Help Me Help A Brother

From my email:

Do you know of some old hymns that speak directly to penal substitution? I saw one on your blog but do you know of others?

That Christ’s death was penal substitution means that “his death bore the just penalty of God for our sins as a substitute for us.” (Definition taken from the glossary of Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.)

The hymn refered to that I posted was Hallelujah! What a Savior, which says, “in my place condemned he stood.”  Can you think of other hymns with phrases like this, hymns that clearly teach that Christ’s death was penal substitution?

Upcoming

If all goes as planned, on March 13th Charles Colson will be appearing here on the blog, answering one question I submit to him about his new book, The Faith. He’ll be doing what has now become known as the Tim Challies-style book blog tour.

My question needs to be submitted by the 3rd of March, but the book hasn’t arrived in the mail yet. So when (and if) it shows up, I’ll be busy reading for a few days to try to make the deadline for the question. I am also supposed to be reviewing the book here on the blog sometime before the day of the posted interview question and answer, so I have that deadline on my agenda, too.

I am old enough to remember Colson for Watergate, and since I moved to the north of Canada shortly after all that, that’s about all I know him for. Up until the time I started blogging, I was, like many other Canadian believers, ignorant of most of the happenings in American evangelicalism, which isn’t such a bad thing, you know.

When it comes to asking Chuck Colson a question about his latest book, that he’s been flying under my radar is probably not a bad thing. It means the question I ask  him will have to be based on the book itself and nothing else, and when I judge the book in my review, I won’t have to work very hard to be unbiased. And if the book really is about what the subtitle claims—What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters—then I won’t come into it ignorant of the subject matter. It’s all good, isn’t it? As long as the book arrives, that is.

Here is the schedule for the blog tour for The Faith. Why this blog was included in that list of famous blogs, I can’t say.

I will also be giving my testimony in church on the 9th of March. I am not the sort who can fly by the seat of her pants when it comes to speaking in public, so I’ll be preparing for that, too. By that, I mean I’ll be writing down, word for word, what I plan to say.

If I disappear for a day or two here and there over the next couple of weeks, you know why: I’m reading or writing something other than blog posts.

I've Changed

my side bar photo once again, but this one I promise to keep for a while. In this one you can really see the t-shirt from Reflections Apparel and Gifts, where Carla says she has “the LARGEST selection of reformed/ Calvinistic/ sovereign grace themed t-shirts and gifts of any online (or offline) retailer (that we know of, anyway).”

So if you are looking for a t-shirt, a mug, a tote bag, a poster, a Bible verse calendar, some greeting/note cards, a framed print, a button or something for baby, check Carla’s store first, where you’ll find all that and much more.

Carla, by the way, blogs here.