Musings of a Snickerdoodle

Today is celebrated by some as Reformation Day, the day in 1517 when Martin Luther posted 95 theses questioning indulgences on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg. This act accelerated the Reformation in Germany and elsewhere.   Before recommending some resources for remembering the Reformation, I would like to offer some thoughts on the term 'reformed' as applied to modern Christians who believe in the sovereignty of God, election, perseverance of the Saints…etc.  My dad and I have had several talks about this term.  To put it plainly, we do not like the term.   The Reformation was about reforming back to the Bible, God's Word, as the so-called 'church' had strayed from that foundation.   I was born into a Christian family, we go to a church that is Biblically grounded, so we have no need to reform, but rather focus on conforming to God's Word.   The word 'Reformed' always points back to the Reformation, and the doctrines that the 'refo...

If you liked The History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century , you'll be as excited as I was at finding out that there is a sequel, and a long sequel at that(8 Volumes). "The History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin". The sad thing is that Merle D'Aubigne didn't live long enough to finish it. But he did get a lot done. In this history, we'll return to France, Germany, Switzerland and visit some new places, including: England, Scotland, Italy, Spain and Geneva. What do you think of when you think of Geneva in connection with the Reformation? Calvin? The Geneva Bible? What about a fight for a Republic based on a constitution? That is where D'aubigne begins this work. Calvin isn't even at Geneva yet, nor has it been reformed. There is an evil bishop trying to gain control over the Republic, and there are disputes between the liberals and conservatives about giving up their liberties. If you find the History of the American ...

Who is Roger Sherman?   The name sounded vaguely familiar to me but didn't bring up any definite information in my head. I understood that he had something important to do with the founding of our nation.   W hat interested me in this book was that it appeared to be an argument against an exclusively secular interpretation of the founding documents.   "Historians are better than political scientists and law professors at recognizing that faith mattered to many Americans in the founding era, but even they have a tendency to treat America's founders as deists who embraced a rationalist approach to politics and who embraced secular documents such as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights…"   Hall points out that, when discussing the founders' views of the separation of Church and State, people normally look at a select group of the most famous founders.  He believes that this is not the best course of action as, "these men are not ...

What Bible did the Apostles use to teach and evangelize the Gentiles and Hellenized Jews who spoke Greek?   What did they use when they wrote their epistles?   Many of them(if not all) used a Greek translation of the Hebrew, commonly called The Septuagint.   In this book the author, Timothy Michael Law,   explains the Septuagint's possible origins and talks about the significant differences that are found between this translation and the text of Hebrew manuscripts that we can reference.    This part of the book was what I was most looking forward to, where he would deal with the Apostles quotations from this version against what our Hebrew text says.   One of the most significant examples is found in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10 verse 5, where the writer is proving the sufficiency and necessity of Christ's sacrifice by quoting a portion of Psalm 40:   " Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest no...