#presbyterian — Public Fediverse posts

M’Crie quotes an Inquisition victim who cried out to God, preferring cannibals to his baptized tormentors. M’Crie—a Reformed historian—neither flinches nor excuses it. The title says it all: the Reformation’s heirs were the primary targets, and they’re the ones who preserved the memory. If you’re Christian, don’t be a fiend. If you’re not, consider who kept this story alive, and why.

#reformed #reformedtheology #presbyterian #christian #inquisition

Robinson—English Presbyterian minister—observes that wealth confers a particular capacity poverty does not: to relieve prisoners, feed the hungry, ransom captives. He frames this as mercy from God, an opportunity rather than mere possession. One notes that considerable contemporary wealth appears directed at the opposite project: persuading the rest of us to feel less compassion for those being imprisoned or starved. Same resource. Rather different application.

#presbyterian #puritan #blessing

As a #liberal and as a former member of the #Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I am delighted and encouraged by the information in the article #Hymns That #Resist #Christian #Nationalism from the Presbyterian News Service. 😊 https://pcusa.org/news-storytelling/news/2026/5/26/hymns-resist-christian-nationalism

Hildersham—Puritan, expounding Psalm 51—identifies reluctance to give to the poor as a faith problem. If you genuinely believed God’s promises, giving would present no difficulty. Preachers regularly deploy “if you truly believed, you would” for tithing and attendance. Curiously rarely for the poor. Hildersham would have found that selective.

#puritan #values #faith #presbyterian #giving

Sibbes—Puritan, encouraging the backslider—offers a self-check for election. Colossians 3:12: put on bowels of mercy toward the fatherless and needy. That’s how you demonstrate you’re one of the elect. Modern conservative Christianity has developed different assurance criteria. Mercy toward the needy as evidence of election has been quietly retired. Sibbes didn’t get that memo.

#puritan #grace #presbyterian #empathy #compassion #salvation

John Gibson Paton, Presbyterian minister in Vanuatu, laments that sellers of rum, opium, and guns follow missionaries. He hopes local Christians would be able to resist. Spreading of guns here, he calls this the Demons’ work.

Even the most responsible PCA pastor I know recently said in a sermon that liberals were out to “destroy commerce”. Then libruls say the job statement of missionaries is to promote slavery.

How can you fight the Demons’ work?
#christian #missions #presbyterian #reformed

I saw a post recently asking if #Reformed pastors should start wearing clergy collars again. I did when doing campus ministry where most of the students (and faculty) were lapsed from backgrounds where the collar positively communicated “this is someone I can talk to about my struggles.” Recently, I put it on when a mostly #LCMS family requested it as a comfort for a funeral service.

I've avoided it in my more "native" #Presbyterian / #Reformed church settings, including my own. In the #PCA it carried the implication one was tied into far-right #FederalVision (#DougWilson and friends) and, ironically, when I would do pulpit supply in the #PCUSA — at least in St. Louis — it implied alignment with the farthest left segment.

In all contexts, I've hoped to apply 1 Cor. 9:19-22.

#Christianity