The Book Readers Guild: Orthodox Convictions of Ethereal Thinkers

Song of Songs 8:6,7, “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.” In my further reading, Viktor Frankl in “Man’s Search For Meaning” noted that he discovered an unassailable truth – that love is the “ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire”. He echoes Paul’s claim that love has ultimate value, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal”. The value of love is best understood when one considers John’s affirmation that “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8b). Frankl goes on to say, “I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I...

INTRODUCTION: This book edited by William Brown and published through Banner of Truth Trust in 1974, is remarkable writ. I use the term writ as this copy of the 1862 version summons us to bear witness to the passion and commanding pleas of Richard Baxter, not to mention the truths we can glean from such. Below I have attempted to provide a glimpse into the mind and heart of Richard Baxter. Keeping in mind that the points I make and questions I ask have passed through this man’s personal perspective with all its potential imperfections and distortions, not to mention limited knowledge and study. I ask therefore in advance that you please forgive any ignorance or ill wording discovered and, albeit kindly, enlighten us with your views. Lets begin. As I began to read The Reformed Pastor I soon discovered a man zealous for the Lord and deeply devoted to the Lord’s work. A passionate man of strong conviction surely cannot be contested. It soon became apparent though that Richard ...

"Wesley's “social holiness” did not simply mean “social justice.” Social holiness begins in Christian community, and therefore has everything to do with the internal life of the church. The fellowship of believers is the place where social holiness is cultivated and exercised, but it also spills over the boundaries of the church and reaches out to those who are outside of the fellowship."  - James Pedlar "John Wesley and the Mission of God, part 5: social holiness" - We are called to break down barriers... though having shifted from days of old, class barriers exist today. Today slender individuals are valued while the overweight are not. Successful, and people of position, are valued, while those who fail, and those who are weak, are lightly esteemed, even avoided. Those who seem intelligent are prized over the ignorant and uneducated. However, in the kingdom of God this should not be. Children of the kingdom  are not valued on the bases of who that person i...

Biblical orthodoxy concerning truths we profess to define our convictions, by rigorous definition also holds implications beyond knowing what the bible correctly teaches. Right knowledge is certainly a fundamental responsibility of every believer, and a prerequisite for right relationship with God, but it can not in itself be defined as Christlikeness. The correct illumination of God's word comes with some proviso. God expects us to apply it. Faith and grace can not become the "pop" culture idiom for this generation. Grace and faith are not an excuse for bad or unwise behaviour, they do not imply we can live without restrictions. Good theology does not produce bad practices. It contributes to their demise. Good theology must translate into orthopraxy - honourable practices that extend beyond ourselves. This demonstrates esteem for God. Discipleship is the journey of developing both our inner and outer life. Consistent over-attention given to any one area...

"Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have." Leviticus 19:36 "Weights, and scales, and measures were to be all according to the standard of justice. Surely no Christian man will need to be reminded of this in his business, for if righteousness were banished from all the world beside, it should find a shelter in believing hearts. There are, however, other balances which weigh moral and spiritual things, and these often need examining. We will call in the officer tonight. The balances in which we weigh our own and other men's characters, are they quite accurate? Do we not turn our own ounces of goodness into pounds, and other persons' bushels of excellence into pecks? See to weights and measures here, Christian. The scales in which we measure our trials and troubles, are they according to standard? Paul, who had more to suffer than we have, called his afflictions light, and yet we often consider ours to be he...

 "Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?" Job 38:16 Some things in nature must remain a mystery to the most intelligent and enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has bounds beyond which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this be so in the things which are seen and temporal, I may rest assured that it is even more  so in matters spiritual and eternal. Why, then, have I been torturing my brain with speculations as to destiny and will, fixed fate, and human responsibility? These deep and dark truths I am no more able to comprehend than to find out the depth which coucheth beneath, from which old ocean draws her watery stores. Why am I so curious to know the reason of my Lord's providences, the motive of his actions, the design of his visitations? Shall I ever be able to clasp the sun in my fist, and hold the universe in my palm? yet these are as a drop of a bucket compared with the Lord my God. Let me not strive to understand the infin...

"And I will remember my covenant." Genesis 9:15 Mark the form of the promise. God does not say, "And when ye shall look upon the bow, and ye shall remember my covenant, then I will not destroy the earth," but it is gloriously put, not upon our memory, which is fickle and frail, but upon God's memory, which is infinite and immutable. "The bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant." Oh! it is not my remembering God, it is God's remembering me which is the ground of my safety; it is not my laying hold of his covenant, but his covenant's laying hold on me. Glory be to God! the whole of the bulwarks of salvation are secured by divine power, and even the minor towers, which we may imagine might have been left to man, are guarded by almighty strength. Even the remembrance of the covenant is not left to our memories, for we might forget, but our Lord cannot forget the saints whom he has graven...