Many Christians have a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to catechisms, confessions, and creeds. They rightfully desire to draw their doctrine from the Bible. They rightfully consider the Bible to be the sole authority for life and faith. They rightfully bulk at the thought of anything rising to equality to the Bible (and equality ends up being supremacy). However, they don’t understand that creeds of some sort are essential, necessary, in fact, inevitable. The moment anyone tries to...
Tag - baptism
Back in 2003, I ran the Philadelphia Marathon. I was 24 years old. That was almost 20 years ago. Wow. I’m getting old. Anyway, I ran the marathon on a beautiful day in October in Pennsylvania. The morning was cool and it warmed up to the point I could run without a shirt. This allowed spectators and other runners to see what Kristina had written in Sharpie across my chest: “I’d rather be preaching.” As I ran the 26.2 miles in Philly, I availed myself of the drink stations to stay...
Oliver loved Christmas. It was Christmas Eve, and he couldn’t wait to wake up the next morning, run down the stairs, and open his presents. He knew he had to wait until after breakfast, but his visions of tearing open presents after his mother’s morning spread were quite vivid. He struggled to fall asleep, but in time he did, and on Christmas morning he jolted awake, ran down the stairs, and beheld quite a sight. Under the sparkling tree were presents galore. After breakfast, Oliver’s...