Ligonier Blog / Friday / December 13 / 2019

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Latest in Tabletalk Magazine

  • Resolving to be Resolved

    from Burk Parsons Dec 31, 2009 Category: Tabletalk Magazine

    It seems that every new year, we are caught up in a whirlwind of well-intentioned resolutions. With premeditated bursts of enthusiasm, those closest to us begin to take part in peculiar, and sometimes public activities that even cause neighborhood children to look puzzled. We find ourselves bearing witness to surprising edicts and seemingly self-conscious new year’s manifestos whereupon we are summoned to behold what sweeping changes may come — resolutions for impending dispositions, impossible diets, and impenetrable fortresses of discipline.  Keep Reading

  • Secular Eschatology

    from Gene Edward Veith Dec 29, 2009 Category: Tabletalk Magazine

    The Bible teaches that the universe had a beginning and that it will have an end. Christians believe this, though controversies about eschatology (the end times) have long roiled in Christian circles. It illustrates how profoundly the Bible has influenced Western civilization that secularists too have their eschatologies. The natural view of time is cyclical. The Bible also recognizes — and organizes — the cyclical nature of time. But in addition to affirming the sense in which time can involve recurring cycles, the Bible also teaches that time is linear. It has a beginning and an end. Not only that, time has a direction. It goes somewhere. This linear dimension of time seems to have been unique to the Hebrews in the ancient world. Even the Greeks, for all of their sophistication, knew only of a cyclical view of time. They had no concept of a creation from nothing for a specific purpose; rather, they posited a universe that was continually created and destroyed and created again. Keep Reading

  • Holiness

    from Keith Mathison Dec 21, 2009 Category: Tabletalk Magazine

    In the early centuries of the church’s existence, Christian apologists would sometimes appeal to the distinctively holy lives of Christians as evidence for the truth of Christianity. Would such an appeal be of any use today? According to numerous surveys, the behavior of professing Christians is not discernibly different from the behavior of those who profess other religions or no religion at all. The phrase one often hears on the lips of pagans who observe contemporary Christian behavior is: “The church is full of hypocrites.” This should not be. We worship a holy God who calls His people to be holy and who has provided the means by which they may be holy. The problem of lax and hypocritical Christianity is not a new one, and one of the best treatments of the entire subject is a classic written by J.C. Ryle (1816–1900), who served as the Anglican Bishop of Liverpool for twenty years. Ryle was a deeply committed and non-compromising evangelical Christian. In fact, Charles Spurgeon referred to him as an “evangelical champion.” His book Holiness has been reprinted numerous times since its original publication in 1879. It is deservedly considered a Christian classic on the subject of sanctification. It ranks up there with the work of John Owen on the mortification of sin. Keep Reading

  • The Big Picture

    from Robert Reymond Dec 19, 2009 Category: Tabletalk Magazine

    Since my article is appearing in this issue of Tabletalk magazine, I have a great opportunity to tell you young folk of the next generation about a pet peeve of mine with my generation when it comes to the reason for celebrating Christmas. Many people, as you know, celebrate not much more than “roasting chestnuts by an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at their noses.” But Christians surely know enough to know that Christmas means more than that. It surely has something to do with Jesus, doesn’t it? But what? This month a lot of sermons will be preached about Jesus’ incarnation. And taking its cue from the angel’s announcement to the shepherds on the plains of Ephrathah, my generation simply celebrates the “good news” that some two thousand years ago, in the words of the announcing angel, “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11). My generation tends to concentrate its attention in their worship services throughout the Advent season on the fact that Christ was virginally born a babe in Bethlehem. And that is about as far as they go in their thinking as they reflect upon the momentous fact that God became man through the miraculous conception of Jesus in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Keep Reading

  • Our Blessed Struggle

    from Guy Richard Dec 15, 2009 Category: Tabletalk Magazine

    I find it interesting that, of all the names God could have chosen for His people, He chose “Israel.” And while different opinions exist as to what the name Israel actually means, it seems that the context in which the name is given in Genesis 32 favors the meaning “he struggles with God” over every other option (see verses 22–32 and Hos. 12:3–4). It would seem that God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to call His people “strugglers.” Keep Reading

  • Ligonier Students Equipping Others

    from Kyle Van Cleave Dec 14, 2009 Category: Tabletalk Magazine

    Some of our favorite moments here at Ligonier come when we hear of the unique ways people are using resources we offer to train and equip others. Recently, a pastor was sharing with one of our resource consultants about a ministry in his church where they use the daily devotionals found in Tabletalk to conduct a weekly Bible study. Keep Reading

  • Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, December 2009

    from Tim Challies Dec 06, 2009 Category: Tabletalk Magazine

    The December edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "The Already and the Not Yet." The issue explores how the kingdom of God has been inaugurated but has not yet been consummated. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Robert Reymond, Burk Parsons, Keith Mathison, and Guy Richardson. Keep Reading

  • Tabletalk 2010: The First Six Months

    from Chris Donato Nov 24, 2009 Category: Tabletalk Magazine

    For more than thirty years, Tabletalk has existed as a magazine for the church. So it strives to help explain important, biblical doctrines and events that shape the church while encouraging people to reflect the image of Christ in both word and deed. We are proud to follow that same trajectory in 2010--dealing with issues that challenge, exhort, and encourage God's people. Keep Reading

  • Social Darwinism

    from Gene Edward Veith Nov 23, 2009 Category: Tabletalk Magazine

    Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was never just about biology. Nor were its consequences just about religion. Rather, the origins and effects of Darwinism were largely cultural and moral. Darwin's Origin of Species was published in 1859, which was at the height of the Industrial Revolution and the Capitalist Revolution. Keep Reading

  • The Gospel Is for the Broken

    from Rod Rosenbladt Nov 13, 2009 Category: Tabletalk Magazine

    In this article I want to address a particular problem: What we might do as Christians with those who see themselves as "alumni" of the Christian faith. By that I mean those who once professed that Christ shed His blood, freely justified them before God, forgave their sin, gave them eternal life -- but now they don't believe it. Keep Reading
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