Tried With Fire

The following is a quote from " A Message to the 21st Century " by philosopher Isaiah Berlin written in 1994. He is rather optimistic at the end and sees a move toward rationality and tolerance. If he were still alive today, would he think the same? This essay came to mind again after reading this article by Carl Trueman on the Salutary Lesson From the Evils of Nazi Ideology. The warnings from Trueman and Berlin dovetail and should be taken seriously. Rather than a rise in rationality and civility, we are moving away at a pace that discourages me especially when I see it between Christians. To borrow Berlin's language, how many people are we willing to break like eggs to achieve our ideal, and what is it in the first place? Who and what groups of people are we wiling to throw under the bus? The gospel is the only ideology, if you want to call it that, that does not, should not coerce from the outside. It is the opposite of the wisdom of man and seems foolish that the ...

"Experience without doctrine is an unstable, often mystical, and wholly inadequate tool by which to define a movement. "To repent of sins," "to trust in Jesus for salvation," "to be born again" - the expressions used by evangelicals to describe conversion imply doctrinal content. But if there is no consensus about what constitutes sin or a sinful nature, about who Jesus was and is, about what Jesus did and does, and about what terms like "born again" mean, then the problem of a lack of doctrinal coherence stubbornly remains. Experience without content - or experience about which there is no agreement on the meaning of the words used to describe it - remains incapable of providing any clear identity for evangelicalism." The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind , Carl Trueman, Moody Publishers, 2011, pp. 18-19. [Updated 10:34 for missing word in quote. Corrected book title, too.  Sorry, Dr. Trueman.]

I've posted this quote by Carl Trueman before, but it bears repeating: "[T]he doctrine of God is a more complicated matter than the authority of Scripture, When someone starts to tinker with the doctrine of Scripture, many Christians instinctively feel that something nefarious is being done. But when someone starts to tinker with the doctrine of God, many simply assume that very clever people are engaged in improving the tradition." 1 I believe this is happening with the doctrine of the Eternal Subordination of the Son (ESS.) This doctrine believes God the Son is subordinate to the God the Father in role but not in substance, but this subordination is not just for the purpose of redemption but perpetually. I do not agree with ESS and believe it is inconsistent with the classical doctrine of the Trinity. This may seem esoteric, but our understanding of God is the bedrock on which our beliefs rest. If we get God wrong, then any doctrines that follow, which are pretty mu...

... [T]he doctrine of God is a more complicated matter than the authority of Scripture. When someone starts to tinker with the doctrine of Scripture, many Christians instinctively feel that something nefarious is being done. But when someone starts to tinker with the doctrine of God, many simply assume that very clever people are engaged in improving the tradition. After all, many of the terms used in classical understandings of God - impassable, immutable, simple - have an abstract quality which seems to remove them from the life (and the conscious concern) of the ordinary believer. These concepts have the aura of academics about them: abstract, impersonal, pedantic, practically irrelevant. Yet history teaches us that it is precisely these concepts which safeguarded the Christian faith over time and that it was the repudiation of these which led to the collapse of orthodoxy... Peter Taylor Forsyth once commented that every theological teacher should reflect on what his teaching w...

In Romans 16:17, Paul writes the following: I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. Notice what Paul says here. Contrary to the modern notion that doctrine divides, Paul here says the exact opposite: these people who must be avoided are divisive precisely because they have departed from the true teaching. It is their doctrinal deviance, their departure from true teaching, that makes them sources of division. If Romans 10:9-10 made the positive case for doctrine as a vital part of belonging, here Paul states the other side of the case, that wandering away from sound doctrine means being divisive and ceasing to belong. The Creedal Imperative , Carl R. Trueman, Crossway 2012, pg. 68.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Thus saith the familiar proverb. Tonight the ladies in our church will begin a series of "fishing" lessons. Not casting or tying lures but lessons in biblical hermeneutics. The teaching pastor recently taught this course at a seminary in Uganda, and now it's our turn to be the students. We will still need to hear the preaching of the Word. We will still need the fellowship of the local church. We will still read books. But teach a woman how to properly interpret the Bible and you've opened the treasure house of the only authoritative means whereby God speaks to His people. Some might think this is an impractical academic exercise. I would respectively disagree. If we want to be godly women, we need to know who God is.  If we want to obey and please Him, we need to know His commands Where else will learn this but in the Word? Granted there are plenty...

I've been listening to these talks from the Gospel Coalition Women's Conference re: word-based women's ministry ( here , here , and here ). Concurrently, I've been realizing my own lack in really understanding the importance of the Word and the singularity of the Word as the sole source of authoritative revelation of God from God. It's better late than never, but part of me wishes that I had been taught how to read, study, and rightly value the Word a long time ago. But reading and studying involved the mind, and the mind was somehow at odds with the Holy Spirit. Or so it was taught and inferred. During a severe trial, I read the Word night and day. But I was looking for messages from God about me and my situation rather than the revelation of who He is and letting that change me and my perspective. To make matters worse, a friend, who I looked to as a spiritual mentor, advised me that I could only take verses as promises from God when the Holy Spirit "an...

It is no good telling the bereaved mother that Christ still loves and cares for her if she has only been taught to think of Christ in terms of how he works on her own feelings and in her own experiences. She needs to be able to see that God is much greater than her experience of him; she needs to know that, whatever her current feelings of anguish and despair, God is trustworthy and loving; and she needs to know that assurance is not necessarily about emotional highs but about knowing that God is faithful even though the whole world appears to be falling apart around her. Such will only be possible if the theological environment in which she lives and worships teaches her to understand Christ above all in terms of his historical work of redemption for the people of God; and that will only come about when the emphasis in preaching focuses not on ourselves but on the Christ of the Bible. Setting Christ above all in the context of biblical history rather than our own experience will pr...

One of my pet peeves is the notion that Christian women should only read books written by other Christian women on women's topics. I don't think I'm imagining this, am I? While I'm not discounting the value of application-oriented books or women authors, I take issue with the idea that theology and doctrine are dull, dry, ego-bloating, and impractical. Therefore, "don't trouble your pretty little head about such things".  I don't think anything can be further from the truth. Plus this idea about boring theology is also inflicted on men in this anti-intellectual age, minus the "pretty" part, of course. In Sunday's sermon, one of the takeaway points was how we need to go deep in our understanding of God and not merely stay on a temporal plane. As examples, the pastor mentioned a group of young men in their 20's who have studied  Chosen by God by R. C. Sproul and are now tackling a book by Wayne Grudem on doctrine. He also mentioned a...

There's no place like Rome, there's no place like Rome... When I read this section in Reformation , my first thought was the latest evangelical fad of dabbling with Roman Catholic or Eastern mysticism. Maybe I'm wrong, but you can judge for yourself: Where I differ from these gurus is in my analysis of the human condition and nature of salvation. If we were to agree with them in seeing human beings as always searching for God, as having an innate spirituality which leads them to yearn for deeper and more authentic spiritual experiences, then we would regard the current interest in alternative religions as a positive sign and see our own task as presenting to the spiritual consumer our own product, Christianity, as a more adequate means of fulfilling the so-called "felt needs" of individuals. If, however, in line with the biblical, historic Christianity, supremely that of the Reformers, we regard human beings as sinful and turned inwards towards self, then 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...

of Fools Rush In Where Monkeys Fear to Tread by Carl Trueman is ... Melissa!!!!!!! Thanks to everyone for entering the giveaway. Stay tuned for more....

It may not be the proper way to start a proper review, but I really like this book. I had read Carl Trueman 's posts on the Ref21 blog and was impressed with his writing, his ability to zero in on the deeper issues at stake, and his razor sharp wit. When his book was published recently, I was eager to read it based on the title alone and was not disappointed. Fools Rush In Where Monkeys Fear to Tread   contains 26 essays on subjects ranging from celebrity culture, perpetual adolescence, Roman Catholicism, humor, holiness, postmodern inclusivism, death, social media, and the case for Protestantism. Trueman doesn't take himself too seriously and punctuates his writing with dry humor and even (gasp!) sarcasm. The fact that he's British only adds to the reading pleasure in my opinion. There is a handy glossary of terms for those of us not familiar with cheese rolling , mewling , and t osh . But lest anyone be mistaken, Dr. Trueman takes God and the gospel very seri...

Indeed, when you think of the dangers of humor, it is a very good job that the Protestant church today is not burdened with the likes of Luther, Owen, Swift, and even Spurgeon. Humor, after all, implies that the world in which sin and evil are rampant is somehow absurd and not the way it should be. Ridiculous. It also hinders us from understanding that our opponents really are dangerous and powerful in an ultimate sense and that our conflicts with them are of cosmic proportions. Nonsense. That's why fools like Luther used to laugh at their opponents, as if, in doing so, he might convince himself not to fear those who destroy the body but rather him who has the power to cast body and soul into hell. So silly. Above all, it might prevent us from taking ourselves too seriously, and stop us from realizing that, yes, it really is all about us, and that we are indeed the meaning of the universe. Fools Rush In Where Monkeys Fear to Tread , Carl Trueman, P&R Publishing, 2012, p, 18...

Others might tell me I am a failure, an idiot, a clown, evil, incompetent, vicious, dangerous, pathetic, etc., and those words are not just descriptive; they have a certain power to make me these things, in the eyes on others and even in my own eyes, as self-doubt creeps in and the Devil whispers in my ear. But the greatness of Luther's Protestantism lies in this: God speaks louder, and His Word is more powerful. You may call me a liar, and you speak truth, for I have lied; but if God declares me righteous, then my lies and your insult are not the final word, nor the most powerful word. I have peace in my soul because God's word is real reality. That's why I need to read the Bible each day, to hear the Word preached each week, to come to God in prayer, and to hear words of grace from other brothers and sisters as I seek to speak the same to them. Only as God speaks his Word to me, and as I hear that Word in faith, is my reality transformed and do the insults of others, o...

Well, in a day when identity politics is in, I have decided to launch my own webzine, aimed specifically at that most neglected sector of today's culture: miserable middle-aged gits, of whom I am a foremost representative. To capture the essence of the project, I am going to call it "Oi You, Get Off My Lawn!" as long as the relevant web address (www.oiyougetoffmylawn.com) is not taken . . . [T]here'll be a regular editorial, addressing such urgent issues of the day as "Dooyeweerd or Don't You Weird? The Case Against Soul Patches," and "Why Are There Never Enough Parking Places at the Prostate Clinic? Toward a Christian Response." Now, if you don't think these columns and questions are relevant, then you must be either (a) a woman or (b) a man under the age of 40. If the latter, give it a few years and the profound relevance of these issues will be painfully clear. In the meantime, don't oppress me by engaging in the imperialist, sexi...

Not this book. Far from it, but the title of the essay that's being quoted. I'm about halfway through this book, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. Carl Trueman's insight into Christianity's follies (some of which are uniquely American) will have you laughing and wincing at the same time.  His aim is accurate. "A church service involving clowns or fancy dress or skits or stand-up comedy does not reflect the seriousness of the gospel; and those who take the gospel seriously should know better. Frankly, it is more appropriate to liberal theology that does not take seriously the gospel, or the God of the gospel. Serious things demand serious idioms. I heard recently of a church service involving dressing up in a costume and music taken from a Tom Cruise movie. Now, if I go for my annual prostate examination, and the doctor comes into the consulting room dressed as Coco the Clown, with "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun playing in the background,...

"The list of American idiosyncrasies could go on: the American penchant for men's shoes with tassels (which, I am thankful, have no counterpart in Britain); the post-colonial idea that a sausage on a lollipop stick is edible; and the constitutional right to eat cheese delivered from an aerosol can without government interference. Freedom is surely a wonderful thing." From " Messiahs Pointed to the Door" in Fools Rush In Where Monkeys Fear to Tread by Carl Trueman, P&R Publishing, 2012, pg. 17.

There is a very interesting article on the Young, Restless, Reformed (YRR) movement by Carl Trueman at Reformation 21 . (ht: Challies ) From the article: Finally, I worry that a movement built on megachurches, megaconferences, and megaleaders, does the church a disservice in one very important way that is often missed amid all the pizzazz and excitement: it creates the idea that church life is always going to be big, loud, and exhilarating and thus gives church members and ministerial candidates unrealistic expectations of the normal Christian life. In the real world, many, perhaps most, of us worship and work in churches of 100 people or less; life is not loud and exciting; big things do not happen every Sunday; budgets are incredibly tight and barely provide enough for a pastor's modest salary; each Lord's Day we go through the same routines of worship services, of hearing the gospel proclaimed, of taking the Lord's Supper, of teaching Sunday School; perhaps several ti...