Tried With Fire

We watched the Calvinist documentary last night. For being only 90 minutes, the film covers quite a bit of ground. There's a very brief history of the Reformation and the 5 points of Calvinism. It also addresses the Young, Restless, Reformed movement at the end of the 20th century and future challenges to be faced. Given the number of confessional guys who were interviewed, I appreciated the shout-out to the historic confessions and that being reformed is more than TULIP alone. The film ends by encouraging believers that our faith is to be lived in the context of the local church. Overall I liked  Calvinist  because it was a walk down memory lane. I didn't fit the YRR demographic, but 10 years ago, I was searching for answers that my current theology could not give. I found those answers in the sovereignty of God and TULIP. John Piper was my gateway drug to reformed theology, and I spent time in the cage stage. I even have a modest collection of Christian hip-hop and dea...

I've been thinking about the phrase "Young, restless, reformed." I'm sure no age discrimination is intended at all, but what about those of us who aren't so young, not so restless, and have recently embraced reformed (aka Biblical) theology? Here are a few suggestions: MHER - Middle-aged, high energy, reformed MRAR - Middle-aged, reasonably active, reformed MSSR - Middle-aged, slightly sedentary, reformed MPCSR - Middle-aged, pry off couch with spatula, reformed MNQRTR - Middle-aged, not quite ready for the taxidermist, reformed Unfortunately, the acronyms sound like new strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria. (Yoda may still be spry, but they must not have taught spelling on Dagobah.)

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...