BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too...

American Gothic...

David & Tim Bayly — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:26:33 -0400

(Tim) Driving past the Tribune Tower, I caught a glimpse of the headmaster of ClearNote Pastors College copping a Rob Bell posture. So, I ran out in the middle of North Michigan Avenue and caught the scene for prosperity's sake.

The Eric Rasmusen family...

David & Tim Bayly — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:02:55 -0400

(Tim) Friends, the last two days have brought a blow to Church of the Good Shepherd and, despite the ephemeral nature of this forum, personally, I'd like to ask your prayers.

From Baylyblog comments, some of you will recognize the name, Eric Rasmusen. Monday evening, Eric and his wife, Helen, lost their second daugther, Elizabeth, as well as Eric's parents, in an automobile collision. Here's the statement Eric released...

In His love and wisdom, God has chosen to take home our dear daughter, Lizzie and my parents.

On Monday, July 13th, we were visiting my father and mother in Leland, Illinois, and took a day trip in two cars to Rockford to visit a relative. On the way home, Lizzie, Amelia, and Ben rode with their grandparents. The car collided with a train and my parents, along with Lizzie, died instantly. Amelia and Ben have required surgery, but both are stable. Amelia's suffered a ruptured spleen and other more minor injuries. Ben's suffered a broken femur and bruised lungs, along with other cuts and bruises.

Please pray for us and our other children, Lilly and Faith--that God will comfort us all in the loss of Lizzie and my parents, and also that He will heal Amelia and Ben.

We are very thankful to our Father in heaven for preserving the lives of Amelia and Ben. Their survival is a great blessing and a wonder of God's power.

We are blessed. We have four wonderful children, and we had Lizzie for nine years. My parents lived their threescore and ten and more, and died quickly, and I was able to share 50 happy years with them. The Lord God has been good to us, and we are selfish to want more, when we have had so much. Lizzie was so sweet, helpful, and affectionate, that we worried about how people would hurt her when she grew up. She loved God better than any of us, and He has saved her from care. So many are so blessed to have known her, and we got to know her best.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

"Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I have hope in Him.'" (Lamentations 3:19-24)

By God's grace,

Eric Rasmusen

Further information has (and will be) posted on a blog the family has set up for that purpose. I'm trusting our readers understand my absence from the blog the past few days. With Pastor Stephen Baker and several others from the church, we've been with the Rasmusens in Rockford where their other two children are in the hospital, recovering.

Five hundred years ago, he said...

David & Tim Bayly — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:19:30 -0400

(Tim) "...nobody is fit to preach the Gospel in a hostile world, unless his mind has been prepared for suffering. Therefore if we are to prove ourselves faithful ministers of Christ, not only must we ask Him for the spirit of knowledge and of wisdom, but also for the spirit of steadfastness and of courage, so that we may never be broken by desperate suffering, for this is the lot of the godly." - John Calvin, Acts, Vol. 1 (Torrance) pp. 266--267.

My gratitude for John Calvin...

David & Tim Bayly — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:26:31 -0400

(Tim) Through the years of work in the pastorate, no one has fed and strengthened and rebuked and exhorted me more faithfully than John Calvin. I thank God for him on this his five hundredth birthday. If you read only one man, make it Geneva's leading pastor of the Reformation.

Join us tonight as we celebrate Calvin's 500th birthday...

David & Tim Bayly — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:40:48 -0400

(Tim) Today is John Calvin's 500th birthday. We didn't plan it this way, but I can't think of a better way of celebrating this day than attending the ClearNote Fellowship conference which begins this very evening. So far, we've received registrations for about 125 adults and 60 children for Standing in the Gap. It's not too late for you to come!

Even if you're not registered, you can show up this evening from 6:30-7:00 PM when we'll have open registration. The first session, "Who Will Stand?" begins at 7:00 PM, followed by a concert.

We'll continue tomorrow (Saturday) morning with breakfast at 9:00 AM and our second session, "Fight or Flight," at 9:30.

If you have any questions, please call us at (812) 825-2684. (Download a conference brochure, here.)

Hope to see you here!

Injustice Ginsburg: "Reproductive rights need to be straightened out" and the morning-after pill will help...

David & Tim Bayly — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:22:26 -0400

(Tim, w/thanks to Kamilla and James) SCOTUS Little Lady, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, held forth in a long interview that ran in yesterday's New York Times. Ranging far afield for most of the interview, as always with the Times, the inevitable homing device kicked in and the interview came to a roaring end with our national bloodlust for baby-slaughter front and center:

New York Times: When you say that reproductive rights need to be straightened out, what do you mean?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: The basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman...

New York Times: Does that mean getting rid of the test the court imposed, in which it allows states to impose restrictions on abortion — like a waiting period — that are not deemed an “undue burden” to a woman’s reproductive freedom?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: I’m not a big fan of these tests. I think the court uses them as a label that accommodates the result it wants to reach. It will be, it should be, that this is a woman’s decision. It’s entirely appropriate to say it has to be an informed decision, but that doesn’t mean you can keep a woman overnight who has traveled a great distance to get to the clinic, so that she has to go to some motel and think it over for 24 hours or 48 hours.

I still think, although I was much too optimistic in the early days, that the possibility of stopping a pregnancy very early is significant. The morning-after pill will become more accessible and easier to take. So I think the side that wants to take the choice away from women and give it to the state, they’re fighting a losing battle. Time is on the side of change.

Name that preacher...

David & Tim Bayly — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:54:53 -0400

(Tim) Alright, guys; we're roaming the aisles at Christian Booksellers Convention just now and we've laid our hands on some humdingers. All the publishers have their celebrities' latest glossies free for the taking and, so far, this one takes the cake. We're betting you can't name this preacher.

Speaking of Dolce & Gabbana, those in the know tell us Rob Bell gets his threads at Goodwill; Tim Keller does Brooks Brothers, signing his check with a Mont Blanc; and Joel Osteen does Walmart.

And Bell's spectacular spectacles?

We've heard big changes are in the works. Check it out. Speaking of which, how come Bullhorn Guy isn't listed here? Everyone wants to know.

Marriage, fertility, and economic decline...

David & Tim Bayly — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:55:07 -0400

(Tim) My good brother, Bob Patterson, recently did a piece for National Review Online (NRO) that I commend to our readers. In an e-mail to friends, Bob summed up the argument he makes this way:

The decline in marriage and fertility rates among the Baby Boom generation stands at the heart of what presently ails the American economy. After noting the demographic concerns of former Fortune columnist David Goldman, I suggest that national GOP leaders can no longer ignore the interplay between social and economic issues if they want the party to make a comeback in 2010 or 2012.

During the bloodshed, what did Rwanda's pastors do?

David & Tim Bayly — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:45:00 -0400

(Tim) Below is an excerpt from Philip Gourevitch's history of the Rwandan genocide, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families. This book should be read by every believer committed to opposing the slaughter of the feeble, elderly, newborn, and unborn upon which our civil compact has been built for decades, now.

A few years ago, a godly Rwandan was preaching to us here at Church of the Good Shepherd and he took the occasion to rebuke us, saying we Americans had no authority to condemn Rwanda's genocide when we were slaughtering 1.3 million children in our own nation, year after year, with no sign of the bloodshed ending.

Truth is, many, many denominations, churches, elders, and pastors have endorsed the slaughter of the unborn here in these United States. And even among those pastors who claim to be pro-life, precious few are anti-abortion. Like the Rwandan priests and pastors, many of us...

turn a blind eye to the bloodshed in our own churches and congregations. And almost none of us ever show up at the abortuaries on the days of slaughter to give a cup of cold water in Jesus' Name.

Through silence, our preaching, too, connives at the oppression. Saying anything from the pulpit is too, too off putting for the unconverted--let them discover it for themselves. It's the Holy Spirit's work to convict--not the pastor's.

So what did the pastors do when the blood was flowing in Rwanda?

But first, to bring you up to speed, here's a small excerpt from the "Rwandan Genocide" entry in Wikipedia:

Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda revealed, in his testimony before the International Criminal Tribunal, that the genocide was openly discussed in cabinet meetings and that "one cabinet minister said she was personally in favor of getting rid of all Tutsi; without the Tutsi, she told ministers, all of Rwanda's problems would be over." In addition to Kambanda, the genocide's organizers included Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, a retired army officer, and many top ranking government officials and members of the army, such as General Augustin Bizimungu. On the local level, the Genocide's planners included Burgomasters, or mayors, and members of the police.

Government leaders communicated with figures among the population to form and arm militias called Interahamwe, "those who stand (fight, kill) together", and Impuzamugambi, "those who have the same (or a single) goal". These groups, especially the youth wings, were responsible for most of the violence.

Out of a population of 7.3 million people - 84% of whom where Hutu, 15% Tutsi and 1% Twa - the official figures published by the Rwandan government estimated the number of victims of the genocide to 1,174,000 in 100 days (10,000 murdered every day, 400 every hour, 7 every minute). Other sources put the death toll to 800,000, 20% of whom were Hutus. It is estimated that about 300,000 Tutsis survived the genocide. Thousands of widows, many of whom were submitted to rape, are now HIV-positive. There are about 400,000 orphans and nearly 85,000 of them have become heads of families.

According to recent commentators the news media played a crucial role in the genocide: local print and radio media fueled the killings, while the international media either ignored or seriously misconstrued events on the ground.

But what of the church and her priests and pastors? On to the shepherds of Rwanda.

The Catholic cathedral of Sainte Famille, an immensity of brick, stands right off one of Kigali’s main arteries, a few hundred yards downhill from the Hotel des Mille Collines. Because of its prominence, and its consequent visibility to the few international observers who were still circulating in Kigali, Sainte Famille was one of half a dozen places in the city—and fewer than a dozen in all of Rwanda—where Tutsis who sought refuge in 1994 were never exterminated en masse. Instead, the killing in such places was incremental, and for those who were spared the terror was constant. Sainte Famile was initially protected by policemen, but, as usual, their resistance to the neighborhood interahamwe and to the soldiers who came hunting for Tutsis quickly collapsed. In the beginning, the killers who staked out the church contented themselves with attacking new refugees as they arrived. The massacre on April 15 was the first massive incursion into Sainte Famille, and it was quite carefully organized by the interahamwe and the Presidential Guard.

Only males were killed on that day, picked out individually from the throng of several thousand in the church and its outbuildings. The killers had lists, and many of them were neighbors of the victims and could recognize them on sight. A young man who had worked for Bonaventure as a domestic was killed. “But I was lucky,” Bonaventure said. “I went inside a small room with my family, and just as I went in and closed the door, Sainte Famille filled with military and militia and police. They started asking for me, but fortunately they did not break down the door where I was. I stayed there with the kids and my wife. There were about twenty people altogether in that small, small place.” Bonaventure had a three-month old daughter with him, and he said, “Keeping her quiet was the hardest.”

I asked him what the priests had done when the killing began. “Nothing,” he said. “One of them was good, but he was threatened himself, so he went into hiding on April 13, and the other one in charge was very comfortable with the militia. This is the famous Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka. He was very close to the military and the militia, and he was going around with them. He was not actually denouncing anybody at first, but he would do nothing for the people.”

-Gourevitch, Philip. We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with our Families: Stories from Rwanda, New York: Picador USA, 1998, 124-125.

The swordsman, a parable...

David & Tim Bayly — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:27:20 -0400

(David) Many years ago in a land far away a peasant boy grew of age in a remote province of a great kingdom. The boy grew up dreaming of joining the king’s army—a force of conquering swordsmen famous around the world both for their skill with the sword and for the excellence of their weapons.

To join the king's army prospective swordsmen were required to appear before the king on a yearly enlistment day with a sword of sufficient quality to be borne for the king. And swords of such quality--swords of the caliber that had led the kingdom’s armies to victory in battle after battle--lay far beyond the means of a lowly peasant.

Yet this boy dreamed constantly of swordsmanship and glory. Though even a rustic sword lay far beyond his means, he longed to join the king’s swordsmen. On his twentieth year the boy gathered his meagre savings to purchase passage to the capital. Penniless, now, as well as swordless, he was still determined to plead his case before the king.

Enlistment day dawned with the peasant boy in the midst of a throng at the palace gates. The gates were opened and an official led the waiting men into a courtyard. As dawn's first light grew to the light of day the young peasant saw his fellow would-be swordsmen more clearly. All were of similar age to himself, but the majority clearly possessed far greater fortunes. Most of the young men wore rich clothing. Many carried jeweled swords. Only a few were dressed crudely, and fewer still appeared without a weapon.

One by one the residents of the courtyard were summoned before the king. The day lengthened. The courtyard emptied. Late in the afternoon the peasant’s name was finally called. He entered the enlistment room where he found the king seated by a solitary swordsman. On a table beside the king lay a sword.

“You stand before me bearing no sword,” the king said. “Why have you come?”

“Your honor,” the peasant replied, “I long to fight for you. I would do battle for your glory and honor. You are a great and wise and generous king. I promise you my obedience, my life even. But I’m a poor man, the son of peasants. I possess no sword. I come to prevail upon your generosity. I beg of you a sword to fight for you.”

With a knowing look at the swordsman by his side, the king responded, “What? You ask for a sword? Don’t you know that you must have a sword to join my army?”

“Yes, your honor,” the peasant replied, “so I know. And knowing also your benevolence and generosity, I beg you to give me what I need.”

“Give it I will,” the king replied. “What you have done is what every swordsman who serves in my army did before you. The warriors of my army are only those men who sought their swords of me as you have done. None of those who come bearing their own swords serve in my army, only those who seek swords of me because only the sword I give is equal to the battles you will fight. This is the secret of my knights and my army--and you must never tell it to anyone.”

The king turned to the swordsman at his side. “Give me the sword,” he said. Lifting the shining, razor-sharp sword from its place on the table, the swordsman handed it to the king. The king touched the young peasant on the head with it. “Go and fight for me,” he said, “Bear my sword. Be a warrior for my glory.”

Years of training followed, then further years of battle. By skill gained from training and by the power of the king’s sword, the young peasant became a conquering warrior, a hero of his kingdom.

One day, however, after countless victories, the now-famous swordsman encountered a weak yet crafty foe in the field of battle. The man who confronted him carried a stick instead of a sword. Instead of attacking, he stood humbly, head bowed before the warrior.

“Great warrior,” he said, “I know that you are about to kill me. I’m nothing, a pea, a dead dog before your glory. But before I depart this life may I ask one favor of you? Permit me to look upon the sword you will dispatch me with. I’ve heard tell of the glories of your weapon. May I see and touch it before I die? I could die satisfied with the honor of being dispatched by so famous a warrior bearing so noble a weapon were you to permit this one request.”

Seeing no reason to deny the man’s final wish, the soldier drew near with sword outstretched. The very wise little man, touched the edge of the sword. “Ah, Damascus steel, I see. A falcata, with elephant tusk handle and a false edge on the concave side of the blade.”

“No,” the warrior responded, “not a falcata, a scimitar, and not Damascus, but Toledo steel, and not elephant, but whale ivory handle.”

The argument, thus joined, lasted long into the night. Eventually, the warrior grew tired. When he slipped into sleep, sword still in his grip, the little man made his escape.

Word of this encounter spread. Soon, all across the world warriors began questioning the nature of the swords of the king’s swordsmen. The warriors responded by examining their swords, classifying them, determining their origin and provenance.

Debating societies sprang up in the king’s barracks training swordsmen to argue the greatness of their swords. Soon, the king’s swordsmen were debating the nature of their weapons more than fighting with them. They became lax in training. They grew lazy. They became sedentary creatures, fat, slow-moving.

Though now excellent at disputing the nature of their swords they grew less and less adept at fighting with them. Eventually, a warrior’s greatness was judged by his skill at debate rather than his ability with a sword. All the king’s knights became acclaimed debaters, famed intellects, formidable disputants on the nature of swords and swordsmanship. But good as they were at debate, the result was the ruin of the king’s army, his warriors made mockery of in battles where they went out to fight bearing doctoral degrees and academic tomes on swordsmanship even as their swords grew rusty from disuse.

2 Timothy 2:14

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Turning grace into lasciviousness...

David & Tim Bayly — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:40:00 -0400

For the grace of God has appeared ...instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age... (Titus 2:11,12)

(Tim) The prattle about grace that permeates the sermons, fellowship-hall conversations, and books within the mainstream reformed church today tastes like cotton candy and leaves your hands sticky. In our non-Christian hedonistic day when even the poor are fat, it should be clear that the need of the hour is not more talk of grace. In our pomo, effeminate day, it should be clear our need is not more talk of being graceful.

Nevertheless, within mainstream reformed churches, it's claimed that every last problem is a nail needing the hammer of grace.

Which leaves me scratching my head when I read the Bible. Are these people reading it? The Bible, I mean? Can we seriously think the need of our day is more grace talk, but still not a word about sin, holiness, repentance, and mortification?

And certainly not one word about false conversions. For some time I've been thinking that anyone who holds firmly to what is commonly called "eternal security" must, at the same time, hold firmly to the danger of...

self-delusion and wolves in the church's midst. There ought never to be a proclamation of "eternal security" without a proclamation of the danger of false conversion, also.

The preaching of grace and eternal security destroys souls without preaching and teaching that places an equal emphasis on the prevalence in the church of false professors of faith in Jesus Christ and the hopeless future that awaits them.

When a man hath confirmed his imagination to such an apprehension of grace and mercy as to be able, without bitterness, to swallow and digest daily sins, that man is at the very brink of turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Neither is there a greater evidence of a false and rotten heart in the world than to drive such a trade. To use the blood of Christ, which is given to cleanse us, 1John 1:7, Titus 2:14; the exaltation of Christ, which is to give us repentance, Acts 5:31; the doctrine of grace, which teaches us to deny all ungodliness, Titus 2:11,12, to countenance sin, is a rebellion that in the issue will break the bones.

At this door have gone out from us most of the professors that have apostatized in the days wherein we live. For a while they were most of them under convictions; these kept them unto duties, and brought them to profession; so they "escaped the pollutions that are in the world, through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," 2Peter 2:20: but having got an acquaintance with the doctrine of the gospel, and being weary of duty, for which they had no principle, they began to countenance themselves in manifold neglects from the doctrine of grace. Now, when once this evil had laid hold of them, they speedily tumbled into perdition. -John Owen (emphasis in the original)

The new iPhone GS: tethering and the cover of the "New Yorker"...

David & Tim Bayly — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:34:47 -0400

(Tim) Until this past week, I'd never owned a smartphone. David's been using them for years but I always said I didn't need one since I take my laptop everywhere. Then, my two-year-old cellphone neared death and, realizing an iPhone would only cost me about $50-100 more than any other cell phone I'd buy, and that having an iPhone would only add $10 to my monthly AT&T bill, I got an iPhone 3GS.

For four or five years, I've been tethering my laptops to my cell phone using a bluetooth connection that worked well and only cost $20 per month for unlimited data. They always told me it wasn't an official setup, but my local Cingular/AT&T store was helpful and I loved it. E-mail was fast but browsing could be slow. It was about the speed of an old 56k dial-up connection, for those of you who remember those. But it always worked.

When traveling by car, I got in the habit of buying our hotel room on Priceline as the evening progressed and we knew where we'd be when we wanted to go to sleep. One time in Pittsburgh, we bought our room at 10:55 PM and were in bed within the hour.

All this to say, I was loath (quick now, and without looking it up, what's the difference between loathe, loath, and loth?) to give up tethering in order to make the switch to an iPhone. Then Joseph told me an easy tethering solution was available for the new GS, and I bit...

He was right; tethering doesn't require me to jailbreak my phone and it's about as easy as easy can get--much easier than the method I had to use to set up tethering on my old Sony Ericsson. Now, when I need to type, I can pull out my laptop. But for everything else, the iPhone is much more convenient. And for those of you who haven't joined the smartphone masses, yet, I do mean everything else!

Being color blind, I'm not painter. But did you know the cover of the latest New Yorker is a painting done on an iPhone? It took the painter about an hour. Here's a video of his work.

A robot's playlist...

David & Tim Bayly — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:20:27 -0400

(Tim) Updated to the latest version of iTunes, when I started the application just now, I got a message window announcing iTunes DJ. They tell me "iTunes DJ automatically picks songs to make a continuous mix of your music." And if I'm the host of a party, it will "allow guests to request songs using the Remote application for iPhone and iPod Touch."

I clicked the window closed and was presented with this first iTunes DJ selected playlist. Thought you'd all get a kick out of it.

Stuff white Christians like...

David & Tim Bayly — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:25:50 -0400

(Tim, w/thanks to Chantal) This blog poking fun at white Christians is kinda cute. Here's a teaser:

White Christians like to know that there will be more white Christians in the future. That's why every white Christian couple seeks to replenish the earth and subdue it... by adding 2.3 children into the church's Sunday school program. Exactly how churches handle babies is extremely important to white Christians.

They have been known to flock to churches with good baby care and preschool programs--even if the rest of the church is in complete disarray. The pastor could be having an affair with both church secretaries, holding three hour services, and reading from the King James Version while simultaneously converting to Mormonism... but if the nursery is good, that church has it made in the shade...

I'd like to see another on yellow and still another on black Christians. And if they had a black write the white and a yellow write the black and a white write the yellow, we'd really be in business.

Love, the Song of Solomon and Christ: a sermon series recommendation

David & Tim Bayly — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:50:00 -0400

(David) It seems to me that modern and ancient treatments of the Song of Solomon almost always fall entirely on one side or the other of a very broad spectrum of potential approaches.

Some (mostly ancient preachers and commentators) view the Song of Solomon almost entirely allegorically. They look at Song of Solomon and see only Christ, His love for His Bride and His Bride's love for Him and nothing at all of human romance or sexual union.

Others (mostly modern preachers and commentators) get all squirrely over the obviously sexual nature of the book and forget metaphor altogether in preaching and teaching from it.

No one ever seems to square the circle by fully acknowledging both the sex and the metaphor at the heart of Song of Solomon. Either it's Song of Solomon as sex manual taught by giggly-eyed graduates of the Young Life school of theology for whom any mention of sex serves the same function as the bell with Pavlov's dogs, or it's a droning dissertation on Jesus that has little to do with the actual text of Song of Solomon.

So when I read somewhere of John MacArthur's recent criticisms of preachers who speak of sex too much, I dismissed it as one school attacking the other. Frankly, I was fairly confident I'd prefer Mark Driscoll's take on Song of Solomon to John MacArthur's.

But this post in Mere Comments (thanks, Kamilla) about Mark Driscoll's preaching from the Song of Solomon is disturbing, if accurate. If Mark has divorced the pleasures of sex from the purpose of sex, as it appears he does in giving approval to sexual acts devoid of--in fact, preclusive of--procreative intent, he has become an apologist for one of the characteristic sins of our age.

It's hard to preach with integrity from Song of Solomon while maintaining a bluenosed resistance to speaking about romance, wooing, arousal and sexual union from the pulpit. In fact, it's tragic failure to preach God's truth in an area our world --and our children--need to hear it proclaimed. Song of Solomon is about these good things and our children need to hear this and know it. But it's more: it's sex and desire sanctified, given reason and meaning.

To hear preaching from the Song of Solomon faithful to both sides of the metaphor, listen to these sermons being preached this summer by Dr. Robert Forney in evening services at Christ the Word. Dr. Forney squares the circle on Song of Solomon. His preaching not only demonstrates why John MacArthur is wrong in criticizing talk of sex from the pulpit, he preaches about Christ from Song of Solomon in a way Mark Driscoll will forever be incapable of so long as he denies the fundamentally procreative nature of sex in God's economy.

Sermon 1 can be found here. Sermon 2 can be found here. The series will continue on the first and third Sundays of July and August.

Register now for ClearNote's "Standing in the Gap" conference...

David & Tim Bayly — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:26:08 -0400

(Tim) We're looking forward to hosting a number of you for the first annual ClearNote Fellowship conference, Standing in the Gap, to be held here in Bloomington two weeks from now, July 10-12. If you haven't done it yet, please register now and we'll look forward to meeting you and your children.

Online registration is available. And here's a PDF of the conference brochure for you to download. Message titles include, Who Will Stand?; Fight or Flight--True or False Contextualization; Cheap Grace; and Worship Wars.

We plan a refreshing time of fellowship, teaching, food, and worship. The whole family is welcome--we'll be child-friendly but we'll also provide childcare.

I hope you'll register now and join with us for the weekend.

If you'd like more information, please e-mail (Mrs.) Ali Trout at churchoffice at shepherdchurch dot com. Or, give her a call, Tuesday through Friday, at (812) 825-2684.

Serving Christ in Cedar Rapids, Iowa...

David & Tim Bayly — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:08:27 -0400

(Tim) Two weeks ago, our high school men and women went over to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to serve those trying to recover from the terrible flood the community suffered last year. Led by their youth workers, David Abu-Sara, Veronica Allen, Abram Hess, Emily Hess, and Ryan Schnitzer, they returned reporting that the governmental authorities were not particularly helpful to the residents, being better at red tape than getting things done.

The work done by the group was coordinated by church planters, Jeremy Knapp and Michael Langer, of One Ancient Hope (PCA). Our men and women were given a place to sleep in the basement of Hope Evangelical Church (PCA).

The Iowa Independent ran an article on the post-flood political problems and our group made the blurb under one of the pictures...

If you look closely at the pic, you can see (from l. to r.) David Abu-Sara, Taylor Bayly, and Jay Sparks. And if you look even more closely, you can see, peeking through the roo, the head of John Alberson. The details of the blurb should have read:

Disaster recovery volunteers from other parts of the U.S. remain frequent visitors to Linn County. Ryan Schnitzer, spokesman for Indiana-based Church of the Good Shepherd high school youth group pictured above, admitted that he "didn't expect the community to still look like the disaster had happened just last week." The 17-member group was in the process of demolishing this house, and had already completed five other residential projects in the city.

We're grateful for the witness of One Ancient Hope and Hope Evangelical Church in their own community. We're also grateful our young men and women were able to join with them in their witness.

John Piper explaining his invitation to Doug Wilson...

David & Tim Bayly — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:43:21 -0400

(Tim) When John invited Doug Wilson to speak at one of his big conferences, I sent him an e-mail commending him for his courage. Like those who paid dearly for inviting Dad to speak after he publicly rebuked Bill Gothard in the pages of Eternity, John will pay for escorting Doug into the Reformed big top.

But like Doug, John has some courage and those who specialize in anti-Wilson bile should take note that, among men who are reformed pastors of national reputation, John stands with Doug. Why?

John released this video explaining his invitation. Forget the first three minutes or so. Just listen to the last few seconds and you'll get the straight dope. (And by the way, I do wish men would release a transcript of such video talks so we weren't forced to spend the time watching video to get their message.)

Over there...

David & Tim Bayly — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:54:38 -0400

(David) I've known that the PCA's missions arm (MTW) has worked in cooperation with at least one egalitarian national church in Europe for several years now. I hadn't known until Douglas Wilson brought it to light in this post that our engagement with this particular body has led to our giving it a newly-planted church so that it could immediately place a woman pastor (and her husband) in its pulpit.

Tim's and my dad once wrote that Billy Graham's practice of delivering new converts to Roman Catholic churches for discipling was like Christ giving His disciples to the Pharisees for training. Despite what I'm sure are similarly noble intentions, aren't we doing essentially the same thing in the PCA here?

Register now for ClearNote Fellowship's conference, Standing in the Gap, July 10-12...

David & Tim Bayly — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:25:00 -0400

(Tim) Two conferences to call your attention to:

First, online registration is now up and running for the Christ Church conference, Sexual Orthodoxy, to be held October 15-16 in Moscow, Idaho. Doug Wilson, Ben Merkle, and I will be addressing subjects such as: The Politics of Sodomy; Why Women Make Better Women Ministers than Men Do; The Politics of Fruitfulness; Family Government in the Church; Patriarchalism, Good and Bad; Sentimentalism and the Feminine Ethos; and Abortion: The Blood Sacrifice of Egalitarianism. Mary Lee and I hope we'll see you there!

Second, online registration is also available for another conference I'll be speaking at soon--July 10-12--here in Bloomington, Indiana. (Download the brochure.) Please make plans now to join us here in Bloomington for the ClearNote Fellowship conference, Standing in the Gap. Message titles include, Who Will Stand?; Fight or Flight--True or False Contextualization; Cheap Grace; and Worship Wars.

We plan a refreshing time of fellowship, teaching, food, and worship of our Triune God. The whole family is welcome--we'll be child-friendly as well as childcare being provided. I hope you'll register now and plan to be with us.

If you'd like more information, please feel free to e-mail (Mrs.) Ali Trout at churchoffice at shepherdchurch dot com. Or give her a call, Tuesday through Friday, at (812) 825-2684.

With gratitude to God

David & Tim Bayly — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:48:46 -0400

(David) I often tell the people of Christ the Word that if they're happy with me as their pastor they have only themselves to blame.

Find a worthy husband and you'll usually find a great wife. Find a faithful pastor and you'll usually find a great church which has incubated and formed her pastor. Sure, it's a symbiotic relationship--pastors also form churches. But it's almost impossible to overstate the influence godly, faithful church members have in the lives of their leadership.

And so it is with this blog as well.

Tim and I might as well be writing a broadsheet for a grocery store if it weren't for the great men and women who really are the glory of this blog. Your names aren't on the top, but you do most of the really great writing here. When we step out on a limb in faith you defend us. You make our points better than we do. We deeply appreciate you. And in particular, in recent posts on the blog, I've appreciated Kamilla and David Gray, David Curell and Josh Congrove, Adam Spaetti and Don Alexander, PCA Friend and TUAD. I could name others, but these have blessed us in recent days and to them we owe our thanks both as owners of the blog and as recipients of their wisdom.

An odor. Is it perfume?

David & Tim Bayly — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:06:31 -0400

(David) Reading this summary of this week's Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly by my friend, Joel Belz I thought rather sadly to myself, "He's whistling in the dark."

The news of closely divided votes on issues where there should be no division, of "prominent PCA churchmen" playing nice with each other while pretending to debate important ecclesial and theological issues, of 1100 PCA elders sashaying the streets of Disney World to the 2.4.2.4 meter of "The Spirituality of the Church" as American courts legalize sodomite marriage is (what should I say? disturbing? mesmerizing? droll?) at the very least, typically southern presbyterian.

I fear the PCA began with one foot half-in-the-grave arising, as it did, from southern, tall-steeple conservativism. And now that the buddy network has allied itself to Kuyperian cool, both feet are dangling.

There's increasingly little question where the PCA is headed: to the Land of Nice. To the place where oily Askers of Questions are debated with gentlemanly decorum by backslapping good old boys and the only fly in the ointment is the occasional barking, probably rabid, dog on the outskirts of town.

Read the comments on this PCA news item to see where the PCA is really headed....

God has placed eternity in their hearts....

David & Tim Bayly — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:25:09 -0400

(David) Regular readers of this blog may be wondering about the source of the recent storm of angry comments. These comments are the result of a link to our blog from an atheist/evolutionist blog.

A few words about these comments and their authors...

God's Word tells us that creation by itself, separate from revelation, so demonstrates His reality and perfection that we are without excuse when we rebel against Him. He has, in the words of Scripture "placed eternity in the hearts of men."

Those who are commenting angrily on our blog are not God-deniers. The intensity of their hatred belies any claim not to believe in God. They understand and know God sufficiently to hate Him. God has placed the weight of eternity in their hearts and they suffer under it.

Tim and I have removed comments from the blog that blaspheme God. We will not permit His name to be dishonored here. We've left those comments that primarily attack us as men.

Jerram Barrs has done research; he's so brave; he's my man...

David & Tim Bayly — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:22:25 -0400

(Tim) It's a great help to have Jerram Barrs continue at his post at Covenant Theological Seminary. But not for the reason you'd think.

Rather, because having him such a prominent voice representing Covenant's commitments and vision gives fair warning what kind of education men and women don't get there...

Likely they'll believe, similar to Mr. Barrs, that the church's problem today is women being treated as third-class citizens. Men, threatened by competent women, trying to make the lives of their wives and mothers and daughters miserable. Women's gifts being wasted by little men scurrying around trying to shore up the walls of patriarchy.

Such terribly original thoughts does Mr. Barrs have?

What world does this man live in? And who taught him how to read his culture? Certainly not the man he claims to speak for, Francis Schaeffer.

But then Franky has claimed to speak for his Dad, too.

Anyhow, if you needed to take the measure of contextualization at Covenant Theological Seminary just now, read this interview in the PCA's byFaith magazine.

A very light, well-priced, hardy laptop with a killer battery...

David & Tim Bayly — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:02:36 -0400

(Tim) Through the years, I've owned more Apple computers than I can keep track of, and at least fifteen of their laptops. Some months back I traded in a 15" MacBook Pro for the then-new 13" aluminum MacBook. It's been the best laptop I've ever owned, and I say that despite being about to receive a new 13" MacBook Pro from Apple because of the problems I've been having with it. The upgrade is, of course, at no cost and you can all learn the lesson that it's dangerous to buy the first iteration of a new computer body. But fear not, my problems are not documented on the web as being shared with many others.

It scared me to go to a smaller screen but my aged eyes have not experienced any additional challenges with the 13" screen. It was worth it for the smaller footprint and (especially) lighter weight. I take the computer everywhere and my elbow is quite happy having shed the weight of the 15" Macbook Pro. So weight, speed, screen quality, keyboard, great glass trackpad, long battery life, smaller and lighter AC adapter than the MacBook Pro, extreme ease of adding RAM or switching out the hard drive, low price, all topped out with the absolutely bulletproof aluminum unibody casing; all have made me a happy camper.

Still, there are two things I haven't liked...

First, despite my guess that I'd not miss it, it's been a pain not to have the backlit keyboard. Although I touch-type, there have been many times when I've been in the dark searching for a particular key and had to resort to tilting the screen back towards the keyboard to find it. Second, I think I'd prefer a matte screen. Most times I like the glossy one, but there are times when I've been working outside and was really annoyed by the glare.

But here are several reasons I'm pleased Apple is shipping me the upgraded 13" Macbook Pro released last week. In addition to the things I already liked about my 13" alum MacBook, the upgraded Apple MacBook Pro MB990LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop is even better. Apple has upgraded the LED panel for an LCD backlit glass display. They've also upgraded the processor and video card. The old ExpressCard slot has been exchanged for an SD (Secure Digital) slot now standard on the 13" MacBook Pro. (SD cards are what most digital cameras use.)

The old 4 1/2 to 5 hour battery that could be recharged around 300 times has been replaced with a new lithium-polymer battery rated at 7 hours and 1,000 charging cycles. Firewire 800 has been put back in. And now the MacBook Pros ship with backlit keyboards. So I'm happy.

Then, this morning, TidBits broke the news that the new MacBook Pros also will be able to boot off an SD (Secure Digital) card. This will be a great boon when trouble hits.

All this to say, if you can live with carrying around an Apple logo, I've never used more appropriate technology than this new 13" MacBook Pro. But then, when I travel I stay at Marriott properties, so you see I'm no stickler for tightly parsing coporate identities.