Downtime
Published on 8 May 2008 at 10:36 am.
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I may not update for a few days as I am trying to upgrade my blog.
Whatever Happened to the Psalms?
Published on 6 May 2008 at 3:18 pm.
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Filed under Reflections, Old Testament.
Prayer seems to be the kind of topic that has become formulaic. Do you use ACTS, CCC, or some other acronym or abbreviation? Do you confess first or second? Are praise and thanksgiving the same thing? Should you repeat requests or only ask once?
Sometimes I think that the current church has not even read the prayers in the Bible!
There is an unstated assumption that God must always be praised and that we should ask Him for “stuff.” What blows my mind is that what we have lost is the Biblical art of lament, both lament as a corporate act and lament as a individual confrontation with God.
Did you say confrontation?
Yes, yes I did.
God is not a genie to grant wishes, nor is He a parent to discipline and reward. He is the one who made us and loves us. I think He can deal with our disgruntlement. I certainly get angry at God when I feel unjustly treated. I yell, cajole, cry, and rage depending on the circumstances. All of that is perfectly fine, as long as we do not sin! By that I mean we cannot curse God, we cannot say He screwed up, we cannot say He has done evil. We can ask why evil has happened to us, ask why He allowed certain events to occur, let Him know we feel unloved, unwanted, and oppressed.
You know what, God is a big boy, He can handle it. In fact, He loves us so much, He wants to handle it. At the end of the day, I know I will be vindicated before Him. Jesus Himself cried out on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was quoting Psalm 22:1, a Psalm that ends with a magnificent picture of God’s grace and the peace He can bring.
It is okay to confront God, just remember that in the end, God will be vindicated.
1 John 2:6
Published on 5 May 2008 at 12:40 pm.
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Filed under New Testament, John's Writings.
The one who claims he remains in him ought to walk even as that one walked.
This verse is just incredible. John challenges the reader in a way like only “Be perfect” can. This sentence simply means that each person who claims to be in Jesus must live exactly like Jesus.
Again, note the present tense. If you claim to currently be in Jesus, then you need to be living just as He lived. Now, this does not mean you need to become a carpenter or a traveling teacher, rather this means the kind of life He lived with respect to living the gospel.
Do people know you are a Christ-follower because of your life?
If you never spoke a word, could you be convicted of being a Christian?
Does God shine through your eyes?
Does God work through your hands?
Does the Holy Spirit reside in your tongue?
Does Scripture pour from your mouth?
Are you willing to confront sin in believers?
Are you willing to grant mercy to unbelievers?
Humorously enough, I think we Christians tend to swap the last two, granting mercy to Christians and confronting sin in non-Christians, which is the opposite of what Jesus did. Why should the world conform to the standards of God when they are His enemy? Why should Christians get a free pass to sin when they claim to follow Christ? This verse is talking about just that. Christians are to be judged according to Christ, whereas the person who does not claim to be in Jesus does not have the same standard to live up to.
Where is your heart, where is your example? Do you focus on Christ as the goal of your daily walk, or do you see only the lack of Jesus in the world around you? Look in, look at the church, and live in the world.
I Believe in Miracles, but not Miracle Stories
Published on 4 May 2008 at 6:11 am.
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Filed under New Testament, Book Reviews, Jesus.
I know, weird title, right? The thing is, I have been reading through John P. Meier’s A Marginal Jew and I am in the midst of volume 2, wherein Meier discusses exorcisms as part of Jesus’ miracles. The bizarre thing he notes about the “scholarly consensus” is that while many if not most scholars believe the historical data points toward Jesus performing exorcisms, those exact same scholars are unable to point to any single exorcism story in the canonical Gospels as historical!
Now, part of this has to do with the assumption of accretion in the stories as they appear in the gospels, but part of it also has to do with the theories those scholars walk into their readings carrying with them. Meier is trying to be as historical as possible, but even when it appears rather clear that evidence should point him in a specific way (the conjunction between an exorcism and a controversy), Meier says that the exorcism is used to solve the controversy, even though there is no historical record of such a controversy occurring in the early church!
I don’t know, sometimes these things really bother me, and this section of his book really bothered me.
He’s on My Side?
Published on 3 May 2008 at 10:53 pm.
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Filed under Reflections.
I get really annoyed at people who make bad arguments or obviously are setting up strawmen, but it is more annoying when they are people from your own position in whatever the debate is. You know the type: you are having a good debate, both sides are making sense and the points are strong both ways, then some idiot pops up and makes a stupid assertion about the other side which is laughably false and you can only shake your head an groan.
There is a solution: call them out!
If someone on “your team” is saying false things or misreading someone or something along those lines, call them out for it! Make sure you take up the banner of your opponent and show the person from your side how and where they are wrong. THe message is much more likely to get heard coming from a player on their own team.
Comments on This Blog
Published on 2 May 2008 at 8:48 am.
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The comments should now work. I noticed that I accidentally had checked that people must register to comment and that nobody is allowed to register.
Oops.
I fixed that and comments should now work if you give your name and e-mail.
Between Two Worlds: Two Cheers for the Resurgence of Calvinism in Evangelicalism: A Wesleyan-Arminian Perspective
Published on 2 May 2008 at 7:02 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under Arminianism.
This article/interview with Tom McCall over on Justin Taylor’s blog has spawned a lot of interesting conversations. While the latter half devolves into name-calling and questioning the salvation of different people (including Brian McClaren), the opening dialogue is quite nice.
Whatever Happened to Charitable Listening?
Published on 1 May 2008 at 3:13 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under Teaching, Arminianism.
I have been having a debate on a friend’s blog about certain issues pertaining to Calvinism and Arminianism. So far, he has made at least 3 out right false statements about my beliefs, but the one that got under my skin today way this:
Arminianism presupposes LFW.
The bottom line for every single Arminian I know except one is that this is false. I know I certainly never assumed Libertarian Free Will philosophically or theologically. What I did presuppose in my reading of Scripture was the goodness and holiness of God. That drives me to see the actions of God as always good and always consistent. I do not believe God directly causes evil, though He does allow evil to happen. I believe He allows evil to happen because He gives humanity the ability to make choices. This, my friend assumes, is my starting grid.
In reality, my starting grid had been determinism. The more I read and exegete Scripture, the less satisfied I am with such a case. How can God’s glory be magnified by Him doing everything? How can God’s glory be found in Him making me choose Him? How can God’s glory be found in creating people in order to damn them? I really do not see it. I think God’s greater glory is found in people freely choosing Him and freely choosing hell. Certainly the odds are for some people and against others, yet that does no diminish the glory of God in the choice.
How did I get to my position? Reading Hebrews.
What is the Gospel? 2
Published on 29 Apr 2008 at 1:46 am.
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Filed under Reflections, Theology.
What interests me about this topic so much is that people are willing to cast aspersions based upon your or their gospel, yet few are willing to go the entire way with a friend.
What I mean by that is this: if you claim that someone preaches a different gospel than the one found in Scripture, you are calling them a heretic, plain and simple. Paul states
Galatians 1:6-9 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
The bottom line is that a different gospel = damnation. There really is no way around it. As soon as someone accuses you of preaching a wrong gospel, they are declaring you unsaved. As soon as you claim someone else is preaching a wrong gospel, you are saying they are not saved.
Be careful little children what you say, for the Father up above is looking down for love.
What Has Your Theology Done for God Lately?
Published on 28 Apr 2008 at 4:20 pm.
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Filed under Reflections, Theology.
Over at a friend’s blog, a comment was made that we academic types spend too much time reading our theology and commentaries and not enough time evangelizing. While the point is overly narrow (not everyone has the gift of evangelism, it just so happens the person making the comment does) I think the general idea is valid. The only way for the church to work is for people to use their gifts.
What has your theology done for God lately?
What I mean is this: does your theological stance push you into living your faith or does it let you feel good about God? Unless you are moving forward, you might as well be moving backward. The only faith that counts is the faith that lives.
Blind faith is fanaticism.
No faith is skepticism.
Living faith is evangelism.
So, what have you done for God lately?