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December 31, 2012  David Murray   4 comments

The Year In Commentary: Anthony Bradley
I don’t always agree with Anthony, but he always makes me think a bit deeper, wider, and further.

23 Reasons to be joyful
Here’s a fantastic way to end 2012 and begin 2013.

Gospel-centered expectations
Great word from Tim Brister on our attitude as we go to church.

In praise of denominations
As someone with a few burn marks, I need to remember this.

The lost art of the handwritten note
I received one of these from a friend recently and it impacted more than any of the thousands of other communications I received last year.

A bit of hopeful news for Hobby Lobby
The eventual outcome of this issue may be far more pivotal that the election result.

  • Dan

    Re: Denominations

    Dr. Murray, I don’t know of your experiences, but coming from 20+ years in non-denominationalism, I’ve recently seen many of its warts. It’s to the degree that I’ve been seeing (on paper, at least) the confessional Reformed branches to be as close to fully biblical Christianity as we’re ever going to see in this world. Carl Trueman’s recent book delves more deeply into some of the things that Jason Helopoulos enumerates in his blog post. I suppose it is possible to have healthy non-denominational churches, but they seem much more vulnerable to the mindset of the world, even if I understand that many denominations are equally enamored with pushing off from the historical moorings for the sake of relevance and progress. When I lost a pastor who simply wanted to preach from Scripture and worship according to Scripture, I knew that there was trouble in independent evangelicalism. Of course, seeing the shortcomings of what I see most closely can cause me to be blind to the shortcomings of denominations, but at least in the confessions as a ministerial summary of what Scripture teaches, there is something there to bind a body of believers together. True enough, independent churches may also embrace the ecumenical creeds and historic confessions, but that is not the situation in which I find myself so I cannot adequately comment on such churches.

    • http://headhearthand.org/blog/ David Murray

      Thanks for sharing these thoughts, Dan. I appreciate your perspective.

  • Gordon Woods

    In praise of denominations–I am a member of a church which identifies itself as a member of the Southern Baptist Convention; yet my church is not subject to any of the demoninational “controls” listed in the article. We can act as freely as any independent, non-demonational church. Does this mean that Southern Baptist are not a demonination?

    • http://headhearthand.org/blog/ David Murray

      Not in the classic sense. Sounds more like a federation to me.