DISCIPLE

    The following excerpt of an excellent article by the Bobgans will help clarify the matter. Psychological Worldview or Biblical Worldview by Martin and Deidre Bobgan | Jul 1, 2018 | Contending for the Faith , Psychology's Influence on Church and Culture Worldview has been defined as “a person’s way of thinking about and understanding life, which depends on their beliefs and attitudes.” 1 A person’s worldview encompasses the most fundamental questions and beliefs about the universe, about the origins of life, about society, about religion, about the family, and about oneself. The worldview often includes basic reasons why life is the way it is, perhaps in contrast to how one wishes it to be. A person’s worldview expresses itself through one’s thoughts, words, attitudes, and actions. Psychological Worldview A psychological worldview encompasses how people think about themselves and others in terms of who they ar...

  Many today are concerned about maintaining the standards of the Reformation; others, those of the so-called Fathers; but the author of these papers is not concerned with standards such as these. It is not sufficient to get back to the Reformation, however blessed this movement was of God; still less to the teachings and practices of the successors of the Apostles. The latter invariably warned us of those who would succeed them, and commend us alone to God and the Word of His grace.     The author, then, knows no standard of authority but the Holy Scriptures. To argue from history and tradition would be to meet the enemy on his own platform, and to court defeat. But he is silenced when, in simplicity and faith, we meet him with the Word of God.     How important then, it is for us to go to the Fountain Head of truth and to search reverently and weigh solemnly the Scriptures to which the author has appealed in support of his statements, statements whic...

Will the Old Book stand, when the “higher critics” state That grave errors are discovered on its page? Will it save the sinful soul? Will it make the wounded whole? Will its glorious truth abide from age to age? Will its message still abide, when the scientists decide That its record of Creation is untrue? Tell us the ascent of man is by evolution’s plan, Will its principles the sinful heart renew? When in language wondrous fair, “Christian Scientists” declareThat there is no evil, only mortal mind. When mental treatment fails, and seeming death prevails, May we in the Bible consolation find? When infidels parade the mistakes which Moses made, When the truth of Revelation they deny, Will the Ten Commandments still the demands of justice fill? Will its support us when we come to die? Yes, the Word of God shall stand, though assailed on every hand, its foundations are eternally secure; It will bear the critic’s test, and the idle scoffers jest, Its saving truth forever shall endure....

"The Bible is right. It is the critics who are wrong. It is the work of the critics, and not the Word of God, of which it can with truth be said 'much has gone' and 'more may go.' We stand today where our fathers stood; their faith is our faith, their Bible is our Bible, and their God is our God. We live today in the faith in which our fathers lived, the faith in which our fathers died, the faith by which they found their way to God; and this faith is generated in us by the testimony of the Spirit through the reading of the Word. We affirm, with no less honesty and candour, with no less reason and understanding of the points at issue, and with no less devotion to the supremacy of the claims of truth than those who hold the contrary opinion, that Adam and Noah, Joseph and Johan, David and Daniel are not myths but men, and that an unprejudiced, scholarly estimate of all the evidence available for the solution of the doubts that the critics have raised in relatio...

by R. E. Harlow It is commonly believed that the Arab peoples are descendants of Ishmael, about whom Abraham prayed, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee."   If so, it is a monumental example of the far-reaching consequences of one little slip on the part of a believer, in this case the father of the faithful.     Not all Arabs are devotees of the prophet Muhammad, but the vast majority are, and enthusiastically so. They are taught that their prophet is the answer to the promise of the Lord Jesus to send another Comforter. The word another (Gr. allos ) implies one like Jesus, but dissimilarities between Muhammad and Jesus are enormous.     Neither the Koran nor any other book contains multiple prophecies about the coming of Muhammad, while the Old Testament foretells minute details about Christ. Muhammad supposedly had a great revelation and found out that he was supposed to be a prophet.  The Lord Jesus knew He was the eternal Son of ...

"Let not anyone rise to repeat the old wheeze, "Oh, you can prove anything by the Bible!" To say such a thing is to be guilty of the most arrant nonsense.  It is the equivalent of saying that you can prove anything by the dictionary.  Well you can prove anything by the dictionary if you violate the principles of the dictionary.  Let me take Webster and turn to the second letter of the alphabet.  There I find b-l-a-c-k, "black."  I repeat the process on the word "is" and again on the word w-h-i-t-e, "white."  Then I put them together: Black is white.  I have the authority of the dictionary; I found it there.  But you cry out that I have outrageously violated the method and the principles that underly dictionaries.  They are to be used only within the limits of their purpose; it is not permissible to make a mockery of the dictionary by distorting its usage and violating its principles.  So it is with the Word of God.  It is not p...

The Sacred Hour   O tell me not of worldly lore And treasures of the earth! To him who draws from Heaven’s store They can be little worth. I sail a sea of Love divine, Unfathomed and unbound; I search a deep and wealthy mine Where gems of Heaven are found. The Spirit’s breezes gently blow That I may sail this sea; His is the light to search and show God’s deep, deep things to me. O Book of wondrous depths and heights, Of wisdom ever new, Which in ten thousand various lights Brings Jesus into view; Whatever truths in thee I trace New aspects meet mine eye, And of His glory and His grace Page unto page doth cry! Of Science and Philosophy I’ve heard the spreading fame; They’re broad and deep, and urged, they say, By many a pressing claim. ‘Tis said Philosophy hath charms Which prove celestial birth; That Science, with distended arms, Grasps heaven in grasping earth. I know not; neither have I tried Their claims to disallow; ...

  Divine Authority or Human Opinion?   by William MacDonald     When a public figure was lecturing on the need to restore values to our culture, a college student asked him, “On what do you build your values?” The speaker was flustered. He looked down and said, “I don't know.”  That's just the trouble. He had no authority. Modern man desperately needs what this man lacked—a firm foundation on which to base his judgments. He needs an infallible standard to guide him in all matters of faith and morals.     God has provided such an infallible authority in His Word, the Bible. This wonderful book provides the basis for sound judgments and wise decisions. The Bible is absolute truth. Jesus said, “Thy Word is truth.” There is no risk in following its teachings, no fear it will change from day to day.     The alternative to divine authority is human opinion. “The Bible says ... is replaced by, “I think ...” Fact gives way t...

The Word of God gives light on every step of our way and in every department of our lives. We do not need to say, “I think,” when God has given us His thoughts in His Word. Happy is the child of God who can say with David, “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!” (Psalm 139:17).     God gives us clear guidance in all areas of our lives. In family affairs, the various responsibilities and privileges of husbands, wives, parents, children, masters and servants, are described in Scripture (Ephesians 5:22-6:9; Deuteronomy 6:5-7). A cause of disorders and troubles in many families and in the workplace is the neglect of these plain instructions. God expects our obedience in these everyday things, and even in the way in which we dress, modestly, not ostentatiously (see 1 Peter 3:2-5 and 1 Timothy 2:9-10).     The Word of God also tells us plainly how we should conduct ourselves in relation to others in our social and secular lives. Our duties to ...

The Word of God For Our Salvation     A man and his wife were sitting one night reading the Bible. Suddenly looking up, he said, “If this book is true, we are lost”. He resumed his reading. Before he had gone far he looked up again and exclaimed, “If this book is true, we may be saved!” Then a little later he said in a loud voice, “If this book is true, I am saved!”     Without the Bible we would never have known that we were lost sinners in God’s sight, or that God loved us so much that He gave His Son to die for us. We know this only because God’s Word has said it (Romans 5:8). Who would dare to say his soul was saved, his sins were forgiven, and that he was going to heaven, if God hand not said so in His Word?     But He has, and we believe it, simply because He said it. Surely that is enough. We do not need men’s opinions. God has spoken to us and we believe Him. We are “born again...by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ev...