Tim Keller

Back in the study, I asked Solzhenitsyn about his relations with the West... "[Y]es, it is true, when I fought the dragon of Communist power I fought it at the highest pitch of expression. The people in the West were not accustomed to this tone of voice. In the West, one must have a balanced, calm, soft voice; one ought to make sure to doubt oneself, to suggest that one may, of course, be completely wrong. But I didn't have the time to busy myself with this. This was not my main goal.” (Solzhenitsyn, quoted in the New Yorker, February 14, 1994, p.74.)

It saddened me to read Joey Pipa's response to the Report of the PCA Study Committee on Women in the Church. As president of a South Carolina seminary offering a more conservative option to the PCA’s Covenant Seminary, I’d been hopeful his response, when published, would sound an alarm within the church against the Committee's 60,000 words conniving at the feminist heresy.

Apparently others hoped the same because Dr. Pipa begins by telling his readers that "many friends and former students" asked him to respond to the Report.

What a disappointment they all must have felt watching as Dr. Pipa preciously declines to engage the enemy. Reading his very short response—1,500 words is about one-third of a sermon—you get the feeling you’re watching...

...if she has washed the saints' feet (1Timothy 5:10)

(This is the fifth in a series of ten posts critiquing the Report of the Presbyterian Church in America's Study Committee on Women Serving in the Ministry of the Church: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth.)

Talking about this Report with my wife Mary Lee, I picked up my laptop and did a search for "wash" or "feet."

Nothing, and the absence of these words is damning. But first, a few sentences about a word the Committee loves...

(This is the third in a series of ten posts critiquing the Report of the Presbyterian Church in America's Study Committee on Women Serving in the Ministry of the Church: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth.)

The Committee's Report comes in at 63 pages and 32,000 words. Before they're done, the Committee has tipped their hat to many of the exegetical inventions and talking points used by feminists these past fifty years to justify their rebellion. Bad as it is to read the Committee paying their respects to feminist revisionist arguments about this and that passage of Scripture, it's even worse to note the Scripture texts the Committee excludes from our consideration.

This, for instance...

(This is the first in a series of ten posts critiquing the Report of the Presbyterian Church in America's Study Committee on Women Serving in the Ministry of the Church: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth.)

Preparatory to their 2017 General Assembly to be held in June, the Presbyterian Church in America has released the Report of their study committee on "women serving in the ministry of the church." This is the first in a series examining this committee's work.

When I served on a similar PCA General Assembly study committee on women in the military a few years ago, no woman was appointed to our committee. Study committees of the PCA General Assembly examine the interpretation of Scripture on theological matters where there is a need for the church to come to an authoritative judgment. Thus these study committees have been composed of pastors and elders—officers called to adjudicate conflict and make authoritative judgments. For this reason, many found it disheartening that Pastor Tim Keller's wife, Kathy, was placed on this study committee and that she agreed to serve.

It has long been normal practice for women to be present and participate in elders meetings at Tim Keller's Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. Mrs. Keller's appointment to this General Assembly study Committee is in line with the egalitarian practices Redeemer has long been practicing in her own fellowship, and advocating within her denomination.

But whereas the women attending Redeemer's elder meetings have been...

"Every atheist should be pro-life. Life is all we have."  - Nat Hentoff

Yesterday, Nat Hentoff died. He was 91. Brother David calls his passing "a real loss." Among many other things, Hentoff was a stalwart warrior against the slaughter of the unborn, newborn handicapped, feeble, and elderly. With Hentoff gone, who will take his place as a prophet against the bloodshed of the innocent in New York City?

Here's a BB tribute to Nat Hentoff we ran back in 2009. (Check out other BB posts that mention Hentoff.)

(The pic is a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters portrait from 2009. Hentoff is the bottom right, sitting, with the late David Baker, IU's own, standing directly behind.)

* * *

(January 5, 2009) Last week, Nat Hentoff was laid off at the (Greenwich) Village Voice. This brings an abrupt end to Hentoff's fifty year run there, appropriately and affectionately titled "Fifty Years of Pissing People Off" by fellow Voice columnist Allen Barra in his recent...

All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives. (Proverbs 16:2)

Recently, we've had several posts calling out Liam Goligher and Carl Trueman for misquoting Calvin. David Talcott's post explained why reformed men want to claim Calvin for their side. To the contrary, as Dr. Talcott gently warned readers, "Calvin thought sex meant something in civil society." This is the heart of the issue.

Sadly, the point is lost on reformed men today. Dr. Talcott's kind assumption that reformed men care about truth is wrong. What Reformed men keep track of isn't truth, but spin, relationships, and outward appearances. What else could account for the refusal of men like Goligher and Trueman to correct their blatant falsehoods? What else could account for the hostile response of other reformed men to these men being called out for their deception?

Truth matters. When Goligher and Trueman feed their readers a lie, it tarnishes their own reputations among the godly. Beyond that, their lie slanders a man who cannot defend himself. If he were alive, he could file charges against them, but John Calvin died some time ago...

Under the post, "Rachel Miller's straw men...," a debate unfolded over the proper ordination of church officers. I believe in regular-old ordination as Presbyterians do it, with the necessity of a call, the vote of presbytery following their examination of the candidate and approval of his call, the laying on of hands, and prayer. This is how we ordain church officers in Clearnote Fellowship (sessions hold the examination of elders) and it was how I was ordained, also. That said, a couple comments.

First, when one of the two congregations I served in Pardeeville, Wisconsin voted to leave the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA), the joint board of elders of both churches had spent the previous year or so determining whether or not to leave the PC(USA), and if so, what denomination to transfer into? After looking at a number of denominations, our list shortened to the Christian Reformed Church, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and the Presbyterian Church in America. We announced to the two congregations that we believed we should leave the PC(USA) and we scheduled a vote on the matter for a couple months later. We also told our PC(USA) presbytery of our intentions.

For years I had been serving in presbytery leadership, but it did not matter: when we informed them of the coming vote, John Knox Presbytery sent in a special ops team to try to destroy the churches...

That buffet of idolatry, Patheos, just published a respectful hack-job on John Piper and all his male-prerogative-peers. Titled "Beyond Biblical Manhood and Womanhood," it's written by this guest contributor who wants a job preaching to men. Why won't John Piper get her a job?

This is a screenshot of the final couple inches of the piece. When you're done with the picture (go ahead, we'll wait), read the text carefully—all the way to the bottom where she introduces her hash tag links to heresy. Catch it?

At a classical music concert, all the applause is self-congratulatory. - David Jeremy Bayly

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that three men have been standouts in the volume of Baylyblog posts warning against them: Tom (N. T.) Wright, Darryl Hart, and Tim Keller. Each of these men has shown himself adept at drawing away disciples after him who will join in his rebellion against crucial parts of Biblical faith. Tom Wright denies God’s Creation Order, Darryl Hart denies the Church’s calling to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all creation, and Tim Keller denies the Biblical doctrines of sexuality, Creation, and Hell.

The most striking thing about these men is their abuse of language...