Eric Johnson’s magnum opus has just been published by IVP Academic. It is titled Foundations for Soul Care: A Christian Psychology Proposal. Knowing Eric and his love for God, and his allegiance to Scripture, and his deep appreciation for the worldview of Jonathan Edwards, and his own walk with Christ through dark valleys, I am encouraged by the conclusion of this book. Don’t stumble over the academic terms (modalities, analogical, theocentric). Penetrate to the amazing claims made here. Then consider pondering the 600 pages that go before.

In concluding the chapter (and the book), it would be good to summarize its major underlying assumption: the different modalities of Christian soul

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When Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, gave the 2005 Stanford commencement address, he essentially challenged the graduates to not waste their lives. Although his conclusions about how to not waste life fall short, it is interesting that Mr. Jobs tells his listeners to 1) trust in Providence, 2) see purpose in their suffering, and 3) reflect every day on the reality of death.

One common response to John Piper's thoughts on baptism and church membership is to say that being unbaptized is to live in sin, and anything besides immersion as a believer is not baptism, therefore those who have not been immersed after their profession of faith are, in fact, living in sin. In Mark Dever's recent post on the issue, he writes,

Jesus clearly commanded baptism and to disobey this command is sin [whether intentional or not]. To continue in such an unbaptized state is unrepentant sin [whether intentional or not].

His point being that if we as Baptists do not believe infant baptism is legitimate, then we can't in good conscience have paedobaptists in ou…

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Tyndale House is where I did my sabbatical last year. It is an evangelical study center in Cambridge, England. Bruce Winter was the "warden" then (like a president). I saw first hand what a crucial role that was. Now after Winter's many fruitful years there, Peter Williams is stepping into that strategic place as warden. Meet him and get to know about Tyndale House over at Justin Taylor's blog. You will be encouraged. I am.

Douglas Wilson offers some wisdom on the effect of resentment: If you are bitter, you are siding against yourself with the person you're offended at. Wilson writes:

What this means is that someone came into your home and smashed your precious things. And let us say that you are not imagining it—he really did this. And so what does bitterness do? Bitterness goes to the workroom in the basement, finds a hammer, and goes through the house, smashing any of the remaining precious things that the other may have missed. At the basic heart level, this means that bitterness agrees with the vandal. For all the appearance of conflict, it is a false conflict.

Aggressive belli…

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Last Sunday, for the first time in my life, I sang on request in a Sunday morning worship service. Another one of those milestones I said I could never do. The pastor saw me in the audience and said that he loved the song I sang to Talitha (that I mentioned in my article last week) and wondered what the tune was. Would I sing it?

Gulp.

I did. Admittedly, there were only 40 people in the congregation.

So according to the request, here’s my shot.

I wrote the words, and I sing them to the tune of "If Thou but Suffer God to Guide Thee" (listen).

Come rest your head and nestle gently,
And do not fear the dark of night.
Almighty God keeps watch intently,
An…

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Dear John,

Thank you for the kind, gracious spirit in your response!

And thank you for your friendship, which has meant so much to me for so many years.

And thank you for helping me to think more clearly about the details of what I have written. You write so persuasively! In fact, last night I printed out what I had written and your response, and gave it to Margaret, and before we went to bed Margaret informed me with a smile, “I agree with John.” Now what can I say to that??

Nevertheless, here are some responses:

(1) I do not see denial of church membership as “virtually the same as excommunication,” nor do any of the Baptist churches known to me.

Non-members w…

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Lots of people know that Wayne Grudem and I are the deepest of friends. We love to room together at conferences. We love to do things together with our wives. We were both in seminary together for a season. We have co-edited a book together. We taught together at Bethel College. And at this very moment I love him and would fly to his side in a crisis. But, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, why did you rewrite page 983?

Justin Taylor drew our attention to the fact that Wayne revised section F1 in his new edition of Systematic Theology (pp. 982-983). The section is titled, “Do Churches Need to Be Divided Over Baptism?”

In the first edition, Wayne answered that question no. In the new edition, he…

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One of my goals in our ministry to children at Bethlehem is to help parents teach them the truth and model the truth, so that when a family goes to the Science Museum in St. Paul and watches a dizzying documentary on Katrina in the Omni Theater (like we did a few weeks ago), which ends with the environmentally loaded lament,

When I get to heaven
I will shed a tear,
Because it won’t be as sweet
as what I have right here.
This is my home.

a five year old will suddenly look up to daddy and say, “That’s not right. Jesus is better than what we have right here.”

From 11 to 12 this morning, Gary Eichten of Minnesota Public Radio interviewed Rabbi Harold Kushner about the collapse of the 35W bridge. Kushner is best known for his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People. There were several astonishing things about this interview—not unusual for religious talk shows on public radio, but astonishing still.

1. The most astonishing thing is that God’s grace is so great neither the Rabbi nor I was struck dead by God during the interview—he, because of his blasphemous belittlings of God, and I, because of my contaminated anger at what he said.

2. Another astonishing thing is that Gary Eichten, as far as I heard, never challenged the Rabbi to supp…

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