Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4 (ESV) Shakespeare’s King Lear is the prototypical proud, rash father. The play opens with Lear entreating his three daughters to flatter him. His eldest, Goneril and Regan, happily oblige, but Lear sees red …
“It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason.”[1] These words, found in a collection of writings penned by Blaise Pascal, were meant to become part of a congruent apology for the Christian faith. But Pascal died before they …
Meditation on Faith and Reason: Pascal’s Pensées Read More »
Adoniram Judson was among the first missionaries that American Baptists sent overseas. During a long career in Burma, he became noted for his commitment to evangelism and his translation of the Bible into Burmese. A master of languages, he also produced a Burmese grammar and dictionary. His preaching ministry resulted in thousands of conversions though …
Make Time for Prayer—Adoniram Judson (1788 – 1850) Read More »
And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number …
The Better Fisherman: Finding the Fulfillment of our Vocations in Christ Read More »
John Winthrop set sail for the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629. He had already been elected governor and would serve intermittently in this position until his death nineteen years later. Winthrop typified the Puritan settler; he was committed to both the church and the state being built on Christian principles. In January 1637, Winthrop elaborated …
My Faith Hath Not Failed Utterly—John Winthrop (1588 – 1649) Read More »
Imagine a man, his name is Samuel. He is a scribe. The year is AD 1008 and he sits, day after day, in Fustat, now part of modern-day Cairo, painstakingly copying text onto pages of parchment. The manuscript he is creating must be of the highest possible quality — it is the Hebrew Bible, and …