Voice From the Past: Read Your Bible!
By Art Farstadi Many have heard the story of the man whose devotional reading consisted of cracking his Bible at random and reading the first verse his finger touched. One morning this was his verse for the day: “And Judas went out and hanged himself.” That can’t be it, he thought. So he tried again. […]
Voice From the Past: How to Have An Effective Quiet Time
By Art Farstadi “What a beautiful service!” is a comment you often hear after a fine public worship gathering. But we shouldn’t be dependent solely for our spiritual nourishment on weekly or bi-weekly services at church. We need “Christian” vitamins every day! It is appalling how many believers don’t follow the advice of the (true) […]
A Voice From the Past: Are You a Saint or an Ain’t?
By Art Farstad1 Many well-meaning Christians are not well taught on this supremely important and practical subject. A common phrase heard in Christendom (and sadly even by supposedly evangelical Christians) is, “I’m a Christian, but I’m no saint.” The idea is that while we can expect a person to go to church, give money, and […]
A Voice From the Past: The Bible and the Presidents
By Art Farstad February is a presidential month for historically minded Americans. And rightly so. Our first and truly great president, George Washington, was born in February (Feb. 11, 1732, “Old Style” calendar, Feb. 22 “New Style”). So too was Abraham Lincoln, perhaps our greatest and most beloved president of all (Feb. 12, 1809). Their […]
Pax in Terra
By Art Farstad* *This article first appeared in December 1991 in Grace in Focus. At Christmastide, even the most convinced Protestant should be allowed a little Latin–for example, gloria in excelsis Deo! After all, didn’t the great Reformers, Luther and Calvin, write chiefly in Latin? And wasn’t Calvin’s Latin style a great deal more elegant […]
We Believe in: Sanctification
Arthur L. Farstad1 (1935-1998) But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Pet 1:15-16). I.INTRODUCTION Blue-eyed British monk Pelagius (ca. AD 360-420) taught that if we should, we can. Denying original sin, he made grace essentially […]
Rightly Divided: Readings in Biblical Hermeneutics
Rightly Divided: Readings in Biblical Hermeneutics. Ed. by Roy B. Zuck. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publishers, 1996. 320 pp. Paper, $14.99. Dr. Zuck has woven together a scholarly work with contributions from scholars associated with such institutions as Oxford and Aberdeen, as well as Dallas, Denver, Gordon Conwell, Trinity, and Western Conservative Seminaries on how to […]
New Revised Standard Version
The New Revised Standard Version. Oxford University Press, USA, 1991. I. Introduction In May of this year the latest and most thoroughgoing revision of the RSV appeared, sponsored by the National Council of Churches. I must confess that I have been having my morning devotions in the NRSV for the last several months.1 The reason […]
You’re a Saint or You Ain’t
Many well-meaning Christians are not well taught on this supremely important and practical subject. A common phrase heard in Christendom (and sadly even by supposedly evangelical Christians) is “I’m a Christian, but I’m no saint.” The idea is that while we can expect a person to go to church, give money, and keep away from […]
Faith Is Just Believing
Near the beginning of Sir Walter Scott’s classic novel Ivanhoe, the fool Wamba discusses the difference between good old AngloSaxon words (like swine and sheep) and the (then) new-fangled French words (like pork and mutton) that had been making headway in England since the Norman conquest of 1066. Many centuries later we still use Wamba’s […]