This Week in Housekeeping

Two recently updated theological terms.

mercy

• Fixed formatting.
• Updated the link to Don Stewart’s Is God A Merciful God
• Added related terms common grace,  goodness, grace, and love (as an attribute of God).
• Added Filed under God’s Nature and His Work.

modalism

• Fixed formatting.
• Fixed a bunch of links. Weird how links can get so messed up over time.
• Added Filed under Defective Theology.

Thankful Thursday

I’m thankful for the son who did all my yardwork and garden tilling this spring, and for the rainy days greening up the grass. I’m thankful for the blooming lupines and Jacob’s ladder.

I’m thankful for the mallard in the pond behind the house and the joy he gives my granddaughters as he dives for food or, as they put it, “sticks his bum in the air.” It’s duck comedy for two-year-olds at its best. I’m thankful that my grandchildren all live where they can spend most of their spring and summer days playing outside.

I’m thankful for the birdsongs that wake me in the morning and lull me to sleep at night.

I’m thankful for the work of the Spirit—renewing, teaching, interceding, convicting, revealing. 

Linked Together: Doctrine

Orthodox
First, from Bobby Jamieson, here are ten reasons to love sound doctrine. You’ll find a short explanation of each point in the original post (Crossway Blog).

1. Sound doctrine re-tells the single story that sweeps through all of Scripture.
2. Sound doctrine summarizes and synthesizes the Bible’s teaching as a coherent whole.
3. Sound doctrine is a guide and guard for reading and teaching the Bible.
4. Sound doctrine is God’s roadmap for the Christian life and the life of the church.
5. Sound doctrine nourishes holiness.
6. Sound doctrine is the ground and pattern of love.
7. Sound doctrine is the foundation of unity in the church.
8. Sound doctrine is fuel for the fire of worship.
9. Sound doctrine equips and emboldens evangelism.
10. Sound doctrine fills up our joy.

And next: Did you know you can use the acronym HANDS to remember 5 arguments from scripture for the deity of Christ?

1. Jesus shares the honors due only to Christ.
2. Jesus shares the attributes of God.
3. Jesus shares the names that are used of God.
4. Jesus shares in the deeds that only God can do.
5. Jesus shares the seat of God — that is, Jesus sits on God’s throne. 

You’ll want to read the whole post to learn more about each of these arguments (Come Reason’s Apologetic Notes). 

Heretical
From Justin Holcomb, two heresies to avoid (Koinonia):

1. Marcionism: “Marcion is relevant to the church today because much contemporary teaching about Jesus and the Bible merely restates Marcion’s claims about the struggle between a God of love and a God of justice.” 
2. Gnosticism: We see traces of gnosticism in contemporary Christianity, too. In songs and books, for instance,  which “teach this world and everything in it is bad… .”