Sunday's Hymn: Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
To his feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who like me, his praise should sing?
Praise him, praise him,
Praise him, praise him,
Praise the everlasting King.

Praise him for his grace and favor
To our fathers in distress;
Praise him still the same for ever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless;
Praise him, praise him,
Praise him, praise him,
Glorious in his faithfulness.

Father-like, he tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame he knows;
In his hands he gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes;
Praise him, praise him,
Praise him, praise him,
Widely as his mercy goes.

Angels, help us to adore him;
Ye behold him face to face;
Sun and moon, bow down before him,
Dwellers all in time and space.
Praise him, praise him,
Praise him, praise him,
Praise with us the God of grace.

—Hen­ry F. Lyte

Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• Press on, Press On, Ye Workers at The Happy Wonderer

Selected Reading, November 7, 2020

 

A few true and lovely things to think on.

Theological

Communicable Attributes: What Is the Mercy of God?
There’s nothing more true and lovely to think on than God himself. In this piece, Persis goes to God’s word to find out what God’s mercy is.

Biographical

David George — from Anxious Runaway to Zealous Pastor
I love Simonetta Carr’s biographical sketches of lesser-known heroes from Christian history. (This one has a Canadian connection.)

Apologetical

Communicating the Truth Online and in Person
This piece from Rev. Matthew Miller uses the doctrine of the three-fold office of Christ to guide us as we “consider whether and how to communicate something”: “[W]e should ask ourselves not only the prophetic question (Is it true?) but also the priestly questions (Is it pure? Is it compassionate?) and the kingly questions (Is this the wisest way to say it? Is this the best time?).”

Theological Term of the Week: Teleological Argument

teleological argument
An argument for the existence of God that begins with evidence of order, complexity, pattern and purpose in the universe and argues from that evidence that the universe must have an intelligent and purposeful designer.

• In scripture:

  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse (Romans 1:19–20 ESV).

• From William Paley’s Natural Theology (1802), a bit of his watchmaker analogy, which is an example of a teleological argument:

  In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how the stone came to be there; I might possibly answer, that, for anything I knew to the contrary, it had lain there forever: nor would it perhaps be very easy to show the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; I should hardly think of the answer I had before given, that for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there. (…) There must have existed, at some time, and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers, who formed [the watch] for the purpose which we find it actually to answer; who comprehended its construction, and designed its use. (…) Every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature; with the difference, on the side of nature, of being greater or more, and that in a degree which exceeds all computation.     

Learn more:

1. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry: The Teleological Argument 
2. John Lennox: Why God is like Henry Ford
3. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Teleological Arguments for God’s Existence
4. Simply Put: The Teleological Argument

Related terms: 

• cosmological argument
• moral argument
• ontological argument
• trancendental argument for the existence of God

Filed under Apologetics

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