Not a Blog about Yard Work

If you are reading this it means that my 30th birthday has passed (04.13.2020). As with any milestone we tend to reflect on what has occurred thus far. For several months leading up to my 30th birthday I had been examining my 20’s: the good, the bad, and the ugly. My great take away was that I wish I had found the answers to certain questions which I had at the time, but also that I would have been asking the right questions, namely about my faith.

My hope for this blog is to:

• A. explore the questions I had about my faith while in my twenties,
• B. and questions I wish someone would have asked me, and
• C. the questions I continue to wrestle with.

Let me start by explaining the name of this blog: The Reforming Raker. I am not a raker by vocation or occupation…infact I hate raking leaves every Fall (but I love the autumn…absolute favorite season). Anyway, Raker is my middle name, and now writing name of sorts. This page is entitled The Reforming Raker to communicate the idea that reforming or shaping one’s theology is an ongoing process. I will never reach a time when I change the page to The ReformED Raker. For I wish my mind, heart, and blog to be in a process of reforming in accordance with scripture.

From Questions, Two Applications. As I have said above, this blog is very much based on questions (and healthy ways to move toward conclusions), but this is also about life. This blog aims to discuss theological questions, yet bring them to the point of application for this reason:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17

My mentor Jeff once said, “If you study scripture and your conclusion doesn’t lead to teaching, reproof, correction, or training in righteousness then you did not reach the right conclusion.” At the end of each blog post there will be “Two Applications” based on the given topic of the blog. Now what topics will those be???

I am glad you asked. Questions that will be explored are:

• Salvation (soteriology)
• Last Days (eschatology)
• Creation
• Worship and Music
• Church (ecclesiology)
• Christian Disciplines
• Tools for Bible Study (hermeneutics)
• Expository Thoughts on Bible Passages

These topics will be approached in such a way that a recent believer who is new to the Bible can be helped by it, as well as a long time follower of Christ who may be revisiting various parts of his or her theology. Where I can, I hope to:

• 1) Provide historical perspectives on particular doctrines (what various parts of Christianity has taught over the last 2,000 years).
• 2) Propose if the subject matter at hand is foundational to the faith or if it is a secondary issue
• 3) Point out from historical church creeds, confessions, and catechisms the very points mentioned in 1 & 2 above.

This intro blog is long enough. In short I desire for the content found here in the months ahead to be informative and formative.