tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-176171942024-03-16T18:51:11.249+00:00Exiled PreacherDisplaced fragments: theology, ministry, interviews and reviewsGuy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.comBlogger1614125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-58583892362556533382024-01-03T10:44:00.000+00:002024-01-03T10:44:20.025+00:00Time Passes <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL1fXIaBAupk6QMfxLzofmJ33Ru9YAJP8GNsN5hgMjs99J5hGZFgGpFzEw1MNsEJw1a77ZLL6krQzKNxzGZ0jn0hRhpyYq6YQj0Bvwoeu9_mZVDJaZ_YVhcX14nDS9Eb3lBR1GoEPEgyxcyzTwyn88VoyZbCHMOVSnSiW05FpjYpOjDLAtBQ2H/s302/time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="300" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL1fXIaBAupk6QMfxLzofmJ33Ru9YAJP8GNsN5hgMjs99J5hGZFgGpFzEw1MNsEJw1a77ZLL6krQzKNxzGZ0jn0hRhpyYq6YQj0Bvwoeu9_mZVDJaZ_YVhcX14nDS9Eb3lBR1GoEPEgyxcyzTwyn88VoyZbCHMOVSnSiW05FpjYpOjDLAtBQ2H/s1600/time.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p></p><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">“Time
passes” wrote Dylan Thomas in <i>Under Milk Wood, </i>“Listen. Time passes.” It
certainly does. The ebbing away of an old year and the promise of a new one
makes us acutely aware of the passing of time. The joys and sorrows of 2023 are
gone and can never be recovered. Crane our necks as we may, we cannot peer into
the future.<br /> <br />In
his great work, <i>The Confessions, </i>Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) ponders
the nature of time. He can’t quite pin it down, reflecting, “<span style="background: white;">What, then, is time? If no one asks me, I
know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks me, I do not know. Yet
I say with confidence that I know that if nothing passed away, there would be
no past time; and if nothing were still coming, there would be no future time;
and if there were nothing at all, there would be no present time.</span>”<br /> <br />Augustine
addresses the question, ‘What was God doing before the creation of the world?’
He points out that the question is based on a misunderstanding. ‘Before’ is a
time-bound category. We should not think that God waited for ages and ages
before creating the universe. The world originated not <i>in</i> time, but <i>with</i>
time. Modern day scientists agree. The clock only started ticking at the
beginning of creation.<br /> <br />God
is infinite and eternal. He had no beginning and will have no end. His life
does not depend on anything outside of himself. The Lord God exists
beyond the world of time and space that he created. The vast universe cannot
contain him. His power is not diminished by the passing of time. As the Bible
says, “from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.”<br /> <br />God
created all things by his Word and through his Spirit to display his wisdom,
power and goodness. What the Bible calls ‘sin’ is our rebellion against the
Creator, our stubborn refusal to live for his glory. But God did not write off
fallen humanity. He entered the world of time and space as one of us to rescue
human beings from sin. John writes in his Gospel, <span style="background: white;">“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life.”<br /></span><span style="background: white;"> <br /></span><span style="background: white;">Time passes. The old year has gone and a
new year has dawned. Many opportunities will no doubt present themselves in
2024. Above all, let us seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him
while he is near. </span></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><o:p></o:p></p>
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Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-69029362793593514162023-12-12T21:28:00.004+00:002023-12-12T21:28:58.487+00:00‘You shall call his name Jesus’<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBT8CH-PaAIV7yR1GlZ4v-XkLgJmO3so1i6Q-2jTVsYt06th9wsFVSe3meTy-cvlzKSqsmH-GB0NlF9fDfN485kpFz2C_wjg2aEXfpFxVg6ChCzmbpxCjef_27Cv8ifuD7gpb1YPDXF5UelMFhPh_ce8j6sans83z4HHsEOnG0yFEczy2ijON/s257/whats%20name.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="196" data-original-width="257" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBT8CH-PaAIV7yR1GlZ4v-XkLgJmO3so1i6Q-2jTVsYt06th9wsFVSe3meTy-cvlzKSqsmH-GB0NlF9fDfN485kpFz2C_wjg2aEXfpFxVg6ChCzmbpxCjef_27Cv8ifuD7gpb1YPDXF5UelMFhPh_ce8j6sans83z4HHsEOnG0yFEczy2ijON/w320-h244/whats%20name.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
</p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124;"><span style="background: white;">“What's in a name?” asked
Shakespeare’s character, Juliet, “</span>That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet<span style="background: white;">.”</span><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Smell as sweet, maybe, but I can't help thinking that roses are called
roses and turnips, turnips for a reason. Although, maybe the Bard had a point.
When it comes to the names our parents bestowed on us, or we gave to our
children, I doubt the meaning of the name was a big factor.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: #202124;">My mum wanted to call me Alexander, which has a rather distinguished
ring to it. But my dad registered the birth and dubbed me Guy. The name means
‘wood’, apparently. I guess the name was chosen more for how it sounded
than what it meant. Unless he thought I looked as thick as two short planks.
Oh, well. I’m stuck with it now. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124;"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">When it came to naming Jesus, Mary and Joseph had little choice in the
matter. For according to the Gospel accounts he was named by the angel of the
Lord. First, Mary was told, ‘<span style="background: white;">And
behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall
call his name Jesus.’</span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Then Joseph was informed concerning Mary, ‘<span style="background: white;">She will bear a son, and you shall
call his name Jesus’, with the added word of explanation ‘for he will save
his people from their sins.’</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #202124;">‘Jesus’ is the Greek version of
the Hebrew name ‘Joshua’, which means ‘the Lord saves’. In Jesus’ case his name
could not have been more fitting. The Bible teaches that the Son of God came
into the world as a human being to bring us back to God. He lived a perfect,
blameless life, died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead.
Now we may be saved, by faith in Jesus.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124;"><span style="background: white;">As the angel of the Lord said to
the shepherds of old, </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;">‘F</span><span style="background: white;">or unto
you is born this day </span><span style="background-color: white;">in the city of David a
Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #202124;">‘What’s in a name?’ In the name of
Jesus we find salvation.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*For various local parish magazines </span></p><p></p><p></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-4688317345476246032023-11-12T21:15:00.025+00:002023-11-13T21:27:43.020+00:00When dinosaurs roamed the earth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiReSwUhTvfGzGtmP9WYH2lnBtpbFYkH1VbFpiN7UGJDU6TEhtRckzDunjPf0kWcDx9o5XDVggsgKj0XzoqazucSK7_IF3-DKmS47W7I6WCHSTAHxi_O_iDlI1KbsrYPAMKkQYP6V2U81vUGTQDtlgSxHodbwoEehKi9Mzzx5tGv6T_ZJJqv2gC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiReSwUhTvfGzGtmP9WYH2lnBtpbFYkH1VbFpiN7UGJDU6TEhtRckzDunjPf0kWcDx9o5XDVggsgKj0XzoqazucSK7_IF3-DKmS47W7I6WCHSTAHxi_O_iDlI1KbsrYPAMKkQYP6V2U81vUGTQDtlgSxHodbwoEehKi9Mzzx5tGv6T_ZJJqv2gC" width="400" />
</a>
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: inherit;">‘The past is a foreign country: they do
things differently there', </span><span style="color: #040c28; font-family: inherit;">wrote
L.P.</span><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="color: #040c28; font-family: inherit;">Hartley. Just how foreign and exotic is the past was
brought home to me the other week. My wife and I went to hear the author Tom
Holland give a talk on his new book, <i>Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden
Age </i></span><span style="color: #040c28;">(see report </span><a href="https://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2023/09/tom-holland-on-pax-war-and-peace-in.html" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: #040c28;">)</span><i style="color: #040c28; font-family: inherit;">. </i><span style="color: #040c28; font-family: inherit;">In the opinion of Edward Gibbon, the era covered by this work
(69-138AD) was ‘the period in the history of the world, during which the
condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous’. Not so much,
perhaps, if you were a woman.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: #040c28; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These days there is widespread outrage if allegations
are made that a powerful man has exploited his position to gain sexual favours.
#MeToo scandals have engulfed the words of politics, business, entertainment
and the police. All that would have made no sense in ancient Rome. It was the
expectation that rich and powerful men were entitled to pounce on anyone they
pleased. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">As a boy Holland was fascinated by the
heroes of Rome. To him they were the awe-inspiring apex predators of history.
But as he grew up and immersed himself in the ancient world, the author found
himself appalled by the monstrous cruelty and depravity of Rome’s overlords.
Holland realised that he was viewing the mighty emperors of old from the
perspective of someone who lived in a culture that was steeped in the Christian
faith. He tells that story in his previous work, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Dominion: The Making of the
Western Mind</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In his preface to <i>Pax, </i>the
author describes Christians living in the period of Rome’s ‘Golden Age’ as
‘Mesozoic animals in an ecosystem dominated by dinosaurs’. Those tiny Christian
‘mammals’ seemed pretty insignificant as they scurried around at the feet
of towering T-Rex figures like the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. But they
sparked a revolution that still affects the way we think today.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Christians held that men as well as
women are made in the image of God. That is the basis of equal rights. Christ
is pictured as a husband who loved the church as his bride and gave himself up
for her on the cross. In the light of that the church upheld the importance of
marriage and men were forbidden to use women just as they pleased. The #MeToo
movement only makes sense in that context. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">In Paul’s Letter to the Galatians we
discover the meteorite that destroyed the dinosaurs. The impact of that
meteorite is still sending shockwaves around the world centuries later: ‘</span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave<sup> </sup>nor free, there
is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ (Galatians 3:28)</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*For November editions of various local parish magazines </span></p></div>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-22296816298162173812023-10-10T08:00:00.002+01:002023-10-10T08:00:00.141+01:00Losing our religion <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14HiLkub-k8uBBATQf3ktO95BbWmTBKXjYMeju9cyYy0UtHCZkIS4EU4UAJH0JDVrjuOe-yU3u9QlmQh0LcyClG3NcS7LgUZGBCmd_2jTLWLZhLa7R4K8hCvZEN8mRTs-N8G-YlbydsUptmYqpN9SNhZsK802gWZEJ0yx9tuMu9ynMRSFKuRG/s1024/abandoned.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14HiLkub-k8uBBATQf3ktO95BbWmTBKXjYMeju9cyYy0UtHCZkIS4EU4UAJH0JDVrjuOe-yU3u9QlmQh0LcyClG3NcS7LgUZGBCmd_2jTLWLZhLa7R4K8hCvZEN8mRTs-N8G-YlbydsUptmYqpN9SNhZsK802gWZEJ0yx9tuMu9ynMRSFKuRG/s320/abandoned.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">According to a <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/church-of-england-christianity-survey-gay-marriage-sex-female-archbishop-70ck07sj6" target="_blank">survey</a> cited in <i>The Times </i>newspaper, around 75%
of Church of England clergy believe that the UK can no longer be called a
Christian country. The latest census data bears that out. In 2011 the number of
people identified as Christian was 60%, but by 2021 that had dropped to 46%.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">For hardline secularists the decline of Christianity in our country
may be an occasion for rejoicing. But as Rod Liddle argued in a recent <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/great-we-banished-christianity-now-were-stuck-in-a-moral-wilderness-cv7xhsm6k" target="_blank">column</a>
in <i>The Sunday Times</i>, what we’re left with as Christian influence has
receded is a more individualistic society, devoted to the pursuit of material
gain. The trouble is that looking after number 1 and buying endless stuff
online hardly satisfies the deepest longings of our souls.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Similarly, as Celia Walden reflected in an <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/09/04/church-of-england-britain-no-religion/" target="_blank">article</a> in <i>The Telegraph</i>, we’ve swapped the worship of God for the worship of self, “<span style="color: black;">as a secular society, we’ve thrown ourselves into the cult
of self, precisely because we’re flailing, with no basic spiritual scaffold to
keep us steady.” Welcome to the brave new post-Christian world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">But if we broaden our perspective to take in the global
picture, Christianity is not in decline. The faith is advancing in China,
Africa, South America and even Iran. Even here in the UK Rod Liddle points to the “<span style="background: white;">rapidly growing numbers attending Pentecostal and evangelical
churches — where eternal biblical certainties are still enjoined upon the
worshippers”. This is evidenced in a piece in <i>The Spectator </i>by Dan Hitchens, </span></span><span face="var(--ff-headings)" style="font-size: var(--fs-heading-xxl); font-weight: var(--fw-regular); text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/inside-the-fastest-growing-and-shrinking-churches-in-the-uk/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2OKU49n3mLZOQc1nEC46k3rc952Dfa6j-XrdJpYbPl2GiFmmPeOtPdv_w#Echobox=1695291399-1" target="_blank">Inside the fastest growing – and shrinking – churches in the UK</a>. </i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The worship of self and wealth are poor
God-substitutes. The eternal biblical certainties set before us the one true
and living God who is worth worshipping. He is the God who sent his Son,
the Lord Jesus to die for our sins and be raised from the dead that we may have
the hope of everlasting life. Jesus calls us to renounce the cult of self
saying, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">* For various local parish magazines and newspapers <br /></span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-83080600983632429042023-10-05T17:49:00.011+01:002023-10-05T23:01:58.242+01:00God's emotions!<p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBVao9hyphenhyphenqS1aJ-3hiUIoMt5S5TxYOKkUnU-B-LkJG8fBZHKS1UCPh846-7kqsz4zVLcNyWE1YgauboUJ2Zm7ZzGs8ta3W-CHy30SFZObBrMWGS-kghft-1yItpARKdxTLIZjhrB_KmgIhpmMd3-CoqDNJe9CamBms7rrP-VWxL72UQbAYowAmW/s1525/Hourglass-of-emotions.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1525" data-original-width="806" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBVao9hyphenhyphenqS1aJ-3hiUIoMt5S5TxYOKkUnU-B-LkJG8fBZHKS1UCPh846-7kqsz4zVLcNyWE1YgauboUJ2Zm7ZzGs8ta3W-CHy30SFZObBrMWGS-kghft-1yItpARKdxTLIZjhrB_KmgIhpmMd3-CoqDNJe9CamBms7rrP-VWxL72UQbAYowAmW/w211-h400/Hourglass-of-emotions.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">In a previous post I argue that God does not have emotions, see <a href="http://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2023/10/gods-emotions.html?m=1" target="_blank">here</a>. In this post I want to assert that God does have emotions like us. Joy and sorrow, compassion and anger, astonishment and disappointment are all part of the range of feelings experienced by God. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But I am not contradicting myself.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">How am I able to hold that God both does and does not have emotions? Because God did something that enabled him to do things that God cannot do. Given the aseity (self-existence) of God, he cannot die. His life is self-sustaining. Given his immensity, God cannot be bound by space. Given his eternity, God is not subject to time. Given his impassibility, God experiences no fluctuating feelings. But the God who has life in himself became mortal. The omnipresent God was bound by space. The eternal God entered time. The impassible God experienced fluctuating feelings. How? Because 'the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us' (John 1:14).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">At the incarnation the Son of God took a human nature. In his human nature our Lord not only had a human mind and will, but also human emotions. B. B. Warfield writes most helpfully on this in his essay, <i><a href="https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/emotionallife.html" target="_blank">The Emotional Life of Our Lord</a>. </i>Even in his exalted state, Jesus 'knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust'. He knows what it is to be a member of suffering humanity from the inside. Jesus can therefore sympathise with us in our weaknesses, having been tempted on all points as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:14-15).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The Reformers developed the idea of the 'communion of attributes' to help clarify the relationship between the divine and human natures in the person of Christ. They certainly did not mean that divine attributes are communicated to Jesus's human nature, or the other way around. At the incarnation the Son of God became what he was not [man], without ceasing to be what he was [God]. That is the so-called <i>extra-Calvinisticum. </i>According to John Calvin, '<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px;">The Son of God descended miraculously from heaven, yet without abandoning heaven; was pleased to be conceived miraculously in the Virgin’s womb, to live on the earth, and hang upon the cross, and yet always filled the world as from the beginning. ' (</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px;"><i>Institutes of he Christian Religion,</i> II:xiii.4).</span> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The </span>'communion of attributes' is an aid in making sense of passages in the Bible say things like, 'they... crucified the Lord of glory' (1 Corinthians 2:8), or 'the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me' (Galatians 2:20). Does that mean Jesus suffered as God and died on the cross? No. Should we understand, then, that Christ's human nature died for our sins? No. We believe the person of the Son of God gave himself to the suffering and death of the cross in his human nature. The Second London Baptist Confession explains,</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></p><blockquote style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Christ, in the work of mediation, acts according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture, attributed to the person denominated by the other nature. (8:7 - see also WCF and SDF) </span></blockquote><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">It is in that sense we may speak of 'God's emotions', because in the person of the Son, God entered into the sorrows and joys of life in our fallen world, 'tears and smiles like us he knew'. <span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; font-family: inherit; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We don't need to cut God down to size to make him more relatable when he has already descended to our level. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">In other words, if you want a God who feels like us, don't deny the impassibility of God, proclaim the </span>incarnation<span style="font-family: inherit;"> of God. '</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us'.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;">See here for an earlier post on <i><a href="https://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2020/12/anselm-on-suffering-of-impassible-god.html" target="_blank">Anselm and the suffering of the impassible God</a></i>. </span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-80444585500903987652023-10-02T17:21:00.026+01:002023-10-10T22:48:25.969+01:00God’s emotions? <p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggU5fYDx_zO9I_WvNpIWUrRnhRn4XMBQcKO8F5PvoJnOpEVDtR7QUTPt_H5CLBNUDUUqj-AvvMEc4cFcP2-nUKp5NLql5yXPVrSoiOW3gWlQpDzrimhZaqwl_flQ0sk1g34EF952hbp22xYCOkM17oVsPXLnfr8vuYPKzi4pdfHA4n9X7iRHdM/s2028/Plutchik_Emotions.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2028" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggU5fYDx_zO9I_WvNpIWUrRnhRn4XMBQcKO8F5PvoJnOpEVDtR7QUTPt_H5CLBNUDUUqj-AvvMEc4cFcP2-nUKp5NLql5yXPVrSoiOW3gWlQpDzrimhZaqwl_flQ0sk1g34EF952hbp22xYCOkM17oVsPXLnfr8vuYPKzi4pdfHA4n9X7iRHdM/s320/Plutchik_Emotions.png" width="316" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">In his article <i><a href="https://www.evangelical-times.org/gods-emotions/?fbclid=IwAR2Ujv35oAxyAdgHrb0m26taHOKAUTwCCMdMr9Cr7hmmp5M-ygDHXaC_hFc" target="_blank">God's emotions</a> </i>in September's <i>Evangelical Times</i>, Psychiatrist Alan Thomas argued that God has emotions that correspond to our human feelings. He tries to square this view with the impassibility of God taught in historic Reformed confessions such as the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. Here is my response. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">God's 'emotions' and accommodated divine self-revelation </span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thomas notes that biblical revelation depicts God as having 'a complex range of emotions', including <span>'</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span>raging, painful emotion' (Genesis 6:6). Such </span>descriptions<span> of God reveal something of his </span>character - his wrathful response to sin<span>, but are they meant to be taken at face value? After all, Scripture also speaks of God having 'hands', 'eyes' and 'back parts'. We usually regard language like that as anthropomorphic, or speaking of God in human terms. That is not because of some prior </span>philosophical<span> </span>commitment, but because Jesus tells us, 'God is Spirit' (John 4:24). God is also 'one' (Deuteronomy 6:4). The simplicity of God also rules out him having a bodily form, which necessarily involves being composed of complex parts (1 Corinthians 12:14).</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The fact that the Bible uses anthropomorphic language of God tells us something about biblical revelation. It speaks of God in ways that are accommodated to our capacity as finite and fallen human beings. To get technical, Scripture does not speak of God univocally so that what is true of us is true in the same way of him. Rather, the Bible speaks of God analogically, or by way of analogy. When passages describe God delivering Israel from Egypt with his 'outstretched arm', they are speaking analogically of a display of his power on behalf of his people. We would not understand such speech univocally, as if God acts as we do by extending a divine limb through time and space. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The analogical view of divine self-revelation in Holy Scripture is in place to safeguard the Creator/creature distinction that is fundamental to sound Christian theology. If anthropomorphic figures of speech are taken univocally, what you get is a vision of God remade in our image. The same holds true when it comes to interpreting the Bible's 'anthropopathic' language, which speaks of God in terms of human emotions such as 'grief' and 'regret'. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But how do we know that God doesn't actually 'feel' regret when the text of Scripture says he does? Consider 1 Samuel 15:11 & 35, where the Lord is said to regret making Saul King of Israel. Surely we should take these verses at face value and not try to rationalise expressions of divine disappointment? The prophet Samuel no less suggests otherwise when he says, '<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">regret</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">, for he is not a man, that he should have </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span>regret.' (1 Samuel 15:29). God works all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11), including the </span>appointment<span> of Saul as King of Israel and his subsequent rejection. Taken literally expressions of 'regret' would mean that Saul's reign </span>didn't<span> work out as God intended, but that is not the case. God is not a man that he should feel regretful when his high hopes are </span>not realised<span>. A univocal reading of 1 Samuel 15:11 & 35 would be misleading, for in reality God is not like us in </span>harbouring<span> regrets. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>God's 'emotions' and </b><b>divine</b><b> impassibility</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><span>Thomas notes that historic Reformed confessions such as the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Second London Baptist Confession teach that God is 'without body, parts, or passions' (1689, 2:1). </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">He reflects on the theme of impassibility later in the article, arguing that it means that God is </span><span style="color: #333333;">unchangeable and concluding,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> '</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">God has emotions, </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">but he does not change.' But he has already admitted that our human emotions are in a state of constant flux as we interact with the world around us. Indeed, emotion may be defined as <span style="font-family: inherit;">'</span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">a strong feeling </span><span class="AraNOb" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">deriving</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit;"> from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.' (Oxford Languages). Which is why </span><span style="color: #202124;">theologians</span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit;"> have tended to be cagey about ascribing emotions to God. </span></span>We are creatures of ever-changing moods. Circumstances
affect how we feel, from the simple pleasure of eating an ice cream by the
beach, to deep grief on losing a loved one. God is not like that. He is the
ever-blessed God. There is nothing within him to disturb his infinite peace.
Nothing outside of him can affect him. That is not because God is apathetic, but because he is perfectly fulfilled in the joyous perfection of his Triune life. <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: left;">That is </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: left;">precisely why the church has confessed impassibility.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">What about divine wrath against sin, isn't that a case of the world impacting on God's emotional life? We must not think that God's wrath involves him being provoked into ‘losing his rag’. That would be a passion. Rather, God's wrath is the unchanging expression his holy justice when confronted by sin. Apart from the Fall God would have been eternally just, but his justice would not have been revealed in the wrathful punishment of sinners (Romans 1:18, 2:5). God's wrath is removed from sinners not because his feelings towards them change, but because his justice is satisfied by Christ's propitiatory sacrifice, Romans 3:25. God sent his Son to propitiate his wrath out of love for his people, 1 John 4:10. We benefit from the atoning work of Christ when we are united to him by faith. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Properly understood, impassibility does not make God cold or remote. The Lord is most loving and merciful. But his love is not a fickle passion that was
ignited by our love for him and may be doused if our love should grow cold. His love
for us is eternal and unchangeable, flowing to us from the infinite depths of
God's being. The Father loves his people even as he loves his own Son (John 17:23, 26). That is why Paul can assure believers that, 'nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord' (Romans 8:39). Depicting God's love as if it were a passion or fluctuating emotion robs us of that certainty. Thomas knows this, saying, <span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">'[God] is utterly different from us as our exalted Creator who is eternal and unchangeable.' Yes, hence </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">impassibility. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">God's 'emotions' and divine personality </span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thomas's tendency to start at a human level and then project up to God doesn't end with his handling of texts that speak of God in an arthropathic manner. He also reinterprets key theological terms in the light of human experience. For example, '<span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span>To be a person is to be a being who experiences emotions.' That may or may not be an adequate definition of human personhood. It is way off beam when applied to God, as the author does here: '</span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">To be a person is to be in relationships, and such relationships always generate feelings. So since God is personal and eternally in relationships within the Godhead then feelings must be integral to who he is.' </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: justify;">The Fathers who developed early Trinitarian terminology were very circumspect when it came to defining what is meant by divine personhood. Augustine confessed, 'We say three persons, not in order to say that precisely, but in order not to be reduced to silence.' </span></span><span style="text-align: start;">In </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">traditional</span><span style="text-align: start;"> Trinitarian </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">theology the words</span><span style="text-align: start;"> 'person' or 'hypostases' simply denote what is true of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as they may be </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">distinguished from each other</span><span style="text-align: start;">, as opposed to what is true of the being of God, which is wholly </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">possessed</span><span style="text-align: start;"> by the Three. Hence the formula: 'One God in three persons'. The three persons may be </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">distinguished only</span><span style="text-align: start;"> in terms of their eternal relations of origin. The Father is unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father and the Holy Spirit </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">proceeds</span><span style="text-align: start;"> from the Father and the Son. That is their manner of subsisting in the being of God. The Fathers certainly did not read characteristics of human personhood such as having emotions</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;"> into the divine persons. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: start;">The Fathers also carefully distinguished between the personal attributes of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as reflected in their eternal relations of origin and the attributes of God's being, which are possessed equally by the three persons of the Trinity. What makes God 'personal' is that the one God subsists in three persons. It is misleading therefore for Thomas </span></span><span style="text-align: left;">to speak </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: start;">of God's </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span>'</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: left;"><span>personal attributes, including emotions' or,<span> '</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333;">In personal terms, he is faithful and true' and, <span>'</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: left;"><span>Since his emotions are the attributes of a person'</span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333;">.</span><span style="color: #333333;"> Faithfulness and truth, much like justice and love are moral attributes of God's being, not personal attributes such as Fatherhood and Sonship. The person-to-person love the Father has for his Son is the infinite and eternal love of God's being. The Son who is of the same divine essence as the Father loves him with the same infinite and eternal love. Trinitarian orthodoxy demands that the we maintain the distinction between what is true of the three divine persons and what is true of the one divine essence. In construing attributes of God's being in personal terms we are in danger of making it sound like his being is a fourth person alongside the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span>Thomas's novel definition of divine personhood plays havoc with Christology. According to the Definition of Chalcedon (451 AD), the </span>incarnate<span> Son of God is person with two natures, divine and human. The historic Reformed confessions like the Second London Baptist Confession reflect this understanding:<span> '</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span>two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person..<span>. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span>which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span>'</span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span><span> (1689, 8:2). </span>However, according to the </span>author<span>, </span></span>'<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span>To be a person is to be a being who experiences emotions.' Jesus experienced emotions in his human nature such as sorrow and joy, anger and compassion. Using Thomas's definition, that makes Jesus a human person, as well as the second person of the Trinity. The incarnate Son, in that case, is a union of two persons, rather than a union of two natures in one divine person. That is a Nestorian understanding of Christ, which is explicitly ruled out by Chalcedon. </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Concluding thoughts </b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, there is nothing stopping us redefining time-honoured theological terms and investing them with new meanings, but in doing so we may find ourselves inadvertently stepping outside the bounds of historic </span>Christian <span style="font-family: inherit;">orthodoxy. For all their </span>emphasis on <i>sola Scriptura</i>, t<span style="font-family: inherit;">he Reformers and Puritans were happy to identify themselves with the ancient creeds of the church. With its drive to reinvent theological wheels contemporary Evangelicalism is in danger of drifting from the Reformed Catholic faith of our Fathers. That said, we would be rather suspect if someone from the Evangelical family tried to rework the doctrine of Scripture so as to call into question its inspiration and inerrancy. We would also look askance at any attempts at including good works in a redefined doctrine of justification by faith. The doctrine of God, however, seems fair game for theological revisionism. Strange, that. </span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-25899823584436952482023-09-22T08:22:00.274+01:002023-09-22T16:10:25.091+01:00Tom Holland on Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJAqy0lGXJ075K-5YBl2l3IIJleQPKHzmSl18SjVdb3RzshvDNDguGef2d-aE3VzYlUW136gbir3bh0WsKHBhF6vZ2u2rCMtQMoId87EIY5ENWCd-jMA4s4Ob7L2ZhTqMOErB7Coh57oIwIHvdsS8W_pmxr0K621uUQZNdN8KIV-dKcIOThNmz=w400-h180" width="400" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Last night we headed for Waterstones in The Galleries, Bristol to hear the author Tom Holland give a captivating talk on his latest tome, <i>Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age</i>. I received the book as a birthday present from my son and have just started to dip into it. The last time we heard Holland speak at the same venue he was promoting his previous work, <span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><a href="https://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2020/01/dominion-making-of-western-mind-by-tom_21.html" target="_blank"><i>Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind</i></a> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">(see a report <a href="https://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2019/09/tom-holland-on-dominion-at-bristol.html" target="_blank">here</a>). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">The speaker began by taking us to Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northernmost point of the Roman Empire. The Emperor Hadrian liked to visit the outposts of his vast domain, which stretched from Scotland to Arabia. The point of Hadrian's Wall was not so much to keep the barbarous Scots at bay, as to rub their noses in the fact that they had been excluded from the vast cultivated garden that flourished under Roman rule. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">Nero was the last Emperor to have descended from the great Augustus. His demise triggered the 'Year of the Four Emperors' in 69AD. Wannabes Galba, Otho and Vitellius failed to maintain their hold on power. Those who followed such as Vespasian, Domitian, Trajan and Hadrian ruled for long enough to ensure stability. That stability was the product of good PR as much as the might of the legions at the Imperial overlord's command.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Emperors had statues erected </span><span style="background-color: white;">in their honour </span><span style="background-color: white;">across their domains. Coins bore the stamp of the Emperor's face. These images depicted how the Emperors wished to be seen, whether as aged throwbacks to antique virtue, or eternally young and virile rulers. Roman noblemen were usually clean shaven, but Hadrian affected a soldierly beard, which also gave him the aspect of a Greek philosopher. Holland had a suspiring amount to say about imperial barnets and beards. Otho's toupee made him an altogether unsuitable candidate for Emperor. No wonder he only lasted three months and a day in office. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">The writer described the Roman Emperors as the 'apex predators' of history. They ruled unhindered by any Christian notion of what constitutes right and wrong. After the death of his wife Poppaea, Nero spotted a slave boy who bore a passing resemblance to his dear departed Mrs. He had 'Sporus' </span><span style="background-color: white;">castrated </span><span style="background-color: white;">and married him. Following Nero's death, </span><span style="background-color: white;">Vitellius sought to win the approval of the masses by having Sporus gang raped at a gladiator show. The poor lad only avoided this public humiliation by committing suicide. The short-lived rule of Vitellius ended when he was slaughtered by his successor Vespasian's troops. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;">Holland described Christians of the time as 'Mesozoic mammals in a ecosystem dominated by dinosaurs.'</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span>But it was the little Christian mammals who won the day. The reason why we are appalled at the blood-soaked deeds of the mighty Emperors is that the 'Christian Revolution' totally transformed the moral landscape of the ancient world. How that happened is the story told in <i>Dominion. </i> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJAqy0lGXJ075K-5YBl2l3IIJleQPKHzmSl18SjVdb3RzshvDNDguGef2d-aE3VzYlUW136gbir3bh0WsKHBhF6vZ2u2rCMtQMoId87EIY5ENWCd-jMA4s4Ob7L2ZhTqMOErB7Coh57oIwIHvdsS8W_pmxr0K621uUQZNdN8KIV-dKcIOThNmz">
</a>
</div>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-86806930669792011122023-09-19T15:57:00.001+01:002023-09-19T15:58:01.609+01:00The destroyer of worlds<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxG7sDXeij6OlP5uVmKfoKPXzsysjEnZWkCrPsykXCKN8K03Az4ZPYntNiyV-T0O3n5CRiBdtUmuSsvUDVF7i9CZ2RYWLELXACXVGyjYlnvelkz4obV5diHuNKOV1QIO5aEu7c79P6oRitjNmtV7VyWJwPbbal9ogbzwRKCi4T4eHmAYAbSvGS/s315/GoingUnderground.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="315" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxG7sDXeij6OlP5uVmKfoKPXzsysjEnZWkCrPsykXCKN8K03Az4ZPYntNiyV-T0O3n5CRiBdtUmuSsvUDVF7i9CZ2RYWLELXACXVGyjYlnvelkz4obV5diHuNKOV1QIO5aEu7c79P6oRitjNmtV7VyWJwPbbal9ogbzwRKCi4T4eHmAYAbSvGS/s1600/GoingUnderground.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
'Ban the Bomb' was a thing in the 1980s. The Greenham Common women protested at
the presence of nuclear missiles at the Berkshire RAF base. A little more
modestly, I braved being told off in school for wearing a CND badge. Those were
the days. The prospect of nuclear oblivion haunted our teenage imaginations. In
their number 1 single, <i>Going Underground</i>, The Jam lamented, ‘<span style="background: white; color: #202124;">You want more money, of course I don't
mind</span><span style="color: #202124;">/<span style="background: white;">To buy
nuclear textbooks for atomic crimes</span></span>.’ Fun, eh?<br />
<br />
The man who wrote the ‘nuclear textbook’ was the subject of Christopher Nolan’s
blockbuster movie, <i>Oppenheimer</i>. Richard Oppenheimer brought together some of
the most brilliant scientists of his day to develop nuclear weapons ahead of
Nazi Germany. Winning that arms race was a massive scientific achievement. The
resulting bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War II.
Yet Oppenheimer was deeply disturbed by the weapon of mass destruction he had
helped to create, ‘I have become death, the destroyer of worlds’, the scientist
reflected.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">You won't find me sporting a CND badge these days. Sadly, nuclear
weapons can’t be uninvented, although I certainly hope they will never be used
again. <i>Oppenheimer</i> highlights what is best and worst about human beings. We are
capable of the most astounding scientific breakthroughs, yet we are also
capable of unleashing death and destruction on a massive scale. The Christian
faith recognises that human beings are made in the image of God. Hence our
exceptional abilities. But the Bible also testifies, ‘All have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God’.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Jesus came to deliver us from sin by dying in our place. Christ’s
resurrection from the dead brings the hope of a new creation for those
who put their trust in him. The film <i>Oppenheimer</i> concludes on an ominous note,
with the world teetering on the brink of nuclear oblivion. The Bible ends more
hopefully, pointing us to Jesus as the one in whom there is life, the Saviour
of the world. In the Book of Revelation John is given to see this glorious vision:
‘<span style="background: white; color: black;">I saw a new heaven and a new
earth... and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning,
nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away’.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="background: white; color: black;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*For September edition of various parish magazines <br /></span></span></span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-23231789075533837162023-09-04T11:19:00.010+01:002023-09-04T11:24:05.697+01:00Rest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBPCHKlYqUNxDLXedYJMnEvYu6Dfbunma0qNQwQ47pz9H2pTldelPF9tggqrvxaKd_vISX3d9J40r2NKvzrlx00JZRZExBDyUDWowT70N7uvbt3KFN5Q0P8ZQ6A3M7Q2szs_jGb69HJMY5mCJM0t2P-9xFSfYD7CkH4mNcKEnliLK9Fx_J-DtV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBPCHKlYqUNxDLXedYJMnEvYu6Dfbunma0qNQwQ47pz9H2pTldelPF9tggqrvxaKd_vISX3d9J40r2NKvzrlx00JZRZExBDyUDWowT70N7uvbt3KFN5Q0P8ZQ6A3M7Q2szs_jGb69HJMY5mCJM0t2P-9xFSfYD7CkH4mNcKEnliLK9Fx_J-DtV" width="400" />
</a>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Even Jesus needed a break. After a time of extremely busy activity he
said to his followers, ‘Come away and rest a while.’ The trouble was that the
crowds got wind of where Jesus was heading and followed him there. Cue the
feeding of the 5000. So much for that break. At least the intention to stop for
a rest was there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The Lord did not make us to keep going 24/7. We need a good night’s
sleep and beyond that, regular breaks from the daily grind. God commanded the
people of Israel to rest on the sixth day of the week, or the Sabbath. The
Christian day of rest is Sunday, the first day of the week. It was on that day
that Jesus rose again from the dead.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">It is often during the summer that people take time off work for their
main annual holiday. But there is a big difference between rest and leisure. The
American novelist Marilynne Robinson reflected, ‘<span style="background: white; color: #1a1a1a;">The Sabbath has a way of doing just what it was meant to do,
sheltering one day in seven from the demands of making money. Its benefits
cannot be commercialised. Leisure, by way of contrast, is highly
commercialised. But leisure is seldom more than a bit of time ransomed from
habitual stress.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="background: white; color: #1a1a1a; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">I’m sure anyone who has braved a busy
theme park would agree. You pay through the nose to spend up to an hour
queuing for the brief thrill of a rollercoaster ride and then its on to the
next thing. Fun, if you like hurtling around while upside down. Restful, not so
much.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="background: white; color: #1a1a1a; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Yet it’s rest that our troubled souls
and weary bodies long for. Days off and holidays are of some help, but there is
more. We were made for God and it is only in being reconciled to him that we
can find true peace. Jesus died on the cross for our sins that we may be
forgiven and be put right with God. He says to us, ‘</span><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Come to me, all who labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ </span><span style="background: white; color: #1a1a1a; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: x-small; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">* For the August edition of various local parish magazines </span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-61554954307082930852023-07-20T15:02:00.011+01:002023-07-20T15:05:26.405+01:00Better to Arrive than Travel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxIJf-9b-wNJ-oEWkry5iPgdNVKcZcsusuhh0_aPdZ2PdJ-56Mizt-VJbfthhk5Ff_Y8muwFI_Zvrxbn13eB_5AUvJf_gXKn7r7qBGmmpl1B8qEaDilGVrLTGrnFKZQ0FIE2wOneqQdgATE8TLomDO3MuTTAacyHNvcoEL8IuJzrvI9kNPcapp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxIJf-9b-wNJ-oEWkry5iPgdNVKcZcsusuhh0_aPdZ2PdJ-56Mizt-VJbfthhk5Ff_Y8muwFI_Zvrxbn13eB_5AUvJf_gXKn7r7qBGmmpl1B8qEaDilGVrLTGrnFKZQ0FIE2wOneqQdgATE8TLomDO3MuTTAacyHNvcoEL8IuJzrvI9kNPcapp" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Yorkshire is often called 'God's own country', especially by Yorkshire
folks. Never by anyone from Lancashire, though, apparently. But I have no wish
to reignite the Wars of the Roses, you'll be relieved to hear. What side would
Wiltshire people be on, anyway? <br />
<br />
According to the well-known saying, 'it's better to travel than to arrive'. If
you're driving from Wiltshire to Yorkshire it's not, as we did the other week.
At first it's OK as you speed north up the M5, casting a pitying eye on the
columns of traffic making little progress as they head to the beaches of the
South West. But the further north you go, the slower the journey becomes. Mile
after mile of crawling along the M6 at 10 MPH, or stopped altogether. In the
blazing sun. And the car’s aircon has packed in. <br />
<br />
It was certainly better to arrive in Yorkshire than to travel. We enjoyed
rambling on Ilkley Moor. Certainly not 'bar’tat'*, though, with the sun beating
down. There were magnificent dales and waterfalls to admire and lovely old
towns and villages to explore. Not to mention treating ourselves to tea at
Betty’s, complete with the obligatory Fat Rascal scone. <br />
<br />
In the Bible the Christian faith is likened to a journey. Old Testament heroes
of the faith Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are described as pilgrims on their way to
‘<span style="background: white; color: black;">a better country, a heavenly one’.</span>
No, they weren't heading for Yorkshire, not even Wiltshire. Their eyes were on
the city of God. Jesus is the way to that special place. He died for our sins
and rose again that those who believe in him may be with him for ever. The
journey to that heavenly country is sometimes hard going, but it will be more
than worth it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">* ‘bar’tat’ = without a hat. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">For July edition of various local parish mags </span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-40962367289523401492023-06-13T13:56:00.053+01:002023-11-13T21:49:17.828+00:00Broken Stones <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3rq898qsw3E6tIpuHvfCGb8eeNRnl0M-o_BQzXyZVWzzVtWdpi16Fcsn1zS0VLvCyOav0YsJoFRqxB-Qa8YavEf1SAMVtVzbrB7XMgorzU0y4Xj9NGezBqYrV-fnVZBPPhdHHi4-0_zLMx3MCRHSex5XFf_jV1bSMBJDwt6mZTZ7H0qL8UQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3rq898qsw3E6tIpuHvfCGb8eeNRnl0M-o_BQzXyZVWzzVtWdpi16Fcsn1zS0VLvCyOav0YsJoFRqxB-Qa8YavEf1SAMVtVzbrB7XMgorzU0y4Xj9NGezBqYrV-fnVZBPPhdHHi4-0_zLMx3MCRHSex5XFf_jV1bSMBJDwt6mZTZ7H0qL8UQ" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Paul Weller at Westonbirt</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Way back in the late 1970s/early 80s, I was a teenage mod. I had the
Sta-Press trousers, button-down shirts, and desert boots to prove it. Plus the
obligatory fishtail parka. When it came to music, my favourite group at
that time was The Jam. How heartbroken we fans were when lead singer and
songwriter Paul Weller announced in 1982 that he was splitting the band.<p class="MsoNormal">
But for Weller the music didn't stop there. He went on to form the Style
Council and then became a solo artist. Riding the crest of a Brtipop wave, his
album Stanley Road (1995) was a massive hit. I was listening to it the other
day on my car stereo. The track ‘Broken Stones’ especially grabbed my
attention. Weller sees a metaphor for life in pebbles kicked around on a beach:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Like pebbles on a beach<br />
Kicked around, displaced by feet<br />
Oh, like broken stones<br />
They're all trying to get home<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kelly Jones of Stereophonics recently joined Weller on stage to sing this song. </p><p class="MsoNormal">The track’s vision of people as ‘lost and alone...trying to
get home’ says something profound about the human condition. There is a deep
restlessness in our souls, a feeling that we are somehow lost and far from home. That applies to successful musicians like Paul Weller, as well as
the likes of you and me.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, the singer does not claim to be a Christian, but what
he says chimes in with what the faith has to say about restless humanity. The
early church leader Augustine prayed to God, ‘You have made us for yourself and
our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.’ In our sin we are
far from God, ‘lost and alone’. But we can’t escape that longing for home.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord Jesus said of himself, ‘the Son of Man has come
to seek and save the lost’. That is why Jesus came to die for our sins upon the
cross and rise again from the dead. Through faith in him ‘broken stones’ are made whole and brought home to the Father. <o:p></o:p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgslqnAx_wsl6SOQOi47pvql2YITrVQ0IfZlrmY1j4C0-ufqSfTKRr2pGEXW4zDnK4RINCbz4z-P2Sy6FIzWBX9-673-rq6nuC4nKlFZiSgDbPse5Uh2sqGDnzfIk9bNdui5b5H3V6Rv0ROmSX-WCRz_S-aKNJnTGcPryA73s5-mZA4MazxaA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgslqnAx_wsl6SOQOi47pvql2YITrVQ0IfZlrmY1j4C0-ufqSfTKRr2pGEXW4zDnK4RINCbz4z-P2Sy6FIzWBX9-673-rq6nuC4nKlFZiSgDbPse5Uh2sqGDnzfIk9bNdui5b5H3V6Rv0ROmSX-WCRz_S-aKNJnTGcPryA73s5-mZA4MazxaA" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Kelly Jones joins Weller to sing Broken Stones </span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-33703438893695491812023-05-10T17:00:00.004+01:002023-05-10T17:03:34.528+01:00‘King of kings’<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKQs6X_ozIb2sfjN6cSgU3YdI55t6V0NR_uqRiXE6YLbHMTuZ5SDx7rBHEsSSeDYekNBfK5ztgkwn8tvpSXgzwIBIwN11LjPiEZzSiYqAKIGLCsfxyF6s7YTmVKavMdPSbrFPETD22qq-frXRI_WCAOgfq_AeHpI9uitnRT8ssBRDHmM1beg/s330/charles%203.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="153" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKQs6X_ozIb2sfjN6cSgU3YdI55t6V0NR_uqRiXE6YLbHMTuZ5SDx7rBHEsSSeDYekNBfK5ztgkwn8tvpSXgzwIBIwN11LjPiEZzSiYqAKIGLCsfxyF6s7YTmVKavMdPSbrFPETD22qq-frXRI_WCAOgfq_AeHpI9uitnRT8ssBRDHmM1beg/s320/charles%203.png" width="148" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">On Saturday 6 May millions of us watched on TV as His Majesty King Charles III was crowned in Westminster
Abbey. The Coronation Service was rich in ceremony and symbolism. The
Archbishop of Canterbury anointed the king with oil and placed St Edward’s
crown upon his head. The newly crowned King Charles III was given the
ceremonial Orb and Sceptre, tokens of his royal power. <br /> </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Much of the symbolism associated with the Coronation was drawn from the
Christian faith. The anointing recalls that kings in the Old Testament period
were anointed with oil to symbolise that they were empowered for their role by
the Spirit of the Lord. The Hebrew word ‘Messiah’ means ‘Anointed One’. The
Greek equivalent is ‘Christ’. St Edward’s crown, the Orb and Sceptre all
feature crosses as a reminder that earthly rulers are subject to a greater
King, Jesus. <br /> </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">As the firstborn son of Queen Elizabeth II, Charles was born to
be King, although he only assumed that title on his mother’s death. Similarly,
Jesus was born to rule. The angel of the Lord told Mary, Jesus’ mother, that
her Son would sit upon the throne of his royal ancestor, David. When Jesus was
born wise men from the East sought out the infant King of the Jews and brought
him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.<br /> </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Yet when the Lord Jesus Christ was crowned on earth it was not with a
jewel encrusted crown of gold, but with a crown of thorns in preparation for
his crucifixion. ‘Behold your King!’ said Pontius Pilate of Jesus, the man he had
condemned to die. Jesus could have used the power by which he calmed the waves
and healed the sick to avoid the suffering and shame of the cross, but he did
not. Jesus came to die in the place of sinners that we may be forgiven and be
reconciled to God. His lifeless body was taken from the cross and laid in a
borrowed tomb, which is where it remained until Easter Sunday morning when God
raised his Son from the dead.<br /> </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Forty days later Jesus ascended to heaven to assume his place at the
right hand of God the Father. That was his Coronation Day, when Jesus was
crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. He is exalted <span style="background: white; color: black;">far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,
and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in
the one to come. King Jesus offers his royal pardon to all who will come in
faith and bow the knee before his throne. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="background: white; color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: x-small;">*For May edition of various local parish mags</span></span></div>
Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-80733060543492187882023-04-05T16:38:00.001+01:002023-04-05T16:38:31.617+01:00‘The Son of Man must suffer’<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWYhO2EelTDpO85l0JTvVL-wLacECSPcYcdHgsHb7Wmfzyk8gLtrr7XJENWFlzbmIdPamJYNfu_yGHVA_QIb1j239FMwQ2464WoNRLCQLLtVyZAMC5LsefYQba9-EoAycjDQ0UduUSHoMDmMUwVj6jXlUHgRR2mVT_rlSYMG2oKHnPUi3Nmg/s1024/cross%20easter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWYhO2EelTDpO85l0JTvVL-wLacECSPcYcdHgsHb7Wmfzyk8gLtrr7XJENWFlzbmIdPamJYNfu_yGHVA_QIb1j239FMwQ2464WoNRLCQLLtVyZAMC5LsefYQba9-EoAycjDQ0UduUSHoMDmMUwVj6jXlUHgRR2mVT_rlSYMG2oKHnPUi3Nmg/s320/cross%20easter.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="m9086976039127119072msonospacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">The
Cross stands at the heart of the Christian faith. Yes, believers sit at the
feet of Jesus the Teacher, captivated by his compelling vision of the righteous
life in the Sermon on the Mount. They marvel at the miracles the Bible reports
he performed; making the blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk. But the
Gospel accounts never let us forget for a moment that the Man who preached the
Sermon on the Mount and made broken human beings whole was heading for the
death of the Cross. Jesus knew it, which was why he repeatedly told his
followers, 'the Son of Man must suffer... and be killed'. <br />
<br />
What lies behind that 'must'? Was Jesus' death by crucifixion the outworking of
the unstoppable forces of history? When Boris Johnson resigned as Prime
Minister he acknowledged he was powerless to resist calls in the Conservative
Party that he should be removed from Number 10, ‘When the herd moves, it
moves', he reflected. In Jesus' case, the Jewish religious establishment wanted
him out of the way. They feared unless Jesus was stopped they would lose their
power. They manipulated Pontius Pilate by forcing him choose between loyalty to
Caesar and condemning Jesus to death. Inevitably, Pilate sent Jesus to the
Cross rather than risk upsetting the Emperor. But there is more to Jesus'
'must' than that.<br />
<br />
Perhaps the 'must' can be attributed to the blind forces of fate that are said
to determine who wins the Lottery and who gets run over by a bus? But Jesus
wasn't being fatalistic when he spoke of his impending death, going to the
Cross resigned to 'whatever will be will be'. No, the 'must' that compelled
Jesus towards Calvary was his sense that it was his God-given mission to suffer
and be killed. Why? The Bible's answers that quite simply, 'Christ died for our
sins'. In other words, the 'must' of which Jesus spoke was the fulfilment of
God's rescue plan for the world, 'God shows his love for us in that while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ Now all who believe in Jesus are
forgiven and put right with God.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Not
only Jesus’ death, but also his resurrection was covered by the divine ‘must’, <span style="background: white; color: black;">‘the Son of Man must suffer...
and be killed, and after three days rise again’. It was not possible for death
to maintain its iron grip on the Prince of Life.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Easter services at <a href="The Cross stands at the heart of the Christian faith. Yes, believers sit at the feet of Jesus the Teacher, captivated by his compelling vision of the righteous life in the Sermon on the Mount. They marvel at the miracles the Bible reports he performed; making the blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk. But the Gospel accounts never let us forget for a moment that the Man who preached the Sermon on the Mount and made broken human beings whole was heading for the death of the Cross. Jesus knew it, which was why he repeatedly told his followers, 'the Son of Man must suffer... and be killed'. What lies behind that 'must'? Was Jesus' death by crucifixion the outworking of the unstoppable forces of history? When Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister he acknowledged he was powerless to resist calls in the Conservative Party that he should be removed from Number 10, ‘When the herd moves, it moves', he reflected. In Jesus' case, the Jewish religious establishment wanted him out of the way. They feared unless Jesus was stopped they would lose their power. They manipulated Pontius Pilate by forcing him choose between loyalty to Caesar and condemning Jesus to death. Inevitably, Pilate sent Jesus to the Cross rather than risk upsetting the Emperor. But there is more to Jesus' 'must' than that. Perhaps the 'must' can be attributed to the blind forces of fate that are said to determine who wins the Lottery and who gets run over by a bus? But Jesus wasn't being fatalistic when he spoke of his impending death, going to the Cross resigned to 'whatever will be will be'. No, the 'must' that compelled Jesus towards Calvary was his sense that it was his God-given mission to suffer and be killed. Why? The Bible's answers that quite simply, 'Christ died for our sins'. In other words, the 'must' of which Jesus spoke was the fulfilment of God's rescue plan for the world, 'God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ Now all who believe in Jesus are forgiven and put right with God. Not only Jesus’ death, but also his resurrection was covered by the divine ‘must’, ‘the Son of Man must suffer... and be killed, and after three days rise again’. It was not possible for death to maintain its iron grip on the Prince of Life. " target="_blank">Providence & Ebenezer</a>: </p><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Providence Baptist Church</div><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Good Friday 10.30am</div><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Easter Sunday 10.30am & 6.00pm</div><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Ebenezer Baptist Church</div><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Easter Sunday 4.30pm</div><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* For April edition of various parish magazines </span></div><p></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-29084433124215424482023-04-03T08:00:00.001+01:002023-04-03T08:00:00.173+01:00The Pastor as Counselor: The Call for Soul Care by David Powlison<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXn9d2fCanYNzon5c5yn-Q8DcUuQg9QUsM5KHh5xsk483K8EIDc7IzbtRoSP62QkzP8LziD9ZMGBc8KdOhOJIOQ7BwJdl_ul6U47kVqd1L7xqCi67MJh7jPXii-Qko_9A62CGXi0tYIu8qMVcu6xAaZq0SnmsGYLcSyTYL9tVNWZsx1--rA/s600/The%20Pastor%20as%20Counselor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="429" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXn9d2fCanYNzon5c5yn-Q8DcUuQg9QUsM5KHh5xsk483K8EIDc7IzbtRoSP62QkzP8LziD9ZMGBc8KdOhOJIOQ7BwJdl_ul6U47kVqd1L7xqCi67MJh7jPXii-Qko_9A62CGXi0tYIu8qMVcu6xAaZq0SnmsGYLcSyTYL9tVNWZsx1--rA/s320/The%20Pastor%20as%20Counselor.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Crossway, 2021, </i><i>76pp</i></div> <i> <br /></i>In this little work, David
Powlison underlines the uniqueness of pastoral counselling. All pastors are
counsellors, but their counselling ministry is distinct from others who offer a
‘talking cure’ to distressed individuals. Pastoral counselling is about soul
care, that ‘art of arts’ that aims at helping form people into mature and
fruitful followers of Jesus. Pastors are not to maintain a professional
distance from those they seek to counsel. Pastoral counselling is part and
parcel of the minister’s close relationship with members of the flock he is
called to serve.<br /> <o:p> <br /></o:p>The pastor’s counselling may
take place in snatched conversations at the fringes of church life, where he
asks people how they are doing and seeks to encourage them in the Lord. When
bereavement, family breakdown or other forms of suffering strike, the
counselling will be more intensive. Similarly, when a pastor gives support to a
believer who is engaged in a massive struggle with temptation and sin.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>In all these things the pastor offers counsel
not as an expert with all the answers, but as a fellow-sufferer and
fellow-sinner. The work is to be carried out in God-dependent prayer, as the
minister endeavours to apply the teaching of Scripture to the troubled soul.
Personal counselling is not an alternative to public preaching. It is an
extension of the pastor’s calling as a minister of the word of God in the
service of the people of God. <br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*Reviewed for the Banner of Truth Magazine </span></div><p></p>
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-63641243921787502732023-03-30T14:32:00.002+01:002023-03-30T14:32:47.982+01:00Natural Theology by Geerhardus Vos<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Ny3X_Fac8WkhoABZvrJd5WrrRDucYSSLeXeVN8c6L9IZEnGGI6R2RgyS2jSuLT7Chuv7xpaAxGaKw_L8FI_qvsXanxTVreYvhf2raYkm-GDdYMT9IozxTT_szuDDGMzIQ4sXc66M70TbIiFrBfnxF1H9UndRG8zwJweMVFpQ2wLaKlZ84w/s500/Vos-front__27522.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Ny3X_Fac8WkhoABZvrJd5WrrRDucYSSLeXeVN8c6L9IZEnGGI6R2RgyS2jSuLT7Chuv7xpaAxGaKw_L8FI_qvsXanxTVreYvhf2raYkm-GDdYMT9IozxTT_szuDDGMzIQ4sXc66M70TbIiFrBfnxF1H9UndRG8zwJweMVFpQ2wLaKlZ84w/s320/Vos-front__27522.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reformation Heritage Books, 2022, </span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">106pp</span></i></div><i><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <br /></span></o:p></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gerhardus Vos will be know to
readers of this blog for his famous work, <i>Biblical Theology</i>,
published by the Banner of Truth Trust. Vos served as Professor of Biblical Theology at
Princeton Theological Seminary from 1892 until his retirement in 1932. His main
interest during that period was in tracing the redemptive-historical flow of
the Bible’s big story. Prior to that he taught at the Theological School at
Grand Rapids, where among other things Vos lectured on dogmatics and natural
theology.<br /> </span><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <br /></span></o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is commonplace to say that
God has two books in which he has revealed himself; the ‘Book of Nature’ and
the ‘Book of Scripture’. The task of natural theology is trace what can be seen
of God’s self-revelation in the created order. In a useful introduction to the
work under review John V. Fesko places Vos’s contribution to the field of
natural theology in the context of Reformed thought. John Calvin and his fellow
Reformers drew on the teaching of earlier theologians to emphasise that while
God reveals his existence to all in nature (Romans 1:19-20), natural revelation
cannot give saving knowledge to sinners. Fesko argues of Cornelius Van Til’s
negative attitude towards natural theology was a departure from the mainstream
Reformed teaching as represented by Vos.<br /> </span><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <br /></span></o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The main body of the work is
drawn from notes made on Vos’s lectures on natural theology by his students at
Grand Rapids. His lectures would follow and question and answer format. This is
retained in the text. But what may have been an effective means of communication in
the lecture hall does not work quite so well on the printed page. The Q&A
approach makes it more difficult for the reader to follow the overall drift of
Vos’s argument and a sense of momentum is lost.<br /> </span><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <br /></span></o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;">That said, there are good
things here. Vos gives attention to the meaning of natural theology. He
discusses the strengths and weaknesses of arguments for the existence of God. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Professor interacts with older and more modern objections to arguments for
God’s existence, many of which are still doing the rounds today.</span><br /> <o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">*Reviewed for the Banner of Truth Magazine, </span></o:p></div>
<br /><p></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-16529098472798644612023-03-29T08:00:00.005+01:002023-03-29T08:37:37.381+01:00Pure Church: Recovering God's plan for local churches <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Edited by: David Skull, Andrew King & Jim Sayers</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Grace Publications, 2022, 283pp</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">I've been using this book as a tool for discussing church membership with someone who is not from a Baptist background. Meeting up to discuss a chapter or two at a time has helped to clarify the biblical teaching on the church that we seek to put into practice as a fellowship. </span>The aim of this work is to sketch out a biblical vision of church life from a Grace Baptist perspective. The premise here is that God has a plan for how local churches should function and that he has revealed that plan in Holy Scripture. Of course, there are true gospel churches other than of the Grace Baptist variety. That is acknowledged in the first chapter, on <i>The Visible Church. </i>The visible church is the manifestation on earth of the universal church of Jesus Christ to which all genuine believers belong, irrespective of the denominational label. But the visible church is only made manifest when a local congregation holds to and holds forth the message of the gospel. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">That is the place to start when it comes to the biblical doctrine of the church. Not in finding snazzy new ways of 'doing church for the 21st century', but by having a sound grasp of the gospel of salvation that calls the church into being. These are the truths of 'first importance' defined by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 and helpfully outlined by Jim Sayers in the first chapter. Issues such as church membership and the proper subjects of baptism are second order doctrines. They may not be essential for salvation, but they are certainly not unimportant when it comes to recovering a biblical understanding of church life. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Evangelicals have sometimes justified serving in theologically mixed denominations on the grounds that having unconverted members in the churches makes them a 'good pool to fish from'. Convinced Baptists believe that according to the New Testament local churches are gatherings of converted and baptised people where the Lord's Supper is celebrated. These matters are helpfully discussed in chapters two to five, on <i>Conversion</i>, <i>Baptism</i>, <i>Membership </i>and <i>The Lord's Supper. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">On the Day of Pentecost Peter urged his hearers, <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">“Repent and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">be baptized every one of you </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">in the name of Jesus Christ </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38). Luke then tells us, "S</span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">o those who received his word were baptized, and </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">there were added that day about three thousand souls." </span>(Acts 2:41). That </span>repentant<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and baptised people were added to the Jerusalem church strongly </span>suggests<span style="font-family: inherit;"> a properly defined church membership made up of converted individuals. We should also bear in mind that it was possible for someone to be removed from the membership of a local church should they stray into serious error, or fall into open sin. The fact that they could be put out implies that they were formally received into the church in the first place. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We live in highly individualistic times in which the consumer is king or queen. That may be well and good when it comes to choosing our </span>favourite<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>breakfast<span style="font-family: inherit;"> cereal, but such an attitude can be disastrous when it comes to following Jesus. The Lord has not simply saved a bunch of random individuals. He is gathering people together into his body, the church. If we may continue with Luke's description of the rapidly congregation at Jerusalem,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> "</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">And </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">they devoted themselves to the apostles' </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">teaching and the </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">fellowship, to </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the breaking of bread and the prayers."</span> (Acts 2:42). </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Discipleship and </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">discipline</span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> are two sides of the same coin when it comes to how local churches seek to form converts into fruitful followers of Jesus. See chapters six and seven. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Discipleship is an essential element of the Great </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Commission</span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">, Matthew 28:19-20. It involves both formal teaching by pastors and teachers in the church and also members caring for each other and encouraging one another in the life of faith. Church </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">discipline</span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> acts as a corrective when church members stray. Its purpose is to safeguard the purity of the church and to restore the straying member to faithful Christian discipleship. The Lord Jesus has given his local churches the keys of the kingdom that they may admit to their number those who have made a credible profession of faith and remove from their number those whose credibility as </span>believers<span style="font-family: inherit;"> is in doubt. Attention is drawn to Matthew 18:15-20 and 1 Corinthians 5. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chapters eight and nine deal with the </span>Independent governance of the church and church leadership. Baptists believe that each local church is independent under the lordship of Christ and subject to the authority of Scripture. The church members' meeting is the key decision making body of the church. Leaders are appointed by church members and may be removed by them if necessary. The biblical pattern for church leadership is one of a team of elders who share in the oversight of the flock, one or more of whom may be called to 'labour in the word and teaching' (1 Timothy 5:17) on a full time basis. The qualities required of overseers are detailed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Deacons are appointed to meet the practical needs of the church in line with Acts 6:1-7 and 1 Timothy 3:8-13. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">For all the right and proper emphasis on the importance of local churches comprised of baptised believers, the value of inter-church fellowship is also underlined in the final chapter on <i>Gospel Unity</i>. Churches with a shared confession of faith such as the Second London Baptist Confession, 1689 may wish to form formal associations. Confessional Grace Baptist Churches can enjoy fellowship with churches from other Evangelical and Reformed groupings. This may involve meeting together for times of ministry and prayer, or supporting shared activities like youth work. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Despite the title<i>, </i>the writers of<i> Pure Church </i>do not claim that Grace Baptist Churches have reached a state of ecclesiological perfection and purity. Far from it. But they do hold that it is for the good of individual believers and churches when God's plan for the local church is followed. The various authors of this book have strongly Reformed Baptist convictions, but they do not lapse into sectarian polemic against those who belong to other church groupings. The stance taken is sometimes more 'Strict Baptist' on church membership and the Lord's Supper than all Grace Baptists would be willing to countenance. Surprisingly perhaps, the teaching of the Second London Baptist Confession on matters covered here isn't cited by the authors, which is something of an omission. That said, the work offers a lively and compelling vision of church life such as may be discovered in the pages of the New Testament. </span></div>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-24849720060019682142023-03-27T08:00:00.001+01:002023-03-27T08:00:00.245+01:00 Cultural Christianity<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5DJtP4DxakKHWav5m_BVuHsKo22I2yFhVPolP2VzvUxucFReWI2EANwg3-8H9d12r-aQtaBGtarW_6KrNqWaMcAfF8v4Ju4yA_8RJY226jeuVNsaVqhGVNePa5uSxDB0nUZkDYz3oTJcbGN93Ze3p0bx6RJnPHfArOOkOQjjPR004GZLS4Q/s2560/dominion%20holland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1664" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5DJtP4DxakKHWav5m_BVuHsKo22I2yFhVPolP2VzvUxucFReWI2EANwg3-8H9d12r-aQtaBGtarW_6KrNqWaMcAfF8v4Ju4yA_8RJY226jeuVNsaVqhGVNePa5uSxDB0nUZkDYz3oTJcbGN93Ze3p0bx6RJnPHfArOOkOQjjPR004GZLS4Q/s320/dominion%20holland.jpg" width="208" /></a> </div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Several years ago we spent our summer holidays in Carmarthen, West
Wales. Disaster struck. I ran out of books to read. But ever the intrepid
traveller I endeavoured to remedy the situation by popping into a local
bookshop. Browsing the history section, a book with an orange and gold cover
caught my eye. It was <i><a href="https://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2010/09/rubicon-by-tom-holland.html" target="_blank">Rubicon</a> </i>by Tom Holland, who was originally from
Salisbury. The book told the story of the rise of Julius Caesar. It was a
bloodthirsty tale of ambitious men jostling to become top dog in Rome.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Caesar made a name for himself when leading the campaign to subdue
Gaul. It is said that in pursuit of that goal he slaughtered a million Gauls
and enslaved a million more. Today we would call him a war criminal and demand
he be tried for his atrocities at the Hague. But the people of Rome hailed
Caesar as a hero. The glittering prize of being appointed ‘dictator for life’
was bestowed upon him in 49 BC. Although his life was cut short when Caesar was
assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BC. (This is discussed on <a href="https://linktr.ee/restishistory" target="_blank">The Rest is History</a> podcast with Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, 13 February 2023). </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">At first Holland admired the heroes of ancient Greece and Rome,
but the more he immersed himself in that world, the more he was disturbed by
their casual cruelty. The author realised that he was viewing the actions of
the likes of Julius Caesar from the perspective of a culture that was deeply
steeped in the Christian faith. Christianity teaches that all people are made
in the image of God and are therefore worthy of dignity and respect (even
Gauls!). That was the basis of modern day human rights. Jesus said, ‘blessed are
the meek, for they shall inherit the earth’. Caesar wouldn’t have agreed with
that. But today we champion the underdog and demand that the poor receive the
help they need.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Tom Holland doesn’t claim to be a personal follower of the Lord Jesus,
but he does recognise that some of our most cherished values derive from the
Christian faith. His book <i><a href="https://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2020/01/dominion-making-of-western-mind-by-tom_21.html" target="_blank">Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind</a></i> shows
how the faith has shaped our culture. But it is one thing to admire ‘Christian
values’ and another to actually be a Christian</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">The Christian believes that Jesus is the Son of God who died upon the
cross for our sins and rose again from the dead. Jesus promises those who
believe in him a place in his everlasting kingdom. <span style="background: white;">Cultural Christianity may admire the faith for its benefits,
often picking and choosing the bits it likes, while rejecting the rest. But the
kingdom of heaven is not to be selectively admired from outside, but entered as
a person is transformed on the inside. As Jesus said, "Unless a man is
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* For the March edition of various local parish magazines </span></span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-31622472222092817172023-02-06T08:00:00.002+00:002023-02-09T09:05:01.498+00:00Living<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLVABBDpBV3gQ3h4-vekz0jonF_CpDPcGWzVT00WHAuVJUmyoXCa07QYSpqtn71PrROclyiS6G5zhfc1Mm1q1a8LE4-budhhW7wWWUFxWxaft9TcbFW_SRWTRLW62xqi7Bm5XqN_Pf0LOgESv7vKMyL8RXE7IoTvb7WmSPDp7UifIRRIt4CA/s375/Living_poster.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="253" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLVABBDpBV3gQ3h4-vekz0jonF_CpDPcGWzVT00WHAuVJUmyoXCa07QYSpqtn71PrROclyiS6G5zhfc1Mm1q1a8LE4-budhhW7wWWUFxWxaft9TcbFW_SRWTRLW62xqi7Bm5XqN_Pf0LOgESv7vKMyL8RXE7IoTvb7WmSPDp7UifIRRIt4CA/s320/Living_poster.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It comes to us all. The children have flown the roost. You go to the
cinema to see a superhero blockbuster. Batman, Superman, or some other
character in a cape does battle with a baddie who threatens to destroy the
world . Skyscrapers crumble around them and taxis fly through the air. It’s
loud and visually stunning. Yet without the teenagers in tow it dawns on you
that you’re not really enjoying this stuff anymore. And anything in 3D just
gives you a headache. Reached that stage yet? I have.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My favourite film of 2022 was probably </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Living</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, staring Bill
Nighy as an ageing civil servant, Mr. Williams. The actor has </span>received<span style="font-family: inherit;"> an Oscar nomination for the role. His character’s life is stuck
on hold in a bureaucratic machine. County Hall where he works seems to
operate with the sole purpose of stopping anything happening that would improve
the lot of 1950’s Londoners. No capes are donned. No skyscrapers crumble, but
the movie packs a powerful punch. Mr. Williams receives the devastating news
that he is terminally ill. His first response is to try and live it up a bit with
a trip to the seaside. But escapism fails to satisfy his desire to live out his
days well, rather than just existing for the drudgery of the office. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although what does it for Mr Williams is returning to work. He unites his team
in a project that will actually do something for the ordinary people of London,
a city that has not yet been rebuilt following the Blitz. The message of the
film is that we find purpose in life by doing things that make a difference for
others. The final scenes are almost unbearably poignant.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus said, ‘I have come that they might have life, and have it
abundantly’. That’s why he died for his people on the cross and rose from the
dead. But Jesus’ vision of abundant life isn’t an endless round of parties,
glitz and glamour. He called upon his followers to love their neighbour as
themselves, to care for the sick and feed the poor. Life to the full is for
those who believe in the Lord Jesus, die to self and give their lives in the
service of others. That’s living alright.</span> <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* For the February 2023 edition of various local magazines </span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-73436920865931082892022-12-13T11:44:00.005+00:002022-12-13T11:44:52.137+00:00Deity & Decree, by Samuel D. Renihan <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69EDHOSeXUgLBUpk6cVutfHeOAz5NJLVlPB8XWxC48O_5oFPHsac7wQE7F9SLi_VX3CgX7BrTL6BBQ4WeV5NANkNRtsmdfzhkXq61oIftWkyC1upe9_VfTRsJtJT_oHpGtdCvNk8k1OvEcZVB1qzxcQ6WNZZD2e__FLNvitkGsK2hB2nQLg/s2304/20220824_135613.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2304" data-original-width="1537" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69EDHOSeXUgLBUpk6cVutfHeOAz5NJLVlPB8XWxC48O_5oFPHsac7wQE7F9SLi_VX3CgX7BrTL6BBQ4WeV5NANkNRtsmdfzhkXq61oIftWkyC1upe9_VfTRsJtJT_oHpGtdCvNk8k1OvEcZVB1qzxcQ6WNZZD2e__FLNvitkGsK2hB2nQLg/s320/20220824_135613.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Published in the UK by <a href="https://brokenwharfe.com/product/deity-decree/" target="_blank">Broken Warfe</a>, 2021, 134pp.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Evangelicals rightly demand theological precision and accuracy when it comes to the doctrine of Scripture, or justification by faith alone. Any drift from biblical inerrancy is detected and rejected in short order. Similarly when it comes to including works in justification. 'By faith alone, by grace alone', we insist. The same theological care isn't necessarily displayed when attention turns to the doctrine of God. Some contemporary Evangelical theologians suggest that belief in divine impassibility makes seem God cold and remote. Others have argued that the Son stands in a eternal relationship of submission and authority to the Father. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Part of the problem is that Evangelicalism contents itself with brief statements of belief, as opposed to elaborate confessions of faith. Compare the <a href="https://fiec.org.uk/who-we-are/beliefs" target="_blank">Doctrinal Basis</a> of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches with the <a href="https://www.the1689confession.com/1689/chapter-2" target="_blank">Second London Baptist Confession of Faith</a>, 1689. Point 1 of the FIEC Doctrinal Basis has a 54 word statement on 'God'. What it says is perfectly fine and good. But by way of contrast, the 2LBCF Chapter 2 devotes three paragraphs totalling 408 words to 'Of God and the Trinity'. The older confession self-consciously echoes the creedal heritage of the church and gives expression to what is sometimes called the 'classic doctrine of God', 'The Lord our God is a... most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions'. Renihan wants to recover the older emphasis of the confession. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If the doctrine of God is 'first theology' and of primary importance, we need to ensure that what we say of God is biblically accurate and informed by the theological reflection of the past. That is where <i>Deity & Decree </i>comes in. With impressive clarity and brevity Renihan gives attention to God's Unity, Triunity and Decree. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">God's Unity: God is self existent, with life in himself. He is uncaused cause of all things. God's attributes such as his omnipotence, holiness and love are not the bits of which his being is composed. God is simple, having no component parts. All that is in God is essential to God, because all that is in God is God. That is why he cannot change. An unchanging God is not susceptible to suffering. There is nothing within the being of the ever blessed God that could cause him to suffer. Suffering cannot be imposed upon him from without, as that would give the created order an advantage over him, compromising his omnipotence and immutability. The impassible God is not cold, or remote, however, for God is love, full of self-generated compassion and mercy towards lost sinners. The move towards attributing suffering to God's being risks compromising the uniqueness of the incarnation of the Son of God. In Christ as man God did what is impossible for him to do as God namely, to suffer and die for sinners. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">God's Trinity: The Bible reveals that in the one God there are three persons, or subsistences: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All three persons are equally and fully God, yet the Three are not interchangeable. The Father is unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. It is these personal properties alone that distinguish the persons. We may not ascribe an attribute such as authority to the Father and submission to the Son in terms of their eternal relations. The Son has the same power and authority as the Father because he is of the same essence as the Father. But there is an order in the Trinity and the missions of the three persons in the world of time reflect the eternal relations. The Father sent the Son into the world at his <span style="font-family: inherit;">incarnation. The Father and Son poured out the Holy Spirit upon the church on the Day of Pentecost. Getting the Trinity right isn't theological hair </span>splitting<span style="font-family: inherit;">. As the Second London Baptist Confession states, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">"<span style="text-align: left;">which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on Him." (2:3). </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">God's Decree: The decree is a simple, eternal and sovereign act of God's being. The Almighty's unchangeable decree, however, does not reduce creatures to the status of puppets in his hands. As the confession makes clear, "</span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established;<span style="color: #bbbbbb;"> </span></span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">in which appears His wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing His decree." (3:1). The decree does not make God the author sin, which he willingly permits for his own ends. Neither does it deprive human beings of responsibility to God for their actions. God decreed the salvation of his people not because of anything in them, but because of his own free grace given them in Christ before the foundation of the world. Those not elected to </span>salvation are passed by according to God's decree. The cause of the damnation of the wicked is not the divine will <i>per se</i>, but their own sin, which rightly deserves eternal punishment. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: left;">In line with the Reformed Catholic tradition Renihan insists that God's decree is the expression of his will which is a property of the divine being, not the persons of the Trinity. This cuts across the idea proposed by some contemporary Evangelicals that the Son's will was eternally subordinate to that of the Father. The divine will is common to all three persons of the Trinity in the being of God. The Son, as well as the Father and the Holy Spirit was therefore party to the decree of salvation. The Son's submission to the Father in the economy of redemption cannot be read back into the eternal relations of the Trinity. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: left;">Renihan handles the biblical materials underlying God's Unity, Trinity and Decree with insight and care. His treatment of these topics is enriched by the Great Tradition of Christian thought, especially writers of the Reformation and Puritan periods. The author's prose is limpid and precise, yet his tone tone is meditative and devotional. A fine work of 'first theology' that demands a response of joyful doxology of the reader:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: left;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: left;">Glory be to God the Father. Glory be to God the Son. Glory be to God the Holy Spirit. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: left;">Glory be to the only, living, true, and triune God.</span></span></div></blockquote><p></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-68926189199324178772022-12-12T17:26:00.002+00:002022-12-12T17:40:44.347+00:00‘Glory to the New-born King'<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLWkbvVMfFcuxq4PJDueFV2nleXXwBrBwE-W41gYYmV6JE5mhj9qGgp0jTNId8vABhAkryPSeoeHIXBhDzElns63RC6dJXNGKxDRw7-xYMPbn0Chmb7QwWLplpvOsJcR9Myw6xzf4Gdf9yM8Ktppg3eeDolLYvYiJrKOjXAiFk0sGNrVKjew/s300/Glory-to-the-newborn-King-300x162.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="162" data-original-width="300" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLWkbvVMfFcuxq4PJDueFV2nleXXwBrBwE-W41gYYmV6JE5mhj9qGgp0jTNId8vABhAkryPSeoeHIXBhDzElns63RC6dJXNGKxDRw7-xYMPbn0Chmb7QwWLplpvOsJcR9Myw6xzf4Gdf9yM8Ktppg3eeDolLYvYiJrKOjXAiFk0sGNrVKjew/w320-h173/Glory-to-the-newborn-King-300x162.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So says the chorus of a favourite
carol, Hark! the Herald Angels Sing. But why should glory be ascribed to the
new-born Jesus? After all, he would have looked much like every other baby.
Cute, yes, but worthy of the angels’ praise? I know artists often portray the
infant in the manger as if he glowed in the dark with heavenly splendour, but
that has no basis in fact. If anything, the Bible stresses how ordinary looking
was Jesus. He ‘took the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men’
wrote the apostle Paul. As with any other baby, Jesus was weak and totally
helpless, ‘tears and smiles like us he knew’.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Yet Christians believe that he who as an infant was cradled in his mother
Mary’s arms, was also the eternal Word of God who upheld the universe by his
divine power. He is fully God, the Father’s only Son as well as fully human.
That is why angels worshipped the new-born King. They recognised him as their
Maker made flesh. Another reason for worship is what Jesus was sent into the
world to do. As the angel of the Lord explained to startled shepherds keeping
watch over their flock by night, ‘<span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black;">Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that
will be for all the people.</span></span><span style="background: white; color: black;"> <span class="text">For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.’</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">God became man in Jesus because we needed a Saviour. That tells us
something about the human condition. The Bible tells us, ‘all have sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God’. We are incapable of saving ourselves from
sin, otherwise God would have left us to get on with it. Jesus came to live a
life of perfect obedience to God on our behalf. He then laid down his life as a
sacrifice for sin. His death was sufficient to rescue the world from sin.
That’s because it was the Son of God in human form who suffered in our place at
the cross.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Jesus is the King of love. He was born in the royal city of David. He
was crucified as ‘King of the Jews’ to win us a place in God’s eternal kingdom.
He rose from the dead and was exalted to the right hand of the Father, where he
reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is able to save completely those
who put their trust in him. Will you join the angels in singing, ‘glory
to the new-born King!’?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Christmas Services at <a href="www.pbc-ebc.org.uk " target="_blank">Providence & Ebenezer</a>. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* For the Christmas/New Year editions of several parish magazines </span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-18669482286832685362022-11-02T11:42:00.001+00:002022-11-02T11:42:03.990+00:00History on Fast Forward<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3oru7wJRDLURsRrXBLprggiQdFsuCP8Nps2J1wiuITwTkgpVdgzjiPORMyCtm5Vffxt8b2ichxGiDw_FyfIcx6JfoEfAFUjSl9FCSKdD9DpaBMzpofxLj1emTQDMvAtwWAxpqo-3ok2vN7KQEMlTQjEkdV9rrQNMV-vk7q8tneveYiQgD8g/s225/FFWd.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3oru7wJRDLURsRrXBLprggiQdFsuCP8Nps2J1wiuITwTkgpVdgzjiPORMyCtm5Vffxt8b2ichxGiDw_FyfIcx6JfoEfAFUjSl9FCSKdD9DpaBMzpofxLj1emTQDMvAtwWAxpqo-3ok2vN7KQEMlTQjEkdV9rrQNMV-vk7q8tneveYiQgD8g/s1600/FFWd.png" width="225" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">I’m old enough to remember life before music could be downloaded or
streamed. I can even remember when CDs were a novelty, rather than old hat.
Apart from a few cassettes most of my teenage music purchases were on vinyl
and had to be played on a record player. Records had two sizes and speeds.
Albums had to be played on 33rpm, singles on 45rpm. If you forgot to flip the
switch from 45rpm when listening to an album it would play at high speed and at
a higher pitch than was intended. You could produce the same effect by pressing
the ‘play’ and ‘fast forward’ buttons at the same time on a cassette player.
That was our idea of fun in the 1970’s and 80s. We didn’t have TikTok and stuff
back then.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Right now it seems like the album of history is being played at 45rpm.
It’s a pain if you have to submit a monthly article like this one, which
sometimes includes comment on current affairs. As I write this just before the
deadline, Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked as Chancellor and Jeremy Hunt has been
appointed in his place. Prime Minister Liz Truss has vowed to carry on, but who
knows who’ll be PM by the time you read this in November? In September Boris
Johnson stood down, Liz Truss took over and then the Queen died. Now we’re all
having to get used to singing, ‘God save our gracious King’. It’s all happening
too fast.<br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">It’s much better when history proceeds at a glacial pace and nothing
much seems to be going on. But time is hurtling by at a dizzying speed. The key
thing is to have the wisdom to know what do to with the brief span allotted to
us. We live in a day of great gospel opportunity. God has sent his Son the Lord Jesus
to die for our sins and rise again from the dead. Jesus now calls us to put our
faith in him that we may be forgiven and have the hope of eternal life. History
seems to be stuck on fast forward. In the words of the old hymn, ‘swift to its
close ebbs out life’s little day’. So, hurry up and wait for what’s worth
waiting for. Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is
near. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*For November edition of various parish mags</span></span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-51565029488266106482022-08-13T22:28:00.000+01:002022-08-13T22:28:36.526+01:00An unexpected visit to the National Gallery <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixsHcdA1gwbcp2NBuGnb_AjLuoN-tTh56uBNUTTclQkT7S_KoUJGaklxzCxxQzo6G5N7cgMRoK_E-uX5azBC_1N5Kn37cwjXULiZeH-YTo7D89zO0CKid3hzgQslcf2X9YQ3btNMnPedEoZa5KKoNHhVviNrglHM1syCEXqfQBt58IrtFh-w/s6031/20220813_164557.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5193" data-original-width="6031" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixsHcdA1gwbcp2NBuGnb_AjLuoN-tTh56uBNUTTclQkT7S_KoUJGaklxzCxxQzo6G5N7cgMRoK_E-uX5azBC_1N5Kn37cwjXULiZeH-YTo7D89zO0CKid3hzgQslcf2X9YQ3btNMnPedEoZa5KKoNHhVviNrglHM1syCEXqfQBt58IrtFh-w/s320/20220813_164557.jpg" width="320"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The car started to make a funny noise as we travelled to London for a family visit. The idea was that we would stay in London from Thursday to Saturday and then set off to Eastbourne for a two week break. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">But as we turned off the M4 we noticed the car sounded a bit odd. Like our old school unleaded guzzling Ford Focus had transitioned into a whining elecric job. Freaky. On arriving at our destination a peek under the bonnet revealed a fluid leak. Not engine oil, but whatever it was, there was quite a bit of it. Too much to risk proceeding with our journey without getting it looked at. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">A visit to a garage on Saturday morning revealed that the power steering pipe needed replacing. Couldn't be done until Monday at the earliest. We were stuck. In London. Where there's always stuff to see and do.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Like arty stuff in an air conned gallery during yet another summer 2022 hot spell. And so we braved the sweltering Bakerloo line and headed for the effortlessly cool National Gallery. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">We hadn't visited for years, so it was like bumping into old friend after old friend as we wandered through the various exhibition rooms. There's Rembrandt as a young man and then as an oldie. The greatest self-portraits ever? And his epic Belshazzar's Feast. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I wanted to see Turner's The Fighting Temeraire. There it was. Like, wow. The ghostly old ship being towed to the breaker's yard by the fiery, modern tug boat. That sunset. On the way we saw Gainsborough's portraits of gentry couples proudly posing on their estates, shooting a confident gaze at their viewers. Placed next to tenderly intimate depictions of the painter's young daughters. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Then the Monets and Reniors. Not to mention Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Chair and Wheat Field. It was the visual eqivalent of playing a setlist of all your favorite songs, with some welcome surprises thrown in. And this was a rushed 2 hour visit in which we sampled only some of the artworks on display in the grandeur of the National Gallery. All for free. To think, we could have been travelling to Eastbourne. </div></div>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-63015123989826067832022-08-09T08:00:00.002+01:002022-08-09T08:38:52.755+01:00An Introduction to John Owen: A Christian Vision for Every Stage of Life, by Crawford Gribben <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i6Xf9s31tu0/YMnemLCNSvI/AAAAAAAAStE/i76sFDGI-kcYVmUTWM5HBv-i27KcbKuSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s345/JO%2Bgribben.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="227" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i6Xf9s31tu0/YMnemLCNSvI/AAAAAAAAStE/i76sFDGI-kcYVmUTWM5HBv-i27KcbKuSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/JO%2Bgribben.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Crossway, 2020, 190pp</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Crawford Gribben has written a full scale biography of John Owen entitled, <i><a href="https://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2018/07/john-owen-and-english-puritanism-by.html" target="_blank">John Owen and </a></i></span><i style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2018/07/john-owen-and-english-puritanism-by.html" target="_blank">English Puritanism: Experiences of Defeat</a></i><span style="text-align: left;">. This is something different. Here Owen's story is interwoven with his teachings on how the Christian faith casts light on every stage of life, from childhood to death and eternal life. Novices will find this a useful way of getting into Owen and will be stimulated to dive deeper. Seasoned Owen readers will discover fresh insights into some of his key writings. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Childhood </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">John Owen was a particular favourite among early Particular Baptists such as Nehemiah Cox. They valued his account of the relationship between the old and new covenants, which they saw as tending in a Baptist direction. Owen was an Independent and a paedobaptist, however. He wrote in defence of infant baptism, but he had a cordial relationship with the Particular Baptists. Unlike other contemporaries he did not accuse them of being schismatic Donatists because they insisted on baptising believers who had been 'baptised' as babies. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Owen's advocacy of infant baptism made for tensions in his ecclesiology. He acknowledged that in the apostolic church "all baptized initiated persons, ingrafted into the church" were recognised as "sanctified persons" (p. 57). Further, "the proper subjects of baptism" are "professed believers... and their infant seed" (p. 58). But this did not mean children of believers should be admitted to church membership, at least not until they had made a credible profession of faith. Admitting unconverted people into the church would have compromised the Independent's vision of churches as a gatherings of visible saints. 'Well, quite', Owen's Baptist friends may have been tempted to say. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Issues of baptism aside, Owen firmly believed that the children of believers needed careful instruction in the faith. To that end he penned <i>The Primer </i>and <i>The Principles of the Doctrine of Christ, Unfolded in Two Short Catechisms</i>. These texts were intended to supplement the teaching children will have received in church meetings. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Youth</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">The rise of William Laud not only made church life difficult for Puritan-minded types. It also made things rather challenging for godly students at Oxford and Cambridge. Certainly for Owen, whose dreams of pursuing an academic career at Oxford were dashed. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Owen's university days had given him a good grounding in theology, but it was through the ministry of an unknown preacher in London that he was converted. Now he had an experiential knowledge of the truths he had studied so diligently at Oxford. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Owen returned to the city in 1651, where he was appointed dean of Christ Church and then vice-chancellor of the university. </span><span style="text-align: left;">He took the opportunity to preach to the young people in his charge. Knowing the danger of having </span><span style="text-align: left;">only</span><span style="text-align: left;"> an intellectual knowledge of the truth, the laid great emphasis on </span><span style="text-align: left;"> practical godliness. </span><span style="text-align: left;">John Locke was a</span><span style="text-align: left;">mong Owen's students, but he didn't take kindly to the Puritan's attempts at fostering reformation among the student body. </span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Two of Owen's sermon series preached to students at Oxford later became the basis of some of his most celebrated works, <i>On the Mortification of Sin </i>and <i>Of Communion with God</i>. </span><span style="text-align: left;">In the second title, Owen sought to show how the believer may enjoy distinct communion with each person of the Holy Trinity. He wanted his students not only to have a clear understanding of orthodox theology, but also to deep delight in the one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Middle Age</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 spelled the end of Owen's role as a prominent public figure. He was dismissed from Oxford and had to keep a low profile, giving himself to pastoral ministry among Independent congregations. Owen now had to plead with the authorities to grant toleration to Puritans who would not conform to the Church of England. He argued that Nonconformists were law abiding citizens who sought to contribute to the common good of England. They were no threat to the established order and should therefore be accorded liberty to practice their faith free from persecution. Owen's ideas were later taken up by his old student, John Locke, in <i>An Essay Concerning Toleration</i>, which is often regarded as a key text in the development of classic liberalism. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">For Owen, middle age involved an experience of painful defeat that followed the collapse of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. But if this world often meant suffering for the godly, Owen consoled himself, "It is but yet a little while before it will be no grief of heart unto us for to have done or suffered any thing for the name of the Lord Jesus." (p. 116).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Death and Eternal Life</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">John Owen looked forward to better days for Christ's 'peaceable kingdom' on earth. Jesus would not, he believed, "leave the world in this state, and set up his kingdom on a molehill." (p. 128). But in later life he lost confidence in his ability to understand what God was doing in history. Gone was the old certainty that the Lord was on the side of Parliament, showing his approval by granting the Ironsides victory over the Royalists at Naseby and Marston Moor. After all, the Charles II was now King, and those identified with the Good Old Cause found themselves on the losing side. He reflected, "I do not know... a greater rebuke, in the whole course of my ministry, than that I have been labouring in the fire to discover the causes of God's withdrawing from us without any success." (p. 130). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">John Owen died on 24 August 1683. He knew that death is not a kindly friend, but an unnatural rending of body and soul due to sin. But death could be welcomed, none the less. For the believer death means the end of a lifelong struggle with sin and a departure from this world to be with Christ. Despite the disappointments and reversals he experienced of his earthly life, Owen did not die a broken, disillusioned man. One of his final works was <i>Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ, </i>in which he sought to set forth his view of the supreme glory of the Lord Jesus. The believing soul, which has glimpsed the glory of Christ by faith will at last see him by sight. "the sight of God in Christ, which is intellectual, not corporeal; finite, not absolutely comprehensive of the divine essence, is the sum of our future blessedness." (p. 139). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">In his conclusion the author reflects on Owen's lasting impact on society and the the church. The old Puritan's ideas on religious toleration helped to sow the seeds of classic liberalism. His theological writings are the subject of renewed attention in the contemporary Evangelical world. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Crawford Gribben ha</span><span style="text-align: left;">s ably opened up</span><span style="text-align: left;"> J</span>ohn Owen's<span style="text-align: left;"> Christian vision for every stage of life. An excellent read. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* I am grateful to the author for kindly sending me a free copy. </span></span></div><p></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-87442872135167327662022-08-03T16:23:00.002+01:002022-08-04T17:09:37.179+01:00A tough question<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQLwvG9-dEI41OBEHbc7cTfQhh72-vG4gX6EE6hy_uB43zS-75UAhyJbex1sl5cio0hSlwku2qPxwcP6-Jo_kBEfBbeX--T3ythvz6XdEzBSxCH0-obBqzqaeX6jkw2zxxTS8Z73x04iaojI3Cj0Mhb8IzjmfeE113QlQwegb1DKcR214dmA/s1198/784px-Woman-Man_Symbol.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1198" data-original-width="784" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQLwvG9-dEI41OBEHbc7cTfQhh72-vG4gX6EE6hy_uB43zS-75UAhyJbex1sl5cio0hSlwku2qPxwcP6-Jo_kBEfBbeX--T3ythvz6XdEzBSxCH0-obBqzqaeX6jkw2zxxTS8Z73x04iaojI3Cj0Mhb8IzjmfeE113QlQwegb1DKcR214dmA/w131-h200/784px-Woman-Man_Symbol.png" width="131" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">With Boris Johnson announcing that he is standing down as Prime
Minister various candidates have been vying for his job. Now the list has been whittled down to the final two, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. It is up
to Conservative party members to decide who will be the next
occupant of 10 Downing Street. You would expect journalists to quiz the
candidates on what they would do about the cost of living crisis if they gained
power, would they cut taxes and so on. But these days it seems than no media interview or hustings event is complete without politicians being asked: ‘What is a woman?’ Tough question. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">The dictionary definition is ‘adult human female’. No surprises there.
But giving that answer could get a politician into hot water with those who
believe that anyone who says they are a woman is a woman. Even if their anatomy
suggests otherwise. Debates over the ‘trans’ issue have become a highly contested aspect of today’s ‘culture wars’. Everyday words are changed to reflect this. In
guidelines produced by one NHS trust ‘mothers’ are renamed 'birthing
parents’, ‘fathers’ as ‘second biological parent’. There is great concern over
the number of children being referred to the NHS Gender Identity Development
Service because they believe they were born in the wrong body. The vast majority of children seeking help are girls. It was recently announced that the Tavistock child gender identity clinic is due to close, following criticism the quality of care provided in an <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62335665" target="_blank">independent review</a>. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">Of course, people suffering from gender dysphoria should be treated
with respect and given all the help they need. But there is no escaping
biological reality. Each cell in our bodies either has two X chromosomes
(female) or one X and one Y chromosome (male). That cannot be changed. It is
the way God made us, “<span class="text"><span style="background: white;">So God created mankind in his own image,</span></span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">male and female he
created them.” The Bible honours the created differences between men and women,
but also insists that male and female are of equal value and worth before God. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">Jesus
counted women as well as men among his early followers. According to the gospel
accounts it was women who first discovered that Jesus’ tomb was empty and saw
him risen from the dead. At the time of the early church society was deeply
divided between ethnic groups, salves and masters, men and women. Yet the
Christian message was one that brought people together. It teaches us that we
are all sinners, but through Jesus we can be forgiven and be put right with
God. To believe in him is to belong to his people, where t</span></span><span style="background: white;">here is “neither Jew nor Gentile, neither
slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="background: white; font-size: x-small;">*For the August edition of various parish magazines </span></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17617194.post-35101553329874939692022-07-27T16:50:00.013+01:002022-11-02T11:51:56.090+00:00Particular Baptists and Calvinistic Methodists on the Covenant of Grace <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuerJMNlFvYSxYL3rTSs2bu7LQgLNk_18W7s0TO6vMgljGWlfFEcsePO7b7aSrvi47HfvcWZzDzXMYLUOmdQl1G6h0qyV_hHRZXQlibqKzfKWywb0dn-RUEnFpaXJ1gh31FNhMwW2s5CYCfBkrG0gEh-Xdk3GiLUk5ezrk9JrzuqNFBYVPAA/s448/William_Roos_-_John_Elias_(1839).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="385" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuerJMNlFvYSxYL3rTSs2bu7LQgLNk_18W7s0TO6vMgljGWlfFEcsePO7b7aSrvi47HfvcWZzDzXMYLUOmdQl1G6h0qyV_hHRZXQlibqKzfKWywb0dn-RUEnFpaXJ1gh31FNhMwW2s5CYCfBkrG0gEh-Xdk3GiLUk5ezrk9JrzuqNFBYVPAA/w172-h200/William_Roos_-_John_Elias_(1839).jpg" width="172" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Eilas (1744-1841)</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCppeN44hzjmW59tqMMYS4APlGvMA1ClTmn5CVKk0YFC0j1NZaWngzRVaLa386Q1UEeIMX2shYsBfWzuFuDgcDw-Xk1wgaXrVeCrQeb3CbRieTAohr1bMQ6ZxrP5zmGr2jq5fyeIV-feinXfQm7IUr6tE220irb4K73rY2dxhzHsS_1NWznw/s314/hanserd_knollys_web.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="301" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCppeN44hzjmW59tqMMYS4APlGvMA1ClTmn5CVKk0YFC0j1NZaWngzRVaLa386Q1UEeIMX2shYsBfWzuFuDgcDw-Xk1wgaXrVeCrQeb3CbRieTAohr1bMQ6ZxrP5zmGr2jq5fyeIV-feinXfQm7IUr6tE220irb4K73rY2dxhzHsS_1NWznw/w192-h200/hanserd_knollys_web.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanserd Knollys (1599-1691)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chapter VII of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and the Savoy Declaration (1658) is devoted to 'God's Covenant with Man' (see this <a href="https://www.proginosko.com/docs/wcf_sdfo_lbcf.html#SDFO7" target="_blank">tabular comparison</a>). The two confessions are not identical at this point. The wording is different here and there. Savoy omits quite a bit of Westminster's paragraph 5 and the whole of paragraph 6. But they have quite a lot in common. Both both the Presbyterians and Congregationalists were Paedobaptists, holding that the children of believers should be baptised. An essential element of Paedobaptist theology is that just as Abraham's offspring were to be circumcised, so the children of believers should not be denied the new covenant sign of baptism. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That is why Westminster and Savoy say that the covenant of grace was 'differently administered' during the era of the law to what is now the case under the gospel (VII:5). In other words, the Abrahamic and Sinai covenants were administrations of the covenant of grace, as is the new covenant. Under all the various administrations the children of covenant members were to receive the sign of the covenant and either be circumcised (under the law) or baptised (under the gospel). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The trouble with that is under the Abrahamic and Sinai covenants, simply being a descendant of Abraham according to the flesh did not make a person a true believer in the coming Messiah. Paul says as much in Romans 9:6-13. How, then could the Abrahamic and Sinai covenants be administrations of the covenant of grace, when, according to both Westminster and Savoy, the covenant of grace was between God and the elect, who would most certainly be saved?</div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the Covenant
of Grace; wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus
Christ, requiring of them faith in him that they may be saved, and promising to
give unto all those that are ordained unto life, his Holy Spirit, to make them
willing and able to believe. (VII:3).</span></div></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">The framers of the Second London Baptist Confession (1689) denied that the Abrahamic and Sinai covenants were administrations of the covenant of grace. Rather, they were 'steps' under which the covenant promise of salvation was revealed until it was fully made known under the new covenant.</p><blockquote><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This
covenant [of grace] is revealed in the gospel; first of all to Adam in the promise of
salvation by the seed of the woman, and afterwards by farther steps, until the
full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament (VII:3). </span></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">Accordingly, baptism is only for those who were ordained unto life and have been savingly engrafted into Christ, the evidence of which is their profession of repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Chapter XXIX 2LBCF). </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Now, eyebrows might be raised at the idea of 'Calvinistic Methodism', thinking that Methodists were Arminians like John Wesley. But George Whitefield was both a Calvinist and a Methodist. So too were his Welsh counterparts, Daniel Rowland and William Williams. Second generation Welsh Calvinistic Methodists left the Church of England and formed their own church grouping. Their leaders such as John Elias and Thomas Charles were very much Calvinist in doctrine and Methodist in spiritual vibrancy. Their confession of faith reflects that. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">What I want to highlight here is how the <a href="https://www.apuritansmind.com/creeds-and-confessions/confession-of-faith-of-the-calvinistic-methodists-of-wales/" target="_blank">Confession of Faith of the Calvinistic Methodists</a> (1823) resembles the Second London Baptist Confession more than it does Westminster or Savoy in its treatment of covenant theology. Chapter 13 is entitled, 'Of the Eternal Covenant of Grace'. The confession says that the promises of the covenant of grace are given to 'Christ and his seed' and under this covenant this 'seed' will receive eternal life. That could not be said of all Abraham's natural descendants and regretfully, neither is it true of all children of new covenant believers. The final paragraph of Chapter 13 says,</p><blockquote><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">God
in his own time reveals this covenant through the gospel to all his people,
and, by bringing them to approve and embrace it, brings them into the bond of
the covenant, and into actual possession in their own persons of its grace,
gifts, and privileges. The covenant of grace was revealed by degrees, and under
various dispensations; but the gospel dispensation is the last and most
glorious. This covenant is free, sure, holy, advantageous, and eternal.</span></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">Note the way in which the penultimate sentence seems to echo the emphasis of the Second London Baptist Confession. Contrary to Westminster and Savoy, the covenant of grace is not said to be 'differently administered' over time, but 'revealed by degrees, and under various dispensations: but the gospel dispensation is the last and most glorious'. That is more or less the equivalent of the 2LBC's <span style="font-family: inherit;">'revealed... by farther steps, until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament'. Quite how on this basis the Calvinistic Methodist fathers still went on to affirm infant baptism in Chapter 37 of the confession, I am at a loss to know. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">My point is that few would doubt that the early Welsh Calvinistic Methodist churches were part of the Reformed family. Their confession placed them in the mainstream of Presbyterian and Reformed thought. Particular Baptist teaching on the covenant of grace sprang up from within the Reformed churches, especially the Independents in the seventeenth century. But they saw with greater clarity that the Abrahamic and Sinai covenants could not simply be identified with the covenant of grace. They were 'covenants of promise' (Ephesians 2:12) in which the covenant of grace was progressively disclosed. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">All agree that the covenant of grace is with God and his elect people in Christ and made effective by the Spirit. The genius of the Particular Baptists was to follow the biblical logic of that position to say that baptism should therefore only be administered to believers on profession of faith, who are then admitted to the membership of a local church. Doctrinally speaking, we are indeed <i>Reformed </i>Baptists. But that in itself is not sufficient, we also need something of the life and fire of the old Calvinistic Methodists. </p><p></p>Guy Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09184743462264437085noreply@blogger.com0