Longer thoughts worked out on paper.
Essay
Drawing on Sinclair Ferguson, David argues that physical baptism is a seal because it is a naming ceremony: like a family name it cannot simply be undone, only accepted or denied, so believers should rejoice in it daily.
Essay
David argues that Jesus was not tempted as we are, since the involuntary first moment of temptation is already sin for us; with Bavinck, he holds that Christ's temptations came from without, and that he went through every human trial but the guilt of sin.
Essay
David argues that once a believer has decided to follow Jesus, doubt does no good: trust is the honour a child shows a parent, and doubting salvation is different from discerning right teaching.
Essay
David argues that guilt cannot fit in a mind set on pleasing God, that fatherhood gives a felt shadow of how the Father loves his children and accepts their efforts, and that believers should run to him like the prodigal.
Essay
Starting from Bavinck on the resurrection body and Paul's sown grain, David wonders whether we will keep the DNA God built us with, purified of every mutation, so that scars and defects gained in life are taken away.
Essay
David pictures creation as a flawless vase broken by an outside force, and argues that humanity, made in God's image with the ability to withstand any pressure or yield to it, was not made imperfect by being able to deviate.
Essay
David argues that gambling addiction is better understood as overwhelming sin, namely greed, pride and the love of worldly pleasure, than as an addiction, and that even casual gambling is a gateway to temptation that Christians should guard against.
Essay
David lists seventeen arguments for God's existence, beginning with the Forest Argument, that every answer to the question rests first on faith, and moving through the cosmological, moral, ontological and fine-tuning arguments to the argument from brokenness.
Essay
David argues that perfection is freedom from sin, that it belongs to intent rather than to objects, achievements or outward actions, and that real change comes from the disposition of the heart: searching it, praying for help and fixing our gaze on Christ.