Head Vs. Heart Redux

I grew up in fundamentalist churches which lived by the creed that "we have no creed but Christ."  These same churches were not much interested in doctrine or theology (except when it came to refuting Mormons and JW's).  Those interested in doctrine had "head" knowledge, while Christians who were truly giving their all to Jesus had hearts filled with love.  One of things I really appreciated about Reformed theology when I first encountered it was that it allowed me to integrate mind and heart.

So, it came as a bit of a surprise when I came across this little "gem" on the Christian Reformed Church's website, "Church Planters or Undertakers?" (h.t. the Aquila Report).  The essay opens with this remarkable piece of insight.  "Too many seminaries are turning out graduates who are good preachers and can serve as the resident theologians of their churches, instead of graduating ministers whose heart and passion is to start new churches to help further the Kingdom of God."  I think I've heard this before.  If you have "head knowledge" and a heart of stone, you can read the article here:  Mind v. Heart

Speaking of integrating mind and heart, Rev. Wes Bradenhof has posted links to MP3 files of the Heidelberg Catechism.  This is a great way to learn the catechism.  The version of the catechism being used is the CanRC version.  Heidelberg Catechism on MP3

Gene Veith posted this the other day--A picture essay of the 50 most extraordinary churches in the world.  Some of these are pretty amazing.   50 Amazing Churches

Live White Horse Inn Taping @ the Desiring God Conference

The White Horse Inn's usual cast of characters will be in Minneapolis on Friday October 1, for a live taping before the Desiring God Conference gets underway.  Our topic for the session will be "Textual Narcissism" (or, why every verse in the Bible has to be about "me").

We'll be taping between 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the conference exhibit hall.

If you are going to the conference and plan on getting there a bit early, come by and say "hello" and then join the audience for the live-taping.

For more information, Live Taping Information

Lecture Series on Preaching at the "Other" Christ Reformed Church in DC

Christ Reformed Church (URCNA) in our nation's capital is hosting a weekly series entitled "Preaching in the Capital."

The lectures explore the current state of preaching as well as ways to recover the Reformation's focus upon the preaching of Christ.

If you live in the DC area, or know someone who does, here's the link with all the info.  Click here

The pastor of the "other" Christ Reformed Church is Dr. Brian Lee, who was first licensed to exhort at the "original" Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim.  Confused yet?

Had a Great Time in Chicago!

Here's a photo of the live "White Horse Inn" taping in Chicago (Friday evening, September 24).  The program will be broadcast early next year.

The Saturday conference (as well as the live taping) were video-taped, and I am told they will be available on YouTube (or similar).  I'll keep you posted when they are available.

Audio of the conference is already available from our friends at Covenant OPC (of Orland Park).  The four of us covered various aspects of the sufficiency of Scripture.  Conference Audio

Thanks to all of you who attended!  Good to see so many old friends!  Good to make some new ones as well.

This Week's White Horse Inn

Difficult Texts of Scripture

The hosts have been making the argument for the past few weeks that Christ and his grand rescue mission is the major subject of Scripture. The core of the Christian faith, they argue, is his saving work on our behalf, not our own personal transformation. But if this is really the case, how shall we interpret various biblical texts that seem to contradict this view? For example, Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Do verses like this undermine the doctrine of justification by an imputed righteousness? Tune in to find out (originally aired November 26, 2006).

http://www.whitehorseinn.org/



Who Said That?

"In one important sense, Marxism is a religion.  To the believer it presents, first, a system of ultimate ends that embody the meaning of life, and are absolute standards by which to judge events and actions; and, secondly, a guide to those ends which imply a plan of salvation and the indication of the evil from which mankind, or a chosen section of mankind, is to be saved.  We may specify still further:  Marxist socialism also belongs to that subgroup which promises paradise on this side of the grave."

Please leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please no google searches or cheating.  Answer to follow next week, Lord willing.

Update on Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 02:09PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This is from the opening section of Joseph Schumpter's influential book, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942), 5.

An interesting insight from a non-Christian (or a nominal Christian) economist.

Don't Forget -- The White Horse Inn "Live" in Chicago, This Friday and Saturday

Lord willing, all four hosts (Mike Horton, Rod Rosenbladt, Ken Jones, Kim Riddlebarger) will be present for a live taping (Friday night), and for a short conference on Saturday morning.

We'll also reveal why Ken Jones is now known as "LeBron" Jones.

For more info, Click here.  Hope to see you there!

The Academy Resumes at Christ Reformed on Friday, October 8

On Friday, October 8 at 7:30 p.m., I will be resuming (and concluding) my series on the basics of amillennial eschatology, entitled "Amillennialism 101"

For more information, you can check here (Academy Schedule)



Keynes? Hayek? Schumpeter?

I was a business major in college and took the basic economics survey courses (macro and micro).  One thing those courses did not do is cover the history of economics in any detail.

Since much of contemporary political debate has become a discussion of competing economic theories (Marxism, Socialism and Capitalism), I felt the need to brush up a bit on these issues.  There are theological implications here as well.  Remember Gordon Gecko's "greed is good" mantra?  How does one justify that, biblically speaking?

Over the years, I've become a big fan of the Teaching Company, because I have been able to fill in the gaps in the crummy education provided me by the State of California.  I've taken a number of courses in music, art, literature and history.  These are university-level courses, and not distinctly Christian in perspective, much less Reformed.  The survey course on the Reformation is pretty good, the course on Luther is so-so, the course on C. S. Lewis is very good.  I do wish they'd dump Bart Ehrman, however, who teaches most of the New Testament and early church courses.  I won't spend a nickel on these.

One class which has been especially helpful to me is "Thinking About Capitalism," taught by Dr. Jerry Z. Muller from the Catholic University of America.  Click here.  All Teaching Company courses go on sale regularly, so I'd wait until this one goes on sale again (hopefully soon). 

This course offers a thorough introduction to many of the economic issues that people in my circle discuss and debate on a regular basis.  There is no math, nor charts.  The lectures are not about the nuts and bolts of economic theory per se.  Rather, the lectures (quite capably delivered, by the way) deal with the history/ideology behind the various economic schools and famous economists (i.e., Smith, Marx, Keynes, Hayek, and Shumpeter).

The lecturer is friendly towards Capitalism, but not uncritically so.  I have found this material very helpful, especially in weighing the Keynes/Hayek debate.  I'm with Hayek for the most part, have come to especially appreciate the work of Schumpeter, and discovered that Keynes didn't advocate everything which is attributed to him by politicians seeking to pack pork into spending bills to "stimulate" the economy.  Like any economist worth the name, Keynes too wanted a balanced budget.

Humbled and Appreciative

I thought readers of the Riddleblog might enjoy this picture.

On Saturday, September 18, White Horse Media held a "meet and greet" for our local supporters.  Our most gracious hosts (Mr. Kurt Winrich and his wife Debi) presented us with a cake in honor of our twentieth anniversary on the air.  Mike Horton, Rod Rosenbladt and I were present.  Brother LeBron (Ken) Jones remained (with his many talents) in South Beach.

In any case, we are truly humbled by the testimonies we heard from those in attendance and we very much appreciate all the support White Horse Inn listeners have given us through the years.

The picture is also proof that sports coat sans tie is all the rage for middle-age pastors and talk show hosts.