Rut Etheridge III

Elderly

(Still) in Awe of the Aged

December 21, 2024

This is an edited version of a previous post. It seemed especially appropriate to repost in light of the recent homegoing of two greatly beloved, exemplary servants of the Lord, Ken Smith and

sanctification

How Biblical is the "If THAT guy can fall . . ." Response to Moral Failure Among Christian Leaders?

September 25, 2024

. . . are all believers really just one or two steps away from catastrophic moral failure? Is this how Scripture wants us to think of ourselves? What does this say about the efficacy of the Spirit’s sanctifying work within new creations in Christ?

children of God

Paternity, Prepositions and Painful Prayers

July 29, 2024

The Christian life is the graced process of becoming in practice who we already are in position.

church and culture

How "Back in My Day . . ." Harms Our Witness in ". . . Such a Time as This."

January 22, 2024

We need to be ever mindful that an unbalanced view of the past reveals a faulty scale of evaluation at work in the present (Proverbs 11:1).

Anger

Tempering our Tempers

August 18, 2023

When we’re sinfully angry, we want to say a lot - to other people, ranting out loud to ourselves, and perhaps especially online. When we’re righteously angry, we want to pray a lot – sometimes without words!

Marriage

An Unfaithful View of Marriage

April 15, 2023

. . . what isn't as obvious to us is just how pervasively sexual cruelty is preached and taught in our circles.

ninth commandment

Breaking the Ninth Commandment on a Global Scale - and what confessional, Reformed Christians can do about it . . .

February 27, 2023

God has provided us with unprecedented means to redress an egregious historical and ongoing defiance of his holy law . . .

Christmas

'Tis the Season for Topigetical Sermons

December 03, 2022

. . . the issues which surface for debate among Reformed believers during Christmas season are vitally important to the health, well-being and biblical faithfulness of Christ’s church . . .

wolves

How to Spot a Wolf

June 12, 2022

Wolves justify themselves by their powerful ministries, but the Shepherd judges them based on God’s moral precepts. And he finds them lacking.

Confessionalism

"If you had one shot . . ." OR: Polemics about Confessions...

April 08, 2022

If you’re a Protestant Christian, imagine that someone you don't know asks you to explain in one sentence (no run-ons!) why your church doesn’t pray to Mary or the

beauty

The Bible's Beautiful Both/And

October 08, 2021

In the Psalms, dogmatic doctrine is a work of art.

regret

Redemptive Regret

August 13, 2021

Moral aspirations pursued outside Christ's redemptive work prove merciless. In the grips of graceless religion, regret over past sin twists godly sorrow into legalistic self-loathing.

Ecclesiology

A "Canceled" Synod?

June 10, 2021

“Christians who can no longer listen to one another will soon no longer be listening to God either ..."

connection

Unfathomable Interrelationship

April 24, 2021

If you feel these days like anxiety is literally in the air, you might be right ...

Writing

Literary Efforts to Magnify the Word

April 15, 2021

...writing is rewriting. Christian writers recognize that the Bible is the only perfect book ever written. Our writing is imperfect, worthy of critique and yet hopefully helpful to readers in showings something of the truth, beauty, and goodness of our Savior.

easter

"Jesus and Resurrection? What's This Babbler Trying to Say?"

April 03, 2021

But this accidental tourism soon turns sour: “the city was full of idols.” That discovery drives him to do what he loves best: he preaches. This piqued the attention of the philosophers...

Hermeneutics

Fighting our way out of Forced Perspectives

February 11, 2021

What Scriptural words from our Savior are staring us straight in the heart while, under the influence of unexamined, forced perspective, we let our eyes pass over them, time and time again?

new year

"...and a happy new year"?

December 31, 2020

This year we must resolve by God’s grace to distinguish between ungodly anger and godly anger, to put the former to death, and to feel and employ the latter only when necessary.

Christian Liberty

Disabling Idolatry

October 31, 2020

All of the deprivations we’re enduring provide an abundance of opportunity to identify with, serve, and learn from those different from us. May we never squander opportunities for empathy on prideful personal entitlement!

culture

Mandates, Meaningful Ministry, and Martyr Complexes

September 10, 2020

When we pull the spiritual fire alarm every time the ideological temperature goes up in our culture, we lose the ability to recognize and respond biblically to the true emergencies.

James

Privilege Matters, Part 2: Autonomous Anonymous

July 09, 2020

As believers, our response to allegations of systemic sin in society must not be knee-jerk defensiveness; instead, we must drop to our knees in humble self-examination before the law of our loving Savior.

James

Privilege Matters, Part 1

June 11, 2020

... how dehumanizing must it feel to not even be able to say that the lives of people like you actually matter without being corrected ...

Ahmaud Arbery

Doing Righteousness with Indignation

May 14, 2020

The Psalms encourage, engender, and express the “patience of the saints” (Revelation 13:10) and the imprecatory Psalms let us voice how hard it is to have and maintain. In our culture, we need these patience-inspiring, peace-seeking Psalms now, rather urgently.

pandemic

Wri(gh)ting a Wrong

April 03, 2020

...in itself, agnosticism is not a more authentic state of mournfulness, much less is it a more Christian state of lament.

Coronavirus

To Meet, or Not to Meet: Is it even a question?

March 18, 2020

How contrary to a shepherd’s heart! To move away from the sheep, when they feel and sometimes are most vulnerable! And oh my, the weight of what one beloved, seasoned pastor calls “the guilt of the unpaid visit”!