kfile-mike-pence-moral-columns/index.html

Can't wait to hear the Vice President's response to this virtue signalling.

There are two understandings to what hypothetical universalism is. First, is Amyraldism. If this was what I was referring to then yes you would be correct. Amyraldism is typically viewed as outside the boundaries of Reformed orthodoxy.

However, hypothetical universalism (HU) typically refers to the Davenantian type in which is completely compatible with particular atonement (Davenant was one of the delegates at the Synod of Dort). As such these hypothetical universalism fully affirm Article 8 and 9 of Dort.

Where HU comes into its name is that this position states that God had two designs for Christ's death. A general design in which Christ's death is the universal cause of salvation to all men as long as they have faith. And a special design in which the efficacious application of Christ's death is for the elect alone.

So, in summation, HU proponents can claim that 1) Through Christ God purchased a sufficient remedy for mankind and 2) Through Christ, God purchased redemption for the elect.

If you're curious about HU and the Westminster Confession, I highly recommend this paper The author even did an interview with Reformation21 on the subject

http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2015/08/interview-on-the-atonement-and.php

Would Jeremiah Burroughs' The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (8 hours 25 minutes, read by Derek Perkins) or Diarmaid MacCulloch's The Reformation: A History (36h 11m, read by Anne Flosnik) interest you?

In addition to these, Audible has unabridged works from Richard Sibbes, Thomas Watson, and Martin Luther. Nadia May's reading of <em>The Bondage of the Will</em> (12h 10m) is pretty funny for her delivery of Luther's polemical edge. I recommend it!

> So you agree with the post on that point.

Uh, read it again. That initial definition is NOT the teaching of either the Belgic or Westminster confessions. The post claims it IS. Therefore the post is incorrect right off the bat.

The post - the entire site - is utterly devoid of any discernible, meaningful content.

It goes to great lengths to assert what "Reformed Libertarianism" isn't but says nothing about what it is.

It's poorly organized, poorly written, and poorly argued. The whole thing sounds like it was written by a college sophomore. (That assessment is not far off).

PCA Pastoral Intern here. Our youth group just finished a study of the Gospel Centered Life for Teens. Highly recommend the curriculum. Transformative for our covenant teens and our volunteer leaders.

Let me know if you want more information.

This is for you: https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Centered-Life-Teens-Leaders-Guide/dp/1939946700/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwyIKJBhBPEiwAu7zll65OIXek1YJIdUFLt-I2-eVbxIOrI3-yJFkieCbXJr-h3gY5Y7O2gxoCu0IQAvD_BwE&amp;hvadid=241624357353&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hv...

I can't say I struggle with it but I've been reading this book written by Christopher Yuan who has same sex attraction and found it to be a very biblically centered view of sexuality. Helpful to have that view, putting sexuality in it's proper place.

https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Sexuality-Gospel-Desire-Relationships/dp/0735290911

This may not be a direct response to your question, but hopefully it will be helpful. I read this book several (like 8-10) years ago and found it helpful and accessible to a lay audience:

&quot;Is God a Moral Monster&quot;? by Paul Copan

I can't say for sure that it's as good as I thought it was back then, but maybe someone in here has a more recent recollection of it or a similar work.

If I remember correctly, he addresses the issue from several perspectives, such as the genre of the text being more hyperbolic than literal, the notice given to the Caananites to evacuate prior to individual conquests, and yes, I believe he addresses the issue of God's will in multiple senses (which seems to be the core of your question).

This isn't specifically an Ephesians commentary, but Con Campbell's Paul and Union with Christ is a great resource. It goes through all of the individual 'in Christ' references by Paul.

Michael Kruger has recently released a book that might be helpful for you. Whether you take the religion course or not, there will be other classes that will question or outright reject Christian tenets. In a class like religious studies, this may simply be more out in the open.

From my experience (in the US context), Religious Studies attempts to be more descriptive than prescriptive. That is to say, a fair treatment ought to identify and describe the defining characteristics of a religion - e.g. its basic doctrines, practices, history, etc. - without necessarily placing value judgements on them. You will find professors that appear to enjoy subverting student's "naive" assumption about religion, but you can also find professors that demonstrate respect for personal belief and who have no intention of undermining their student's faith. The best way to find out is to talk to the professor before you take the course. Target one (or more) that teach courses that interest you and see when their office hours are. You don't necessarily need to lay all your cards on the table for them, but you can usually find out from a conversation whether they'll be overly antagonistic or not.

My brother and I bought a copy of <em>The American Patriot's Bible</em> when we visited a Sam's Club across the border. It includes many excerpts from guys like Jefferson, Payne, and Franklin. For us, it's kinda corny and funny to have, but I assume some people really appreciate it as a serious study(?) bible.

I disagree with your pastor. I didn't learn either language till seminary. Plus, many seminaries will require that you have taken these languages classes for credit in order for you to receive your degree. Even if you learn the languages on your own, "testing out" may not be possible unless you took them for credit.

That being said, here are the books we used in seminary if your still want to try to learn the languages yourself.

Bill Mounce for Koine Greek

Pratico and Ven Pelt for Biblical Hebrew

> I also serve as lead pastor of Church Without Religion in west Texas.

Does that mean his church refuses to help orphans and widows? Or that they happily get "stained by the world"?

He has a lot of endorsements from people I've never heard of. His marketing copy sells him as someone with a special insight into God that no one else has, like I should go to his church because he's got better relics in his altar.

From the Amazon samples of one of his books

> Despite all of our fervor, many of us are still apathetic instead of ecstatic over the gospel. But maybe there's an answer to our heartfelt yearning for more passion in our Christian life.

Reads like a combination of Enthusiasm and Mysticism, despising the ordinary means of grace in favor of ecstatic experience. The book later claims that Christians should not ask God for forgiveness when we sin (presumably after the one time). He's an anti-Reformed (you can watch him screw up Romans 9 here) anti-nomian.

Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible is currently $73.57 on Amazon. It's kismet! Thought I would have to wait for Christmas to ask for this. Thanks again, mods! Current mood

This book I’ve gone through and have been recommended to read it by my own Christian counselor. I think it’s helpful.

The Emotionally Destructive... https://www.amazon.com/dp/0736918973?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Thanks for the feedback. It's a really rough, live recording, so there's a lot more work to be done. Just finished in a studio not too long ago so we should have a better recording soon.

The chord charts are here...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yQC9-qDfNv1nZwiqCyH7us01kU2JLpxOuR_p9HqN2SM/edit

Can I challenge the theological underpinnings of this interpretation? I know its the Westminister Larger Catechism but this is not a jewish read of a very Jewish text. I think they got it wrong, I think they have it wrong, they expanded the text far beyond the reasonable range anyone would've read into it.

On to your interpretation of the WLC: "the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life" ... I think your argument hangs here.

• Preservation is probably the most important term. A vaccine is an active defense against diseases, not preservation of life. Preservation of life is "food water shelter" There is an immediacy to it, by definition.
• Vaccines are probably protection far more than preservation
• All other items are supported directly by surrounding text
• Most vaccinated diseases are not deadly, statistically.

I would caution the church to be mindful here, Google is currently working on a chip and an augmentation to the brain that will unquestionably preserve life better than vaccines. This chip will also be used to collect data. This is not a conspiracy theory by any means. < see The Next Web Article

So if it is a sin to refuse a vaccination you will be left with no choice but to allow google to help augment your thinking.

> DA Carson's introduction to the New Testament

Significant portions are on Google Books, legally.