A good Bonfire Night to all who will be remembering the events on 5th November 1605. Though a particularly British celebration, it is an important one particularly for those of us who stand in the reformed traditions. Even if you are not reformed, or even a Christian, the foiling of this particular plot were historically huge and had major implications for our society and culture, many of the rights and freedoms we currently enjoy would not be ours were it not for the plot failing.

Here are this week’s snippets from the web:

Dare to be a Daniel

‘A mere moralization of Old Testament stories is a deficient interpretive method. But as we seek to read the Old Testament as the New Testament authors do, we will see that they not only show how Old Testament stories anticipate Christ, they teach how these Old Testament stories build our faith and direct us in wisdom.’

What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit?

Fred Sanders offers a short and concise answer to this one.

Prone to dechurch, Lord I feel it

‘Most of today’s dechurching is the result of our wayward hearts, not church leader scandals. The human heart tends toward sin, and when we walk down a disobedient path, we’re inclined to rationalize our direction and decisions. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,” the old hymn goes. Most of us haven’t borne the brunt of church scandals, at least not personally, which means if we rely on these stories as the reason for our churchlessness, it’s likely we were searching for the slightest justification to do what we wanted in the first place.’

Should evangelicals pray with Roman Catholics?

Good and helpful piece by Leonardo De Chirico.

Train up a child

This one looks at why Proverbs 22:6 must be properly understood as a proverb, not a promise, and then makes some application.

Underrated people every church needs

I agree with Tim. There are a bunch of unsung jobs in the church that just need doing. Those who pick them up and quietly, but effectively, get on with them are worth their weight in gold and should be recognised.

From the archive: What is your theological Morrissey biography?

‘As she was rearranging the books, I heard a shout. ‘Can I throw out Morrissey’s biography?’ ‘Yes’ I called back. ‘Have you read it?’ she hollered back. As it happens, I have. ‘Yes,’ I said ‘but it wasn’t much cop.’ ‘That’s good,’ she shouted back. ‘Why?’ I wondered. ‘Well, it just doesn’t fit my system so I thought I might just throw it out.’ And there you have it – no room in the self-constructed system and so we’ll just ditch it because I can’t make it fit. Many of us approach our theology a bit like this.’