Love Your Wife More Than Seminary

If you are married and are in seminary, or considering seminary, read this.

Anabaptists/Reformers

"But mainstream churches - Catholic and Protestant - continued to marginalize Jesus. He was worshiped rather than followed. The Protestant reformers honored Jesus as the one through whose redeeming work sinful human beings could be justified, but they generally paid scant attention to his life and teaching. They read Paul's letters avidly but were not particularly interested in the Gospels. . . . The reformers agreed with Anabaptists that Jesus was 'the source of our life,' but it seems clear that it was the death of Jesus, rather than Jesus himself, who was at the center of their faith. . . . [16th century Anabaptists] provoked the reformers, who thundered the centrality of Jesus for salvation but seemed reticent about allowing Jesus' life and teaching to be normative for lifestyle, church, and mission. For the Anabaptists, being Jesus-centered was a choice of ultimate loyalties, but the reformers seemed reluctant to risk the wrath of the political authorities by applying his teaching to social and economic issues. . . . We believe that the Christendom era has bequeathed a form of Christianity that has marginalized, spiritualized, domesticated, and emasculated Jesus. The teaching of Jesus is watered down, privatized, and explained away. Jesus is worshiped as a remote kingly figure or a romanticized personal savior. In many churches (especially those emerging from the Reformation), Paul's writings are prioritized over the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. And in many Christian traditions, ethical guidelines derived from the Old Testament r pagan philosophy trump Jesus' call to discipleship."

-Stuart Murray, The Naked Anabaptist, 55-56

N.T. Wright's Message to the Next Generation

Irrelevant Biblical Sermons

"We preach biblically. Why, of course; how else could we preach? Charles Simeon and Charles Spurgeon are our heroes. We are determined like them to expound the Scriptures, and to derive all our teaching from God's Word. But if I were to draw a diagram of the gulf between the two worlds, and then plot our sermons on the diagram, I would have to draw a straight line which begins in the biblical world, and then goes up in the air on a straight trajectory, but never lands on the other side. For our preaching is seldom if ever earthed. It fails to build a bridge into the modern world. It is biblical, but not contemporary. And if we are called to account for our practice of exposition without application, we piously reply that our trust is in the Holy Spirit to apply his Word to the realities of human life."

-John Stott, Between Two Worlds, 140

Chrysostom's Preaching

"Four chief characteristics of his preaching may be mentioned. First, he was biblical. Not only did he preach systematically through several books, but his sermons are full of biblical quotations and allusions. Secondly, his interpretation of the Scriptures was simple and straightforward. He followed the Antiochene school of 'literal' exegesis, in contrast to fanciful Alexandrian allegorizations. Thirdly, his moral applications were down to earth. Reading his sermons today, one can imagine without difficulty the pomp of the imperial court, the luxuries of the aristocracy, the wild races of the hippodrome, in fact the whole life of an oriental city at the end of the fourth century. Fourthly, he was fearless in his condemnations. In fact, 'he was a martyr of the pulpit, for it was chiefly his faithful preaching that cased his exile'."

-in Stott's Between Two Worlds, 21

Would you go to Heaven?

"Would you go to heaven? There is a sign you must stand beside where the man with the cigarette takes the tickets. There is a height you must achieve. You must be wretched. That is your ticket and your only qualification. It is an unexclusive ride, but wild, with weather you've never seen, and deafening light. Perhaps unsafe."

--N.D. Wilson, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl, 180

The Story of God in Romans & Galatians

“God long ago gave trustworthy promises to Abraham, promising to bless all nations. God gave the Law to Israel as an intermediary measure until the time when the promises were to be fulfilled. In the fullness of time, God sent his Son to rescue human beings from slavery and sin, through his faithful death. God raised Jesus from the dead. God calls and justifies Jews and Gentiles alike, who join together in a new reconciled community, the church, where God is at work. God supplies the Spirit to the members of this community, empowering them to walk in newness of life. God will ultimately judge the world and reveal his eschatological glory.”

Richard Hays, “The God of Mercy Who Rescues Us from the Present Evil Age,” 139

Atheistic Nonsense

"True atheism is nonsense. If there is such a thing as beautiful, such a thing as good, or even such a thing as bad, then there is a transcendent standard that determines which is which. An atheist can say that society prefers mothers to murderers, but he cannot say that this is as it should be. Tell us what is, by all means. But without God, you cannot tell us what ought to be."

--N.D. Wilson, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl, 74.