Reformed Blogging

The Bible always has the command to renew your mind. The Bible commands that Christians are nto to be conformed to the ways of the world but are to be transformed according to the holy image of God. So what does it mean?  Romans 12:1-3  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. My favorite apologetic program as of current is by R.C. Sproul Sr. called "Renewing Your Mind" from Ligonier.org with all the useful links. Although I'm a Baptist and Sproul is a Presbyt

I am wondering with how I've matured with how I'm handling insults and minor false accusations from people. I know these minor false accusations are mostly unsubstantiated so why am I already getting angry over them? This flesh of mine always has this problem that it wants to be praised all the time, it wants the whole world to bow down to it never mind Jesus refused Satan's offer, to have my revenge one way or another and the other part of me wants to please God because God's grace is at work.  I'm asking myself how am I handling insults and false accusations? It doesn't mean that just because I'm a Christian it's going to be consistently progressive. There's still the flesh to handle. I could still end up with ill thoughts towards people who insult me and wrongfully accuse me. Whenever I lose my temper I always feel this way: Romans 7:19-25  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I

As a former Roman Catholic, I remembered how often I was told that Peter was the first Pope and that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ. I realized it was all a lie. If Peter is the first Pope then why don't any of his writings even match up to the official teachings of the Roman Catholic institution? In short, his teachings are contradictory to the Roman Catholic institution and so is the rest of the Bible. If the Roman Catholic institution supposedly "gave" who they call as Protestants the Bible then why would they forbid it from being read to start with? The same goes for Peter's supposed papacy. Note: I will quote Scriptures from the Good News Translation (GNT) but I am a King James Version onlyist.  The grammatical usage in Matthew 16:16-18 obviously shows Peter can't be the Rock Roman Catholics say that Peter became the first Pope based on Matthew 16:16-18. One could argue that when Jesus called Peter "Satan" it was because that the privi

I thought about the discussions I had with some Roman Catholic apologists and I ended up making the fallacy of division. I ended up assuming that all of them are like that after one bad experience after the other ignoring that some of them are actually willing to have a healthy conversation. Dr. James R. White himself addresses the issue of this Calvinist Club. It's stupid for any Christian to keep pointing out the mistakes of some most likely self-proclaimed Roman Catholic apologists while they end up engaging in the same behavior. If there's a sad state in Catholic apologetics then there's a sad state in Christian apologetics. It's a problem that many Christians have a very incomplete application of this verse: 1 Peter 3:15-17  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of yo

Although born-again Christians do not pray or venerate Mary as their spiritual mother but she's indeed someone who deserves honor. Honor doesn't mean you pray to the person or ask intercession from the person. Instead, this is all about giving proper respect by learning what Mary was as a Christian woman, as Jesus' earthly mother and a humble servant of God. I could see how Mary is a good example to me as a sister in Christ. Here's what I read from Arthur W. Pink said in "The Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross": Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother (John 19:25). His disciples may desert Him, His friends may forsake Him, His nation may despise Him, but His mother stands there at the foot of His cross. Oh, who can fathom or analyze the mother-heart. There she is: she does not crouch away, she does not faint, she does not even sink to the ground in her grief - she stands. Her action and attitude are unique. In all the annals of histor

Some of the most arrogant words that any Christian may have read from the Bible says: Matthew 27:40  And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Mark 15:30  Save thyself, and come down from the cross. It should give anyone pause at the audacity people have. They already saw the signs that Jesus could heal the sick and raise the dead. They already saw Jesus verify His claims but they didn't want Him because of the hardness of their hearts. I thought that what if Jesus with the consent of the Father came down from the cross that moment. Would the unbelieving crowd believe? My answer would still be no. Do you remember the Pharaoh during the Exodus? He already saw the signs. He already saw Moses' rod swallow up the others. He already saw unnatural signs and wonders hit Egypt. He already saw this and that but he still didn't believe. The same is applicable to the un

I remembered what the late great Charles H. Spurgeon said in his sermon "Sad Hearts Changed to Glad Feasts": The Lord of life and glory was nailed to the accursed tree. He died by the act of guilty men. We, by our sins, crucified the Son of God. We might have expected that, in remembrance of his death, we should have been called to a long, sad, rigorous fast. Do not many men think so even today? See how they observe Good Friday, a sad, sad day to many; yet our Lord has never enjoined our keeping such a day, or bidden us to look back upon his death under such a melancholy aspect. Instead of that, having passed out from under the old covenant into the new, and resting in our risen Lord, who once was slain, we commemorate his death by a festival most joyous. It came over the Passover, which was a feast of the Jews; but unlike that feast, which was kept by unleavened bread, this feast is brimful of joy and gladness. It is composed of bread and of wine, without a trace of bitt

Since it's Maundy Thursday and traditionally it's been used to reflect on the Lord's supper. The Lord's supper's account is found in Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20 and it's summarized in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25. Jesus ordained the Lord's supper which is also called having communion. Communion means worshiping as a community. It's called communion bread and communion wine because the are all partook as a community. Just as the apostles all partook the bread and the wine together as a community so are Christians ordered to follow it up. Acts 2:41-43  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. After Peter's first sermon the Lord's supper was c

Having grown in a Roman Catholic family meant I was taught that we should never eat meat during Ash Wednesdays and the Fridays of Lent. There were also times that my folks and I weren't eating meat for the whole holy week. The reason is because it's commemoration of Jesus' death. What annoys me is that Scripture is often taken out of context or people just love to twist the already obvious meaning. If they could twist around Matthew 16:16-18 then I shouldn't expect them not to do the same with the rest of the Scripture. After I got saved by the grace of God and out of Roman Catholicism I really said, "Away with all these practices that bind heavy burden unto men's shoulders!" The idea that says that eating meat during Holy Week is a "mortal sin" is nowhere in the Bible. If you think about it all sin is sin (James 2:10-11) whether they be "mortal" or "venial". First, while church authority is ordained but the Roman Cathol

As the Holy Week begins and it's certainly one of the most hypocritical times of the year. There's nothing "holy" about it if people just use it as a momentary retreat from sin and they go back to sinful living on Easter Sunday. Now I'd like to reflect on the whole reason why Jesus died on the cross for my sins. It's not only because I can't pay for my salvation but it's also because He died for my sins so I can be delivered from a lifestyle of sin. Do I claim to have any holiness apart from Christ? I refuse to claim so. But He's given me the command to be holy. There's the call to be holy because I'm saved. Here's what the Bible says about holiness: 1 Peter 1:15-16  But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I Am holy. The whole Christian life is focused on holiness. God is too holy to allow anyone He has saved to remain the same. He wouldn'