Of course not. Not only may they not, but they can not. They are not permitted to, and they are not able to. They may not preach because preaching is a function of those called to that ministry, those who rule in the church. And Jesus tells us that women are not to teach in… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
Here are the three reasons I hear most frequently, and two I suspect. First, I have heard from some pastors that the issue is a political one, and they think it necessary to avoid political issues. Some argue that they avoid political issues because they are divisive, others because the government forbids it. They are… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
The spectacle of the Kermit Gosnell trial has captured the attention of quite a lot of Americans these past few weeks. At first the major news outlets refused to air the story but eventually they were shamed into talking about this sordid case. We have been dragged (shall we say) kicking and screaming through the… Read more »
Posted by Donald Schanzenbach
Alex was all of five years old. Her sibling had done something to her, I don’t remember what, and she was scandalized. She pointed up the stairs where the hardened little criminal had disappeared, and she looked at Brett, her eyes blazing fire. “Get him!” He was ‘got.’ And that was the end of that…. Read more »
Posted by Noel Adams
In a plane, on my way to address a large crowd, many of whom may well be hostile, fear is heavy on my mind, and truth be told, even on my heart. There are many who have a deep seated fear of flying. I am not one of them. For all the hassles, and all… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
It is because we love the world so profoundly that we think we’re already being persecuted. That is, we see ourselves as bold prophets confronting the sin of the world because we vote for candidates approved by the National Right to Life. We watch pundits on CNN mock us. We might even face a moment… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
We are a worldly people and we know it. Trouble is, we don’t know it well enough. As the broader western culture sinks more deeply into the moral abyss, as even our anemic and apologetic Christianity is vilified and judged it becomes all too easy to awaken to the dangers of worldliness. And of course… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. exhorted Christians to preach the foolishness of Christ crucified to this world and to stand boldly against modern evils such as abortion. The gospel is offensive and therefore we preach knowing that we will be hated for the sake of Christ. http://www.ligonier.org/blog/day-2-2013-national-conference/
Posted by Eric Owens
In politics we are told, the art of compromise is brought to bear fruitfully in the struggle between parties and opposing ideals. The cherished hopes of right and left, conservative and liberal, are often fought under the precept that everyone must give a little in order to reach an agreement. Compromise then, is seen as… Read more »
Posted by Donald Schanzenbach
It is my conviction that too often those of us who think ourselves prophetic are actually cowards. One can easily enough, in the evangelical church, earn a reputation for boldness by railing against the sins of either an unlistening world, or the church down the street. We stand in the streets of Jerusalem pronouncing God’s… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
After 40 years of public battles over this American holocaust there is no end in sight. Pro-life (or ostensibly pro-life as we shall see) activists have lobbied, picketed, introduced legislation, worked on committees, and in general made noise for their position. Entrenched against the pro-life advocates stands the unyielding pro-abortion crowd. As we enter this… Read more »
Posted by Donald Schanzenbach
In this first week of January, 2013, the Hobby Lobby legal fight is an opening salvo marking an historic moment for America and the American church. With the results of the presidential election in, and the direction seemingly set for our aggregate futures, it may be more than a bit surprising to the non-Christian (even… Read more »
Posted by Donald Schanzenbach
It is a legitimate and important question- the appropriateness of celebrating the incarnation, the celebration of Christmas. I believe it fitting and appropriate, but am in turn always uncomfortable disagreeing with brothers to my right. I understand their concerns, and appreciate their passion for the regulative principle of worship. On the other hand, one can… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
It is a legitimate and important question- the appropriateness of celebrating the incarnation, the celebration of Christmas. I believe it fitting and appropriate, but am in turn always uncomfortable disagreeing with brothers to my right. I understand their concerns, and appreciate their passion for the regulative principle of worship. On the other hand, one can… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
Education is the sacrament of the Enlightenment. That is, when people caught up in enlightenment thinking, whether inside or outside the church, see a problem, their means of grace of choice is ever and always more education. The priests of the secular realm are, after all, educators. Consider all the public service announcements we are… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
We are adepts not at fighting our sins but hiding them. We gather each Lord’s Day dressed in our smiles, share our praise reports and our health concerns, pat ourselves on our backs, and return home to our gross and heinous sins. We miss this in part because we are preternaturally positive about ourselves. We… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
The church, after President Obama’s re-election, finds itself in serious trouble. Part of the good news is that at least she is beginning to recognize the trouble she is in. One wonders how many Christians would have been dancing in the aisles had the election turned out differently, and if we would have actually been… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
In January we will face a most grim anniversary. Within a matter of months we will have lived through a full generation of legalized abortion across our nation. Forty years and over fifty million tiny little babies intentionally murdered by paid assassins, at the request of their mothers. Few would challenge that Francis Schaeffer was… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
There are, in the end, essentially only two forms of ethics. One approach is pragmatic, the other principled. Pragmatism on its own, of course, is always incomplete. That is to say, we can’t answer the question of what works until we know what it works for. Ethics, for instance, in Soviet Russia affirmed that the… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
Pietism is a view that looks at the broader world as a matter of utter insignificance, because it focuses exclusively on making the individual soul better. Radically individualistic and deeply Gnostic the movement eschews political involvement, denigrates the exercise of dominion and sometimes adds to the law of God. This, of course, ought never to… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
There are any number of common myths, lies we tell ourselves, to somehow make it all seem not so horrible. The first lie is that the clientele at the local mill is made up of sweet faced high school girls who got carried away with their boyfriends, and come in blissfully ignorant of what goes… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
I have in the past noted both my irritation at and imitation of those who seem to constantly fold today’s newspaper headlines into their favorite hobby horse. It is annoying when that guy shows up in your discussion about Chik-Fil-A and gay marriage to explain why the gluten in the breading of their chicken is… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
It is one of my great passions, the desire to see me, and the evangelical church take the evil of abortion more seriously, to have our hearts more deeply broken, and our actions more faithful. We have all, I fear, come to accept the status quo. We are content to vote for Republicans hoping they… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
Common grace is more potent than we normally think. Special grace, on the other hand, is likely more nuanced than we tend to think. As these United States celebrate the just end to the life of Osama Bin Laden, I’m afraid we are in danger of missing both of these truths. First, common grace is… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
We know more than we let on. So Paul tells us in Romans 1. Still our conclusions are not the fruit of careful, dispassionate reasoning. Motives mix up our minds, and too often we end up believing not what we know but what we want to believe. Which is one reason I am so grateful… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
There are some Christians that are unhappy with Live Action for their tactics. These are the good folks that take hidden cameras into Planned Parenthood offices, spin horrendous stories, and show the world just how wicked Planned Parenthood really is. The objection from some Christians is that these activists are lying. I am far more… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
The President comes out in favor of gay marriage, and all the church is a dither. We are posting, tweeting, protesting, and petitioning, as though some great line in the sand has been crossed. Well, it hasn’t, and it has. First, the notion that the President has only recently evolved to come to this conclusion… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
In the great war launched in Genesis 3 between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent there are two other great battles. On one side of the battlefield stands the enemy. The seed of the serpent hate God, would kill Him if they could. They hate His people, and all that… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
I know it is a scary thought. I know it is outside our comfort zone. And so at best we pray for those who go, those spiritual super-heroes that are better than we are. At worst we get angry at them for making us feel guilty. Going to the mill, however, will not save your… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
As I write it is Super Tuesday. Americans in dozens of states across the land are voting for their candidates of choice. With the possible exception of the candidates themselves, all the voters will go through some sort of moral calculus. They will vote, by and large, on the basis not of whom they hope… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
These have been hard times of late in the Sproul household over the past several months. First, while we are at the same time excited about fulfilling our calling down there, we have an impending move toFlorida, and away from family we so dearly love, and the body of saints at Saint Peter. Then, cancer… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
It is hard to convince your average American citizen that they live in a tyranny. If you look at the sheer quantity of laws, the take of government as a percentage of the Gross National Product, and the abrogation of the bill of rights, this country is far more tyrannical than it was for George… Read more »
Posted by Rev. Kevin Swanson
Not long ago I enjoyed the distinct pleasure of speaking at The Baby Conference, put on by my friends at Vision Forum. There nearly two thousand people gathered to joyfully agree with God that children are a blessing. I was honored to speak about my own daughter Shannon who has special needs, as well as… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
Yes, and no. Yes it is just for the state, which has been given the power of the sword as God’s minister of justice (Romans 13), to put to death those who take it upon themselves to commit murder. Abortion is murder. Those who perform it, and those who procure it, in a just society,… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
No. Abortion, whether it be surgical, or chemical, or even a hormonal means to avoid implantation of the unborn child, is always wrong. It is the taking of the life of a judicially innocent human being which is not only wrong, but an abomination. Most of you, I suspect, are already persuaded that abortion for… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
There is a certain type of four fingered writer who always keeps one finger to the wind and five fingers wrapped around the reigns of his hobby-horse. Their self-perceived gift is to take the story of the day, and tie it into the one story that has already captured their heart. Every major news story… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
There is certainly a biblical injunction that we discern the times. God calls us to do this, however, not so we will know the right move to make at the right time, but so that we will remember what the right move always was. Circumstances don’t change our calling, though they can wake us up… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
In 1994 a group of scholars released a document called Evangelicals and Catholics Together. That particular document dealt rather extensively with the issue of abortion in our land, and the need for Christians to stand united against this vile and perverse evil. No Christian should have any trouble agreeing that abortion is evil, and that… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
God calls us to think His thoughts after Him. That means all of His thoughts. That is, we ought to have a sound and biblical view on everything the Bible touches on. Where it touches on political issues, we are called, again to have sound biblical views. We need to think biblically about what is… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
When we are yet outside the kingdom, before we are born a second time, we suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1). This does not mean we are stupid. It does mean we are foolish. We know what we know but because such knowledge exposes our guilt, we suppress it. We are born again when… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
God calls us to think His thoughts after Him. That means all of His thoughts. That is, we ought to have a sound and biblical view on everything the Bible touches on. Where it touches on political issues, we are called, again to have sound biblical views. We need to think biblically about what is just war and what is not. We need to think faithfully about taxation, and the size and scope of government. We need to think through what obligation, if any the state has to protect property, to protect our lives.
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
The grand special effect that caught the eyes of the audience in The Wizard of Oz was color. That’s it, just color. And they were dazzled. And though there were some exciting events, the effects were not up to our modern standards. Still, as the tornado closes in on the family farm, one can’t help… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
There have always been men who thought Jesus was coming back on a particular day. There have always been men who believed it quite okay to divorce a wife suffering from Alzheimer’s. There have always been pastors who believe that abortion is an option for moms of conjoined twins. There have always been men who… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
It is surely possible for different people to share the same goals, but to employ different strategies. What I am increasingly seeing, however, is how easy it is for strategies and goals to meld together. We all want, I trust, to grow in grace and wisdom, to bear the fruit of the Spirit. We can… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
What a strange and wonderful providence that this machine that sits on my lap, that is capable of astounding wonders, that employs the latest and greatest of technology and design spends most of its energy as a “Way Back” machine. Sure, I write things, I edit things; I study things with my laptop. But the… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
The devil, who is more crafty than any of the beasts of the field, is well aware of the nature of our warfare. He knows that eternity is at stake, and delights first to make us forget the reality of the war. As we identify with the world we lose sight of the antithesis, and… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
Nothing. A little girl died. She might have been murdered. It might have been an accident. It might have been somewhere in between. Her mother may be a murderer, or she may merely be a slightly more dramatic sinner than most of us. She came by her sin naturally, inheriting it from her parents, just… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
There is certainly a biblical injunction that we discern the times. God calls us to do this, however, not so we will know the right move to make at the right time, but so that we will remember what the right move always was. Circumstances don’t change our calling, though they can wake us up… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
I want to suggest two points that relate directly to suffering, and two that do not. First, you learn to suffer well by watching others suffer well. When we weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn we are not merely offering comfort to others, but are receiving instruction from them as well…. Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
