Many of you know that I am a fantasy and science fiction fan. I am also an anime fan, a manga fan, and a fan of cosplay, though I do not really get to participate in cosplay. I have had wry comments from a couple of friends that I ended up being an Orthodox priest […]
Archives for 2019
Take delight in reading
“Let books be your dining table, And you shall be full of delights. Let them be your mattress And you shall sleep restful nights” St. Ephrem the Syrian “Scripture brought me to the Gate of Paradise, and the mind stood in wonder as it entered.” St. Ephrem the Syrian St. Ephrem was not simply an […]
I remember the anger
Yesterday I had the opportunity to go share at a church founded around people who were in recovery from alcohol and drugs. I abused substances strongly when I was a high school teenager going into 20-year-old, so my story fit into what they were doing. As a modern “hip” evangelical community, they had their tattooed, […]
Are migrants dangerous criminals?
What is the Cato Institute? “The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues.” It is a libertarian think-tank founded by one […]
On the poor and needy
When someone steals a man’s clothes, we call him a thief. Shouldn’t we give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? — St. Basil the Great (AD 330-379) From Ancient Faith Ministries It isn’t because the affluent are unable to provide food easily that men go hungry. It is […]
The regulative principle and the Apostles
Two days ago, I wrote an article on the regulative principle, the Old Testament, and Church History. It forms the background to this addendum and can be found here. There is a problem with those who speak of the loss of the teaching of the Apostles as early as the beginning of the second century […]
The Regulative Principle ignores the Old Testament, let alone Church History
Samuel Waldron explains the Regulative Principle in his “Exposition of the 1689” using the following example. “Mr. Anglican must use the materials of the Word of God, but has no blueprint and may use other materials. Mr. Puritan must use only materials of the Word of God and has a blueprint. It takes no special […]
Notre Dame and the Passion
We watched in horror as Notre Dame (Paris) burned. We gasped as the spire dropped. News stations around the world began to go live with the burning of the Cathedral, some even keeping the image going for hours. And, then, we saw the moving images of hundreds of people gathered to watch, as they began […]
The Epistle of Straw
“St. James’s epistle is really a right strawy epistle, compared to these others [Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, 1 Peter, and 1 John], for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it.” Martin Luther, 1522, preface to his German translation of the Bible Since the Reformation, the Epistle of James has caused problems for […]
What is to come
And then wonder took him, and a great joy; and he cast his sword up in the sunlight and sang as he caught it. And all eyes followed his gaze, and behold! upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White […]
