The Clifford Richardson Blog
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Contemplating Psalm 145
Great is the Lord What do we proclaim in this psalm? The bountiful and steadfast love of God. We speak this psalm because our cries for relief have gone unanswered. We stand by as our foes are lifted up and there is nothing we can do about it. There are those things we can’t fix,…
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Faith After Confirmation
The Deaconess of our church asked me to speak at the “Evening of Honor” gathering to encourage the confirmands of our church. This was on Saturday and Sunday morning they would be confirmed before the full congregation. What follows is what I decided to say to them. I’ve been asked, as an elder of this…
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Christ Alone (Solus Christus)
What does Christ alone mean, if Christ is not alone? Are the works of Christ sufficient for our salvation, or is there something else we must do?
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Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies +1
Fantasy, speculative, tech, or anti-tech stories taking place in space, the future, or some alternate reality. I like stories that stretch my imagination, but are grounded in some kind of reality. Warnings about the future and losing sight of our humanity. But what really piques my interest is a classic tale of good versus evil.
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Scripture Alone (Sola Scriptura)
There’s no reason then not to consider the words of Christ, or his Apostles, as the Word of God and by extension the authority for Christian belief and life. The question raised by “Scripture Alone”, is easily stated, but is perhaps overly reductive. Is Scripture the only authority for Christian life?
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Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)
Grace is often easier to define than faith. Although I have to admit, when I actually sat down to write this piece I had trouble making the distinction between grace and faith. Which makes it all the stranger we call it the “Five Solas” because it really feels like none of them are actually alone.
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The Speck and Log Judgment
Hearts don’t change because we tell them to change. There’s an old saying, “We judge others by their worst sins and ourselves by our best intentions.” The hypocrisy is blatant.
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How Do Hypocrites Pray?
Christians should never pray in public, said the devil.
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Faith Alone (Sola Fide)
Faith has always felt like an indefinable quality to me. How can I understand it, if I can’t even define it? In recent years, I’ve realized my understanding of faith was confused by a world that doesn’t want me to have faith. In the vernacular, it’s a lie of the devil to say faith is…
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The Five Solas: Introduction
For the longest time, I thought the Five Solas were officially documented somewhere in all the writings of the Reformers. Turns out, they’re not.