Hays comments on Piper's "God is the Gospel." 1) It's difficult for us to foster a heaven-centred mindset because we do not specifically know what it is like - though we can (i) mentally negate the sinful features of life on earth while (ii) mentally enhancing the natural features of life on earth. 2) To the question, 'would you be satisfied in heaven, with all the material pleasures ever, without Christ?' Hays cautions against creating a false dichotomy, in supposing a rivalry of affections between those for Christ and those for the good things in heaven that are not Christ but are there because of Him. 3) Hays wonders what Piper actually means (taking Piper's words as a metaphor) by proclaiming the supreme and ultimate pleasure of heaven/the greatest good of the Gospel ("readiness for heaven means taking pleasure in beholding the Lord Jesus") as "the glory of God in the face of Christ revealed for our everlasting enjoyment." It's difficult to conceive of this when it is abstract, so how will this happen - how will all people enjoy Christ like this - will it be all the time? It's not a facetious question, rather, it's quite germane to being 'heavenly-minded.' He wants a clearer idea of what the picture-language stands for. 4) Hays is concerned that Piper might tacitly make people dissatisfied for no good reason or feel guilty in taking simple pleasures, although it is a noble effort to push people to such a vision if Piper is right. What if you try to invoke artificial feelings you can't and won't have though? 5) Piper makes statements with the implication that we should desire God for himself and in himself—in contrast to what he’s made or what he does for us. But there is an asymmetry between God’s love for us and our love for God. God has nothing to gain from loving us. We are dependent, though, so we cannot love like God. It blurs the creature-Creator distinction. 6) The only way we experience God is through creaturely means. So it’s artificial to suggest that we should value God in himself, apart from what he does and has made. The medium of communication points to something beyond but we ultimately correspond with the medium. 7) Is wanting the gift rather than giver a normal dichotomy for the unregenerate? we should distinguish from the unregenerate here. Moreover, receiving something from God means automatically valuing something about God since it is the good in God that is intrinsically valuable in what He gives. 8) He takes issue with the argument that God created, say, hunger, to communicate something of a need for Christ, in that you can apply the logic ad nauseam to absurdity. "It’s inadequate to say that God made the sensible world, as well as embodied creatures, for the sole purpose of illustrating spiritual truths. For that pedagogical necessity is necessitated by a corporeal existence—not vice versa." Hays doesn't have a problem with a sensible world as a metaphor for the spiritual world, but it appears that Piper doesn't think it can have any intrinsic good. 9) While a human artifact may be a mixture, it's a mistake to treat God’s handiwork as if it were spiritually perilous, as if you can only enjoy God’s handiwork in small doses. 10) Piper appears fearful of the natural enjoyment of natural goods. Isn't enjoying God's handiwork glorifying to Him? 11) We can decouple ourselves from material manipulation to a degree. 12) Piper treats the Godward significance of natural goods as if that were extrinsic to the natural good, necessitating constant self-reminder. The religious experience is tacked on. Such constant self-reminder is artificial piety - we don't need to be self-consciously pious all the time to be genuinely pious. 13) "It’s possible for finite goods to be good in their own right—as long as we are mindful of their finite value." God is the Gospel
Phillips has quite the negative review for the Dove-approved, yet patently un-Christian Dog Days of Summer movie. Dog Days of Summer — movie review
Challies republishes an article on age. Contra common culture, and churches that boast of their young crowd, the Bible honours age, not youth. And if the disappearance of youth is a good thing in God’s eyes, then if we’re wise, we’ll agree. Leviticus 19:32, Proverbs 16:31, Deuteronomy 28:50, Job 12:12, 1 Timothy 5:1, etc. God does not despise youth, but a person who has lived a long life of dedicated service to God, walking in the paths of wisdom, is surely worthy of higher honor. Are we churches that honour the aged, or honour youth and fail to respect the elderly? While many churches are transitioning to new models of "doing church," none seem to be doing so at the expense of youth. Surely we have missed the Bible's emphasis on honoring age. The Disappearance of My Youth
Here’s ten points on Calvin from Steve Lawson (who doesn’t own a computer): 1) Calvin's pulpit was Biblical in content. He’s the poster boy of sola scriptura. the message of Scripture was sovereign to Calvin; humility is shown by submitting to its authority. 2) Calvin's preaching was sequential in exposition. Start to finish, no skipping. 3) direct in beginning. Every word weighed a ton – no joking. 4) extemporaneous in delivery. No notes in the pulpit. Just the Greek and Hebrew. 5) Calvin's preaching was exegetical in depth. That is, Calvin excavated the authorial intent from the text itself. 6) Calvin's preaching was familiar in language: His goal was to make the Biblical text as clear as possible to his hearers. If you really understand, you can make it understood. 7) Calvin's preaching was pastoral in tone. 8) Calvin's preaching was polemic in confrontation. He gathered the sheep and fended off the wolves. 9) Calvin's preaching was evangelistic in passion. 10) Calvin's preaching was God-centered in conclusion. John Calvin- The Preacher of God's Word, Steven Lawson (PCRT 2009 Sacramento)
You can’t solve the problem of ‘justification by works’ with Liberal scissors. There is a strand of teaching in the NT that we will be judged according to our works (Colossians 3:24-25, 1 Peter 1:17, James 2:14-22, Romans 2:13). The judgment is retributive, not penal: The judgment is not a declaration of doom, but an assessment of worth, with an assignment of works to those who, by reason of their faithfulness, deserve them. Three harmonizations are offered. 1) Different sense of ‘justify’ with James using it in the sense of ‘vindicate. 2) James has in view a professing faith and a vindication of true faith. 3) “Faith works through love” – James is railing on a nominal faith. Both kinds of faith think they save. But faith unaccompanied by works, action, deeds doesn’t. The key is in verse 18: what a man does is the touchstone of faith. Faith without works is dead, and thus is no faith at all. We really need to reconcile James with James, as he uses ‘faith’ in two senses. Faith and Works in Justification- A Consideration of Paul and James, Derek Thomas (PCRT 2009, Sa
John 6 has a particular concentration of Reformed doctrines. Now, in it, Jesus rubs people the wrong way. His words aren’t internally hard, just hard to accept. We need this attitude: Psalm 25:5 — "Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” The crowds hated Jesus, we should expect the same. Jesus didn’t appeal to their worldly desires, He claimed to be greater than Moses, and His teaching of penal substitutionary atonement and call to faith (the cross) offended them. The cross is offensive because it 1) allows no other way (cf. Namaan), illuminating our hopelessness; 2) it calls us to Christ alone. The flesh avails nothing, which is why they cannot believe. To be offended by the cross is to fail to repent. "The surest sign that we are relying on the Spirit of God is that we are proclaiming the Word of God." Words of life, Richard Phillips (PCRT 2009 Sacramento)
JT quotes a CT article: ""If Congress and the White House really want to reduce the abortion rate, we will welcome their suggestions. So far, their specific proposals are doing the exact opposite." Really Reducing Abortion
Moo makes a good point: One thing to remember in the NT use of the OT is that sometimes the OT is used not to prove a point but to borrow the ethos and language (like alluding to Eastwood in saying, “Go ahead, make my day.”) In Romans 10:18, Paul quotes Psalm 19:4 not because he thinks that this text speaks directly about the preaching of the gospel to Israel but because it would awaken echoes in his readers’ minds that would lend force to his assertion. OT in the NT
Carson points to the ‘single-issue’ nature of modern Christians, who accept the Gospel, but don’t act as if it really is central, and become enamoured with the pursuit of all manner of peripheral issues (porn, environment, poverty, abortion) without recognizing that these are fundamentally symptoms of the deeper problem of alienation from God. “The good news of Jesus Christ will never allow us to be smug and other-worldly in the face of suffering and evil. But what does it profit us to save the world from smog and damn our own souls?” The Gospel will do more to transform men than anything else in the world, and therefore addressing any problem MUST come from the centre – this is the strategic thing to do. Carson on the Relationship Between the Gospel and Social Issues
Piper has these sobering words from Matthew 21:28-30: Do not despair of the rebel, and do not assume the heart of the compliant child is with you. An Encouragement and Precaution for Parents
Carolyn Mahaney again exhorts women to make a prayful, active effort to prize their husbands above all else, with an anecdote to illustrate the tangible effect of this in women’s lives. Above All Others
Genderblog points to a report which draws a correlation between ‘female empowerment’, the increase of mothers going back to work, and the feminist ideology, to the breakup of the traditional family unit and long-term damage in many children. ”Many mothers who are in the workplace are not there to build a formidable portfolio, but are working out of financial or circumstantial necessity. ” Feminism is surely a factor, but dead-beat dads is just as much a contributor. Both rebel against their God-ordained design. “70% of mothers of 9-to-12-month-old babies now do some paid work, this compares with only 25 percent 25 years ago-a massive change in the way of life.” Feminism the Culprit for Family Breakup- A Controversial UK Study Says So
Genderblog cautions, “Women who mean to glorify God by seeking to become theologically robust, spiritually sagacious, steadily joyful, biblically-surrendered and steeled in their faith dare not neglect the help available to them from Christians past. In the end, there is neither room for vilifying, nor vaunting the past.” What Makes for a Strong Women's Ministry-
Here’s an index to a massive online collection of the church fathers. Library of Fathers - Index Page. Also here The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Schaff) - Index Page. Augustine’s is here. Augustine- A New Translation - Index Page
Turretinfan has a brief comment on the messy case in the Roman Catholic church of a young Brazilian girl who received an abortion... “the article doesn't identify the odd double-standard of excommunicating the doctors and the girl's mother, but not excommunicating the man who incestuously raped his nine-year-old step-daughter, placing the mother in the dilemma of killing her grandchildren or risking the life of her daughter.”" Archbishop Rino Fisichella and Excommunication for Abortion
Does the truth affect you, or do you go watch TV, unaffected by the sermon you heard? “Become doers of the Word and not only hearers, fooling yourselves; whoever is a hearer of the Word and not a doer is like a man who sees the face he was born with in a mirror—he sees himself, and goes away and immediately forgets what he looked like.” Dirty Faces
Here’s a fantastic example of an attitude to be followed in warring against the flesh. It’s anecdotal, so give it a read – not long. A snapshot of warfare against sin by Jonathan Leeman
Gilbert quotes an ad for a spiritually intensive weekend, and rightly comments, “Aren't you glad you believe a gospel that actually says something?” Dancing with Juicy Roots by Greg Gilbert
Patton has a lengthy post with a good point: God reads your blogs. Write appropriately. What if God Read Your Posts- A Reminder About Christian Conduct on the Internet
Adams has some words about Scripture twisting. “If one is to use the Bible in what he does, he must learn how to use it well. Otherwise, he will twist, warp, or otherwise distort the meaning of the passages that he uses to back up his views and behavior. Lack of teaching is fundamental.” People are unstable because they don’t live life according to the Scriptures, and they, in their instability, twist the Scriptures. Quite the catch-22. Twisting Scripture
Payne comments on the debate between the Normative Principle and the Regulative Principle. “Putting it very simply, the Normative Principle says “You're allowed to do this thing in church so long as Scripture doesn't forbid it”, whereas the Regulative Principle says “Only do this thing in church if Scripture gives clear warrant to do so”.” Both aim at something good. The dispute arose at the time of the Reformation, and was classically argued out between Richard Hooker (for the Normatives) and the more radical puritans (Thomas Cartright et al., for the Regulatives), in terms of how much of Roman Catholicism to keep. The apostle Paul indicates that the central governing principle is whether something builds up. So the normatives should say no to anything non-edifying, and the regulatives should say yes to anything edifying. “Perhaps we should call it the Constructive Principle: do that which builds; don't do that which does not build. The question then becomes, “What is it that builds?”” Regulative or normative-
Adams encourages Christians to not abandon simplicity in language, for the sake of the common man (even if the academics don’t care for us). We ought to write clearly, but trenchantly, since we have something to say that is authentically profound. Equivocation
Here’s a fantastic point: God has seen every mess we’re in before. Indeed, He sent it from His fatherly hand. And He’ll see us through it. DeYoung quotes the catechism: “Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that lead and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand." Ursinus Reads USA Today
Here’s a brief overview of the covenant of Redemption: “The Covenant of Redemption is defined as “The Father gives the Son to be Head and Redeemer of the elect; and the Son presents himself as a Sponsor or Surety for them.”” The Adamic Covenant was the first administration of the Covenant of Grace beginning in Gen 3:15 also know as the protoevangelicum. This Covenant promised that the seed of the women (The Messiah) would destroy the work of the Serpent (the Devil). Covenant Theology Part 2- Pactum Salutis
MacArthur makes some interesting points: 1) There is no such thing as a science of creation. Why? Because there is no scientific way to explain creation. It was not a natural event or a series of natural events. It was a brief series of monumental supernatural events that cannot be explained by science. All true science is based on observation and no one observed creation. All true science necessitates verification by repetition and creation cannot be repeated, and thus it cannot be verified. Creation had no observers (except God) and cannot be repeated. 2) The writers of the New Testament affirm the Genesis record. There are 165 passages in Genesis directly quoted or referred to in the New Testament. They are all straightforward affirmations of the book of Genesis and the simple account of creation that is contained there. Every New Testament writer refers to Genesis, and they universally affirm its truthfulness. 3) Ask any Christian organization in the world what their view is of Genesis 1 and 2 and you will get a sense for their level of fidelity to the Word of God. Opening Session – John MacArthur
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