Pride and Prettiness

This will be the first wedding I've ever attended with another person.

But on the phone with her just now I said something very supercilious in reference to [removed].

I am not prideful "to the core;" I am prideful from it.

And the fact that I'm proud of being so clever as to think this up is proof that the statement is true. There is even pride in abhoring one's own pride...

C. S. Lewis on Joy, Sehnsucht, Longing and True Myth

C. S. Lewis on Joy, Sehnsucht, Longing and True Myth: "'We must learn the language of our audience. And let me say at the outset that it is no use laying down a priori what the plain man does or does not understand. You have to find out by experience...You must translate every word of your theology into the vernacular. This is very troublesome...but it is essential. It is also of the greatest service to your own thought. I have come to the conclusion that if you cannot translate your own thoughts into uneducated language, then your thoughts are confused. Power to translate is the test of having really understood your own meaning.'"

On Licking our Wounds

Sometimes we need to lick our wounds; but if we lick too long, we'll infect our wounds and get sick.

just a thought.

Reforming

The image of 'reforming' ought not to be that of a ball of clay, always changing with the times, always 'updating' its appearance or texture or color.

Reforming means continually bringing back to the standard--the fixed standard. We have a tendancy to stray, to loose our grip, to tire, to relax, etc. Reforming the church is like keeping a large boulder on the peak of a large mountain. Sin is like gravity. Grace is like strength. The liberals say "let it go, let's ride it down and see what happens!" But nothing good awaits that ride--and the view is lost. The over-conservatives talk of building forms and structures to lessen the work required by their own arms and legs. But then it would be an abandoned idol in a high place.

But don't get the analogy wrong, here; the boulder isn't the church--the ones supporting the boulder are. There are ends and means, we are the means of displaying God's glory.

This is an inadequate analogy.

Challies Dot Com: James White on Apologetics

Challies Dot Com: James White on Apologetics: "Did ye never know a lover of books that with all his first editions and signed copies had lost the power to read them?" - C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Exactly. This is me.

I want a broken heart

The Official Website of Derek Webb

"I've got faith in the bank
and money in my heart..."

...good line, D-rock.

On Communication

When someone intentionally chooses a word that we don't understand, then we can lovingly criticize, and he should apologize for so hindering communication.

But if the communicator intentionally chooses a word because it best communicates his idea, yet we don't understand it, then we ought to apologize to him for our ignorance, and for so hindering communication. If we don't understand an author, we do well to bust out a dictionary and train our brain. It speeds up the communication transfer. A good vocabulary is like learning on broadband. Small vocabulary? You're still on dial-up.

It's all about capacity for communciation. When that communication is about God and things of eternity, we ought to increase our bandwidth to the utmost capacity.

Read old books!

Dostoevsky

"...but you laugh like a little girl, but inside you think like a martyr..." - Alyosha in Brothers Karamazov

What a great line.

On Eve, the Life-Giver

I imagine the description of Eve as a 'life-giver' has a completely different meaning for those in love.

I used to think of it in a mere biological 'factory' sense; she makes babies. But I'm pretty sure it has much more to do with joy, fullness, beauty, laughter, warmth. A woman brings colors and fragrances and sounds and tastes and tactile beauty to a black and white silent film. Without her, the meaning and purpose of the film can get conveyed; but not without a certain fullness missing.

It is more than 'sensual' (i.e., 'of the senses') beauty that a woman brings, though, I think. Woman is the adhesive of the family; she keeps everyone together and brings a certain extra dimension of life to the scene.

...I am such an idealist.

Pastors After His Own Heart

One of the biggest responsibilities of the pastor/shepherd, besides feeding the sheep, is to protect the sheep from wolves without and wolves within. This often takes more time and effort since sheep are always willing and able to eat. They're not, however, always very willing to change or move.

As far as protecting from the sheep within, they are always dressed in sheep's clothing, which makes it more challenging to recognize them for one, and convince the real sheep for another thing. But it's for their protection--eternity is at stake. Sometimes the shepherd will say--there is a wolf amongst us. Stopping there would be cruel. He must then describe it, call it out, expose it, and then once all their attention is drawn to that particular wolf in sheep's clothing, begin to show very carefully all the places where the imposter can be seen. "See right there, where the snout sticks out under the fur?" "No, pastor, I still don't see it." "Well, it's supposed to look like this, but instead it looks terribly like this...see it now?" "Oh my!"

Sometimes a wolf in sheep's clothing has been in the flock for so long some of the decieved sheep have grown quite fond of him, though his only purpose is to devour them in the end. This takes much care, pleading, patience, precise exposition of his wolf-ness, etc. Eternity is at stake.

Sometimes the wolf in sheep's clothing has grown so comfortable and sly and cunning that he is almost appointed the shepherd. Woe to the flock without a pastor who will lay a strong foundation.

And, regarding precise teaching, and a 'systematic agenda':
Counterfeit spotters prepare for their work by studying nothing but the original, true. But they do this so rigorously becuase the entire economy would collapse if counterfeiters were not vigorously and continually hunted down and eradicated. They are protectors of the economy as pastors are protectors of the flock.

Amazon.com: Books: Exposition of Hebrews

Amazon.com: Books: Exposition of Hebrews

It seems I can get pretty caught up in owning books rather than reading them. It's that damnable book-lust rising up again...

Sola Fide

"And so all Israel shall be saved." —Romans 11:26

the literal translation is "and in this way all Israel shall be saved." Many people think this verse just means that all Israel shall be in some way saved. This emphasizes the 'all' and the 'shall' rather than the point of the text--all Israel shall be saved, and they shall all be saved in this way--that is, by faith! So it does say that all Israel shall be saved; it just says a whole lot more than that, too.

There is no other way of being saved but by the way of faith--and this applies to all humans, not just gentiles, not just ethnic Jews.

Teleology vs. Soteriology

"The Sovereignty of God is the fountain that feeds the stream from which the TULIP springs."

What I got from Edwards' End For Which God Created the World (and from it's little brother, Piper's The Pleasures of God), was exactly that - the purpose or goal for everything. That being the head, it trickles down into everything else, like the means of salvation.

What is the meaning of life? "For from him, and through him, and to him are all things!"

When people limit 'calvinism' to just the 5-points or to their soteriology, they miss the big--yea the biggest--picture of all: the telos of all; the formerly elusive Theory of Everything.

On Being Controversial

The job of pastors is to feed sheep with clean bread and give them sweet drink from the vine; it is to lift up the hands that hang down, and to strengthen the weak knees. Pastors are laborers in the Lord's vineyard, and the Truth is both the sharpness of the pruning shear, and the cleanness of the water with which they both feed and cleanse the dirty, fallen vines. To raise up a cry against those who would dirty the water, and dull the blade, is to be other than a hireling--it is to be a vinedresser after the vinekeeper's own heart.

you may say, 'no, no! Jesus prunes the vines, not you or us.' But as is usually the case in such matters, The Lord says "I will do such and such, I will accomplish this or that. And I will send you to do it." He has appointed pastors after his own heart, teachers passionate for his glory, to wash the church with the water of the word, to feed the hungry sheep who look up--that they might be fed.

Life as a Vapor

John Piper's Book, Life as a Vapor, has been in the bathroom for the past month or so. A great little book; many great meditations in it.

Though I keep running into thoughts that I had before I read them in his writing--It seems that, having been won to his 'top-level- axioms, I've let them trickle down and I've come to the same conclusions he has. I suspect the charges of plagiarism won't stop. I re-read an old sermon and found some blatantly Piperite thoughts...

I have embraced him as a teacher; will I not receive his thoughts, and promote them? Others have been even more blatant than I have--who I'll not mention, but who're nationally recognized.

Regardless, I found my "Theory of Everything." It's called Christian Hedonism, which is only hearfelt, passionate and compassionate calvinism in new packaging. Or, the theology of Edwards, since this new dimension of shared glory and joy is one thing: worship. But there is nothing new under the sun.

So, what now? Where? With whom (if anyone)?

On Cessationism

I wrote awhile back that I don't think I'll ever become a cessationist. Perhaps I don't know what cessationism is. Vern Poythress' work, Modern Spiritual Gifts as Analogous to Apostolic Gifts... is helpful--perhaps cessationism only means that the canon is closed, and that when a man speaks, he is not absolutely authoritative as were the apostles--because he (and we) are fallible.

If there is room for miraculous gifts of healing, I would embrace that--I think the Bible is done being written. I wonder if that makes me a cessationist?

hmm. Very strange.

On Having One Purse

That the early church had everything in common is not necessarily a recommendation, only a historical fact. We learn later on that they were all broke and needed help from the other churches.

Let each supply his own need, and be liberal and generous with what he earns.

just a thought.

On Being Taught

I think it's humorous and tragic, all at once, for those who poo-poo the reading of books--especially old ones--on matters of faith. We sit under human preachers every single week, and listen to human teachers on tape and television--how in the world is this any different from reading human teachers in a book? I am taught by the preacher who speaks, and I am taught by the preacher who has spoken, and written it down to be read later on.

Then there are those that so mock and deride the different style of writing that they cannot lift their brains above a hard word long enough to see what the man is actually trying to say. One purpose of education must be to clear away all obstacles of communication--that the great minds of other times (and other cultures and languages) might share what they've learned. To ignore the content for an unfamiliar or difficult form is utterly ignorant. It is the thought that counts. And the specific, exact thought is determined by the specific, exact words chosen by the author of the thought in order to perfectly comminicate the specific exact thought correctly. We should apologize for our ignorance in these 'conversations' when we do not understand a word, term, phrase, or figure of speech, and then continue to listen. To mock a man for using a word we do not understand is to reveal our own ignorance and idiocy and foolishness--a fool hates wisdom and instruction. If it is a stumbling block, remove it! Not by chastising the writer, but by pulling out a dictionary and using the brain God gave.

some (rant-ish) thoughts.

Indifference vs. Opposition

Indifference is worse than opposition. Indifference leaves the sword on the shelf; opposition sharpens it. Opposition and debate and controversy are the sharpening stones of our minds and hearts.

Opposition at least has a valuing, albeit misguided, of what is valuable. Indifference rips away the value of truth. At the heart of opposition is passion to recognize and promote what is right; indifference doesn't even pick it up. One who opposes might be corrected and embrace his corrected position; one who is indifferent is close to hopeless. He cares not for what is valuable.

some thoughts.

On Being Weak-Minded

Not all minds were created equal. Some, unlike my own, can withstand the weight of many books--both heavy and light. Others, like my own, must be used with care: they can handle either (and only) a few heavy books, or many lightweight books.

Lord give me discernment and discipline to read only the right kind and right number of books to keep my mind from collapsing into lethargy under the weight of them.

This is my prayer since I struggle with a "nearly debilitating case of book-lust."