The Tulip Driven Life

  THE RICH MEN RUNNING THE REFORMED SEMINARIES VS. THE POOR MINISTERS: In many situations, men looking to enter pastoral ministry, especially in Reformed and Presbyterian circles (and some Baptists as well with their seminaries), are expected to not only have a solid undergraduate degree, but go to seminary and earn an M.Div. (100 credits or so) as well. Overall, I agree with the required rigor. We want our ministers trained. We ARE professionals, in at least some real sense. Those unskilled in handling the Word of God ought not to be ordained, and intensive and comprehensive training along the lines of seminary by godly, qualified men is necessary. The problem is less the training and more the costs and dynamics at this present time. I have known pastors, even with various financial aids, having to still pay off their seminary work into their 40's. I remember a few years back hearing about how many ordained ministers there are in the PCA, and how the number of actual churches was ...

 By: Thomas F. Booher BAPTISM: SPRINKLING/POURING or DUNKING/IMMERSING? I've seen maybe one or two baptisms by immersion in person. It's always surprising to me. But I've watched more online so my sensibilities are less surprised than before. So I can imagine how jarring it is for our largely Baptistic Christian culture to see a baptism by sprinkling/pouring, and of course for most of them they would say it isn't even a true baptism because we didn't dunk. The symbolism isn't meaningless though. While we would accept immersion as a true and valid baptism, we do not use immersion as the proper, or at least most proper and accurate mode of baptism. Pouring or sprinkling water upon the head of the recipient, whether adult or covenant child/baby, symbolizes Christ's blood covering His people, and His Spirit being poured out upon them. Ezekiel 36:25-26, "Then I will SPRINKLE CLEAN WATER on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthin...