Theological Treatises

  Movie Review: "Daniel And The Fiery Furnace"   [Semi-spoiler alert: if you wish to see this good movie; and you do not want some of its highlights known to you in advance--then you should probably not peruse this little "review."]   Lesley and I just returned home from viewing the film, so I wanted to get my thoughts down while they are still fresh in my mind. . . .   We liked the movie.  I liked the movie.  It is good.  It is very inspiring.  The acting is quite impressive.  The story stays faithful to the Scripture's accounts; and, when and where there is legitimate speculation regarding certain aspects of the narrative, I think the producers did well in coming up with some believable scenarios.   Quick note: as you know, every Sunday School child knows that it should be, "Daniel and the Lions' Den"; right?--so how do we come up with, "Daniel and the Fiery Furnace"?  Good question; and I think the movie ...

  The Comfort of The Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is called the "Paraclete" in John's Gospel.  This word, as is well-known, may be translated in various ways, such as "Advocate," "One called alongside to help," or "Comforter."  For my purposes, in this paper, I want to camp on the "Comforter" theme.   The regenerate saints of the Church Militant (the church on earth), are the *only* ones who experience, or have  any  vital understanding of the comfort that is given us by the Holy Spirit.  Even the church in heaven, the Church Triumphant, no longer has, nor needs this special divine consolation.  But we true saints of the church on the earth  definitely  need it.  My desire is to  flesh  some of this comfort  out  for us, so that we both sense (or feel) it, and appreciate it.   One of the  greatest  comforts that the Holy Spirit gives God's people is a heartfelt  assuran...

  Where Is David Hume When you Need him? David Hume, the Scots sceptic, lived from 1711-1776 AD.  I remember reading his "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion" while in seminary.  In it, Hume pretends to defend somewhat conventional orthodox religious viewpoints through characters he named "Cleanthes" and "Demea."  But one "conversationalist" named "Philo" certainly represented Hume's own inclinations--though, I would argue that Hume was  more  of an atheist than Philo is represented to edge toward.   . . . But the point I would like to focus on is Hume's detestation of "causality."  He seemed (to me) to constantly harp on the idea that we can never tie "causes" to "effects"; and that these things were simply random happenings, with no real reference to one another.  Of course, in doing this, Hume was hoping to chisel away at the Christian concept of the Creator, the providence of God; and cosmolog...

  The Visible Church Is the Answer To the Internet Frenzy First of all, the internet cannot be blamed for anything I will touch on in this little paper.  The internet, social media, AI, Google answers to our questions, etc.--are not responsible for  any  of our sins, our over-indulgences, our addictions, our insanity, our stupidity, or our frenzy.  Every "tool" that God has ever allowed the world to develop is, in itself, innocuous; it is not "ethics-bearing" in its existence.   One of the problems we sinners face today, is that we simply have too much time on our hands.  Because we do not use our time well, we find ourselves frittering it away--and today, this is most easily done via facile access to the internet.  I myself--now that I am retired from the strenuous duties of pastoring a church congregation--have "time" to write articles like this one.  In so doing, am I being a hypocrite, especially with regard to wh...

  Knowing Oneself/Finding Oneself To "know" oneself, or to seek to "find" oneself, is  not  necessarily inherently or intrinsically  evil  in itself.  Sometimes I think that we Christian people are tempted to instantly come to conclusions that are not always entirely sustainable--and this is probably a good example of one of those things.   . . . I would argue, that as beings created in the very image of God, we of  necessity  seek to "know" ourselves, and need to "find" ourselves.  Even Adam and Eve, before their Fall, "knew" themselves as God's special creation; and they "found" themselves in their relation to the Triune God. . . . But, upon the Fall of man into sin everything got completely messed-up, (to say the least/and to say it in polite terms).   Now, we  still  must, of necessity, "know" ourselves, and "find" ourselves--but, since we are cut off from the Source of Life (God) because of sin, we...

  "Why Me?" Usually, when we hear (or think of) the question, "Why me?", we are  expecting  someone to be  bemoaning  their situation or condition in life.  This expression does not  always  evidence a case of self-pity, but oftentimes it does. . . . For  all  fallen human persons (sinners), but  especially  for those who are born again to a living hope in Jesus Christ through and via God's gospel of grace, the query, "Why me?", should be directed to the further inquiry, "Why has God  been so good to me?"   The reason I even include  all  fallen human sinners, is because  none  of us deserve  anything  good from God.  In fact, with regard to our "deserts," we  all --even simply because of our Fall in Adam--"deserve" condemnation, hell, misery, wrath, and suffering.  But this is  not  the universally-experienced estate of even  unregenerate ...