Reformed SHEology

! Warning: The following discussion regarding menstruation may be uncomfortable or offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised. Growing up, I was exposed to some very negative attitudes about menstruation. It was common for me to hear menstruation referred to as "The Curse" and I was regularly encouraged to view my period as an inconvenience. Specifically, a woman's monthly period was presented to me as a messy but necessary evil. It contributes to her emotional and physical discomfort, and it interrupts various activities in one's social life, like swimming at the beach or having sex. In essence, I was indoctrinated like millions of other women to despise a natural function that God created. But the Bible tells us that everything God created is good. Surely there is a reason God gave us menstrual cycle, but perhaps it is more than just biological. During menstruation, the uterine lining (endometrium) is shed if fertilization has not occurred. When m

M y all-time favorite episode of The Twilight Zone is called, "The Obsolete Man." In this story, Burgess Meredith stars as a man on trial for his belief in God - a crime punishable by death in a futuristic society that has declared God "obsolete." If you have the time, I highly recommend you spend thirty minutes watching this episode . It is nothing short of riveting ! There are several lines throughout this short little screenplay that send chills down my spine. One of them in particular is in the beginning, when the Chancellor boldly declares, "THE STATE HAS PROVEN THAT THERE IS NO GOD!" Most Christians who are familiar with the fate of the earth can see the parallels between this sci-fi story and end-times prophecy. But we never have to worry that God will be declared "obsolete." This would only frustrate Satan's plan. He needs people to keep believing in the concept of God, because one day, the antiChrist will blaspheme the true God a

A braham Maslow is perhaps most famous for his Theory of Human Motivation, which involves a "hierarchy of needs." This hierarchy consists of five "levels" of human needs that range from the physical to the spiritual. The lowest level of needs is the physiological level, which includes needs like food, water, sleep, sex, and breathing. The highest level of needs is the level of self-actualization, which includes the need to address introspective topics such as morality, creativity, and other issues that can be labeled "spiritual". According to Maslow, the needs on the lowest level, the physical needs, must be met first. Then and only then will a human being be able to "graduate" to the next level of satisfied needs. Oh, really? Consider this quote from Maslow (1943) himself: "Anyone who attempts to make an emergency picture into a typical one and who will measure all of man's goals and desires by his[her] behavior during extreme physiol

! Warning: The following contains discussion of abortion that may be upsetting to some readers. Links are provided to websites containing extremely graphic images and video footage of actual abortion procedures. Reader/viewer discretion is advised. Dan Hayden had planned to be a doctor. He worked briefly as a surgical technician but got the call to ministry just before attending medical school. God would later use the combination of Dan's medical background and his Masters in Theology to create the most compelling Bible study I have ever experienced in my entire life. (I say entire because I am confident I will not encounter another study like this in the future.) It's an eight part study given in one-hour increments called The Living Word , and it illustrates how the human anatomy is actually modeled after the Word of God. I was introduced to the study in the Spring of 2005. A group of women I met with every Tuesday night decided to give it a try. As was typical of a women

! Warning: The following article contains discussion of a deviant sexual practice and may be offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised. Lisa M. has worked very hard to maintain a growing database about the practice of headcovering . Her site is comprehensive in that it addresses headcovering from various religious perspectives, not just Christian. One of the things in particular about Lisa's collection of headcovering resources that strikes me as fascinating is that there seems to be a never-ending list of stories about headcovering in the news -- stories in which headcovering is seen as a negative thing; as though the world is becoming more and more hostile to the tradition of headcovering and the women who elect to participate in it. Looking through some of the articles Lisa has on her site almost feels at times as if there is an all-out global attack on headcovering. This is not a coincidence. Satan hates God's creation. He has always sought to distort what

L ast night I had the privilege of being on the Reformed Think Tank, a new BlogTalk Radio Show from the Two Reformed Brothers Network. The topic was "Evangelistic Balance in Church and Conflict." In a nutshell, I wanted to share with others how God had used my experiences in street evangelism to help me manage conflict with other Christians in the Church. For those of you who missed the show, it is still available by clicking here . We mentioned some recommended reading on the air, so I wanted to post those recommended titles, along with some other resources, below for your reference: The Peacemaker , by Ken Sande The Gospel for Real Life , by Jerry Bridges Relationships: A Mess Worth Making , by Paul Tripp and Tim Lane Discover the Word Series on Rebuke: (Audios approx. 12 minutes each.) Discover the Word Part I Discover the Word Part II Discover the Word Part III Overall, I think the show went well. I didn't think I'd have too much to share, but the show

J ohn Piper is someone that both Geraldine and I respect tremendously. The main focus of his ministry is reflected in its title: Desiring God . So imagine my surprise when a brother in Christ recently told me that John Piper is a false teacher! Naturally I was puzzled by his claim, so I asked him to elaborate. In a nutshell, the brother told me that one of Piper's most well-known quotes is heresy. After he briefly explained his reasoning, which is better summed up by this article , the brother warned me to "be careful about endorsing John Piper" on my blog. I was flabbergasted that this fellow would go through John Piper's ministry with such a fine-toothed comb as to uncover a tiny little technicality, a matter of semantics really, to such an extent that he is now poisoned against everything that is good and edifying and encouraging about Piper's ministry. Truly, if anyone took a complete inventory of all Piper's books and sermons, any concern surrounding thi

W hat comes to mind when you think of the word purity? Most Christians would define this word in the context of sexual chastity. But purity is simply the state of being free of any pollutant. Most of us don't realize how polluted we really are, until we consider the law of God. This is why Paul says, "Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.' But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead" (Romans 7:7-8, ESV). The Ten Commandments illustrate for us the very sin we harbor in our hearts. Most of us can easily see why God chose to include certain "pollutants" on the list (such as murder and adultery). But by comparison, lying doesn't seem all that bad. Those of us who use the law in evangelism know that the ninth commandment is the easiest to get