Tried With Fire

According to the well-known "secularization theory" of Max Weber, religion - under the conditions of modernity -  goes through various stages. First, religion is privatized , its domain shrunk to the island of private subjectivity. Statements such as "Jesus is alive" and "Jesus is Lord" are no longer regarded as objective, public claims based on historical  events but become references to one's personal experience. As for "Jesus is alive," in the words of the famous gospel song, "You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart." And typically, "Jesus is Lord" refers to my personal decision to make Jesus my Lord and Savior. While the apostles testified to historical events of which they were eyewitnesses, "giving your testimony" in evangelical Christianity today typically means talking about one's inner experience and moral transformation. Once privatized, religion becomes relativized .  No longer ...

Hairy puccoon - pretty flower with a funny name I'm thankful for: Little things  -  an unclogged bath tub drain, garlic bread, homemade ice cream , wildflowers, and furry visitors at the "watering hole". Our pastor's safe return from Uganda and for what God is doing in that country. The women's retreat this week-end at the Outer Banks. I'm glad for the chance to get to know these sisters. Regardless how much we mess things up, God is on His throne. To quote Martin Luther, "His kingdom is forever."

We're studying the 12 disciples in Sunday School. Judas is up for discussion next week with one of homework questions being: "How was Judas responsible for his actions when the betrayal was predetermined by God?" Great question, isn't it? Coming to grips with God's sovereignty and man's responsibility is something that every believer needs to work through IMO. In many situations, there's a temptation among Christians to get God off the hook. Man's "free" will and the plans of Satan suddenly become omnipotent in order to place the blame anywhere other than God. But when we consider Jesus' death on the cross, do we want to get God off the hook for that? What do we do with the verses that clearly declare this was God's intention from the beginning? (Isaiah 53:10; Zech, 11:12; Acts 2:23, 4:28) From Calvin: [I]n regard to the treachery of Judas, there is just as little ground to throw the blame of the crime upon God, because He w...

"At the end of the day, the gospel is believed because God - because God - so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son and so on. The power and persuasiveness of the gospel lies in the fact that God acted in history to save humanity in and through his Son, Jesus Christ. The experience of this salvation by the individual people and by whole churches is a source for great rejoicing but should never be allowed to eclipse the emphasis on the great saving acts of God's redemptive history. The gospel is the story of what God has done for sinners in Christ; it is not first and foremost the experience of God by any particular individual ; and, if testimonies are to be given in a useful way, they must reflect this fact. Too often, however, testimonies can become nothing more than extended reflctions upon individual experiences of God. To make room for this sort of testimony is, I would suggest, to place our own evangelical church life on the path towards liberalism which, a...

Congratulations to Corey!!!! You're the winner of Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey. Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway. Stay tuned for more in the future, God willing.

ht: Effectual Grace

57. Q. How does "The resurrection of the body" comfort you? A. Not only my soul will be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head, but even my very flesh, raised by the power of Christ, will be reunited with my soul and made like Christ's glorious body. 58. Q. How does the article concerning "life everlasting" comfort you? A. Even as I already now experience in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, so after this life, I will have perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart has ever imagine: a blessedness in which to praise God eternally. "Life everlasting is like all of this power, beauty, delight, truth, and sweetness rolled into one experience, then multiplied by ten, then by a hundred, then by ten million. Eternal life in God's presence will be such a weight of glory that we will feel as if we never knew happiness before, and all our troubles will be in a moment forgotten as so puny and so trivial...

It was not without reason that the ancient proverb so strongly recommended to man the knowledge of himself. For if it is deemed disgraceful to be ignorant of things pertaining to the business of life, much more disgraceful is self-ignorance, in consequence of which we miserably deceive ourselves in matters of the highest moment, and so walk blindfold. But the more useful the precept is, the more careful we must be not to use it preposterously, as we see certain philosophers have done. For they, when exhorting man to know himself, state the motive to be, that he may not be ignorant of his own excellence and dignity. They wish him to see nothing in himself but what will fill him with vain confidence, and inflate him with pride. But self-knowledge consists in this, first, When reflecting on what God gave us at our creation, and still continues graciously to give, we perceive how great the excellence of our nature would have been had its integrity remained, and, at the same time, remembe...

Speaking of Nutella, I want to try this recipe .

I'm thankful for late night conversations.. I'm thankful for strength to wake up (see previous). I'm thankful for a new day. I'm thankful for the gospel and my identity in Christ.

By now everyone and his brother has read and/or watched The Hunger Games , so here’s another book review to add to the pile... Plot summary: The story takes place in what was formerly the United States. Panem is its new name, a tyrannical government with 12 vassal districts that are predominantly controlled by slow starvation and martial law. As punishment for a past rebellion and to keep the populace under its thumb, two “tributes”, a girl and boy, are chosen at random from the children in each district to participate in the annual Hunger Games. These are fights to the death in a specially prepared arena for the televised entertainment of the Capitol’s hedonistic citizens and the torture of the districts. The victor’s reward is fame, money, and above all no fear of starvation ever again. The heroine, Katniss Everdeen, from District 12 volunteers to take her 12-year-old sister’s place to save her from almost certain death. Her fellow tribute is Peeta Mellark, the son of a baker,...

Google Docs may be acting up. I know of one person who entered the Total Truth giveaway whose name was lost.  So to be fair to everyone, I want to make sure no one else's name has disappeared into Google la-la-land. Here are the entries so far: Melissa, Josh, Rebecca S., Corey, Kim E., Tamara, Hannah R., Sarah P., Trisha, and Monica. If your name is missing, add it again via the form . If you want to  make sure your name was entered,  leave a comment so I can check the spreadsheet. Sorry for the inconvenience. *The giveaway is open to anyone through the 29th.*

Have you ever wondered... Why are our beliefs compartmentalized? i.e. Christianity is now a religion of the heart not the head Why is faith considered a personal preference and not something to be discussed in the public square? Why are religious values considered individual choices, not facts which apply to everyone? If you are looking for the answers to those questions and care about having a Christian worldview,  Total Truth  is the book for you. According to Nancy Pearcey, the divide between truth and values "is the single most potent weapon for de-legitimizing the biblical perspective in the square today. Here's how it works: Most secularists are too politically savvy to attack religion directly or to debunk it as false. So what do they do? They consign religion to the value sphere - which takes it out of the realm of true and false altogether. Secularists can then assure us that  of course they "respect" religion, while at the same time denying it h...

54. Q. What do you believe concerning "The Holy Catholic Church"? A. I believe that the Son of God through His Spirit and Word, out of the entire human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, protects, and preserve for Himself a community chosen for eternal life and united to true Faith. And of this community I am and always will be a living member. 55. Q. What do you understand by "The Communion of the Saints"? A. First, that believers one and all, as members of this community, share in Christ and in all His treasures and gifts. Second, that each member should consider it a duty to use these gifts readily and cheerfully for the service and enrichment of the other members. 56. Q. What do you believe concerning "the forgiveness of sins"? A. I believe that God, because of Christ's atonement, will never hold against me any of my sins nor my sinful nature which I need to struggle against all my life. Rather, in His grace God gra...

From other passages, in which God is said to draw or bend Satan himself, and all the reprobate, to his will, a more difficult question arises. For the carnal mind can scarcely comprehend how, when acting by their means, he contracts no taint from their impurity, nay, how, in a common operation, he is exempt from all guilt, and can justly condemn his own ministers. Hence a distinction has been invented between doing and permitting because to many it seemed altogether inexplicable how Satan and all the wicked are so under the hand and authority of God, that he directs their malice to whatever end he pleases, and employs their iniquities to execute his Judgments. The modesty of those who are thus alarmed at the appearance of absurdity might perhaps be excused, did they not endeavour to vindicate the justice of God from every semblance of stigma by defending an untruth. It seems absurd that man should be blinded by the will and command of God, and yet be forthwith punished for his blindn...

Orchid at Longwood Gardens I'm thankful for: ~ Digging in the dirt. I finally cleaned out the front flower bed and planted some impatiens and petunias.  I hope to sow and grow some sunflowers if the squirrels don't eat the seeds. ~ Thoughtful discussions about The Hunger Games with my daughter. ~ Books arriving on the doorstep. ~ Updates from Uganda . Our pastor is teaching at The Gaba Bible Institute in Kampala. Also one of our deacons is there assisting in a construction project. ~ The opportunity to share a meal with two of the elder candidates and their wives. I'm thankful for the chance to get to know them a bit more and learn their stories. This is an exciting and maybe a bit scary time for the church as we consider this major polity change. I believe elder government is biblical and pray that our church will respond and decide biblically rather than based on experience or preference. ~ The rock solid foundation of the Word of God.

Ever since I've come to the Doctrines of Grace, I've been curious how, when, and why American Christianity took a turn away from its reformed roots to where we are today. I've been trying to dig into the subject, so I was thrilled to find a used copy of  The Democratization of American Christianity by Nathan O. Hatch.  Dr. Hatch examines how politics, culture, and religion came together in our fledgling nation and the result of that amalgamation. Dr. Robert Godfrey referred to this book during one of his talks at the Ligonier National Conference, and Nancy Pearcey also references it in Total Truth.  While I was flipping through the text, the title of the appendix caught my eye:  A Sampling of Anticlerical and Anti-Calvinist Christian Verse. Sounds like some fun reading, no?   Dr. Hatch writes,   "Better than any other source, popular poems and songs capture the force of the early republic's religious populism... Using biting sarcasm, a Jeffersonia...

I started reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins after reading reviews by several Christian bloggers whom I respect. My daughter was interested in the series as well, so I'm reading it more as a worldview chaperone than for the story itself. This is a departure from my usual fiction reading. For years, I stuck to "safe" books - characters and story lines with more-or-less black and white morality and all loose ends neatly tied in a bow by the end of the book, which of course must have a happy ending. I was also a card-carrying fear monger, so there was the "Oh no! It could happen to me!" motive in avoiding anything nasty that could lodge in my memory bank as potential irrational monger-fodder. But my theology has changed, which has changed me. (Thanks be to God!) Yes, there are nasty things in books and even nastier things in the real life, but I belong to a God who rules over all things, which cannot move an inch unless He decrees it. Whether I like t...

53. Q. What do you believe concerning "the Holy Spirit"? A. First, He, as well as the Father and the Son, is eternal God. Second, He has been given to me personally, so that, by true faith, He makes me share in Christ and all His blessings, comforts me, and remains with me forever. "The Holy Spirit is not a force or a principle of nature or a mode of God's existence. The Spirit is eternal God. "He is everywhere, which does not mean the Spirit is everything or in everything, but rather that there is nowhere we can go where the Spirit isn't also present (Ps. 139:7). The Spirit is eternal (Heb. 9:14). The Spirit alone knows the mind of God (1 Cor. 2:10-11). The Holy Spirit is fully divine, His name being used interchangeably with the name "God" (see Acts 5:3-4, where lying to God and lying to the Holy Spirit are equated, and 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19, were the temple of God and the temple of the Holy Spirit are used synonymously). The Holy S...

Innumerable are the ills which beset human life, and present death in as many different forms... Amid these perils, must not man be very miserable, as one who, more dead than alive, with difficulty draws an anxious and feeble breath, just as if a drawn sword were constantly suspended over his neck? It may be said that these things happen seldom, at least not always, or to all, certainly never all at once. I admit it; but since we are reminded by the example of others, that they may also happen to us, and that our life is not an exception any more than theirs, it is impossible not to fear and dread as if they were to befall us. What can you imagine more grievous than such a trepidation? Add that there is something like an insult to God when it is said, that man, the noblest of the creatures, stands exposed to every blind and random stroke of fortune. Here, however, we were only referring to the misery which man should feel, were he placed under the dominion of chance. But when once ...

This is a week late for Star Wars Day, but may the voice be with you...

Columbine at Longwood Gardens I'm thankful for the law's tutoring. It reveals my sin and how I've broken God's commandments. But I'm glad that's not all there is.  I'm thankful for the forgiveness of sin. I'm thankful that God declares me just and righteous in Christ and for faith to take Him at His word.  I'm thankful for sanctifying grace that does what the law cannot do.

I knew he was going to ask for money as soon as I saw him walking across the parking lot. The average citizen isn't wearing a down jacket, sweat pants, and sandals on an 80 degree day in Virginia. He asked if I had a dollar. I then asked if he heard of the Peninsula Rescue Mission. He said he did but he was living in assisted living nearby so he wasn't homeless. I did give him some cash not knowing if he was going to buy food or go the liquor store in the strip mall. This is a tough, these on-the-spot situations. You don't want to be hardened to people in need and yet you don't want to enable sinful patterns. I wasn't prepared with gift cards for Chick-fil-A or canned goods in my trunk.  I didn't have any tracts on hand either. But like most things, there is never a perfect way to handle a situation. As we drove away, my daughter said, "All you can do is commit this to God." Which I did and still do.  I have so much to learn. [W]e should show mercy...

Parenting is a scary thing. You have no clue when you bring your baby home, and, in some ways, you're still as clueless when your child is making the transition to adulthood. I know there isn't a perfect parenting method where we will get it all right, and our kids are guaranteed to grow into paragons of Christian virtue, but it's tempting to think you've found something reasonably close, at least for your family. When things are going well, it's tempting to think you have it under control.  I had good intentions, but I wonder about them. In an effort to keep my daughter from being hardened by the world, have I let her get soft rather than grow strong? To keep her from growing up too fast, have opportunities to mature slipped by? Because I couldn't protect her from the divorce, am I over-protective in other ways? What are my expectations for her? Are they just my personal aspirations or the Lord's? In trying to juggle both parental roles, have I botc...

The ideology of the Left believes big government and social reform will solve social ills, while the Right believes big business and economic growth will do it. The Left expects a citizen to be held legally accountable for the use of his wealth, but totally autonomous in other areas, such as sexual morality. The Right expects a citizen to be held legally accountable in areas of personal morality, but totally autonomous in the use of wealth. The North American "idol" - radical individualism - lies beneath both ideologies. A Christian sees either "solution" as fundamentally humanistic and simplistic. The causes of our worsening social problems are far more complex than either the secularists of the Right or Left understand. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities! We have seen there is great social injustice - racial prejudice, greed, avarice - by those with the greatest wealth in the country (and sadly, within the evangelical chu...

50. Q. Why the next words: "And is seated at the right hand of God"? A. Christ ascended to heaven, there to show that He is head of His church, and that the Father rules all things through Him. 51. Q. How does the glory of Christ benefit us? A. First, through His Holy Spirit He pours His gifts from heaven upon us His members. Second, by His power He defends us and keeps us safe from all enemies. 52. Q. How does Christ's return "to judge the living and the dead" comfort you? A. In all my distress and persecution I turn my eyes to the heavens and confidently await as judge the very One who has already stood trial in my place. All His enemies and mine He will condemn to everlasting punishment, but me and all His chosen ones He will take along with Him into the joy and glory of heaven. "We don't have to fear standing trial, because the judge has already stood trial in our place. Though we are guilty as sin (literally), there is no sentence left t...

And truly God claims omnipotence to himself, and would have us to acknowledge it - not the vain, indolent, slumbering omnipotence which sophists feign, but vigilant, efficacious, energetic, and ever active, not an omnipotence which may only act as a general principle of confused motion, as in ordering a stream to keep within the channel once prescribed to it, but one which is intent on individual and special movements. God is deemed omnipotent, not because he can act though he may cease to be idle, or because by general instinct he continues the order of nature previously appointed, but because, governing heaven and earth by his providence, he so overrules all things that nothing happens without his counsel. For when it is said in the psalms, "He hath done whatever he hath pleased" (Ps. 115:3), the thing meant is his sure and deliberate purpose. It were insipid to interpret the psalmist's words in philosophic fashion, to mean that God is the primary agent, because the b...

Forget-me-nots at Longwood Cardens This week's thankful list: ~ Although we had great visit with family last week-end, I'm thankful to be back home.  I'm also thankful for an uneventful trip there and back again. ~ Balmier weather and working AC. ~ Books soon to be arriving on my doorstep. ~ CDs from the Ligonier 2012 National Conference. I am looking forward to listening to these talks again. ~ Completing Ephesians in the women's study. I had read it numerous times in the past but was struck this time by the fullness and richness of the gospel and its impact on every area of our lives. ~ God's faithful provision for my family. May my faith be strengthened to trust Him rather than defaulting to worry. ~ That God does not treat me according to my sin, but according to His loving kindness.

"The better to manipulate you with..." I wanted to give Finney the benefit of the doubt regarding his unnerving stare. He is justly criticized for his theology, but he can't help his looks. Maybe he was the victim of a bad portrait painter. But then again, maybe not. As the Second Great Awakening proceed, however, preachers began to employ methods calculated to pressure people into making a decision. The most aggressive was Charles Finney, a lawyer-turned-evangelist who toned down the revivalist style and added a note of rational persuasion to make it palatable to educated, middle-class audiences. His innovations included several high-pressure tactics, however, that were to become quite controversial. Finney "had a flair for pulpit drama", Hofstadter comments. "But his greatest physical assest was his intense, fixating, electrifying, madly prophetic eyes," 1 which he used to great effect in confronting sinners by name in his revival meeti...

When you live an ocean apart, you don't get to see extended family very often. It was an unexpected pleasure to see two cousins and their respective children this past week-end who were visiting the states. We drove up from Virginia and met in NJ at my sister's home for a micro family reunion. My daughter never met her 2nd cousins before who are near her in age. It was fun to watch their personalities click and hear their laughter.  It's also a blessing to have family who genuinely love one another and like to be together for which I am very grateful to the Lord. We spent Saturday visiting Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. The 1000+ acre gardens (including a 4 acre conservatory) were formerly an estate owned by Pierre DuPont, which is now open to the public. The overcast sky and cooler weather didn't diminish the incredible beauty and variety of God's creation. It's a gardener's and photographer's paradise. Here are a few pics: ...