DeYoung quotes John Newton: "If you were to send me an inventory of your pleasures, how charmingly your time runs on, and how dexterously it is divided between the coffee-houses, play-house, the card-table, and tavern, with intervals of balls, concerts, etc. I could answer that most of these I have tried and tried again, and know the utmost they can yield, and have seen enough of the rest most heartily to despise them all. Setting religion entirely out of the question, I profess I had rather be a worm to crawl upon the ground, than to bear the name of MAN upon the poor terms of whiling my life in an insipid round of such insignificant and unmanly trifles" (Letters of John Newton, 33-34). Don't Waste Your Life, John Newton Style
Abraham Piper provides a quote on preaching with utter conviction and appropriate emotion. Why Shout When Preaching
T-fan answers the charge from a Romanist that because Jesus didn’t say that his identification of his body with the bread and wine was a metaphor, that it’s a ‘lie from the devil’ to say so. i) Jesus never used the word ‘metaphor’ of any metaphors. ii) Signals that draw analogies distinguish similes from metaphors. iii) Jesus didn’t say that the cup was a figure of speech for the contents of the cup, but people recognize this by common sense. iv) T-fan points to a number of quotes from the church fathers that take this metaphorically and employ this ‘deceived’ manner of interpretation: Augustine recognizes that “I am the true vine” is a metaphor. Augustine didn't just think that "I am the living bread which came down from heaven;" in John 6 was a metaphor - he thought it was an obvious metaphor. Clement of Alexandria said that Jesus brings distinctly by metaphor the drinkable properties of faith and the promise of the Gospel when he employs the “symbols” "Eat my flesh, and drink my blood." He expressly calls the wine a symbol of the blood. So too Chrystostom. Transubstantiation, Metaphor, and Common Sense
This post, recalling the truth that God is perfectly and infinitely happy, that He takes great joy in being the happiest being and the fountain of all joy, notes that (cf. John Frame) God has perfect self-knowledge (1 Cor. 2:10-11) unlike us. The source of God’s happiness is not merely His providence, but His self-knowledge – this is intuitive, since for the saints there is no greater joy than to know God, and increasingly so – how much more perfect knowledge of God! “there is no greater joy for anyone than to know God.” God's Happiness- Self-Knowledge
Broughton Knox’s seventh principle of prayer is that prayer must and can only be offered in the realization and acknowledgment that it is only through the work and righteousness of Jesus by which a person can have access to the throne of grace. Knox’s seven principles of prayer (Part VII- Realization)
Challies on Michael Jackson: “What a sad end to a sad life; a pathetic end to a pathetic life (by which I mean to use pathetic in its true sense as "arousing pity and sympathy). I don't know that I have ever seen, in one man, such a combination of self-love and self-loathing, shocking narcissism combined with equally shocking self-hatred.” He is the epitome of the vanity spoken of in Ecclesiastes; created by a celebrity culture which loves to see its heroes start strong and finish in shame – to create and then destroy for the culture’s enjoyment. There is no indication that Jackson knew Christ, and for this reason, it is a horrid thought to consider that this life was a mere foretaste of the consequence of sin. A Tortured Existence
The SBC in Louisville passed Russ Moore’s proposal on adoption, which aims ultimately to see thousands of SB pastors, missionaries, and leaders who started their lives as orphans now preaching the Gospel of God their Father. SBC Messengers Enthusiastically Support Moore’s Resolution on Adoption
Phillips writes that he listened to a John Piper talk from the Resolved conference, where he said, "Sin makes you stupid." Then on Wednesday South Carolina governor Mark Sanford (GOP) admitted he'd spent his Father's Day weekend pursuing extramarital immorality. Sin makes you stupid. Oh, and “thank an Obama voter if an ACORN census taker threatens you with the law to force you to give out information — on yourself or others — that the federal government has no business whatever having (click, click, click, click). One quick, foolish choice; years of progress undone, freedoms harmed.” Hither and Tither
Gilbert writes that some have taken issue with Mohler and Southern Seminary naming a pavilion after a theological moderate who set a bad trajectory for the seminary, from which Mohler himself corrected it. This does overlook certain things, such as Duke McCall’s principled defence of civil rights against Jim Crow. Moreover, it’s sad that some have taken this as an opportunity to go after Mohler, who is acting as any good president of a Christian institution should---acknowledging the entire history of his school at its sesquicentennial, honoring its longest-serving president, and yet still maintaining firmly in his mind and in his public words the convictions that set him apart from that man. Mohler, McCall, Truth, and History by Greg Gilbert
T-fan, picking up on a post from Manata, notes that the common man's definition of "choose" is better represented by essentially the Least Common Denominator of dictionary definitions than by simply the first entry of the most popular dictionary. Many definitions have no concept of ‘possibility’ (and even those that seem to are not speaking metaphysically), but often speak of desires, etc. and selection. Common Man Argument for Libertarian Free Will (rebutted)
JT links to a list by Randy Alcorn reminding us of the horrid cost of sexual immorality as pastors. The Consequences of Sexual Immorality
Phillips briefly comments on the deaths of Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett, and then zeroes in on Michael Jackson: “He started out as a talented child in a talented family driven to success by a reportedly tyrannical father. He ended up as a bizarre, pitiable, enigmatic, repellent figure… I can't easily think of someone who less needed to degrade himself, who more eagerly seemed to invent ways to do so.” Watching Jackson over the wears is a chronicle of a man who didn’t take his pain and sin to the Cross, and instead of experiencing God’s regenerating grace attempted his own handmade makeover. Tragic and painful. This week's troika of celebrity deaths- McMahon, Fawcett, Michael Jackson
Gilber reflects on an extremely hopeful SBC this year. i) The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force is a small step, but one in the right direction, and the 95% pass indicates a very hopeful unity in its objectives. ii) He has praise for Danny Akin and Johnny Hunt. iii) The atmosphere to Reformed theology has shifted, with the idea that Calvinists could be forced out of the convention seemingly a thing of the past. Only two moments of anti-Calvinist sentiment came up. iv) the presence of 9Marks! Most Encouraging Convention I've Attended by Greg Gilbert
Burk weighs in with similar thoughts as Gilbert. He adds a thought on the constructive resolutions: “The Convention overwhelmingly approved Russell Moore’s resolution on adoption and orphan-care, and it was a poignant testimony to the gospel as Moore stood on the platform with his two sons. Also, the committee struck the right balance in its resolution about the presidency of Barack Obama. The convention, therefore, celebrated the election of the nation’s first African American President even as they reiterated their opposition to his policies on abortion and gay “marriage.”” Why there’s a buzz about the SBC Annual Meeting
Hays writes that Jackson was, simply put, overrated. Musically, he wasn’t that special. “what makes him stand out in the pantheon pop culture? I think it has more to do with a calculated effort to redefine human nature. Transhumanism. Jackson was transhuman. He denied his race. Denied his gender… a frontal assault on any residual Christian values. The futuristic face of secular humanism.” The king of pop
Phil Johnson comments on the severe trial of those who always come up right after a sermon to correct some fine point (most often irrelevant to the point of the sermon). The worst thing about it isn’t the negativity, or even the predictable negativity. It’s the clear agenda and mental self-defence mechanism at work in them to keep them from hearing the real point of the sermon and to avoid taking the preaching seriously. Now, it’s actually not bad to have someone come up and voice something that shows that he was actually listening. You can actually learn something; you can actually avoid embarrassment regarding some factual inaccuracy later, it can provide the opportunity to correct an erroneous belief, and you can clarify some muddled point. By all means, speak to the pastor: Just don’t make it a weekly habit to persistently correct some trivial detail or ride your hobbyhorse on every sermon. And don’t forget to encourage. After the Sermon
Carolyn Mahaney offers five points of advice for women who are looking at bivocation (work and homemaking) as a necessity due to tough economic times: i) Get counsel first. ii) Regularly re-evaluate your course of action. iii) Keep it simple – put unnecessary things on hold in life – think food and clothing. iv) Watch your heart – don’t let a job steal you from home. v) Trust God. A Homemaker’s Dilemma, Pt. 6
JT provides a quote on Nietzche: “from The Anti-Christ: "The weak and the botched shall perish: first principle of our charity. And one should help them to it." Spake the paralytic. The man fed with a spoon by those who loved him.” Neitzche went on, ironically: "What is more harmful than any vice—Practical sympathy for the botched and the weak—Christianity…” Thus Spoke the Man Fed by a Spoon
Here’s some excerpts from worthwhile thoughts on Jackson’s death (3/4 have been summarized on this blog in the last few days): Reflections on Jackson, Death, and the Celebrity Culture
Manata goes after T-fan’s approach to Christian apologetics (which he summarizes as, ‘God said it, so there…’). The Death of Christian Apologetics
Straight Up blog aims to tie together the typological relationship between gender roles and the image of Christ’s relationship with the church, going to Eph. 5:21-33 as the key text, which establishes a parallel between Christ and His church and marriage: human marriage exists for the sake of the heavenly marriage. Essentially Paul is saying, “Because of the spiritual relationship that exists between Christ and his church . . . therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Christ’s posture toward the church must be represented by the husband and the church’s posture toward Christ must be the wife’s posture toward her husband. “A husband is called to self-sacrificially love his wife as an expression of Christ’s sacrificial love for the church. And a wife is called to respect and submit to her husband as an expression of the church’s respect of and submission to Christ.” Marriage is more than just finding a soul-mate or reproducing. It’s aim is to make known the glory of God in the Gospel. Gender Roles and the Image of God- Part 3
Moore continues with his advice on the ethical dilemma of the transgender convert: Should he seek to undo the gender surgery. Moore says no, on these grounds. i) The big issue is honesty. John is a man, and his gender was never reassigned. He was maimed by his sinful act. He would only create another cosmetic illusion atop the former. ii) He should consider himself the equivalent of the eunuch, someone wounded by sin, but awaiting the wholeness of resurrection. He should stop taking female hormones and allow his body to revert to its relatively natural state. iv) He should live now as a man, dress like a man, identify himself as a man, and the congregation must help him through this very difficult task. How the Gospel Ministers to the Transgendered, Part III
Though there is much yet unknown, Patton is increasingly convinced of the simplicity of the Christian life: God wants us to believe him. Trust, belief, conviction, assurance. Reformers understood faith as expressed in three separate yet vitally connected aspects: notitia (the basic informational foundation of faith, the propositional truth, the content of it), assensus (the assent/agreement that the notitia is correct. This involves evidence, etc. we must be convinced that it is true), and fiducia ( resting in the info based on a conviction of its truthfulness. This is a personal, subjective experience, going beyond the intellect but built on its foundation). “The Church today seems to lack #2. Nominal Christianity lacks #3. Postmodernism lacks #1 and #2.” Descartes aimed for absolute certainty (absolute assensus), Hume responded with radical skepticism (non-assensus), and Kant provided a mediating framework. But from Kant arose a popular dichotomy between faith and reason (as he distinguished between the phenomenal and the noumenal, saying that you can believe in God, but not like you believe in your friends). Notitia and fiducia without assensus is blind faith, common in evangelicalism: “You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart.” It’s an appeal to emotional conviction, assuming that it is from the Spirit, when it could really be self-produced or demon-produced. The parable of the soils shows us that one can indeed believe and yet fall way. Don’t neglect any of the three aspects of faith. “You Ask Me How I Know He Lives . . . He Lives Within My Heart” And Other Stupid Statements
“Nothing is more damaging to cross-cultural missions, short-term or long-term, than a patronizing, paternalistic attitude. Paul came determined not to present himself, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. As for Paul, he wanted to be known as Christ's bondservant. A servant's spirit starts in the home church or group with a willingness to do whatever is asked.” We need a Phil. 2:3-8 mindset in missions The Importance of Doing Missions as Servants
MacArthur rejects the stats that Christians divorce as much as non-Christians: i) It reduces the power of the Spirit in believers lives to practically nothing to think this. ii) Who did they survey? Likely not Christians at all. Probably the same crowd from which they obtained the stats that many don’t want the Bible preached in the pulpits. MacArthur points to his 10000 person church, where divorces are occasional, not frequent, and they are most often done by those who don’t truly know the lord. Divorcing Fact from Fiction
Piper apologizes for a poor and snide answer to a question on the incongruity of him seemingly rejecting television and Driscoll encouraging it for relevance. i) Driscoll and Piper would not agree on the degree to which the average pastor needs to be movie-savvy to be relevant. ii) Relevance hangs very little on movies: Exposure to worldliness does more to deaden our joy in Jesus than make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of power are not in cinema. iii) You don’t watch movies with tumbles in a brothel to be relevant to prostitutes: You immerse yourself in the Gospel (which is tailor-made for prostitutes) and you watch Jesus interact with prostitute and then you find one and talk to her an listen to her, not a movie. iv) PIper has a high tolerance for violence and language in film, and none for nudity, because no matter how it is explained the nudity is not make-believe, a real man is looking at a real naked girl who has a real grieving father somewhere. v) The only nude female body a guy should ever see is his wife’s (Job 31:1; Matt. 5:28-29) – better to gouge out an eye than go to hell. Jesus is deadly and violently serious about this. “the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.” Christ-exalting transformation comes from beholding the glory of Christ (2. Cor. 3:18), and what dulls our eyes and mind is destroying us. The bare breasts of another woman do not leave one more moved by the beauty of Christ. v) The triviality of TV is deadly. And how little you’ll get done while wasting time with TV. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2009/4023_Why_I_Dont_Have_a_Television_and_Rarely_Go_to_Movies/
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