The culture war between Christianity and secularism represents a ‘collision’ between competing cosmologies.
The study of biblical worldview encompasses a host of subjects from the origin of the universe to the meaning of man. A key question in the study of worldview is, “Is the universe open or closed?” Our secular schools are increasingly teaching the latter—that the universe is closed. A ‘closed’ universe is self-originating; self-contained; self-sustaining; and self-interpreting. By contrast, biblical theism teaches us that we live in an ‘open’ universe. God is its Author, Upholder, Ruler, Definer, and Interpreter. Yet, He is not part of the creation—He is not bound by the time-space-mass continuum we call our universe.
Well, it is easy to see that these two cosmologies are absolutely antithetical. There is no middle ground between them. Both claim to explain reality. That means there is an immense ‘train wreck’ occurring in our Western world—a deafening collision between these two worldviews. This morning we are going to look at the contribution of the Psalms to life view against the backdrop of erroneous worldview.
Biblical cosmology is that branch of philosophy which deals with the origin and structure of the universe. At the heart of biblical cosmology is the Creator-creature distinction. Biblical cosmology includes the creation of male and female as the image of God (with the sub-themes of the dominion mandate; and biblical anthropology).
Central to biblical cosmology is that God is Creator and ‘Definer’ of what He has made. As Creator He gives designations, definitions, categories and relations of what He has made.[i] God’s defining role over His creation has established the creation structures of male and female and marriage and family. These creation structures are foundational and ontologically real—they are at the core of your being (which is why social contract theory, sexual perversion, and abortion constitute a radical overturning of biblical cosmology).[ii]
The absolute truth of cosmology is essential in interpreting the universe. God’s relation to the creation is the ordering principle of the universe and of reality. Because God is the sustainer and definer of all that He has made; there is no such thing as a reality greater than God—or a reality in which God is but a component (note this error in deism and pantheism).
Thus, biblical cosmology is the sole vantage point ‘high enough’ to provide the foundation for a unified cohesive worldview (the alternate is pluralism, diversity, and hopelessly fragmented knowledge). Cosmology alone provides a wide angle lens broad enough to see man’s place in the universe. Biblical cosmology is a totally unified ordering principle—without it, worldview has no foundation. (Reason without divine revelation ultimately leads to intellectual suicide.)
Consequently biblical cosmology is the foundation of the gospel—for the gospel only makes sense in a world in which our omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God is Creator, Owner, Upholder, Lawmaker, Ruler, Redeemer, and Judge. The gospel has no point of contact in a world in which pagan cosmology has replaced biblical cosmology. This is why there is an increasingly desperate need to define categories as God does—that He is Ruler, Sustainer, Owner of His creation—and that the designations and definitions He has made concerning His creation are absolutely essential for accurately interpreting reality.
God has authoritatively set forth His ‘blueprint’ for His creation. His blueprint, found in His Word, is not only our moral map; but also our ‘metaphysic.’ In other words, God’s relation to what He has made is our fixed point of reference which provides our understanding of the nature of reality (Ps 96). Only by what God has said in His infallible Word do we know what is true, real, right and wrong.[iv] We are utterly dependent upon God’s revelation in order to accurately interpret ourselves and our existence.[v]
Like an immense wrecking ball, secular humanism has been moving through society for the better part of a century. It has left destruction in its wake. The ‘wrecking ball’ of naturalism has systematically broken down the boundaries set by God. (Note that humanistic cosmologies seek to destroy the distinction between God and man; man and animal; man and woman; and right and wrong.) Philosophic naturalism has so thoroughly permeated our culture—it has for all intents and purposes become our national worldview.
Students imbued with Darwinism find themselves ‘metaphysically lost’ in a materialistic/chance universe without a fixed point of reference (75% of American college students are looking for the meaning of life).
The secularists have used the above philosophy of materialism to target the divine ‘blueprint’ given by God by which His creatures are to interpret the world, and order their lives and society. Naturalism has been ‘shredding’ the divine blueprint. Secularism views man as a biological machine and not the image of God.
Secular humanism’s wrecking ball has redefined creation as a mass of raw material awaiting our efforts to shape it. The secularists think of the creation as matter, motion, and impersonal forces with no rational purpose—as if we import all rationality and superimpose it on creation (consider the folly of assuming that mankind has no personal origin—but then demanding that life be based upon rationality, purpose, and significance in a meaningless and irrational universe).
But, go the Psalms and (all of biblical wisdom literature) you’ll see the attitude that creation has an order about it that we are to attend to. God has filled the creation with ‘sermons’ about His power, wisdom, and goodness (note the content of Solomon’s surpassing wisdom—according to 1 Kings 4:33, it was not only proverbs which characterized his wisdom but an advanced understanding of fauna and flora. Solomon diligently studied the creation. He was the greatest naturalist of his time. He spoke of the cedar, the hyssop, and the fishes of the sea).[vi]
With the rise of modern science there was a fascination with quantities—with measuring things. Accompanying philosophies suggested that all reality may be reduced to a kind of mathematical formula. Concreteness, empiricism, and precision became the most valued attributes of knowledge. In other words, people began to think that the scientific method was the only really valid way to understand the world around us—“real knowledge” was scientific. “Real knowledge” was empirically verifiable, measurable, and quantifiable.[vii]
Says author, Ken Myers, church leaders, in an effort to remain relevant, and worried about losing their market share, began to reframe traditional Christian teaching in terms that fit the times. The church pushed its message through the grid of science. In essence, “[t]he belief became common that only science could make the world intelligible. . .”[viii] (Ken Myers, Contextualization).
Modern science had been originally ‘birthed’ by biblical worldview; but now the ‘child’ was turning on the parent. Modern science’s attempt at patricide was actually an act of suicide—to erode all confidence in the Bible, the foundation of Western civilization, is in reality a choice for the loss of civilization.[ix] (We’re going to consider the effect that this expanding philosophy of scientism has had upon biblical cosmology.)
In the minds of most, God as personal, transcendent, involved with creation was eclipsed and demoted.[x] God’s direct involvement in the lives of His creatures was increasingly ruled out. God was no longer linked to all the details of reality. God had been marginalized—retired to a private or sub-cultural role (God had been eradicated as a shared basis of thought and experience). The bulk of modern thought simply dispensed with God. In contemporary culture God has been marginalized as a figure doing nothing of real significance.
Though evangelicals stressed personal faith and piety, evangelicals also began to bifurcate God’s role—they saw Him as active in redemption; but allowed science to define the creation. And we all accept this as benign as long as we have Jesus in our hearts. But the fallout is deadly serious.[xi]
When one allows the Bible to describe salvation and science to comprehensively describe the creation; it produces a tear, or rend, in our thinking. The reason why is the salvation-science dichotomy pictures God as having two radically different faces—the side of God that dealt with creation was far less personal than the side of God that dealt with salvation. As a consequence, the Jesus of salvation became very other worldly and sentimental.
Peter Jones notes how this dualism has affected the witness of Christians on college campuses, “Believing students on university campuses are able offer Jesus as ‘friend’ but have no clue how to proclaim Him as Lord of the cosmos.”[xii] This prevalent dualism welcomes Jesus as ‘mascot’ but cannot conceive of Him, or proclaim Him, as majestic Lord of the universe. This is precisely the dilemma our Christian students face today on the secular university campus. The loss of biblical cosmology forces them to live with an immense ‘disconnect’ between faith and life.
Modern culture has encouraged and deepened this dualism. The yawning chasm which has divided creation from redemption has separated the physical from the spiritual in the minds of many believers. Through popular culture our youth are bombarded with this dualism. The wonder of creation as the revelation of God’s majesty has been erased, and with it God’s rule and reign. Reality is nothing more than what you make it. The creation is but raw material by which one may construct the self.
Peter Jones warns that popular culture is relentless in its attack on biblical cosmology. The over-arching ‘sacred canopy of biblical worldview’ which hangs over the entire human race is being swept away. Culture once held together by shared religious notions is slowly disintegrating and, at the same time, opening itself up to pagan ideas about spirituality. Americans are embracing the idea that one can be ‘spiritual’ without believing in the God of the Bible. Non-theistic spiritualities are ‘all the rage.’[xiii]
The electronic media is dead set on having us forget our Christian worldview. Nearly every television program operates with an agenda of displacing Christian worldview.[xiv]
The net effect of the above is a palpable separation of our everyday life from our spiritual life.[xv] Spiritual truths are regarded as only abstract expressions of our inner life. They are divorced from objective reality.
According to the contemporary view, all cultural institutions are just merely social constructions which exist for human needs and desires; but do not, and are not, sustained by any kind of ‘given-ness’ in the created order.[xvi]
Redemption tends to be viewed as a private, subjective, personal, preference without an objective basis. Redemption exists in the mind and the heart—as if concrete reality is the physical universe and salvation belongs to the subjective (salvation is less real than the physical universe).
How does this dualism manifest itself in evangelicalism? Evangelicalism’s accommodation to the modern, or dualistic view, has pushed redemption further into the ‘upper story.’ Christians are living in a state of détente with the open ‘gash’ of dualism. Consequently the majority of professing Christians have lost the cosmological foundation for redemption. The resultant attitude in much of evangelicalism could be stated as follows: “Facts in the created realm shouldn’t get in the way of bringing people to Jesus.”
Christian students often live with an immense ‘disconnect’ between their professed beliefs and their life experiences. Nancy Pearcey shares the following account: “At a Christian high school, a theology teacher . . . drew a heart on one side of the blackboard and a brain on the other. The two are as divided as the two sides of the blackboard, he told the class: the heart is what we use for religion, while the brain is what we use for science.”[xvii]
This dualism leaves knowledge utterly fragmented—spirituality is partitioned off from the remainder of life. Says Pearcey, the secular/sacred dichotomy tends to restrict Christianity to the realm of religious truth—this creates double minds and fragmented lives.[xviii]
There are critical dangers associated with the loss and rejection of biblical cosmology. To set aside biblical cosmology is to turn to a pseudo-integration point which tends to further mangle the unity which is the image of God. Central to cosmology is the truth of mankind created in the image of God—this truth gives us our meaning, purpose, dignity, ‘job description,’ and destiny. Thus to reject the truth of mankind created in the image of God, is to commit intellectual idolatry in one’s attempt to unify knowledge and provide meaning (Rom 1:21-23).
How do the Psalms refute these destructive cultural thought forms?
When we study the Psalms we find a perfect co-mingling of the physical created order and the moral order in the universe (Ps 19). The Psalms are given to us to sink our foundations deep into the truth of God’s relation to the world. These truths are meant to control our understanding of reality. God is active in our lives; He is active in nature; He is active in history.
Throughout the Psalms are the twin themes of creation and moral order. There is no dualism—they operate in tandem. Creation has order to it that is maintained by God (Ps 96). God is the ruler over what He has made. This is the polar opposite of the deist picture of a prime mover who is detached and who allows mankind to invent its own morality (as if moral order can be divorced from Gods creation structures).[xix]
The Psalms assert that the fixity of creation is simultaneously physical and moral. Rather than depicting the creation as awaiting our exploitation; the Psalms describes the whole creation as the worshipping chorus of God.
Not only does the creation praise God for His power, wisdom, goodness, and handiwork, the creation praises God for His justice. The Psalms proclaim God as establisher of an unbreakable continuity between the physical world and moral order—the world is pictured as delighting in His righteousness (Ps 50:6; 72:3).[xx]
This inseparable coherence between the physical order of creation and the moral order of creation is behind Paul’s declaration in Romans one. The creation gives ample evidence concerning God’s character and moral expectations. Those who disobey are without excuse. Because there is an unbreakable coherence between the structure of the world and the moral order of human life; men have no alibi for rejecting the glory of God and the duty of man—both of which are evident in creation.[xxi] (According to Romans 1-2, every person knows that God is their transcendent Creator; He is righteous and good; and He will judge them someday.)
The loss of cosmology makes folks forget that they are living in Yahweh’s world. This is Yahweh’s world. He created it; He owns it; He rules it by His goodness and for His own good pleasure. The world operates in a particular way because it is God’s world and He rules it and guides it. God delights in the exhibition of His glory—this is the chief end for which all things exist, including knowledge. The aim of all creation is that God’s glory and excellent perfections should be known, esteemed, loved, and delighted in by His creatures (Jonathan Edwards).[xxii]
There is no wisdom and no understanding and no counsel against the Lord (Prov 21:30). It is impossible that God’s ‘glory purpose’ for His creation should be frustrated by human and demonic rebellion. When sinners create an illusory world in their imaginations—it does not produce new reality. Their experience is always testifying to the fact that this is God’s world. They find themselves ‘bumping up’ against God’s creation structures everywhere they look (beauty, majesty, conscience, law, justice, etc.).
God’s precepts keep us from self-destruction. Yahweh’s commandments are the safeguard of love to God and neighbor. Wise travelers don’t fret at the guardrails along the highway—they are grateful for the protection they afford from the cliffs below.[xxiii]
To fear and reverence God is to hate sin and turn from it. The proportion of our fear of God is revealed in our level of our hatred of sin (Ps 119:9-11; 53, 38, 45). The Psalms tell us that the Word of God that produces fear of God. Wise is the man who immerses himself in Holy Scripture. Because this universe is Yahweh’s creation, there is a common ethical system for all humans. Moral and physical order permeates every part of the universe. Therefore the ridiculous advertisement that one may take a ‘moral holiday’ in Las Vegas is patently absurd (Ps 97:6).[xxiv]
To live wisely in Yahweh’s world is to live according to His justice; and not by fleshly desires, and amoral pragmatism (situation ethics). A life of wisdom is a life of conformity to God’s norm of righteousness—His law (Ps 94:12).[xxv] Obedience is to be universal—a whole life response to Yahweh. We are to please Him in all areas of life by respecting the divine order He has constructed in the world. Without this there will be moral failure and failure to please God (Ps 86:11-12).[xxvi]
God’s Word was given to us to allow us to recall during times of temptation the boundaries God has set. To be conversant with these boundaries helps the man who fears God to do what is right and what pleases God in times of temptation (Ps 25:12-15; 101:3).[xxvii]
When we embrace God’s blueprint and standard it is not simply an attempt to master a moral code—it is submission to God’s holiness; His loving purposes for us. It is submission to God Himself who is our Source of life. For God’s commands constitute His character in code. Knowledge of God’s holiness and obedience to His precepts are bound up together (Ps 119:18, 38, 66).
The fool insists on directing his own life. He demands autonomy at all cost; even if it results in his eventual destruction. The fool makes personal undefined freedom his chief value. By these rebellious choices his folly is evident; for he opposes his own welfare; he hurdles toward destruction as a result (Ps. 10:3-15; 50:16-22; 107:17).
The wise man seeks what is best in Yahweh’s ordered creation by revering Yahweh; thus the wise man has skill in living within the world. By contrast, mockers disdain wisdom, they tear down with scoffing and sell themselves to pleasure-seeking (Ps 37:8-22).[xxviii]
Wisdom is moral maturity. Wisdom is living life in Yahweh’s world as He intends that it be lived. Wisdom results in stability without fear of harm or misfortune (Ps 4:4-8).[xxix] The highest goal of wisdom is the knowledge of God (Prov 3:32). To fear Yahweh is to receive and live by His knowledge and wisdom. God’s purpose; His design in the world is to make us like Him in holiness.[xxx]
It is impossible to make a fool out of God (Ps 92:6-9; Gal 6:7). The sowing and reaping principle is built into the very fabric of the universe. Moral cause and effect is ineffable. The wheels of God’s justice grind slowly but they grind exceedingly small. God’s justice is more comprehensive than a sinner can possibly imagine; it extends to the thoughts, intents, and secrets of the heart (Ps 73:18-20; 91:8; Heb 4:12; Rom 2:16).
In a moral universe sin is irrational. This is Yahweh’s world; that’s why secret sin is ‘a lie lived out’—there are no compartments in our lives that are not in Yahweh’s world (Ps 26:2; 90:8;139:7-23).
In Psalm 17 David prayed that God would protect him from men who lived the lie that reality exists apart from Yahweh’s world. Arise O Lord, confront him, bring him low; deliver my soul from the wicked with Thy sword, from men with Thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life; and whose belly Thou dost fill with Thy treasure; they are satisfied with children, and leave their abundance to their babes (Ps 17:13, 14).
The world says that there are a host of paths and ways to follow. God’s Word says that in Yahweh’s world, there are but two ways to live—only two paths—only two destinies (Ps 1). The human soul was created to worship and adore. Every person was designed to be an enthusiastic spectator of excellence. In our souls we are always worshipping, drinking, eating, sowing, and building—if not worshipping God, then idols; if not drinking from the water of life, then from stagnant cisterns; if not feeding upon the Bread of life, then eating bogus bread; if not sowing righteousness, then thorns; if not building upon the Rock, then upon sand. We cannot escape the principle of transformation—we will be transformed into the likeness of what we worship (Ps 115:8).
All of our soul’s activity amounts to sowing; we are moving toward an inevitable harvest. It’s a comforting or disturbing thought that a harvest is coming that is far greater in magnitude than what we have sown. Will it be fruit; delicious, nourishing, beautiful, fragrant, and glorifying to God? Or, will it be thorns; ugly, cursed, painful, and useless? The wise man loves and reveres God; therefore he lives sensibly and righteously in Yahweh’s world. At this very moment the character of every living individual is being formed and confirmed—eternal destinies are being fixed and set (Ps 58:11; 109:20).
In addition to cosmology, what other themes crucial to biblical worldview are taught in the book of Psalms?
The Creator-creature distinction – In secular humanist, postmodern, and pagan circles, this foundational doctrine is under attack today. God’s ownership of us and claims upon us flow from the Creator-creature distinction. Biblical theism is anchored in the Creator-creature distinction (Ps 39; 50; 92; 100; 146).
The fiat creation of the universe – “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made” (Ps 33:6). God spoke the universe into existence. Henry Morris states that these verses in Psalm 33 are the strongest affirmation of fiat creation in the Bible. It was not just by the Lord, but by the word of the Lord that the heavens were made.[xxxi]
The conflict of the ages—between truth and error; sin and righteousness; godly and ungodly; chosen nation and heathen; God and Satan – This present world is filled with groaning, temptations, oppression, conflict, and suffering. The righteous are ever aware that God is their only refuge and that God will assuredly bring to pass His final victory and purposes (Ps 17; 31; 150).[xxxii]
The linear nature of human history – Increasingly the philosophies of this age are embracing a philosophy of history that is cyclical, “the circle of life” as the song goes in the movie Lion King. But God’s Word is clear. All history is moving toward a predetermined end in which God will judge the world in righteousness (Ps 37; 40; 58; 98). History is the record of the honoring and the dishonoring of God and the consequence of each in time and eternity. Every person cannot escape the fact that he or she will be an object lesson for ever (Ps 50:16-22; 119:119; 149:4).
Man was made for God. Man was created to be a worshipper. God is our only true home – Man is always looking for that which is worthy of his praise—the reason why is because God created man to be an enthusiastic spectator of excellence. We cannot stop worshipping—it will either be God Almighty or idols that we worship (Ps 135:14-18).
Regarding God as our home, Tom Wells notes, “A pilgrim feels strange in a foreign land . . . he finds his mind repeatedly returning to home.” Many of the Psalms emphasize the theme that God alone is our true home. “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations” (Ps 90:1). “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God” (Ps 42:1-2)?[xxxiii]
What is the creation? The creation is a theatre for the glory of God (Ps 19); the ‘stage’ for God’s works – God’s awesome works in creation, redemption, and providence reveal the excellence of the Creator and move the redeemed to praise (Ps 33; 95; 96; 98). God’s works are diligently studied by believers because the works allow us to ‘see’ and tell of God’s perfections (Ps 66; 67; 105; 145). It is a sin to forget God’s works (Ps 106). We study God’s works to know God, to worship God, to be wise, and to fear God (Ps 111). Creation, God’s ‘general revelation,’ is joined to the written Word, God’s special revelation (Ps 19). How a person treats general revelation determines how they will treat special revelation.
What is redemption? It is the condescension of the Creator of the universe – Salvation is due to the infinite condescension of the Creator in His incarnation (Ps 40) and His crucifixion (Ps 22; 69). The Son of God is Mediatorial King, installed by God (Ps 2)—He reigns over and represents His people (Ps 110). Says Chantry, “Psalm 110 exudes tranquility; . . . the writer of the psalm is confident that Messiah reigns. . . [M]ay we too become composed and placid [and patient with the events of our lives as we study] what Martin Luther called ‘the crown of all the psalms.’”[xxxiv] God shows His redeeming love by bringing His righteousness near and forgiving those who trust in Him (Ps 32; 51; 65; 130).
God has annexed the honor of His Name to the veracity of His Word (Ps 119:89; 138:2). His Word is so important—our very faculties were created to receive His revelation (Ps 119) – God’s Word must be the constant occupation of our attention. The psalmist saw his need to be constantly animated by God’s Word lest he stray, displease, rebel, and distrust (Ps 119:11, 105, 118-119). The believer is eager to have his life constantly conformed to God’s will. Therefore he studies God’s Word that he might be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Ongoing repentance means that our lives are always being ‘aligned’ to God’s Word so that we love His truth and have our affections continually conformed to His truth (Ps 101; 111; 115). Since God’s reputation is joined to His Word, our response must be unconditional trust in Him (Ps 33-34).
God is our Sovereign King; He is to be feared – The Psalms convey a supreme vision of God clothed in majesty, reigning, splendor, awesome in holiness.[xxxv] Says John Piper, “People are starving for the greatness of God. But most of them would not give this diagnosis of their troubled lives. The majesty of God is the unknown cure. Show me thy glory!”[xxxvi] God is constantly active in His involvement with the creation. He rules over the nations—He appoints their time in history as well as their destruction. No one can thwart His sovereign decree. He creates, controls, judges, wars, blesses (Ps 47:2-3, 7-9; 98:2-9).[xxxvii] God does whatever He pleases in the entire universe (Ps 135).
The Genesis Flood is the single greatest force to shape the earth since creation week – The deluge was a judgment for man’s sin. Because man is the ‘crown of creation’ and the steward of creation (Ps 8); in the flood the creation suffered for man’s rebellion. Noah’s flood radically altered the surface features of planet earth—mountains and oceans rose and sunk according to Psalm 104:5-9. God sat as “King” at the flood (Ps 29:10).
The Psalms are ‘real to life;’ they speak to every joy and trial – Says Lawson, in the Psalms we find the godly man dealing with the heart-rending crunch of life. He is chased by enemies, he faces death, and he struggles with depression. Psalms speaks to every season of life—they are utterly realistic about suffering.[xxxviii] As Calvin said in his commentary on the Psalms, “[It is] an anatomy of all parts of the soul.” Psalms takes the attributes of God out of the realm of abstraction and into a glorious interface with the believer (Ps 146). The believer in covenant with God discovers that God has “harnessed” His own attributes for the welfare of His redeemed child. God’s dealings with His people are seen in concrete ways such as forgiveness, protection, guidance, provision, refuge, and hope (Ps 78; 103; 147).
The Psalms open up the subjects of the resurrection and the coming Kingdom of God – A day is coming when all of creation will be unified in the praise of God—including the inanimate creation (Ps 147; 148). Rivers will ‘clap their hands’ (Ps 98). Trees will ‘sing’ (Ps 96:12-13). God’s coming Kingdom will be involve a celebration of eternal victory and a restored creation that worships God from one end of the galaxies to the other (Ps 150).
Regarding the resurrection, Psalm 16 stresses that bodily resurrection is the future hope of the redeemed all because of Messiah’s resurrection. Says Henry Morris, we are justified in using Psalm 16 to support the resurrection. The apostles used this Psalm as the keystone of their preaching that the Scriptures foretold Christ’s resurrection (Acts 4:33; 113:5-37).[xxxix]
Endnotes:
[i] Dave Doveton, “Paganism in the Church” (Escondido, CA: Christian Witness to a Pagan Planet, think-tank, 2007).
[ii] Jay Wegter, “Worldview, Apologetics, and Evangelism, BCW363A” (Newhall: The Master’s College, 2007).
Jay Wegter, “Worldview.”
[v] Vishal Mangalwadi, “From Development to Deconstruction” lecture from Book of the Millennium, 2004.
Ken Myers, “The Problem of Contextualization in a Decadent Culture,” Gheen’s Lectures, Southern Baptist
Seminary.
James C. Turner, Without God, Without Creed: The Origins of Unbelief in America (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins
University Press, 1985) in Ken Myers, “The Problem of Contextualization in a Decadent Culture.”
Peter Jones, “Framing the Issues; Finding our Voices” (Escondido, CA: Christian Witness to a Pagan Planet,
think-tank, 2007).
Joel Belz, “Spirits of the Age” (World Magazine: February, 9, 2008) 1.
Peter Jones, “Who Stole our Sacred Canopy?” Christian Witness to a Pagan Planet, (www.cwipp.org, newscwipp
# 42, ).
Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004) 19.
[xxii] Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, (Banner of Truth, 1974) 1:104.
Randy Alcorn, The Purity Principle, (Multnomah Publishers, 2003), pp. 28, 29
Daniel J. Estes, Hear My Son, Teaching and Learning in Proverbs 1-9, (Eerdmans, 1997), pp. 22-26
Steve Gallagher, At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry, (Pure Life Ministries, 1986), pp. 257, 258
[xxx] Ibid., pp. 84, 98
Henry Morris, Sampling the Psalms (El Cajon, CA: Master Books, 1978) 49-50.
[xxxii] Ibid, pp. 11-12.
Tom Wells, Come Home Forever (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 1992) 57.
[xxxiv] Walter Chantry, Praises for the King of Kings (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1991) 49.
Steven Lawson, “Expository Preaching of the Psalms” (2004 Winterim, The Master’s Seminary) Lesson one, pp.
1, 7
[xxxvi] John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1990) 9, in Lawson, 7.
[xxxvii] Lawson, lesson one, p.17; lesson. two, p. 62.
[xxxviii] Ibid, lesson one, p. 22.
[xxxix] Morris, p. 119.