— of September 14, 2008

Posted on September 21, 2008 by arator

The best and not so good of this week’s ‘religious’ talk:

SBC resolutions and gluttony:

“If such a resolution makes it to the floor of the convention, I wonder if it will be amended to limit participation in denominational life to those who are not gluttons?” Tom Ascol at The Founders Ministries Blog.

Not gonna happen, but we’ll see. See you ’round like a donut—in Louisville.

The IMB and Believers Baptism:

“This means that the IMB was correct in placing the guidelines on baptism in place because the overwhelming majority of SBC pastors believe a person baptized in a church that does not believe in eternal security has not experienced a scriptural baptism.” At SBC Today.

Logic 101: If the overwhelming majority happens to be wrong, is that still what this means?

On Church Signs:

“IMHO, the proper use of church signs is to display God’s Word. Those who write a clever saying and then attach “God” to it, come very close to blasphemy to me. I would be very careful in attributing to God the words of men. I prefer the words of God.” Les Puryear at sbc IMPACT!

A sound principle in which I can find no fault.

Rant of the Week:

“My denomination is more interested in evangelism than any other denomination in existence or Christian history. Its entire apparatus of denominational machinery is devoted to the promotion of evangelism. Its denominational publications and web sites are basically all evangelism, all the time.” Michael Spencer at internetmonk.com

I never cease to be amazed at the insight of this guy that most in our denomination view as “fringe.” Just as a couple of bonus questions, does any body in the SBC know the meaning of personal holiness, and what the chief end of man is? Keep rantin’, brother iMonk.

On Multi-site Churches:

“Multi-site church is a logical and efficient solution to a problem brought on by bad missiology.” At Missions Misunderstood.

Nothing funny, ironic, or sad here. It’s just a good post. Read it.

Jonathan Edwards Resources:

“October 5, 2008 is the birthday of Jonathan Edwards (happy 305th!). And on this date the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale will launch WJE Online 2.0, a new 73-volume(!) digital works of Edwards, which will include the full electronic versions of the printed Yale Works (25 volumes) and another 47 volumes of unpublished, digitized sermons and other material.” At The Shepherd’s Scrapbook.

Edwards still looks good for his age. Check out the site.

Politics:

“Christ is the integration point, not some grand idea, and our duties are always right in front of us, simple and plain. There are certain intellectual convolutions that could make particularity and “individualism” abstract in an idolatrous way, but that is actually hard to do. Because of the Incarnation, the bias of particularity in politics favors the anti-ideological, which is to say, it is a bias against idolatry. And that describes historic conservatism very well. At the same time, I grant that it does not describe George W. Bush’s spending habits very well — there the resemblance would be more like a pack of simians that got into an Congo merchant’s storehouse of trade gin.” Douglas Wilson at Blog and Mablog.

No one makes better use of the English language than Doug Wilson. He is the master of metaphor, the sultan of simile. We Baptists may not agree with everything he says, but Pastor Wilson always says it well.

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September 11, 2008: Remembering 9-11

Posted on September 11, 2008 by arator

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Luke 13:1-5

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What Some Preachers Will Do

Posted on September 10, 2008 by arator

My pastor has gone and done it now. This last Sunday was simply a disaster. I just don’t know what I’m going to do with him. You know, there are some things you can over look, and then there are those breaches which are inexcusable. The only thing worse than one such occurrence is two; in the same day.
The Comforting/Terrifying Judgment of God
The first instance was with the morning message. This has been building for weeks, as this is the twelfth or so in a series from the book of Revelation, but this Sunday’s message really made it clear what Brother Pastor was up to. He is clearly preaching the book of Revelation as if it had as much relevance to the people who first read it as it has to us today. Who ever heard of such a thing?
God’s Grace Doing the Impossible
Later, with the evening service Pastor does the other thing that just went all through me. Who ever heard of someone finding Jesus in the Old Testament? What’s more than that, who ever heard of someone being told to flee to Jesus for salvation from an Old Testament text? Well, that’s exactly what he did. Heck, everybody knows those folks in the Old Testament were saved by doin’ good and sacrificing all of those animals.
You can go and read the notes and listen to the audio, but I’ll just warn you in advance strange things might happen. Before you do, have your wife hide your Left Behind series in a safe place, and have your calendar handy. You know, the one with the big red check mark on the square when you walked the aisle and prayed the prayer, so you’ll remember what you did, and not do something foolish like pray for mercy and grace.

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A Test Posting With Remote Journaling Software

Posted on September 9, 2008 by arator

I just bought this nifty-looking software for my Mac called MacJournal I’m not sure how all the features work. But if this makes it to the blog, then buy the product.

It looks pretty neat any way. My laptop goes with me everywhere I go, but an internet connection doesn’t. That means I have lots of time to write a post but no way to get in my blog to begin a post, or edit posts begun and saved but not published. I’m left with the alternative of writing into a word processor and later cutting and pasting into WordPress later when I am online, at which point I have to add links, graphics, etc. This looks to be much better—if it works. We’ll see. Stay tuned.

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Wade’s Back

Posted on August 28, 2008 by arator

I hadn’t realized that Wade Burleson was blogging again. Because he had stopped blogging after his resignation as IMB trustee earlier this spring, I dropped him from my reader. Well, he’s back, fighting the good fight, or at least fighting. This time its all about the “Baptist identity” cabal. It seems there are some who want to make us all uniform, or at least run those of us off who don’t conform:

If you disagree with Baptist Identity leaders on closed communion, praying privately in tongues, elders, the qualifications of the baptizer, the recipients of the Great Commission, moderation, eschatology, and the like, you are labeled as either liberal, psuedo-Baptist, or the catch all “not one of us” (as in the nomination speech for SBC Vice-President Jim Richards where it was repeatedly stated, “He’s one of us!”).

It’s an interesting post, and I agree with what Wade is saying, for the most part, but when you stop to think about it, if these folks are going to act this way, why on earth would we want to be counted as “one of us?” It’s not really hard to understand why so many young Southern Baptist leaders are heading elsewhere denominationally, usually because of missions issues; especially when the IMB does not hold all of the cards, and many alternatives are quite sound.

What those of us non-conformists who are inclined to stay ought to do is pray for those non-conformists who are inclined to go, that either ”the Spirit of Jesus will not allow them” (Acts 16:6-7), or that they will ”go on into Macedonia” (Acts 16:9-10) with a clear vision from God as to where they should be in order to serve him best. Beyond this approach we are all just practicing carnal politics.

It’s good to see Brother Burleson back in there. I’ve already put him back in my agregator. I sure hope he picks his fights carefully and prayerfully.

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Baptist Hymnal, 2008

Posted on August 27, 2008 by arator

I heard it was in the works late last  year, so Monday I was surprised to read so soon that the new 2008 edition of the Baptist Hymnal was out. I don’t know why, but I figured that it would be more than a year before a new Baptist Hymnal saw the light of day, but no. The initial tip came from Michael Spencer, who merely pointed to the article with all the info by Isaiah Six. While quite informative overall, I was actually looking for just a few words, and there they were:

One of the main concerns the folks at LifeWay addressed in compiling this hymnal was the theological depth of the material. I’ve communicated here and elsewhere many times that the theological content of what we sing is so much more important than the style in which we sing it. The new hymnal weighs that thought heavily and makes theology a hallmark of the new publication.

Last fall I had read the initial announcement at Baptist Press, of the beginning of work on a new hymnal, encouraged by the section indicating that theology was going to be a more intentional priority than with past editions. I mentioned this to my pastor at the time, who replied “That’s what they said when they began working on the 1991 edition.” So, I was anxious for confirmation, more concrete news; news which I found in the article mentioned above. Excited about the prospect, I went to LifeWay’s website to purchase a copy, only to find that both the Baptist Hymnal and the Worship Hymnal (a generic version for non-baptist or stealth-baptist congregations) were listed in the online catalog but, alas, not in stock.

Now, isn’t that just like Christianity? When some Harry Potter novel comes out you can order it ahead from Amazon or some such, so that it is shipped the day the book is released. But if it is something to do with Christianity, just because it has a release date doesn’t mean you can actually buy one any time soon.

So I guess I will have to wait some more to see if this new Baptist Hymnal pays more attention to theology. And then if it does, there’s a whole new concern: whose theology? But that should be a whole different post.

One thing I discovered in all of this is that this new hymn is not just a new hymn book, it’s a project. LifeWay has dubbed it the Worship Project in which all kinds of resources are available online that are connected to the new Baptist Hymnal. One little resource that I found interesting was a free-to-download pdf of a content comparison of the four most recent Baptist Hymnals, so that you can see what got added and what got dropped (and what got added again).

Go check it all out, but don’t order a new Baptist Hymnal. It might slow down the arrival of mine.

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Sitting or Doing?

Posted on August 15, 2008 by arator

Now this may offend some of you Praise-n-Worship brothers, but think about it before you write it off as an old crank who dislikes contemporary worship styles. This illustration was not totally my idea. I have to tip my hat to the crew over at The Whitehorse Inn—from the August 10th episode—for providing the seed for this. That particular podcast had so many priceless gems scattered throughout it you will be doing yourself a favor by finding it and listening to it. Well, here goes.

The Praise-n-Worship philosophy of worship is “Don’t just sit there. Do something.” Where can we find an example of this in Scriptures?

Exodus 32:17-19

The orthodox philosophy of worship is “Don’t just do something. Sit there…and worship.” And where might you find an object lesson for this position?

Luke 10:38-42

What do you think? I know this wouldn’t pass for solid argumentation, but maybe the parody value will make you stop and ask yourself some serious questions. The problem I have is that I can’t seem to get that scene out of my head where Charlton Heston plays Moses and the children of Israel are all tom-cattin’ around that golden calf, and the fact that God is not a God of confusion, but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33), and that he says “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

Like I said, before you write it all off, think about what you do in a “worship” service, and ask your self why you do what you do, the way you do it. Is it because that is what you like, or is it because you believe it best honors God?

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Truth or Error

Posted on August 13, 2008 by arator

Sometimes the force of a quotation is delivered as much by who made it as what it was they said. Here is a good example.

“With music one can seduce men to every error—and every truth.”

—Friedrich Nietszche

My lands, if an atheist understands the power of music, how is it that the church does not?

So, pastor and/or song leader:

  • What is your philosophy of the role of music in your church service?
  • Is the preaching of the word of God central to your service, or is the music the main attraction?
  • Do you coordinate the music in your service to compliment the preaching of God’s word?
  • Do the words you sing build the body of Christ up in the same way as the preached word (Colossians 3:16), or is it just for entertainment value?
  • To what are you seducing your congregation: truth or error?

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Two Godly Men—Kindred Spirits

Posted on August 9, 2008 by arator

I thought for some time, trying to arrive at a catchy title to this post, describing the meeting between Mark Driscoll and J.I. Packer; something like “Beauty and the Beast,” or “The Prince and the Pauper,” but I couldn’t find anything that was 1) respectful of both parties, 2) not confusing as to who was who, and 3) still catchy—funny—descriptive—provocative. I decided on what you see above, because that is just what they are: godly men, and like-minded. You might disagree, but that’s okay. It’s a free country: you can err and still keep your head.

Quite short and to the point, this tidy post is valuable for the short list of topics provided by Packer at the request of Driscoll on topics “all young Christian leaders need to study in order to be prepared for the next fifty years.” The four-item list could be abbreviated as “mystery—focus—practice—mystery.” You really need to read the whole post, and see the picture. Now here’s my take on those four essentials:

Mystery
Tell me pastor, parent, young person; do you try to untangle the mysteries of the faith (Romans 11:33-36)? Does the work of the Holy Spirit leave you speechless (John 3:8)?  Does grace still amaze you (2 Corinthians 8:9)? To be sure, we should plumb the depths as we study and pray, but at the end of the day we should put our hand over our mouth (Job 40:4) and worship.

Focus
Is the focus of your faith man-centered or God-centered? Pastor, what do you preach from the pulpit: self-help and moralism, or Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2)? Believer, how big is your God (Isaiah 6:1; Daniel 4:34-35)?

Practice
Do you practice your faith at home? Does your spouse/parents/children see Christ in you? Are you a Christian? Do you drive like one? Is God honored by your check book, your television viewing, your conversations with the members of your own household? How long does it take a total stranger to tell there is something different about you (John 13:35; Matthew 7:16)?

Mystery
Here we are, back where we started: at mystery, as seen in the Trinity. Is there a god Like our God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Okay, so we’re not charismaniacs (most of us), but do we preach, live, witness like he doesn’t exist, or, at least, doesn’t really matter? Just because we don’t fully understand the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean we get to ignore him (2 Corinthians 13:14)?

Looking at the picture made me wonder: What will the next picture look like forty years from now? Who will be sitting on a couch picking the brain of Mark Driscoll? It’s a scary and thrilling thought, isn’t it?

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The Bride of Christ

Posted on August 5, 2008 by arator

What kind of bride are you?

The whole question of “lordship” plagued our debates for some time as we asked if there was such a thing as a minimalist view of conversion? “We said the prayer and that’s it.” Yet how can there be a minimalist view of conversion when conversion itself is a maximal work of God’s grace? “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17).

If you were proposing marriage to someone, what would the one receiving the proposal say if you said, “I want you to know this proposal changes nothing about my allegiances, my behavior, and my daily life; however, I do want you to know that should you accept my proposal, we shall theoretically be considered married. There will be no other changes in me on your behalf.” In a strange way we have minimized every sacred commitment and made it the lowest common denominator. What does my new birth mean to me? That is a question we seldom ask. Who was I before God’s work in me, and who am I now?
Ravi Zacharias,God’s Dupes?, in Tabletalk Magazine, p. 13; August, 2008.

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