Owen on Grace

From, Communion With God (Puritan Paperbacks: Treasures of John Owen for Today's Readers)

"Grace is a word which has various meanings. But chiefly it means three things:
(1) Grace can mean grace of personal presensce and beauty. So we say, 'He or she is graceful and beutiful person'. The Song of Solomon deals mainly with the grace and beauty of Christ's person. See Psalm 45:2
(2) Grace can mean grace of free favour and acceptance. 'By grace you are saved'. That is, we are saved by the free favour and merciful acceptance of God in Christ. So the expression 'If I found grace in your sight' is often used. The person using this expression hopes that he will be freely and favourable accepted. So God 'gives grace', that is, favour, to the humble (James 4:6; Gen. 39:21; 41:37; Acts 7:10 I Sam. 2:26; II Kings 25:27).
(3) Grace can mean the fruit of the Spirit sanctifying and renewing our natures, enabling us to do those good things which God has purposed and planing for us to do, and holding us back from evil. 'My grace is sufficient for you,' says the Lord Christ. That is, the help which God gave was sufficient for Paul (II Cor. 12:9, 8:6,7; Col. 3:16; Heb. 12:28).
The last two meanings of the word grace, as relating to Christ, I call 'purchased grace', being purchased by him for us. And our communion with Jesus in this purchased grace is called 'a fellowship in his sufferings, and the power of his resurrection' (Phil. 3:10).

What we sing

Just some thoughts on hymns with a nice article to go along with it. I was thinking about how most evangelicals do not have a liturgy that goes back hundreds of years as a tie that binds them to our sacred past. Very few traditions, no liturgy. They have had two great things going for them, preaching and hymns. Both are not what they once were. Many of the old hymns are so rich and so well crafted. They have been sung in Protestant churches for hundreds of years in some cases and now they are being cast aside without a second thought. Keep hymns alive! Also check out this cool slide show about hymns from Christianity Today.

Solus Christus

In a Bible study class, I remember being given an assignment where 10 or so Bible verses were given and we were instructed to elaborate on what they said about the importance of the Bible. It was obvious the verses were found by concordance by locating any verses containing the phrase "word of God." As I looked for the context, it also became obvious that many of these verses explicitly referred to Christ, not the Bible. When I emailed the T.A. who gave the assignment, they instructed me to do the assignment as if they referred to the Bible, even if I knew they did not!

A hot topic lately on Christian blogs has been the tension between being bibliocentric (Centered on the Bible) and Christocentric (Centered on Christ). While slamming the wheel to the other side might be an over-reaction, I can sympathize that we sometimes may be too focused on the book, rather than what the book is about:

Svigel on the Fringe.

A British Pastor on "Why I am not a Bible Teacher" (& Part 2)

Solus Christus on Solus Christus

Jerry Falwell: Interesting Legacy

It is surprising how many interesting stories have come to light about Falwell after his death. My favorite was by students at Liberty who talked about seeing him at a restaurant. They didn't even think he knew them, but at the end of the meal, after Falwell and his friends had left, they were informed Falwell had paid for their meal. So when people as diverse as Rick Warren and Larry Flint have had good things to say, at least personally he must have been a good guy.

The reaction from the current evangelical movement was well observed as having lost a grandfather that they may not have agreed with all the time, but were kinda fond of.

R.I.P. Falwell

History of War

Ok I do not have this totally developed but I liked this commentary by Fred Thompson on an important thing of the past to study… war. He asserts that warfare is no longer taught at our Universities. I can say while I am sure he is correct I did have a run in with this at Illinois State University. I was a Social Science Major which is basically the same as a History major. The hardest class I ever took at ISU was “U.S. Military History”. This is to ISU’s credit and the woman teaching it is a first rate scholar.
If Fred is right I do think what he asserts as part of the reason has to be true. He states “The post-Vietnam antiwar movement tends to see all wars as mutual mistakes — with both sides in a conflict equally wrong. Some of these folks think war can be avoided by refusing to have anything to do with it.” To true and I think this has infected a lot of the Western Church which is so heavily influenced by our Anti-war at all costs culture. Meanwhile true evil may go unchecked to the point of no return. Perhaps we could use a good study not only of the History of warfare but the view of warfare (for better or worse) of the Church throughout history. Some stones would not be plesent to turn over but I do think we will find that Christians in the past were not as afraid to die as we (me included) are.

My view of what we are missing as we talk and talk about identifying with our enemies is summed up much better by Victor Davis Hanson when he writes, “The hundred years of talking about slavery was not as important as two days at Gettysburg. The success or failure of Normandy affected Hitler more in an hour than had years of pleading with him in the 1930s.”

The down trodden and oppressed are best helped when we are willing to fight for them.

Beckwith fully resigns,

Beckwith officially resigned as a member of ETS as well as the presidency today. Seems James White originally "broke" the story while Beckwith was trying to keep ETS off the radar screen by handling it quietly. White has tried to lead a few ETS-ers in going after Beckwith hard. I think Beckwith is wrong, but James White is not the guy I want talking about this subject. Even when he is on the right side, he doesn't know how to argue rhetorically and logically. I found myself disagreeing with a few foundational points in Geisler's Chosen But Free. Then James White came out with The Potter's Freedom that so poorly and angerly argued against Geisler's book that Geisler used the opportunity to instruct on poor logical agruments (Non Sequitur, Ad Hominem, etc) . Even though White was on the right side on some of the points, I still cringe when I see his name in a debate.

5/10 Update: Interview with Christianity Today

ETS President converts to Catholicism

The former President of the Evangelical Theological Society Francis J. Beckwith converted to Catholicism. ETS has had problems in the past when they would not bar Open Theists like Clark Pinnock, prompting Norman Geisler to resign. Pinnock in, Beckwith out. Just interesting to ponder.

Clarification: meaning, if they kick out the Catholic, then why do they keep the Open Theist?

Orthodox Church

I attended an Antiochian Orthodox Church this week. While my Protestant principles find a few problems with the Orthodox Church, it is always good to experience the other traditions for a sense of what others may emphasis that we do not.

The liturgy had one main focus: Christ. Christ incarnate, Christ our Savior, Christ the Resurrected. It is hard not to meditate on the person of Christ in the service. While we Protestants may look at Christ through the lens of faith or grace, it is helpful to also take a minute to look at the Christ as the one who incarnates Truth (who became what he wished to save) and Resurrects (completes, does not destroy).

The Eastern Orthodox talk about Icons. Icons signify something else. They are very similar to sacraments in that they remind us of some truth that is greater. Did we Protestants over-react to Icons in the past?

What would the culture look like if we did not run from culture to our safe walled garden, but incarnated truth in that culture? What would it look like if we looked to redeem all of creation? What would it look like if we saw life as a sacrament, if we could find more icons or types of Christ in art, culture and nature?

Sure, having Icons may tempt us to worship them instead of Christ. Anyway, we Protestants have enough to worship instead of Christ already: materialism, the pastor, the sermon, the Bible…

The Pearl

I was just thinking of how interesting it was that Boris Yeltsin had a full Orthodox funeral when I saw the same observation here on The Corner. Communism tore down churches and turned others into public rest rooms. Today the country is in need of rebirth as desperation, alcoholism and suicide are all out of control. May the Lord have mercy on Russia and indeed help “the Russians find the pearl that was viciously taken from them”.

The Emerging Church

An interesting movement lately is the Emerging Church. My initial reaction was resistance. But then, the "Emerging Church" is merely the church of my generation, so to be totally resistant to it is merely to be resistant to my generation. In "They like Jesus, But not the Church" Dan Kimball, in trying to target 20-somethings, noticed the number one question was not "what denomination are you?" but "what are you doing for the poor?" We like our minimall churches, our "blessings of wealth" but do not realize a rich church does not look like Christ. If the body of Christ does not look like Christ, why would or should anyone be attracted to the church?

If you only knew of the church by Jerry Falwell calling the Teletubees gay, or Pat Robertson lusting for judgment of homsexuality in Florida by huricanes, or James Dobson calling Spunge-Bob gay (interesting pattern here), would you see the Christ with the woman at the well, or the Pharisees ready to stone a similar woman caught in adultry? Would we "marvel" that Christ would dare speak and love a homosexual?

Some interesting resources for keeping an orthodox theology, but a liberal orthopraxy in the Emerging church (just click the underlined links):

Dallas Theological's audio discussion on the Emerging Church. (starts with part 3, click part 1 on the right)

Relevant Magazine (yeah, I hate the name too, but great magazine)

Dan Kimball's "They Like Jesus, But not the Church"

Mark Driscoll's "Confessions of a Reformissional Rev."

Don Miller's "Blue Like Jazz"
(not explicitly Emerging, but a good intro to narrative thoughts of Christ, rather than purely systematic)

Obama and "Christian politics"

There are many items that makes Obama appealing as a candidate. He professes Christ and has some great Biblical imagry in his speeches. He reminds Christians of the terrible state of Republicans on social justice issues and global poverty (or at least of conservative loud mouths like Ann Coulter and Michael Savage).

Yet, he places himself on dubious ground in his response to the ban on partial birth abortion. One thinks of Wilberforce needing to bring MPs on board slave ships to convince them of the extent of the evil of the slave trade. Are detailed discriptions needed? With a "life of the mother" exemption, isn't this an area where reasonable people can agree?

What a wonderful dialog that could take place about social justice and Bonhoeffer's ethics. But as Bonhoeffer had that one issue of the "Jewish Problem," so are we saddled with the issue of abortion. When will the Democratic party listen to moderation? Don't they know they would easily gain millions of evangelical supporters with merely a more moderate position?

I just viewed a superb movie called "Into Great Silence." The film maker spent 6 months filming the lives of the monks of Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps. The film first makes you restless with the silence of the monastery. Then, you find the rest of the world to be too noisy, and the aesthetic life of the monks engulf you. Everything is done slowly. Everything gains new beauty. You begin to realize; God is not experienced most in the greatest of things, but as 1 Kings 19:11-13 says:

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Legalism is Easier than Liberty

(Derek Webb - "A New Law" video above)

I once was afraid of Grace. "What will people do with it?" Legalism is just easier, so we preach that instead. Moderation? Christian Liberty? No, Pharisee-ism is easier to explain. Just follow the letter, not the Spirit.

Christ and Homosexuals

Some homosexuals organized a gathering outside a Southern Baptist seminary to protest their stance on homosexuality. Then the seminary students did what they should do: they handed out water to the protesters. Maybe Southern Baptists are taught the love of Jesus...

Fruit Inspections

So many things to have fun with in this article! So Fred Thompson is bad, Newt (On my third wife) Gingrich is the real thing? And his organization is called "Focus on the Family"? I just think it is weird to say Newt says the right things (may not live it) and Fred does not say the right things, therefore... Newt is true Blue and Fred is not. I also have to reject the premise that we need a "evangelical" Christian as the litmus test for President.

"I would rather be ruled by a just Turk then an unjust Christian" - Martin Luther

Gospel and Robes

I attended a mid-day mass in Dallas at an Anglican Church on the invite of a friend. Ministers in robes who actually preach the gospel...different. The church has such a rich history of great christians such as Cramner, Wesley, Whitefield, Wilberforce, John Newton, Charles Simeon, C.S. Lewis, J.I. Packer, and Alister McGrath. Seems the Dallas diocese is one of the most conservative in the country.The Anglican church will gather in 2008 in England to (hopefully) address the ordination of homosexuals by the more liberal wings in America. If the more liberal wings are expelled, the Anglican church might revert to being a great conservative semi-evangelical church again. A hopeful prospect.

Wrongful Life?

A woman is suing after a failed abortion resulted in birth. How sick is our culture when someone's life necessitates compensation?

When asked to give a lecture at Harvard comparing the poverty of India and the wealth of the United States, Mother Teresa flipped the labels. India, she said, is rich with spiritual hunger and culture. The United States is impoverished: only a poverty of soul would kill the unborn for convenience.

Presuming on Grace from a Holy God

Sproul's sermon here is one of the most moving I have heard. In one sermon, Sproul puts the entire Old Testament "Angry" God in perspective. How often we confuse grace and justice. At times, God gives us justice and we cry out for "fairness" and justice, when we really are angry God gave us justice when we wanted grace. "I have mercy on whomever I will have mercy"

click on listen and you can download the mp3.

In What Sense God is Ineffable.

While teaching on St. Augustine in adult Sunday School I had the class read and discuss this passage from St. Augustine's "On Christian Doctrine". How often do we think about what leap it is for God to accept our praise as he is truly unspeakable? And for that matter who even writes about stuff like this anymore? IT got some great discussion going. The class seemed to really enjoy it. See for yourself;

Chapter 6.—In What Sense God is Ineffable.
6. Have I spoken of God, or uttered His praise, in any worthy way? Nay, I feel that I have done nothing more than desire to speak; and if I have said anything, it is not what I desired to say. How do I know this, except from the fact that God is unspeakable? But what I have said, if it had been unspeakable, could not have been spoken. And so God is not even to be called “unspeakable,” because to say even this is to speak of Him. Thus there arises a curious contradiction of words, because if the unspeakable is what cannot be spoken of, it is not unspeakable if it can be called unspeakable. And this opposition of words is rather to be avoided by silence than to be explained away by speech. And yet God, although nothing worthy of His greatness can be said of Him, has condescended to accept the worship of men’s mouths, and has desired us through the medium of our own words to rejoice in His praise. For on this principle it is that He is called Deus (God). For the sound of those two syllables in itself conveys no true knowledge of His nature; but yet all who know the Latin tongue are led, when that sound reaches their ears, to think of a nature supreme in excellence and eternal in existence.

The Lost World

The term unevangelized here means: has never had exposure to the gospel.