The Aaronic Bloghood

21/11/2023

27/07/2023

As a nearly lifelong homeschooler (40 years, in fact!) I can accurately report that the number one concern of homeschooling skeptics has always been socialization. I can also confirm that very few people are concerned with worldview, or even know what a worldview is. This, in itself, is a worldview

16/06/2023

"Until Christ comes, the vagaries and fragile existence of earthly nations do not correspond to the indestructible kingdom of Christ and his people. They have no necessary connection. Earthly nations come and go. Christ’s “holy nation” does not." -John Piper

The New Testament opposes Christians looking to the state to teach, defend, or spread ideas or behaviors as explicitly Christian. The sword is not to be the agent of religion.

05/03/2023

28/12/2022

"Creaking systems can also foster a hunger for better ones, those that cannot be shaken (Heb 12:27). It’s no mistake that Augustine writes The City of God in the twilight of the Roman Empire, and in light of the first sack of Rome. When the temporary systems (the City of Man) that we live in get shaken, believers are forced to cling to our true home, our eternal one (the city of God). "

Eating out just hasn’t felt worth it these past couple months that we’ve been back in the US. While restaurants in the states are open again, most are understaffed and alarmingly expens…

17/10/2022

"Above all, we must believe what the Scriptures tell us, that children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward (Ps. 127:3). Having children is not for the faint of heart. Kids are expensive. They are messy and exhausting. They take your time and can break your heart. They probably will never love you as much as you love them. Let’s not be romantic about it: Children are a burden. But they are also one of the greatest earthly blessings. Have we turned Rachel’s cry of desperation on its head, asking God to keep children from us lest we die to ourselves? The promise to Abraham of progeny was not his curse, and neither is it ours. A man like a warrior with arrows in his hand, a wife like a fruitful vine, and children like olive shoots around the table—these are the Lord’s blessings from Zion." -Kevin DeYoung

The most significant thing happening in the world may very well be a thing that . . . .

21/04/2022

"It’s a mistake to assume that the group of problems most likely to be talked about in op-eds and podcasts are automatically the most urgent and relevant for any given church community. A renewed evangelicalism is able to identify which particular threats are truly imminent and which ones are merely on the agenda of American pundit culture."

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/renew-decadent-evangelical-culture/

To experience evangelical renewal, we need to take our divisions more seriously.

15/04/2022

"If you’re in a church and you’re wondering whether or not they’re influenced by the Prosperity Gospel, simply pay attention to the sermons, the Bible study during group discussions, and the prayer meetings throughout the week. If your pastor—or Sunday school teacher, favorite author, et. al.—spends a small amount of time talking about what God is like, but a lot of time talking about what God can give you, then you’re probably face-to-face with the Prosperity Gospel."

https://www.9marks.org/article/the-prosperity-gospel-loves-gods-gifts-but-ignores-god-himself/

When you see a church or ministry that talks about God’s gifts but spends relatively little time talking about God’s character or our need to respond to him in repentance and faith, then you can be pretty sure you’re dealing with the prosperity gospel.

13/10/2021

24/08/2021

"So are you growing in righteousness, and peace, and joy? All the things which we are absorbing, all the debates we are throwing ourselves into, all of our stances, all of our focus and attention on the things which divide, all of our talking points….are these bringing about righteousness and peace and joy? Maybe, then, they aren’t the stuff the kingdom is made of."

Person A: “Bro, you can’t eat meat sacrificed to idols. If you keep doing this then I cannot in good conscience be around you.” Person B: “Sure, I can. I have freedom in Christ. Idols aren’t real. Check your facts,… Continue Reading →

13/08/2021

As men, we are commanded to accept the challenge of leading our family. It is not an easy task, but God would not call us to it if He did not give us the ability to do it.

Your wife and children need you to lead in a way that honors Christ. If you are unwilling to lead them, they may follow someone else who will lead them away from Truth and Godliness.

https://www.challies.com/articles/lead/

The foremost call in leadership is love. Christian leadership is not first charting vision or giving orders, but modeling and expressing godly character.

13/08/2021

Think critically.

11/08/2021

"Cable news treats tragedy like that driver on the highway that slows way down to look at the car wreck. It encourages a wallowing in the misery, or some voyeuristic impulse to see something shocking. And it never leads to action, it just leads to an impotent anger or fear that the viewer is left to sit in."

I'm not saying we need to stop watching cable news, but we do need to be aware of what it's trying to make us do.

09/08/2021

What a great comfort this is to me.

07/08/2021

It appears that Politics has replaced Christianity as the dominant religion in the United States. This article explores the ramifications of that change.

From the article: " in the past, most Americans assented to significant components of the Judeo-Christian moral framework, today no such consensus can be found. Members of various ideological tribes are less able to understand each other or extend goodwill to one another and thus tend to view each other’s members with suspicion and, often, hostility."

https://www.carolinajournal.com/opinion-article/how-politics-has-replaced-religion-in-america/

America has always been more religiously devout than other Western democracies. But now, like them, it has begun to secularize rapidly. And, as religion has declined, political ideology has intensified, society has fragmented, and cultural common ground has disintegrated. As a result, politics is in...

30/07/2021

All Christians have a role in God's Kingdom. We don't find it by sitting and and waiting for "a calling" from God. We find our role by looking for opportunities (usually in a local church) to serve and taking them. As a believer serves, his or her gifts will emerge--leading to further opportunities, and greater uses of their gifts.

If you’re trying to find your role in serving the kingdom of God, remember these four things.

16/07/2021

Love (&) Truth

16/07/2021

Ephesians 5:25

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, (ESV)

A husband must do all he can to understand his wife's world. What follows are eight admonitions to love our wives with respect to their various facets.

14/07/2021

"There is no circumstance in which God has nothing for us to do, no situation in which we cannot be faithful to his calling on our lives. He calls none of us to uselessness and calls none of us to another man’s life or ministry. He calls each of us to be obedient in the context he has ordained for us. "

We sometimes make the Christian life more complicated than it needs to be and more complicated than it ought to be. For when it comes right down to it, God calls us to nothing more, and nothing less, than to obey. The only thing that really matters in any context…

09/07/2021

The following essay appears in the Spring 2021 issue of Eikon. In light of all the church has to oppose these days with respect to matters of marriage and sexuality, it seems useful to spill some …

01/07/2021

This article reviews comments from prominent atheists who are beginning to realize that a society without a Christian moral compass would lead to a regression to a brutal, uncivilized, and unjust society like we have seen in the past and like what we are seeing in countries with atheistic oppressive governments like China.

Atheism has no equivalent to the Christian idea that humans are made in the image of God. To Christians, simply being made in the image of God gives all human life value. This idea underpins the American Value that "All men are created equal." When Christian values no longer guide society, we lose this idea that all human life is precious. When we, as a society, lose this idea of the preciousness of human life, then all other moral values that guide civilization-equality, justice, liberty etc., collapse.

https://thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/the_turning_tide_of_intellectual_atheism :07:00:00Z

This is a remarkable conversation with the historian Niall Ferguson on the need for Christianity, along with some fascinating reflections on the journeys of other public intellectuals like Roger Scruton, Douglas Murray, Tom Holland and Jordan Peterson. (There are echoes too of Matthew Parris's Times...

29/06/2021

"Quite the opposite from being a spiritual theatre intended for the entertainment of the saints, church is actually a spiritual bootcamp where they are to be equipped for service and prepared for cosmic warfare."

Church was never intended to be the spiritual equivalent of a spectator sport. Yet, somehow, this is how it has come to be treated, not only by many Christians; but by their pastors as well. Those who serve as ministers of Christ can easily approach their calling as though it is their job to please....

24/06/2021

I am certainly guilty of this sometimes.

How many times have you asked someone “How are you doing?” and they respond with “Busy!”? In that response, they did not actually answer your caring inquiry and they unknowingly sabotaged their cre…

23/06/2021

"Controversies appeal to our sense of self-importance. They can make us feel important in the grand scheme of things. We find significance in being foot soldiers (or usually, let’s admit, we see ourselves as generals). Controversy plays to our vanity. We have a love-hate relationship with feeling embattled."

Trevin Wax writes about the subtle sin of self-importance and how it often results in dissension and controversy.

17/06/2021

Our social media persona is not separate from the real world. What I post on social media affects real people, including myself. I have a choice as to what effect my social media presence will have on myself and those who encounter me online.

From the author of the article: "While we may think we are fighting the culture war or protecting the sheep through our digital engagement, we may actually be leading others and even ourselves astray by failing to remember that we are called to be above reproach in all places and through all mediums (Titus 1:6-8), and to model Christlikeness as members of the body of Christ."
https://jasonthacker.com/2021/06/16/how-social-media-can-impede-our-witness-the-disconnect-of-the-digital-life/

Recently, I was reading a book and was impressed by the scholar’s careful exposition, nuanced approach, and charitable engagement with critics. Naturally, in the age of social media, I decided to look up the author online and was surprised by what I found. It seemed that the scholar was acting…