Serious public religious discussion is all but impossible these days. It seems that to hold any serious religious belief is to offend those who don’t hold that particular belief. And the more seriously you take your faith, the more offensive it is. How has American civil society come to this horrible place? Why can’t...
Glenn Beck’s recent Restoring Honor rally has unleashed a Jini from the proverbial bottle. It is significant that he has stood in the public square like no one else could at this point in history and called for a national revival of Christian morality. All sane Americans can agree about the need for a...
I know why it is so hard for people to identify President Obama’s religion. The number of people who think that he is a Muslim is rising, and the number of people who think that he is a Christian is shrinking. However, the answer will not be found in the polls. The polls ask...
My readers may be interested in the article: Must Christian life involve religion? by Shirley Lancaster. “We need to rediscover spirituality as an interior journey and this will involve new institutional forms.” I have commented extensively on it.
In the recent headlines are the 10 Medical Aid Workers in Afghanistan who were killed by Taliban insurgents. According to the director of IAM, Dirk Frans, the Taliban murdered ten people execution-style for their Christianity. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack, saying: “Yesterday at around 8am, one of our patrols confronted...
The definition of terms always determines the shape and conclusion of an argument, case, statement, or policy, assuming that it unfolds logically. Thus, the definition of marriage is the central concern in the debate about so-called gay marriage. However, as soon as the issue is referred to as “gay marriage” its definition is influenced...
The name of C.I. Scofield is not usually associated with liberalism, yet Scofield’s roots lie at the heart of the post 1865 Congregationalism where Charles Finney made his home. Finney’s Congregationalism promoted a doctrine of polar opposites, as previously indicated (See Charles Finney). Fruit of the Root The 1865 Statement of Faith of the...
Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. —Jeremiah 31:19 “We hence learn how blind the Papists are, who, speaking of repentance, hold that man, through his own...
The Reforming Synod of 1679-80 attempted to address the spiritual downgrade that occurred in the churches following the Half-Way Covenant debacle. Pastors and people began to believe that they were undergoing divine judgment as a result of the increasing faithlessness in the churches. “The sense of alarm regarding the state of New England engendered...
Principles of Biblical Interpretation Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics The “Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy” was produced at an international Summit Conference of evangelical leaders, held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago in the fall of 1978. This congress was sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The Chicago Statement was signed...
The Practice of Christianity in the Local Church The practice of Christianity apart from a proper theological foundation, firmly rooted in the Word of God written, builds on uncertain ground. The success of Christ’s Church depends upon the clear, explicit articulation of the historic biblical gospel. God’s Governance, Not Man’s Congregationalism is often misunderstood...
written in 1994 One of the early casualties of the war with Iraq is the idea that perception is reality, or that perception shapes reality. This idea has been popular in a variety of circles. It was early in April, before Baghdad fell, that Arab television failed to broadcast the fact that U.S. troops...
Paedobaptism & Paedocommunion What follows is a discussion on the Reformed Congregationalist List about padeobaptism (infant baptism) and credobaptism (believers’ baptism), which brought up paedocommunion during the month of October, 2003. The following is a reconstruction of that conversation with corrections of spelling, etc. It began with the moderator’s description of a man whom...
Below is a graphic depiction of how various models of church leadership are related and how they can err.
The restoration of the English King, Charles II, in 1660 brought back into power all those spiritual influences which the Puritans had stood against prior to the English Civil War. Episcopacy (rule of the church by the clergy), compulsory liturgy, and uniformity in worship practices were again to be the state religion. A meeting...
Thinking About Marriage… The first thing that you should notice is that the above word is marriage and not wedding. The deepest concern of the church is for your marriage. Sure, you should have a nice wedding, but more important is the stability and longevity of your marriage. “Unfortunately in many cases the church...
The concern here is not the noun issues, but the verb. The action of issuing suggests going, coming, or flowing out. Synonyms are egress and emergence. Think of issuing orders. Think of one’s children as one’s issue. To get at the root meaning of the word it may be helpful to consider an archaic...
Informal Christianity What it isn’t… It is not a church, but is the personal, internal, subjective faith that identifies church members as belonging to Jesus Christ. It is not formless, but conforms to the biblical reality described in Scripture. Its discipline is not strict and legalistic, but is free and gracious. Its principles are...
Increasing Sanctification Because the word sanctification means separated unto God or separated for the purposes and use of God, and because biblical wisdom opposes worldly wisdom (see Arsy Varsy) increased sanctification requires less entanglement with worldly ways and means. This, however, does not mean creating a Christian commune in the country or a Christian...
Knowing God It takes one to know one. I can identify another regenerate person because I know what God’s Holy Spirit has done to me. I know how He has changed me, so I can recognize similar changes in other people. But if a person has not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, he...
The story of the Bible is the story of God’s work in the world. It is His (God’s) story, that is the fundamental and original understanding of history. It is only in the post-Enlightenment, modern, secular, humanistic world that God has been written out of history (His story). Historians since 18th Century tell us...
What in the world is Ross doing? In 1983 I had an experience that culminated in 1985 in what is called regeneration. Ordained at First Congregational Church, Berkeley, California, after earning a Master of Divinity degree at Pacific School of Religion, I was confronted by the reality of the Bible as I taught the...
Buy our "No Other gods" and "Bail Worship" merchandise and to help support this ministry an remind the world of the First Commandment.
Peter's Vision of Christ's Purpose in First Peter by Phillip A. Ross, November 2011, 317 pages.
The True Mystery of the Mystical Presence by John Nevin & Phillip A. Ross, October 2011, 355 pages.
Rock Mountain Creed — Jesus' Sermon on the Mount by Phillip A. Ross, 2010, 325 pages.
Colossians — Christos Singularis by Phillip A. Ross, 2010, 263 pages.
Wordpress by WebPropper.com 