“Is it true that all people are equally sinful? If someone has sinful anger in his heart, but never acts on it, is that person really the same as someone who has sinful anger in his heart and then murders his whole family?”
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Tom Hicks
What are some essential aspects of pastoral ministry? | Tom Hicks
Much of what passes for pastoral ministry today is nothing other than the application of philosophies and methods of corporate America in the church. Too many pastors think of themselves as doing their jobs, and they don’t think of themselves as God’s men who are called to a whole-life pastoral ministry among God’s beloved people.
What is the role of civil government? | Tom Hicks
“Paragraph 3 in the original Westminster Confession … gives the civil magistrate the power to punish heretics and blasphemers and to correct corruptions in worship and discipline. Paragraph 3 in the Savoy Declaration also says the government has the power to suppress the publication of blasphemy and serious heresies … Baptists strongly disagreed with both the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists that the government is given such powers by the Word of God.”
What is Quarreling? | Tom Hicks
The root of quarrelsomeness is “covetousness.” Covetousness is discontentment with Christ, a desire to be satisfied in something outside of Him.
Should government punish false worship or coerce true worship? | Tom Hicks
This question has to do with the limits of human authorities and more particularly with the jurisdictional boundaries of the civil government.
What does it look like to apply the ten commandments? | Tom Hicks
In his magnificent work, A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel, John Colquhoun has a chapter titled “Rules for Rightly Understanding the Ten Commandments” (pp 85-98), which is similar to Question 99 of the Westminster Larger Catechism, “What rules are to be observed for the right understanding of the Ten Commandments?”
Is the covenant of works biblical? | Tom Hicks
The Reformed confessions of faith all affirm that God made a “covenant of works” with Adam in the Garden of Eden. For...
What is pastoral preaching? | Tom Hicks
“A pastoral preacher is not merely concerned with the meaning and theology of the text, but also with the particular people to whom he’s preaching.”
Should People Use Cuss Words?
The Bible prohibits unclean language. This includes all language that society understands be obscene or dirty. Obscenities and vulgarities refer to things that are offensively revealing, disgusting, dirty, ugly or crude.
Why is Theonomy Unbiblical?
Before critiquing theonomy, we need a good definition. Some people today who use the word “theonomy” don’t mean anything more than “God’s law” because the etimology of the word theonomy is “theos” which means God, and “nomos” which means law. They only want to affirm that God’s law is supreme over man’s law. And they’re right about that. God’s transcendent moral law is the norm that norms all norms. Governmental laws should always be consistent with God’s law and human law must never violate God’s law.
But in this post, I’ll be using the word “theonomy” in a more technical sense, which is rooted in the historic usage of the term.