An excerpt from this heartily encouraging essay by Dr. Kim Riddlebarger: "Why I Think it's a Great time to be a Reformed Christian"
..." as a Reformed Christian, I am fully aware that our distinctive doctrines of God´s sovereignty in salvation, our stress upon the doctrine of total depravity, our emphasis upon word and sacrament, along with our belief that the Lordship of Christ extends to all areas of life, will prevent our viewpoint from ever being the majority report within the Christian church. It is naive to think that all of a sudden, huge numbers of professing Christians will leave their non-Reformed churches and suddenly come to ours. And barring a dramatic work of the Holy Spirit, we should not expect huge numbers of non-Christians to suddenly awaken to the truths of the Christian faith. In an age of spirituality, ecumenism, and indifference to matters of sin and grace, many churches choose to respond by offering a diet of "œchurch lite," as the hard teachings which characterize so much of biblical and Reformed Christianity will remain an offence to the vast majority of our contemporaries. Despite all of this, I remain optimistic. Why? ...."
Read the entire essay at Kim Riddlebarger's Blog:
http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com/theological-essays/
Then click onto the first downloadable, theological essay (word doc) "A Kairos Moment?"
The article is applicable to so much of the real Christian life: family, ethics as well as culture and evangelizing. The optimism goes waaaay beyond eschatology, btw.
BE EDIFIED!!
Robin
..." as a Reformed Christian, I am fully aware that our distinctive doctrines of God´s sovereignty in salvation, our stress upon the doctrine of total depravity, our emphasis upon word and sacrament, along with our belief that the Lordship of Christ extends to all areas of life, will prevent our viewpoint from ever being the majority report within the Christian church. It is naive to think that all of a sudden, huge numbers of professing Christians will leave their non-Reformed churches and suddenly come to ours. And barring a dramatic work of the Holy Spirit, we should not expect huge numbers of non-Christians to suddenly awaken to the truths of the Christian faith. In an age of spirituality, ecumenism, and indifference to matters of sin and grace, many churches choose to respond by offering a diet of "œchurch lite," as the hard teachings which characterize so much of biblical and Reformed Christianity will remain an offence to the vast majority of our contemporaries. Despite all of this, I remain optimistic. Why? ...."
Read the entire essay at Kim Riddlebarger's Blog:
http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com/theological-essays/
Then click onto the first downloadable, theological essay (word doc) "A Kairos Moment?"
The article is applicable to so much of the real Christian life: family, ethics as well as culture and evangelizing. The optimism goes waaaay beyond eschatology, btw.
BE EDIFIED!!
Robin