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OK, I admit it. A paragraph from Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology doesn’t have the sex appeal of the latest Rob Bell kerfuffle (if you’ve been sleeping for three days and have no idea what I’m talking about, click here). But, I’m a firm believer in something Michelangelo once said: “Oftentimes the best way to critique something is to create something better”–to focus, in other words, on the things that nourish more so than the things that distract. So, reveling in and wrestling with the things that matter most (like how to read the Bible) will inevitably protect our hearts and...

1. Revelation and Scripture. The term 'special revelation' may be used in more than one sense. It may denote the direct self-communications of God in verbal messages and in miraculous facts. The prophets and the apostles often received messages from God long before they committed them to writing. These are now contained in Scripture, but do not constitute the whole of the Bible. There is much in it that was not revealed in a supernatural way, but is the result of study and of previous reflection. However, the term may also be used to denote the Bible as a whole,...

1. Revelation in General. The discussion of religion naturally leads on to that of revelation as its origin. If God had not revealed Himself, religion would have been impossible. Man could not possibly have had any knowledge of God, if God had not made Himself known. Left to himself, he would never have discovered God. We distinguish between God's revelation in nature and His revelation in Scripture. Atheists and Agnostics, of course, do not believe in revelation. Pantheists sometimes speak of it, though there is really no place for it in their system of thought. And Deists admit the revelation...

*Reformed Christians are defined as those holding membership in The Great Reformed Ping List (GRPL) Or Those who are members in on of the following Churches: APC, ARP, BPC, CARC, CARPC, CREC, EPC, FRCNA, HRC, OPC, PCA, RPCNA, URCNA, ARBCA, Founders SBC, RCUS Or Subscribe to one of the following The Augsburg Confession, The Three Forms of Unity, The London Baptist Confession of 1689, The Westminster Confession of Faith ___________________________________________________________________________ Chapter I: Religion 1. The Nature of Religion. The Bible informs us that man was created in the image of God. When he fell in sin, he did not entirely...