Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen was born in 1691 in West Friesland and died in New Jersey in 1747. He received ordination in the Dutch Reformed Church at the age of twenty-six and served for two years in his native land. At twenty-eight he was approached by Classis Amsterdam to see if he was willing to take a church in Rarethans (Raritan). Frelinghuysen accepted, assuming Rarethans was in the Netherlands, but the Classis meant the Raritan Valley in New Jersey. Convicted by Psalm 15:4–“God honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not”–Frelinghuysen took the charge, misunderstanding and all, and moved to the New World.

From the beginning of his ministry in the Mid-Atlantics to his death, Frelinghuysen was controversial. He preached emotional sermons, prayed free prayers, practiced church discipline, and aimed squarely at the conversion of sinners. His messages were experiential, fruitful, and popular. He could also be an irascible fellow.

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Reinhold Niebuhr writes in his Essay Optimism, Pessimism, and Religious Faith that "(All profound religion) seeks a center of meaning in life which is able to include the totality of existence." In the same essay in speaking about modern culture he says, "(Modern culture's) scientific discoveries made it impatient with the mythical errors of medieval religion. But it failed to realize that mythical descriptions of reality, though always inexact in describing detailed and historical fact, have the virtue of giving men a sense of depth in life."

I wonder in modern church culture if we don't sometimes, in trying to prove or argue the Bible as "true", fail to realize that the Bible though often inexact in describing detailed and historical fact, is more about meaning of the story and Truth rather than if the story was true.

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We’ve all seen the horrible images coming from Haiti of the unbelievable devastation caused by the January 12^th earthquake and more recently, with aftershocks.  The website I use to link to news described the destruction as having “biblical proportions”—and that was before Pat Robertson described the earthquakes as “divine judgement”. This made me wonder what Bible stories that editor had on his mind (Noah’s flood?, Pharaoh’s plagues?) and if there’s enough Biblical literacy today to even appreciate the reference or is it only the image of a “wrathful God” that sticks in most people’s minds.

This blog, however, tries to deal with a “missions perspective” on its subjects, so let me get to my real topic of discussion:  how should the Church help the people of Haiti AFTER relief efforts?

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“Mugged by Ultrasound: Why So Many Abortion Workers Have Turned Pro-Life”, by David Daleiden and Jon Shields, is a gut-wrenching, disturbing, graphic account of the emotional strain abortion wrecks on those who perform them.

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Christianity Today has just released its Top 10 Books for 2010 and two of the RCA's brightest and best tied in the Church/Pastoral Leadership category. Kevin DeYoung (pastor of University Reformed in East Lansing) and Ted Kluck (one of his members) co-authored a great book: "Why We Love The Church." The two had previously worked together on another noteworthy book, "Why We Are Not Emergent."

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Several people who frequent these blogs also read Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought.  The January issue of Perspectives is now up on the web at http://www.rca.org/Page.aspx?pid=3605

Regular readers of these blogs will recognize the authors of the two main essays in the January issue.  Kevin De Young and Paul Jansen both write on the Belhar Confession.  It isn't really a "debate," although Kevin writes why he does not support Belhar and Paul writes why he does.

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I wonder -- what, if anything, did our RCA congregations do to mark Martin Luther King's birthday?  I have a hunch that most of us do something with Mother's Day, and Memorial Day, and probably July 4.  (I've never heard of anyone doing anything with Columbus Day, but I suppose it might happen.)  What was done at your church?  If nothing was done, why do you think not?

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Being this is my first blog, I suppose I should introduce myself and to why I’m writing a blog.  My name is Tom Johnson.  My blog bio says that I’m an RCA missionary in Niger (since 2002) and if you compare the other bloggers’ bios, you’ll notice that I’m the only blogger listed as an "official" RCA missionary.  This fact explains how I became a Church Herald blogger:  I asked why there weren’t any missionaries represented among the bloggers and was told “no one in RCA missions that we asked was interested in writing a blog”.  Initially, I was hoping I could convince some other worthy candidates with mission ties to write the blog, but they all declined. After I reflected a bit, I decided I would agree to write a blog, because I think it is important to have an international mission perspective among the bloggers when discussing issues of the Christian faith and the RCA.

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"Dia de los tres reyes" is a big deal, so far as I know, in many, if not all, Hispanic Christian cultures.  Other than singing "We Three Kings", though, I don't remember it having a whole lot of significance for my faith as I grew.  I seem to remember preaching about the nascent universal appeal of Jesus (see? he's a light to the nations!) but that always seemed a bit of a stretch. 

(Not saying it IS a bit of a stretch -- I'm just saying it seemed TO ME to be a bit of a stretch -- can one think publicly without being construed as making universal statements?)

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This time of year we always hear about the ongoing controversy about how narrowly Christian is Christmas.  There is the great debate about Christmas greetings.  Merry Christmas?  Seasons Greetings?  Happy Holidays?  Honestly, I’m not too concerned, but two items just came to my attention that I pass on and invite your feedback.

First this brief saying, for which I can’t find a source.

We Christians get all bent out of shape over the fact that someone didn’t say “Merry Christmas” when we walked into the store.
But why are we expecting the store to tell our story? That’s just ridiculous!

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