As a child, I heard a church member tell my father: “Pastor, I do not wish to learn any more than I already know about the Bible.” Looking with a straight face at that gentle-giant of a man, Rev. Wadislau Gomes asked the reason for that statement and received a candid explanation: “Well, you taught me that the more I know, the greater my responsibility, and it is already hard as heck to carry the ones I have today—imagine if I learn even more…”

The teenager listens while his teacher [re]affirms Nietzsche’s position regarding religious convictions: “every conviction is a prison…” The young man then asks if statements of convictions such as this one, or the one about God being dead would also be considered prisons.  “See, according to the philosopher, you must doubt every opinion, even this one,” the teacher replies at once.

WRF Member This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Discusses "Biblical Principles in the Public Square: Theological Foundations for Christian Civic Participation"

2011 was widely recognized as the year of the protester and the dissident.

Orthodox (as in Russian Orthodox) author Rod Dreher’s new book, The Benedict Option, released on March 14, has rightly generated lots of discussion even among Reformed folks.  Based on the assumption that American culture is getting more hostile to the Body of Christ and to learning and civility, Dreher says that

 A Medical Dialectic: Ten Important Questions

David R. Haburchak, MD, FACP, is Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG), Georgia Regents University, Augusta, Georgia, where he has practiced academic medicine for over 20 years.  He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the World Reformed Fellowship.

 Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, and the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular.

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Contextualization has to be a good idea. Use language that people can understand. Too many seminary types use seminary language while they preach, but they find that no one knows what they’re talking about, so they change (some never do). 

 1.         Introduction: Two extremes

In the introduction to his classic Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis wrote (1942):

Outside Fire Department Station 4 in Utica, New York, a hand-made sign stands propped against the front wall.  It reads, “Happy Birthday Jesus We Love You.”  Predictably, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to the mayor demanding the sign be removed.  The sign is a “religious endorsement,” the group asserted.  The mayor replied citing legal opinion that the city is within its rights to keep the sign.  The battle continues.

Interpreting The Signs – Both in the Present and in the Future

by WRF Board Chairman, Dr. Rick Perrin 

It happened more than two generations now.  But we must remember as if it were tomorrow.

Communicating the Christian gospel clearly must include deep empathy of the way those in another culture are likely to misconceive it. For instance, Muslims have deep appreciation for intimacy within their families, so a gospel with a Western overly-individualistic setting must be transcended and overcome,

 NOTE:  This item expresses the views of the individual to whom the item is ascribed and does not necessarily reflect the position of the WRF as a whole.]   

I ended my last post on suffering with a comment about “the mysterious will of a personal, powerful, just, and compassionate God.” I can just about hear a critic responding, “Yeah, yeah, yeah! You Christians always take refuge in mystery, but you won’t let us do it.