Take Heart

Jacob was a cheater, 
Peter had a temper, 
David had an affair, 
Noah got drunk, 
Jonah ran from God, 
Paul was a murderer, 
Gideon was insecure, 
Miriam was a gossiper, 
Martha was a worrier, 
Thomas was a doubter, 
Sara was impatient,
Elijah was moody, 
Moses stuttered, 
Zaccheus was short, 
Abraham was old, 
and Lazarus was dead.... 

God doesn't call the sanctified, He sanctifies the called. 

Take Heart!  

Truth in Art

G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.


Thanks for the find Chris Yoon

Shades of Gray

Yesterday a Facebook friend posted this question as her status...

I'm sure I should be more moderate in terms of, well, everything...but it's just so hard. How do you guys see gray?? To me everything is so black and white. It is both a blessing and a curse.

This was my reply.  

Truth is black and white...the living out of this marred and finite life is done in shades of gray. Keep perspective on the profane, the secular good, and the sacred as a friend once told me. Don't try and force all things into the sacred... or the profane. We live in a fallen culture, but you can often engage the gray areas without being in sin. Think about Paul's teaching on eating meat. Its ok to eat meat sacrificed to idols as long as we are not participating in the feast unto the idol. However, he warns us not to eat that meat in the presence of weaker brethren who may be delayed in their faith by seeing us do so. Now apply that to modernity...I think its ok to watch "The Walking Dead" for dramatic enjoyment and to see the nuances of humanity that such a fictional account can portray. I can do so without becoming enamored with zombies over Jesus. However, should I be at a friend's house who has a conviction that watching zombie shows is demonic...I wouldn't try and force that person into sharing my view. I see lots of gray in the daily working out of our life here on earth. I also understand that we are ultimately guided by a set of black and white about the deep questions of eternity. Too often people want to jump to one extreme or the other...either there is no truth at all OR truth is so absolute that we must place everything into neat categories of good/ evil. Look up Aristotle's "Way of the Mean" and see how you can apply his pagan wisdom to your walk of faith. I found it very helpful.

 

I felt really good about what I said, but I wanted to post it here in case anyone had any feedback or commentary on how my thoughts line up with Scripture.  Thanks!

Dramatic ESV Reading

Marquis Laughlin: Scripture Reading at Crossway Banquet, ICRS 2011 from Crossway on Vimeo.

A Confused Lady

Over the weekend I met a lady who is Catholic.  She said that her husband is Protestant.  She was very proud to announce that her family worships at both a local SBC church and a local Roman Parish.  She said that it would make her children well-rounded and they could choose which way to go for themselves as they grew up.

She is terribly confused I think.

Too many Americans...heck, too many Christians do not realize the very substantive differences between the beliefs of Rome and of those who sprang from the Reformation.  Catholicism is not just another denomination of the faith like you might say about Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc...  It is a wholly seperate system of belief that uses the same terms but means very different things about their definitions.

To help focus the issue, I am re-posting the view of Pastor John MacArthur on the two most important areas of divergence between Catholicism and Protestantism.  I hope that after reading this you will see that the gap between the belief systems is a wide one and that the confused lady can only hurt her kids by raising them in the way that she mentioned.  They will likely grow up with a distorted view themselves.  So sad.

__________________________

While there are many errors in the teaching of the Catholic Church, two rise to the forefront and call for special attention: its denial of the doctrine of sola Scriptura and its denial of the biblical teaching on justification.

To put it simply, because the Roman Catholic Church has refused to submit itself to the authority of God's Word and to embrace the gospel of justification taught in Scripture, it has set itself apart from the true body of Christ. It is a false and deceptive form of Christianity.

The Doctrine of Sola Scriptura

In the words of reformer Martin Luther, the doctrine of sola Scriptura means that "what is asserted without the Scriptures or proven revelation may be held as an opinion, but need not be believed." Roman Catholicism flatly rejects this principle, adding a host of traditions and Church teachings and declaring them binding on all true believers--with the threat of eternal damnation to those who hold contradictory opinions.

In Roman Catholicism, "the Word of God" encompasses not only the Bible, but also the Apocrypha, the Magisterium (the Church's authority to teach and interpret divine truth), the Pope's ex cathedra pronouncements, and an indefinite body of church tradition, some formalized in canon law and some not yet committed to writing. Whereas evangelical Protestants believe the Bible is the ultimate test of all truth, Roman Catholics believe the Church determines what is true and what is not. In effect, this makes the Church a higher authority than Scripture.

Creeds and doctrinal statements are certainly important. However, creeds, decisions of church councils, all doctrine, and even the church itself must be judged by Scripture--not vice versa. Scripture is to be accurately interpreted in its context by comparing it to Scripture--certainly not according to anyone's personal whims. Scripture itself is thus the sole binding rule of faith and practice for all Christians. Protestant creeds and doctrinal statements simply express the churches' collective understanding of the proper interpretation of Scripture. In no sense could the creeds and pronouncements of the churches ever constitute an authority equal to or higher than Scripture. Scripture always takes priority over the church in the rank of authority.

Roman Catholics, on the other hand, believe the infallible touchstone of truth is the Church itself. The Church not only infallibly determines the proper interpretation of Scripture, but also supplements Scripture with additional traditions and teaching. That combination of Church tradition plus the Church's interpretation of Scripture is what constitutes the binding rule of faith and practice for Catholics. The fact is, the Church sets itself above Holy Scripture in rank of authority.

The Doctrine of Justification

According to Roman Catholicism, justification is a process in which God's grace is poured forth into the sinner's heart, making that person progressively more righteous. During this process, it is the sinner's responsibility to preserve and increase that grace by various good works. The means by which justification is initially obtained is not faith, but the sacrament of baptism. Furthermore, justification is forfeited whenever the believer commits a mortal sin, such as hatred or adultery. In the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, then, works are necessary both to begin and to continue the process of justification.

The error in the Catholic Church's position on justification may be summed up in four biblical arguments. First, Scripture presents justification as instantaneous, not gradual. Contrasting the proud Pharisee with the broken, repentant tax-gatherer who smote his breast and prayed humbly for divine mercy, Jesus said that the tax-gatherer "went down to his house justified" (Luke 18:14). His justification was instantaneous, complete before he performed any work, based solely on his repentant faith. Jesus also said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life" (John 5:24). Eternal life is the present possession of all who believe--and by definition eternal life cannot be lost. The one who believes immediately passes from spiritual death to eternal life, because that person is instantaneously justified (see Rom. 5:1, 9; 8:1).

Second, justification means the sinner is declared righteous, not actually made righteous. This goes hand in hand with the fact that justification is instantaneous. There is no process to be performed--justification is purely a forensic reality, a declaration God makes about the sinner. Justification takes place in the court of God, not in the soul of the sinner. It is an objective fact, not a subjective phenomenon, and it changes the sinner's status, not his nature. Justification is an immediate decree, a divine "not guilty" verdict on behalf of the believing sinner in which God declares him to be righteous in His sight.

Third, the Bible teaches that justification means righteousness is imputed, not infused. Righteousness is "reckoned," or credited to the account of those who believe (Rom. 4:3-25). They stand justified before God not because of their own righteousness (Rom. 3:10), but because of a perfect righteousness outside themselves that is reckoned to them by faith (Phil. 3:9). Where does that perfect righteousness come from? It is God's own righteousness (Rom. 10:3), and it is the believer's in the person of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ's own perfect righteousness is credited to the believer's personal account (Rom. 5:17, 19), just as the full guilt of the believer's sin was imputed to Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). The only merit God accepts for salvation is that of Jesus Christ; nothing man can ever do could earn God's favor or add anything to the merit of Christ.

Fourth and finally, Scripture clearly teaches that man is justified by faith alone, not by faith plus works. According to the Apostle Paul, "If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace" (Rom. 11:6). Elsewhere Paul testifies, "By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9, emphasis added; see Acts 16:31 and Rom. 4:3-6). In fact, it is clearly taught throughout Scripture that "a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law" (Rom. 3:28; see Gal. 2:16; Rom. 9:31-32; 10:3).

In contrast, Roman Catholicism places an undue stress on human works. Catholic doctrine denies that God "justifies the ungodly" (Rom. 4:5) without first making them godly. Good works therefore become the ground of justification. As thousands of former Catholics will testify, Roman Catholic doctrine and liturgy obscure the essential truth that the believer is saved by grace through faith and not by his own works (Eph. 2:8-9). In a simple sense, Catholics genuinely believe they are saved by doing good, confessing sin, and observing ceremonies.

Adding works to faith as the grounds of justification is precisely the teaching that Paul condemned as "a different gospel" (see 2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6). It nullifies the grace of God, for if meritorious righteousness can be earned through the sacraments, "then Christ died needlessly" (Gal. 2:21). Any system that mingles works with grace, then, is "a different gospel" (Gal. 1:6), a distorted message that is anathematized (Gal. 1:9), not by a council of medieval bishops, but by the very Word of God that cannot be broken. In fact, it does not overstate the case to say that the Roman Catholic view on justification sets it apart as a wholly different religion than the true Christian faith, for it is antithetical to the simple gospel of grace.

As long as the Roman Catholic Church continues to assert its own authority and bind its people to "another gospel," it is the spiritual duty of all true Christians to oppose Roman Catholic doctrine with biblical truth and to call all Catholics to true salvation. Meanwhile, evangelicals must not capitulate to the pressures for artificial unity. They cannot allow the gospel to be obscured, and they cannot make friends with false religion, lest they become partakers in their evil deeds (2 John 11).

David and Goliath - retold

And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?  Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”

When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out an ANGRY BIRD and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

The Ring of Sin

Stratford Caldecott's theological view on the One Ring in JRR Tolkien's work and what it represents.

"The Ring of Power exemplifies the dark magic of the corrupted will, the assertion of self in disobedience to God. It appears to give freedom, but its true function is to enslave the wearer to the Fallen Angel. It corrodes the human will of the wearer, rendering him increasingly “thin” and unreal; indeed, its gift of invisibility symbolizes this ability to destroy all natural human relationships and identity. You could say the Ring is sin itself: tempting and seemingly harmless to begin with, increasingly hard to give up and corrupting in the long run"

Ellis Abraham

Our family has a new arrival...our third boy...

Ellis Abraham
9 lbs 7 oz
21.5 inches long

Ellis is the Anglicized version of the Greek name Elias.  Elias is the Hellenic version of the Hebrew Elijah.

Elijah means "My God is the Lord," thus Ellis does too.

Abraham is Hebrew and means "Father of a multitude."

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
- Psalm 127