The Tulip Driven Life

  Calvin on infant/covenant baptism from Acts 2:39: "Let us now come to what Peter says: 'Unto you, and to your children.' In the first place, he addresses those who are of age. That is why he says to them, 'Repent.' From the outset he confronts them with repentance with the view to speaking about baptism. Those who are at the age of discretion cannot be baptized (I mean those who are not the people of God), unless they have repented of their sins and confessed to being Christian. But Peter repeatedly adds that the promise is to the children of the Jews, as indeed we see that it is our Lord's promise to Abraham, when he says to him, 'I shall be your God and the God of your seed for a thousand generations' (cf. Gen. 17:7). That is how our Lord wishes to declare himself the Savior of those who are in his church at the present time as well as the Savior of those who come afterward and their children, because he recognizes and accepts them as his own. And t...

We are riddled today, everywhere we turn, with toxic humility and weaponized weakness. What do I mean? I mean that when a faithful leader does something 5% imperfectly, the weak ones under his authority who are largely wrong, inept, lazy, etc., will berate him over the 5% imperfection, as if they were perfectly righteous in being utterly helpless. Then the faithful, wearied and worn down, will gin-up guilt rationalized as humility to repent beyond anything they've actually done, to appease the weak who have wielded their crutches to beat the strong and those trying to help mercilessly over the head, somehow stoking the sympathy of all onlookers. This creates several problems. All things being equal, we should acknowledge our 5% error, but when it is weaponized that admitting any error is tantamount to confessing murder, what then? Then, you don't play the shame game. You don't bring up what should be a blip at most on people's minds. But the optics of such, in our softe...

I believe I completed this for in seminary in 2013. May it be profitable to others.   Westminster Confession of Faith Outline (With Parallels from Calvin’s Institutes) . CHAPTER 1: OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE 1)       The Holy Scriptures as Revelation a)        Natural Revelation i)         Manifests God’s goodness, wisdom and power (1)     Through God’s work of Creation (2)     Through Providence ii)        Does not give man saving knowledge of God b)       Special Revelation i)         God reveals Himself at various times and in various ways ii)        God has preserved His revelations fully in writing of the Holy Scriptures (1)     To declare His will to the church (2)     To preserve and sp...