Cut the Cord
by Shawn Lazar “Hey,” my kids yelled as I turned off the TV. “We were watching that!” “Not anymore. This show is teaching bad things and we’re not going to watch it.” I was talking about Supergirl. Up until this Saturday, my kids and I had enjoyed catching up on past episodes, and watching Supergirl […]
Divorce, Of Course
by Shawn Lazar “I do funerals, but I don’t do weddings,” Buddy, my pastor, once told me. “Why not?” “Because when I do a funeral, I know they’ll stay dead.” That’s a sad commentary on the state of marriage today. I was reminded of this sad state this weekend, when I heard news about four […]
Gym fees
by Shawn Lazar Free or Not? One day, a young mother was looking to join a gym. She heard about a wealthy benefactor who founded several gyms and endowed them with enough money so they could be free and open to all. However, when she visited the gyms and asked about joining she found they […]
Gym Fees: A Parable
Free or Not? One day, a young mother wanted to get fit. She heard about a wealthy benefactor who founded several gyms and endowed them with enough money so they could be free and open to all. However, when she visited the gyms and asked about joining, she found they had changed their policies. The […]
Salvation vs. Testimony
Shawn Lazar We recently received a review copy of Evangelism Made Simple: How a Clear Presentation of the Gospel Can Make Your Witnessing More Effective by Jim Scudder and Phil Stringer. We are not yet through the book, but I thought the following quote from Stringer on the meaning of James 2:14-18 was excellent: “This […]
John Mueller on Works Salvation and Assurance
By Shawn Lazar The Greatest Certainty I was recently referencing John Mueller’s Christian Dogmatics (St Louis, MO: Concordia, 1955), when I came across some excellent quotes on assurance being part of faith, and not something extra in addition to it. “Since saving faith is the believer’s trust in the perfect righteousness which Christ has secured […]
One Great Commitment?
Sunday School Confusion As our little Sunday School class has been studying through LifeWay’s Bible Studies for Life: Unvarnished Truth: Life’s Greatest Story, this past week’s lesson was a disappointment. Previous lesson titles included, One Great Creator; One Great Problem; and One Great Savior. All were fine. But the title of this week’s lesson (Session […]
Do Reformed Theologians Teach That Faith Is Obedience?
“I am aware of no recognized Calvinist or Reformed theologian who says that faith is obedience or that faith is perseverance.” So claimed Wayne Grudem in his “Free Grace” Theology: 5 Ways It Diminishes the Gospel (p. 74). But Grudem adds the caveat, “They will say that saving faith results in obedience and that faith […]
Born to Rule
Everyone Wants to Be King King Arthur. Raised by a man who was not his father, he pulls a sword out of a stone, and discovers he is actually the lost son of Uther Pendragon and heir to the throne of England. Clark Kent. Raised by simple Kansas farmers, he discovers he is actually Kal-El, […]
Gordon H. Clark and Assurance
Shawn C. Lazar Associate Editor Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society Corinth, TX I. INTRODUCTION In Faith and Saving Faith,1 Gordon H. Clark argues that all faith is propositional. To believe is to be persuaded that a proposition is true. The difference between faith and saving faith is not in how you believe, but in […]