Conservative Reformed Mafia

"Pursuing Truth" Re-Launched

2009-02-15T17:10:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to invite you all to visit the new Pursuing Truth at http://jeffwrightjr.wordpress.com. Thank you to all who link to PT. Please change your links to the web address above. Thanks!

By His Grace and For His Glory

2009-01-24T09:00:00.001-06:00

CRM has had a good run but it is time to bring this project to a close. Thank you to our great team of contributors. God has blessed you with many gifts and I look forward to reading your future writings and following how God continues to use you for His glory.

Thank you to our readers. We appreciate your readership, comments, and support. We hope you have benefited in some way from our posts. Thanks for linking to CRM on your blogs, following us on Facebook, and the other ways you have supported us. We hope you will continue to interact with our individual blogs even as our group blog comes to a close. Please see the contributors list to the left.

I will leave us with this final exhortation from Charles H. Spurgeon. God bless you all.

Pursuing Truth,
Jeff Wright

"If you should never tread the hallowed courts of God's house again, never hear his Word, never listen to hearty invitation or honest warning, I have one entreaty to put up for you. Mark, not a request, but an entreaty; and such a one, that if I were begging for my life I could not be more honest and intensely earnest about it. Poor sinner, stop awhile, and think. If thou hast heard the gospel and been profited by it, what wilt thou think of all thy lost opportunities when thou art on thy dying bed? What wilt thou think when thou art cast into hell, when this thought shall come ringing in thy ears: "Thou didst hear the gospel, but thou didst reject it;" when the devils in hell shall laugh in thy face, and say: "We never rejected Christ, we never despised the Word," and they shall thrust thee into a deeper hell than ever they themselves experienced. I entreat thee, stop, and think of this. Are the joys that thou hast in this world worth living for? Is not this world a dull and dreary place? Man, turn over a fresh leaf. I tell thee, there is no joy for thee here, and there is none hereafter whilst thou art what thou art. Oh, may God teach thee that the mischief lies in thy sin. Thou hast unforgiven sin about thee. As long as thy sin is unforgiven, thou canst neither be happy here, nor in the world to come. My entreaty is, go to thy chamber; if thou knowest thy self to be guilty, make a full confession there before God; ask him to have mercy upon thee, for Jesus' sake. And he will not deny thee. Man, he will not dent thee; he will answer thee; he will put all thy sins away; he will accept thee; he will make thee his child. And as thou shalt be more happy here, so shalt thou be blessed in the world to come. Oh, Christian men and women, I entreat you, implore the Spirit of God to lead many in this crowd to full confession, to real prayer, and humble faith; and if they have never repented before, may they now turn to Christ. Oh, sinner, thy life is short, and death is hastening. Thy sins are many, and if judgment has leaden feet, yet has it a sure and heavy hand. Turn, turn, turn, I beseech thee. May the Holy Spirit turn thee. Lo, Jesus is lifted up before thee now. By his five wounds, I beseech thee, turn. Look thou to him and live. Believe on him and thou shalt be saved, for whosoever believeth on the Son of Man hath everlasting life, and he shall never perish, neither shall the wrath of God rest upon him.
May the Spirit of God now command his own abiding blessing, even life for evermore, for Jesus' sake. Amen."

from The Minister's Farewell, A Sermon (No. 289). Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 11th, 1859, by the REV. C. H. Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens, Upon the last occasion of his preaching in that place.

Dream

2009-01-17T18:36:00.001-06:00

"No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until 'justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream...'" [cf. Amos 5:24]

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...'"

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character..."

"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; 'and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together...'" [cf. Isaiah 40:4-5]

Full Text

Advice for Theological Students

2009-01-17T13:49:00.002-06:00

Ten Steps to a Brilliant Career

I'm normally not quite this lazy, but this post was just too funny, so I'm copying and pasting the whole list from the blog Faith and Theology.

1. As a theological student, your aim is to accumulate opinions – as many as you can, and as fast as possible. (Exceptional students may acquire all their opinions within the first few weeks; others require an entire semester.) One of the best ways to collect opinions is to choose your theological group (“I shall be progressive,” or “I will be evangelical,” or “I am a Barthian”), then sign up to all the opinions usually associated with that social group. If at first you don’t feel much conviction for these new opinions, just be patient: within twelve months you will be a staunch advocate, and you’ll even be able to help new students acquire the same opinions.

2. At the earliest possible opportunity you should also form an opinion about your favourite theological discipline: that is, you should choose your specialisation. To communicate this choice to others, you should dismiss as trivial or irrelevant all other disciplines: the systematic theologian should teach herself to utter humorous remarks about the worth of “practical” theology, while the New Testament student should learn to hold forth emphatically on the dangers of systematic theology; and so on.

3. As far as possible, you should try to avoid all non-theological interests or pursuits. All your time and energy should be invested in reading important books and discussing important ideas. (Novels in particular should be avoided, as they are a notorious time-waster, and they furnish you with no new opinions.)

4. Every successful theological student must master the proper vocabulary. All theological conversations should be peppered with these termini technici (e.g. “Only a demythologised Barthian ontology can subvert the différance of postmodern theory and re-construe the analogia entis in terms of temporal mediation”). The less comprehensible and more sibylline the sentence uttered, the better. There are some stock-in-trade terms that are de rigueur (e.g. perichoresis, imago Dei, Heilsgeschichte, Bullsgeschichte), but the really outstanding student should find creative ways to deploy a wide range of foreign polysyllabic words. Phrases of Latin, Greek or German derivation are particularly prized. (Those of Hebrew of Syriac extraction should be used more sparingly – they are usually greeted with some puzzlement, or with cries of “Gesundheit!”)

5. Now that you’re a theological student, you will discover that the world is filled with people who don’t share your new opinions. Every conversation should thus be viewed as an opportunity to persuade others of their simple-mindedness and to convert them to a better understanding. If you’re feeling shy about this, you should start by practising on your family and closest friends. And it’s not always necessary to engage in a full-blown discussion; at times a single Latin term or a knowing smirk is all that’s required to demolish another person’s argument.

6. Were you raised in a conservative Christian family? If so, your theological education provides you with the perfect opportunity for rebellion. The benefits of theological rebellion should not be underestimated: rejecting all your parents’ religious opinions allows you both to assert your independence and to imply that your parents are backward and naïve. In this respect, theological education can be every bit as effective as smoking cannabis or moving in with your boyfriend: but without all the bad smells.

7. Every true theologian is an avid collector of books. The day you became a theological student, you entered a race to amass a personal library larger and more impressive than those of your peers. Books should be acquired as quickly and as indiscriminately as possible; second-hand books are even better, since they give the appearance of having been read, which can save you a great deal of time.

8. When you are asked to preach in a parish, you should take the opportunity to display the advantages of theological education. Every good sermon should quote the words of some great theologian (a “great German theologian” is even better). And the phrase “the original Greek says…” should be used sparingly but effectively – perhaps just two or three times in a sermon.

9. The goal of theological education is a good career: preferably an academic career, although in some cases you might have to settle for pastoral ministry (or worse, just a regular job). It’s never too early to get your career on track: every essay, every conversation with a professor, every question you ask in class – these are the opportunities to show the professor how deeply you share their opinions, and how superior your own insights are to those of your classmates. In all circumstances you should revere, admire and emulate your professors. Even if they are neither wise nor virtuous, your goal is to become their perfect reflection, mirroring back to them their own opinions, preferences and prejudices. To show that you are the professor’s true protégé: this is the beginning of wisdom, and the bedrock of any good career.

10. Under no circumstances should you resort to old-fashioned pieties like daily prayer and Bible-reading. There are far too many important things to be thinking about, and far too many important things to be reading. (Church attendance is acceptable, however, since it gives you the opportunity of improving your pastor’s theological education.)

Face(book)ing Some Facts on Israel and Gaza

2009-01-14T16:45:00.001-06:00

Conservative Christians have admittedly had an imbalanced perspective regarding Israel and her enemies (particularly the Palestinians) in recent years. The plight of Palestinian Christians, for instance, has largely been overlooked amid what is oftentimes uncritical support for the Israeli government. Carl Moeller, President/CEO of Open Doors USA recently commented on the difficult situation faced by Palestinian Christians: "They're not part of Hamas. They're not radical Islamic terrorists. And, they're not Israelis. So the Israelis see them as Palestinians, and the Palestinian terrorists see them as Christians who are not part of their Islamic movement. It's a tough place to be." It certainly is. Unfortunately conservatives come across as if we are more concerned with how the current situation in Gaza might fit into a prophetic timetable than we are with the welfare of the estimated 2,500 Christians in Gaza, not to the mention scores of other innocent civilians. We conservative Christians have some work to do in order to deal with the shortcomings in our approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so that we might be more balanced.

That being said, it troubles me when I see my Facebook friends joining groups and applications such as "Israel is a Terrorist" (27,000+ members), "STOP Israel's War Crimes in Gaza" (74K fans) and "i bet i can find 1,000,000 people who hates [sic] israel" (23K+ members). I will not waste my time repeating some of the less-than-lovely comments you can find on these pages. These folks condemn Israel for killing civilians in Gaza (often using such irresponsibly hyperbolic statements such as "the Israeli ruthless genocide in Gaza"). One application offers to update your Facebook status with the number of Palestinians killed or wounded as a "counter media campaign" in response to a competing application (run by the "Zionists") which will update your status with the number of rockets fired into Israel by Hamas.

I have no problem with those who are passionate about speaking out on behalf of those who have been killed in the battles between Israel and Hamas. What I have a problem with is the fact that the same people who claim "genocide" in Gaza remain absolutely silent over the cowardly crimes of Hamas. Hamas, one of the many terrorist organizations committed to the destruction of Israel, is responsible for 7,000 rocket attacks against the people of Sderot, Israel since 2001. They have no regard for their fellow Palestinians as they hide themselves among civilians in hospitals and foreign diplomatic mission centers. Israel has a well-established policy of specifically targeting terrorist leaders while Hamas aims to maximize civilian casualties with their attacks. Israel's detractors accuse the government of war crimes while Hamas actually commits war crimes.

To those, specifically fellow Christians, who support Facebook groups such as "Israel is a Terrorist" and download applications such as "STOP Israel's War Crimes in Gaza," why do you ignore the war crimes of Hamas? Why have you said nothing as Hamas and other Palestinians have targeted civilian areas in Israel with rocket attacks? Why have you remained silent as Hamas has placed their security facilities in the middle of densely-populated areas and operate out of hospitals? If you are strongly opposed to the so-called cycle of violence, why have you just now begun to speak out now that Israel has chosen to take action in Gaza? Where was your voice as the rockets landed in Sderot? Hamas has no regard for Israeli or Palestinian civilians. Do you have anything to say about this? Or will you continue to hide behind oft-repeated excuses about disproportionate numbers of deaths as if statistics were the sole arbiter of morality? STOP Israel's War Crimes in Gaza states, "These numbers [of Palestinian casualties] have already exceeded hundreds and thousands versus only few tens of Israelis." Would it have been better if Hamas' rocket attacks near school buses, hospitals, and elementary schools actually killed Israeli children rather than being terrifying near-misses so that the casualty numbers would be more evenly distributed?

Alan Dershowitz was right to speak of "moral idiocy" in his recent column on Israel and Gaza. Dershowitz writes,

"There have been three types of international response to the Israeli military actions against the Hamas rockets. Not surprisingly, Iran, Hamas and other knee-jerk Israeli-bashers have argued that the Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians are entirely legitimate and that the Israeli counterattacks are war crimes. Equally unsurprising is the response of the United Nations, the European Union, Russia, and others who, at least when it comes to Israel, see a moral and legal equivalence between terrorists who target civilians and a democracy that responds by targeting the terrorists. And finally, there is the United States and a few other nations that place the blame squarely on Hamas for its unlawful and immoral policy of using its own civilians as human shields. The most dangerous of the three responses is the United Nations and European Union response, which equates the willful murder of civilians with legitimate self-defense pursuant to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. This false moral equivalence only encourages terrorists to persist in their unlawful actions against civilians. The U.S. has it exactly right by placing the blame on Hamas while urging Israel to do everything possible to minimize civilian casualties." [emphasis mine]

Do the Christians who are condemning Israel fall into the camp of "knee-jerk Israeli-bashers" who, as Dershowitz states, believe "that the Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians are entirely legitimate and that the Israeli counterattacks are war crimes"? I do not know. Their silence regarding the crimes of Hamas leads me to believe that this is a possibility.

Here is a simple fact I would like to share with my fellow Christians who are condemning Israel on Facebook and elsewhere: The enemies of Israel want Israel to die while Israel wants to live. Israel's enemies are committed to the destruction of Israel but Israel does not want to be destroyed. That is the problem. How you solve this problem is incredibly complex but the problem itself is quite simple. The problem with Israel and Gaza is not a genocidal Israeli government whose aim is to kill Palestinian civilians. Gaining clarity regarding the root problem with Israel and her enemies while abandoning morally idiotic claims of equivalency and cycles of violence could bring some much-needed balance to the discussion. So would a healthy dose of discernment and independent thinking when it comes to the grossly unfair and imbalanced media coverage in favor of the Palestinians and against Israel. When Jews from the extreme left to the extreme right of the political spectrum are universally united in their support of Israel's present course of action, perhaps its time to take a second look at the situation.

Can left-leaning Christians be pro-Palestinian without being anti-Israel? Can conservative Christians support Israel while demonstrating concern for Palestinians? Of course. We are not limited to either/or fallacies. Christians of both the left and the right could all stand to become more balanced in their approaches to and slogans about the problem with Israel and Gaza.

Not Too Late to Begin Reading Calvin's Institutes

2009-01-14T12:10:00.001-06:00

The Foundation for Reformed Theology has a different reading guide from the one I linked to last week. If you wanted to read through Calvin's Institutes this year but decided against it because you did not start at the beginning of the month, I would suggest the reading guide put together by Dr. James C. Goodloe, IV. If you skip the Prefatory material and begin with Book One then you only need to read through 1.5.1 by today. Definitely doable. The difference with this reading guide is that you need to read some each day without any scheduled breaks for reflection every two weeks (see J. R. Harris' guide).

See also: reformation 21's Blogging the Institutes for regularly updated commentary on the daily readings from Sinclair Ferguson, Justin Taylor, Thabiti Anyabwile, Ligon Duncan and others.

Corporate Worship: Have It Your Way, Quick And Easy!

2009-01-11T08:50:00.002-06:00

[HT - Parchment & Pen]

A Year With Calvin

2009-01-10T15:54:00.001-06:00

So I started Calvin's Institutes a few days ago. Last week I posted a link to a site that provides a year-long reading schedule and mentioned that I was probably going to give it a shot. I'm one of those people who wants to read the back cover, inside jacket blurbs, acknowledgements, preface, introduction, table of contents, and so on. So this is how I began my through-the-year journey with Calvin. Last summer I picked up a copy of Institutes in the used section of the DTS book store (the same place, by the way, where I bought all of my Puritan paperback classics, Drinking With Calvin and Luther, and other reformed-ish titles. Many of them were sold by the same guy. Wonder why he dumped them off. Oh well, my gain). I bought the 2008 Hendrickson Publishers edition. I don't know if this a highly recommended version of the Institutes or not but I got for $15 instead of $25 so I'm happy. I know you can read it online for free but I like to mark what I'm reading with pencils and highlighters.

The book begins with 34 pages of prefatory material which is actually very good. The reading guide gives you one day to read "Prefatory," which I assume refers to Calvin's Prefatory Address to the King, but I read the preface to the Hendrickson edition, the intro to the original edition of the Henry Beveridge edition, a preface from the original English translator, and Calvin's epistles to the reader from each of the editions. Again, it was actually good stuff. I didn't read it all in a day and I didn't begin on January 1st so I'm a little behind. The English translator's, Thomas Norton, preface was particularly interesting. Not so much for what he had to say but because it got me thinking about the immensity of the task of translating a book of this size from Latin to English without a computer and other tools we enjoy today. Quite a task. Apparently Norton, son-in-law to Thomas Cranmer, was quite zealous in his role as official examiner and punisher of Catholics as he gained the nickname "Rackmaster" Norton.

I'm at 1.3 right now and need to read up to 1.8 this weekend to get caught up. Any else reading through Calvin's Institutes this year? I know BCJ (see previous post) is. I read one off-hand comment on another blog that made light of an undertaking such as this. I admit its a tad geeky. But read, for instance, what Karl Barth once wrote to a friend about Calvin:

"John Calvin is a cataract, a primeval forest, a demonic power, something directly down from Himalaya, absolutely Chinese, strange, mythological; I lack completely the means, the suction cups, even to assimilate this phenomenon, not to speak of presenting it adequately. What I receive is only a thin little stream and what I can then give out again is only a yet thinner extract of this little stream. I could gladly and profitably set myself down and spend all the rest of my life with just Calvin (emphasis mine)." [from J.R. Harris' introduction to his reading guide]

Not a bad endorsement. Let me know if you are reading through Calvin's Institutes this year too.

Things you are but Won't Admit

2009-01-08T14:47:00.003-06:00

About once a month, I will use one of the following five terms and someone will argue that:

1. They are not that term
2. You should not be that term
3. That term may be coming between you and your personallordandsaviorjesuschrist.

Well, Christians are (or should be) all of these terms whether they like it or not:

1. Confessional – No, this does not mean you confess your sins to a clergyman or anyone else, though that wouldn’t hurt you either. This means the heart of Christianity involves that act of confessing the faith. Confessing means to acknowledge, own, or affirm. This did not start with Constantine oppressing the Church at Nicea but is the common practice of New Testament Christians such as

Nathanael:

John 1:49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

Peter:

Matt 16:16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Thomas:

John 20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"

2. Creedal – creeds are the contents of what is believed. Creed comes from the latin that means to believe, and a creed merely answers what is believed. One of the most ignorant things one can say is “no creed but Christ.” This is asinine because first, that very statement is a creed – a statement of belief. And second, that statement in a non-answer. It merely tries to be clever in not answering Christ’s most important question: “Who do you say that I am?” (Luke 9:20) What is a ‘Christ’? Is that all that is necessary? Does Paul add too much to ask that “confess with your mouth that ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ” (Romans 10:9) or has Paul added too much creedalism in asking one to believe Jesus is Lord? Paul goes further in adding content to what is to be believed:

1Cor 8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Paul says much more than that Jesus is Christ. Who do you say that Jesus is? What you say is your belief or creed. In saying it, you are confessing a creed. Now, I don’t like to say silly things about Jesus, so I like to say those things Scripture said. So did the early church in constructing the earliest creeds like the Apostles Creed. It is a “ready answer for the hope you have”

3. Denominational – "to denominate" means to give measure or to name. To call something “non-denominational” is to name something “unnamed” and give the measure of something as non-measured. You may not have a name for something, but you must at least have some confession to what you believe, unless everyone merely comes to your church to chant to themselves in non-language. The minute you have a confession, you denominate yourself. The minute you answer your denomination as nondenominational, you have denominated yourself. Again, our answer to questions of belief should clarify, not confuse in non-answers.

4. Liturgical – this word denotes the established order for worship. Do you usually sing songs before a sermon? There you go, that’s your liturgy. Do you have an invitation from Scripture, some hymns a prayer and a sermon? That’s a bit of a better liturgy. Are there prayers, creeds, a confession of sin, read Scripture, a sermon and the Lord’s Supper? Now that’s a great liturgy, but a liturgy no more or less so than the others. The choice is not between liturgy and no liturgy, but what is included in the liturgy and how much thought is given to the content and purpose of it.

5. Sacramental – Sacraments are “means of grace.” Now you know you don’t have those! Although, Paul did comment about preaching:

Rom 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

There in Romans 10:14, Paul gives preaching a status as a means by which God accomplishes salvation. So, perhaps preaching may be seen as a “means of grace” if by means of grace what is meant is a set form by which it is acknowledged that grace is figured and offered to the person who accepts by faith. There may be more tangable ways the word is offered, such as if you have an alter call that offers restitution, or a prayer prayed with heads bowed and eyes closed that offers salvation, then you have sacraments. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are preferred by some since they are ordained by God in Scripture (as a means of grace by the word – Ephesians 5:26, 1 Cor 11:26), but everyone has sacraments in the eyes of the congregation, the difference is whether they are Scriptural ones or the ones we replace them with.

So are you Confessional, Creedal, Liturgical, Denominational and Sacramental? If you are Christian you are. So, don’t disparage one who uses the terms for which all Christians actually believe in, whether they know it or not.

Podcast recommendations

2009-01-07T00:24:00.005-06:00

I subscribe to quite a few free podcasts on iTunes. iTunes will download audio files as they become available and then you can listen to them on an ipod or MP3 player. I have a few I would recommend if you are getting started. I don't have time to listen to all of these, but I do listen when the topic or text seems interesting.

Renewing Your Mind
(R.C. Sproul’s audio lectures and Sunday School lessons)

The Reformed Forum
(a group of Reformed pastors interview theologians and talk books/theology)

Issues etc.
(Talk show produced by the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod)

The White Horse Inn
(Michael Horton and Friends discuss practical theology)

NPR – Religion
(Stories on Religion from NPR for the week)

Theology Unplugged

(Michael Paton and friends)

Steve Brown Etc.
(Professor at RTS interviews various Christian newsmakers)

Covenant Radio

(Reformed discussion of theology [warning: can be FV leaning/friendly at times])

Bored-Again Christian
(music for Christians that are bored with Christian Music)

Sermons:

First Presbyterian in Jackson. (Ligon Duncan and Derek Thomas)

First Prebyterian in Columbia. (Sinclair Ferguson and Ian Murray)

Bethlehem Baptist (John Piper)

City Church in San Francisco

Other good ones I don't get to that often:

Mars Hill in Seattle (Mark Driscoll)

Villiage Church in Dallas (Matt Chandler)

St. Peter's Anglican Church.

Now if only Tim Keller would get on iTunes!!!

Thank You For Supporting Living Water International

2009-01-03T20:24:00.000-06:00

Thank you to all who prayed, gave money, or otherwise supported Providence Community Church's efforts to raise money to dig two new deep water wells and repair existing wells in Liberia. Our original goal was $20,000 and we increased the goal to $30,000 when we exceeded our original goal. We ended up raising $42,000! Thank God for the opportunity to use the resources we have been blessed with in order to help others in this way. May these communities be blessed and God be glorified.

Read Through Calvin's Institutes In A Year

2009-01-02T10:55:00.000-06:00

Always wanted to read Institutes of the Christian Religion but were too overwhelmed by the length of such a weighty book? Check out A Year Through John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559) Arranged and Prepared by J.R. Harris. I think I'm going to give it a shot.

What Would Most Help You Grow In Your Relationship With Christ?

2009-01-01T09:00:00.002-06:00

As we continue blogging into 2009, what would most help you grow in your relationship with Christ?

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from CRM

2008-12-27T10:20:00.003-06:00

Hope you all have had a great Christmas! We have not been online much these past few weeks but have been spending time with family, friends, and others. We hope that you have been able to enjoy the same. The blogs will be here when we get back. Enjoy this time!

Some Christmastime reading:
The Real Twelve Days of Christmas by Edwin and Jennifer Woodruff Tait, Christian History.
Celebrating Christ's birth with saints of the faith during the actual Christmas season.

Give Life

2008-12-23T11:21:00.002-06:00

jeffwrightjr on Twitter

2008-12-22T13:20:00.001-06:00

So I finally joined Twitter. I wasn't going to jump on the latest social networking fad but I broke down and did it. So far it seems like it could have some potential. I don't like the character limit on how much you can write but, hey, its not meant to be a blog. Sign up and check it out. Warning: it can be as addicting as blogging, Facebook, etc. I'm jeffwrightjr on there. Give me a follow on Twitter and drop me a tweet. http://twitter.com/jeffwrightjr

What did the Incarnation Do?

2008-12-18T08:44:00.000-06:00

"The achievements of the Saviour, resulting from His becoming man, are of such kind and number, that if one should wish to enumerate them, he may be compared to men who gaze at the expanse of the sea and wish to count its waves. For as one cannot take in the whole of the waves with his eyes, for those which are coming on baffle the sense of him that attempts it; so for him that would take in all the achievements of Christ in the body, it is impossible to take in the whole, even by reckoning them up, as those which go beyond his thought are more than those he thinks he has taken in.

Better is it, then, not to aim at speaking of the whole, where one cannot do justice even to a part, but, after mentioning one more, to leave the whole for you to marvel at. For all alike are marvellous, and wherever a man turns his glance, he may behold on that side the divinity of the Word, and be struck with exceeding great awe."

Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word. ch 54, 4-5 (free version here, buy here)

What Is The Deal With Evangelicals And Advent? Part 2

2008-12-14T18:30:00.000-06:00

USA TODAY recently ran an article entitled, Evangelicals adopting Advent. The online version of the article received over 800 comments both negative and supportive. In my first post on this subject I shared some reasons why evangelicals would want to observe Advent and responded to some mild criticisms of evangelicals' growing interest in the observance. In this post I want to address one other complaint.

In my interview for the article I wanted mention our church's involvement with the Advent Conspiracy campaign rather than just talk about how my family personally observes Advent. Cathy Lynn Grossman graciously listened to what I had to say and wrote about Advent Conspiracy and Living Water International for her own blog as well as including a brief mention in her print article ("Their non-denominational church, Providence Community Church in Plano, Texas, has joined more than 1,000 other churches in a program called the Advent Conspiracy, to raise funds for new wells in Third World countries.") The complaint I want to respond to is that it is inappropriate to include projects such as Advent Conspiracy in the observance of Advent. The complaint was not about the campaign per se but that it has nothing to do with Advent. If you want to give then go ahead and give but that is a part of Christmas, not Advent.

Regarding Advent Conspiracy, I am not overly concerned about being technically precise with the differences between Advent and Christmas. The first Sunday of Advent is within 48 hours of Black Friday, which has come to symbolize the materialism of the season. If the campaign conflates Advent and Christmas, so be it. The aims behind AC's four categories of "Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All" are worthy aims. There is actually a strong connection with Advent in that this season reminds us that we are living between the Advents of Christ's first and second comings. We celebrate the birth of Christ and also anticipate his second coming. As we live now between the Advents, we affirm that the King has come and his reign has begun although it has not been fully consummated yet. With Advent there is a penitential aspect and we confess our unworthiness in light of his coming. We also confess the responsibility we have as a people commissioned to both love the Lord our God with all our heart and our neighbors as ourselves. So we remind ourselves of our mission in the world as we affirm that the King has come, he is at work today, and he will come again to fully consummate the redemption of his people and his creation. So in this we have an ethical aspect to Advent and the Advent Conspiracy fits very nicely with this. If Advent is purely ceremonial in our corporate worship and merely pious in our internal spiritual and psychological preparations then the observance is lacking in my opinion. Since we are evangelicals, it is our prerogative to adapt Advent in this manner, right?

"Porn Again Christian" Released Online (Revisited)

2008-12-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

A couple of months ago I wrote about the release of Mark Driscoll's free e-book entitled "Porn Again Christian, A Frank Discussion of Pornography and Masturbation." All of the chapters have been uploaded so the entire book is now available online. You can read online, download the pdf version to print or share, and the site reports that a print version will be available for purchase soon.

New Church History Blog

2008-12-14T00:00:00.001-06:00

ChristianHistory.net has just launched their new blog (which is shockingly named): Christian History Blog. The contributors are Chris Armstrong, Ted Olsen, Elesha Coffman, Collin Hansen, and David Neff (check out his nifty "Ancient Evangelical" shirt).

Here are their first two blog posts:
Welcome to the Christian History Blog
Prominent Reformed Evangelical Promotes Medieval Mystics

I enjoy reading ChristianHistory.net and I'm looking forward to reading The Christian History Blog in the days and weeks to come.

Current Views on "Missional Church" - Part Two

2008-12-13T16:00:00.002-06:00

Current Views on "Missional Church." Bloggers & Pastors Weigh In.

2008-12-13T15:18:00.004-06:00

Out of Ur recently presented several posts from various authors regarding "missional church." Here are the links to the posts along with responses from other blogs and a few other relevant posts from earlier in the year. [See Part Two of this post here]

Dan Kimball's Missional Misgivings. Small, indigenous churches are getting lots of attention, but where's the fruit? by Dan Kimball, Out of Ur. "I hope I am wrong. For the past few years, I have been observing, listening, and asking questions about the missional movement. I have a suspicion that the missional model has not yet proven itself beyond the level of theory. Again, I hope I am wrong."

Three Questions For The Attractional Practicioners Who Questions The Fruit Of Missional: A Response to Dan Kimball by David Fitch, Reclaiming the Mission. "It seems the two different types of practitioners - missional and attractional- keep talking past each other. To me, this suggests that the cultural and theological paradigms required to understand missional are not being recognized or communicated well."
[Note Tim Keller's discussion with David Fitch in the comments section]

"The church that came to me" by Erika Carney Haub, The Margins. "I don’t believe Willow should close their doors, nor do I think Church of the Redeemer’s slower growth is any strike against us through kingdom eyes. A widow’s penny was deemed a vast treasure by Jesus, so I am certain that we just can’t look at branches and fruit and harvest the way we do the stock market. The balance sheet can be very confusing…"

Megachurch Misinformation. Mega or missional? The stats say both are doing well. by Andy Rowell, Out of Ur. "There are no studies that compare 'seeker sensitive' megachurches to small 'missional' churches, but I think Dan Kimball is right to question the self-described 'missional' advocate who declares that 'younger people in the city will not be drawn to larger attractional churches dominated by preaching and music.' The evidence shows that more and more people are attending large churches."

Defining "Missional." Michael Frost clarifies an increasingly unclear word.

Mission and Recession. Building a church on 'core time' rather than 'leisure time.' by Skye Jethani, Out of Ur. "Most American churches have based their mission on the assumption of affluence. That doesn’t mean every church is living large. Rather, it means that our churches expect people to give their surplus time and money to fuel Christ’s mission. But what happens if there is no surplus? What if people can’t give more time or money? Like our economy, has our church built its mission on a foundation of sand rather than stone?"

Alan Hirsch Responds to Kimball's "Missional Misgivings" by Alan Hirsch, Out of Ur. "As someone who comes out clearly for the missional reframing of church, I do share some concerns about reproduction (fruitfulness). Anyone concerned with Jesus' commission should be."

[See Current Views on "Missional Church" - Part Two]

This Day In History

2008-12-13T10:23:00.000-06:00

From ChristianHistory.net:

December 13, 1545
The first session of the Counter-Reformation Council of Trent opens. Responding to the spread of Protestantism and the drastic need for moral and administrative reforms within the Roman Catholic church, it met on and off for 18 years. Ultimately the reforms were not comprehensive enough to satisfy the Protestants or even many Catholics, but it created a basis for a renewal of discipline and spiritual life within the church.

Remind you of anyone?

2008-12-10T23:29:00.002-06:00

In honor of the Governor of my great home state of Illinois:

Clean Water Changes Everything

2008-12-07T16:45:00.002-06:00

Providence Community Church aims to build two new deep-water wells and repair two other wells for communities in Liberia this season. If you would like more information about our specific efforts or to contribute, visit: http://www.providencecommunity.com/providence-community-church-blog/advent-conspiracy/. Contact info is on the left-hand side of the site. Or leave me a message and I can answer any questions you might have.