Spurgeon quote for the day.

"The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them." -C.H. Spurgeon

Joy

While watching The Question of God - Sigmund Freud & C.S. Lewis the other night I was struck by C.S. Lewis' take on Joy as a desire. Or even as desire for a desire. If Luther (Commentary on Peter & Jude) and the majority of commentators that I have read about 1 Peter are correct, then 1 Peter is about what Luther termed "Future Joy". Putting that with Lewis' definition of joy then it is a interesting concept that the joy we look forward to in heaven is a desire, certainly a desire for God and the things of God. We can only get a taste of it here, mingled with the death and heartache of Earth. But when Christ comes the joy His people feel does seem to be something beyond what can be put into words. We will both have the desire, and the object of our desire.

Table Talk for the Day

DCCCXXX.
News came from Torgau that the Turks had led out into the great square at Constantinople twenty-three Christian prisoners, who, on their refusing to apostatize, were beheaded. Dr. Luther said: Their blood will cry up to heaven against the Turks, as that of John Huss did against the papists. `Tis certain, tyranny and persecution will not avail to stifle the Word of Jesus Christ. It flourishes and grows in blood. Where one Christian is slaughtered, a host of others arise. `Tis not on our walls or our arquebusses I rely for resisting the Turk, but upon the Pater Noster. `Tis that will triumph. The Decalogue is not, of itself, sufficient. I said to the engineers at Wittenberg: Why strengthen your walls - they are trash; the walls with which a Christian should fortify himself are made, not of stone and mortar, but of prayer and faith.

-Luther

Buchanan encourages good to do nothing in the face of evil

This is hardly the theme of Buchanan's "they didn't attack us" response to evil:

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

1 Peter Study

We are now in the second half of Chapter 1.
Thought for the theme from John Calvin (my commentator of choice): "The main point of this epistle is to raise us above the world, in order that we may be prepared and encouraged to sustain the spiritual contests of our warefare."
In other words: 1 Peter fosters joy in hope of 'future grace.' (to steal John Piper's phrase)

Superman vs. Gibson's Christ

Ok I have seen "The Passion" and while it has many problems, I liked it a lot. I have not made it to Superman yet so I do not have much to comment on this story. But I am looking forward to seeing the new Superman movie! Looks like it could be fun. As for getting the Gospel message out to the masses through a mainstream movie... I am to tired of the thought to even yawn at it anymore. I just don't think that God has plans for a big revival centered around a Hollywood production. Even so it is still beneficial to discern truth and beauty in any art whether it claims to be "Christian" or not. In that spirit I submit this story for your reading enjoyment.

Chesterton Quote for June

"Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it." - Autobiography, 1937

The Local Church is the Hope of the World 2

Stories of the growth of home churches continue to pop up here and there. Like this story entitled "Going to Church by Staying at Home" While I see the necessity of it in many places like China or India. I stand by my position that it is mostly a negative thing in the U.S. While I can totally sympathize with not wanting to be part of a "megachurch" and the overhead of American "Churches" is part of what is wrong with our culture. We often seem to think we need to have the best building, state of the art nursery etc. No we don't! I also think that small groups in peoples homes is needed. Even if they are hard to get along with sometimes. Having conceded that and other points, I do think we need to be plugged into the larger community and not be doing our Christianity "Freelance" with no educated leaders. I continue to hold that more is needed then just a "Bible and a believer" to get truth right... Let's humble ourselves and get to church on Sunday.

1 Peter

This summer we will be tackling 1 Peter with the help of our Dead Theologian friends. Aaron has already called Luther for his commentary and I tenatively call Calvin. Sounds like Eric is weighing his options and maybe we can talk Old Man Nelson to join us too (though Jim Elliott and C.S. Lewis didn't write any commentaries so I don't know who Dad would like to pick).

American V

I can hardly contain my excitement. There has been talk of this for a long time but I had given up hope on it being released. But on July 4 we will finally be able to listen to American V. Perfect release date for Johnny Cash’s last album.

Equality would be boring...

The discourse turning among the great differences amongst the learned, Luther said: God has very finely distributed his gifts, so that the learned serve the unlearned, and the unlearned humble themselves before the learned, in what is needful for them. If all people were equal, the world could not go on; nobody would serve another, and there would be no peace. The peacock complained because he had not the nightingale's voice. God, with apparent inequality, has instituted the greatest equality; one man, who has greater gifts than another, is proud and haughty, and seeks to rule and domineer over others, and condemns them. God finely illustrates human society in the members of the body, and shows that one member must assist the other, and that none can be without the other.

Evangelism and Joy

My thesis: Evangelism is motivated by joy. Why? Evangelism is a form of praise, and praise is sharing our joy with others. Thus we share Christ with others as a privilege of delight and joy. The command is for us to have joy in God, to delight in God, not to merely share with or without that joy.

(1 Peter 3:15-16)

15…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

An answer requires hope

Romans 15:13:
13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

What is Praise?: Joy, Delight, Happiness - results in Praise.

C.S. Lewis -“ all enjoyment spontaneously flows into praise”

Praise and Joy linked to sharing in the Bible:
Psalm 9:1-2
1[a] I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
2I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

Psalm 50:8-15

Not of duties, but of thanksgiving:
[God Speaking:]
8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds. 10For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
12"If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.
13Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,[b]
and perform your vows to the Most High,
15and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

We are told to “go into the world and preach the gospel” (Mk. 16:15). Gospel is good news. It is good news because it brings us joy. Joy naturally results in praise. And by praise we preach the gospel.

God does not accept our sacrifices of duty (Ps. 50:8,12). He may work through them, but he does not need them and we do Him no favor by doing them (v12). Our sacrifice is of thanksgiving (v13). The command is delighting in God (Ps. 37:4), praise is the result. Evangelism is others hearing our praise.

The Hope of Salvation

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. No husbandman would sow one grain of corn, if he hoped not it would grow up and become seed; no bachelor would marry a wife, if he hope not to have children; no merchant or tradesman would set himself to work, if he did not hope to reap benefit thereby, etc. How much more, then, does hope urge us on to everlasting life and salvation? - Martin Luther

Does Regeneration precede faith? Are these two distinct events, or simultaneous?

John 1:13 (King James Version)
"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

John Calvin appears to have no problem with the mystery his later followers feel they must deny.
John Calvin on John 1:13
"The will of the flesh and the will of man appear to me to mean the same thing; for I see no reason why flesh should be supposed to signify woman, as Augustine and many others explain it. On the contrary, the Evangelist repeats the same thing in a variety of words, in order to explain it more fully, and impress it more deeply on the minds of men. Though he refers directly to the Jews, who gloried in the flesh, yet from this passage a general doctrine may be obtained: that our being reckoned the sons of God does not belong to our nature, and does not proceed from us, but because God begat us willingly, (James 1:18,) that is, from undeserved love. Hence it follows, first, that faith does not proceed from ourselves, but is the fruit of spiritual regeneration; for the Evangelist affirms that no man can believe, unless he be begotten of God; and therefore faith is a heavenly gift. It follows, secondly, that faith is not bare or cold knowledge, since no man can believe who has not been renewed by the Spirit of God.

It may be thought that the Evangelist reverses the natural order by making regeneration to precede faith, whereas, on the contrary, it is an effect of faith, and therefore ought to be placed later. I reply, that both statements perfectly agree; because by faith we receive the incorruptible seed, (1 Peter 1:23,) by which we are born again to a new and divine life. And yet faith itself is a work of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in none but the children of God. So then, in various respects, faith is a part of our regeneration, and an entrance into the kingdom of God, that he may reckon us among his children. The illumination of our minds by the Holy Spirit belongs to our renewal, and thus faith flows from regeneration as from its source; but since it is by the same faith that we receive Christ, who sanctifies us by his Spirit, on that account it is said to be the beginning of our adoption.

Another solution, still more plain and easy, may be offered; for when the Lord breathes faith into us, he regenerates us by some method that is hidden and unknown to us; but after we have received faith, we perceive, by a lively feeling of conscience, not only the grace of adoption, but also newness of life and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. For since faith, as we have said, receives Christ, it puts us in possession, so to speak, of all his blessings. Thus so far as respects our sense, it is only after having believed -- that we begin to be the sons of God. But if the inheritance of eternal life is the fruit of adoption, we see how the Evangelist ascribes the whole of our salvation to the grace of Christ alone; and, indeed, how closely soever men examine themselves, they will find nothing that is worthy of the children of God, except what Christ has bestowed on them."

Why Is Modern Culture Bored?

Update: Sorry, I had tried to post from my mobile phone and that didn't work too well.

I was going to put up an Augustine quote:
"Those who fail to discover what they are looking for suffer from hunger, whereas those who do not look, because they have it in front of them, often die of boredom." -Augustine "On Christian Teaching"

Da Vinci Opportunities

It was hard for me. I saw this phenomenon going on; everyone at work was talking about the book. Some even taking the conspiracy theories found in it seriously! It was so hard to not be condescending. It was also hard to read the book. Not HARD hard. It is a very easy read. I just could not believe I was reading a book that contained an albino assassin monk. It is pulp fiction to the core, full of cheesy dialog, unbelievable characters on every page. But I got through it, and was able to notice the creativity in the puzzles and acknowledge that there was some talent in there. It opened the dialog at work with people in great ways! I could add what I liked about the book, what I did not like, and why the history in it is pure drivel and should only be enjoyed as fiction. I hope the movie will open up more windows to discuss the truth. I agree with the sentiment of this story whole heartedly!

Happy Easter

John 20:1-9 (NKJV)
The Empty Tomb
1 Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
3 Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. 4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. 5 And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. 9 For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

In the Tomb

"When Adam lived, that is, when he sinned, death devoured life; when Christ died, that is, was justified, then life, which is Christ, swallowed up and devoured death; therefore God be praised, that Christ died, and has got the victory."

-Martin Luther “Table Talk”


Matthew 12:39-41 (New King James Version)
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

Have an Atonement Centered Good Friday

"God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 2:1-2 KJV

The Transfiguration of Harold Maines

I have finally secured a copy of The Transfiguration of Harold Maines by director Jared W. Johnson. It is well done and very funny! Hard to believe much of it was adlibbed. Kudos to the actors for being so funny and believable. Director Jared Johnson's bizarre sense of humor is at its best in this piece of fiction made to look like a documentary. The idea of a documentary about a man who may have turned into a horse is an idea only he would cook up. If you want to see something truly original then I recommend this short movie.