Robbie

On Personal Revelation

If you or I were to ask a handful of people—church folk or otherwise—whether, loosely speaking, they felt or knew that God had spoken to them personally, my guess is that many would say they think it has happened. For staunch Reformed folk, this idea tends to make us uncomfortable (if that’s you, I knowContinue reading “On Personal Revelation”

A Heirachy for Reading Mediums

Because there are a number of mediums in which to read (or listen—I’ll just keep referring to reading/listening as reading) a book, the manner in which we read a book can play a role in the way we understand and learn from that book. The following is a hierarchy of the way I categorize mediumsContinue reading “A Heirachy for Reading Mediums”

Entering into the authority of the scriptures

When Jesus was tested in the wilderness, his retort to Satan’s temptations was, “It is written.” That was his authority—the written word. What gave this authority to the canon? It was the speaker, who was God (and still is). This opens up in my mind two ways of approaching the reading of the Bible. TheContinue reading “Entering into the authority of the scriptures”

Productive Mortification

People put a lot of time into figuring out how to be productive workers. We could use some of the principles of modern self-help productivity gurus to consider how we might productively put to death sin.
That’s what this article is about.

The Point of Genealogies

When you come across genealogies in the Bible, which happens inevitably, you may wonder why they are there and also secretly think, “Can I skip this? Or skim this?” Although every genealogy has its own unique purpose, flavor, and message, there are general principles and purposes behind all genealogies in the Bible.
That’s what this article explores.

Proverbs from the Crescent

Proverbs from round town. Straight talk from the streets.

The Infinite God of Finite Nature and the Underappreciated Argument of Thanfullness

What is the difference between reading the tea leaves in a cup for a message from the divine and drinking the tea with a sense of awe at the beauty of creation, as if the experience of the tea itself is a message from the divine? Because our culture (and therefore our minds) are pollutedContinue reading “The Infinite God of Finite Nature and the Underappreciated Argument of Thanfullness”

The Bondage of Self-determination

As I sat down to write this, the Indian immigrant chef at my café, who serves me coffee every week, came over and asked what I was writing (side note: it is worthwhile going the same place for the same thing, to become familiar and even have the smallest of conversations). We got talking aboutContinue reading “The Bondage of Self-determination”

The Discomfort of Theological Mysteries

For something as common as the headache (for which 98% of people experience – who are those 2% of people?!) doesn’t it induce a headache to think we don’t actually know the exact mechanisms for their causes?! The same is true for the theological questions that evade any satisfactory answer – quite despite the biblesContinue reading “The Discomfort of Theological Mysteries”

The Personal Experience of the Person of God

The placebo effect in the medical/scientific world shows the mysterious interplay between mind and experience and therefore to a degree reality (both subjective and objective). Fake medications relive pain, experiments in managing expectations cause us to anticipate pain and therefore feel it (although no pain stimuli are physically triggered). Similarly, do you want to improveContinue reading “The Personal Experience of the Person of God”