A Call for the Conversion of All Men

I was reading about Pope Benedict XVI...a German who is recently on the outs because he reinstated some "Lefebvrist" bishops; these are ultra-conservative bishops who love the council of Trent, think Vatican II was close to heresy, and want the Catholic Church to go back to saying all of their services in Latin.

Pause. (so that you can ponder how anyone would want to go to a church service entirely in a language that no one even speaks anymore).

The real cause of the controversy however, is less the reinstatement, and more the fact that one of the reinstated bishops has gone on record saying that he believes that the Holocaust was a bit of an exaggeration.

Now, I have no real opinion on the reinstatement. The Roman church has no allegiance to the Bible, and therefore can do whatever they want to do. I find the ugly ignorance of Holocaust deniers repellent, but why should I care what the idolatrous Roman church does? The more credibility it loses, the better, in my opinion. However, I found one item interesting.

Apparently, this is not the first time Benedict the Roman-numeraled has gotten into trouble with the Jews. In 2007, he allowed churches to use an old Good Friday "rite" that includes a prayer for the conversion of the Jews. This was controversial, I guess, because Jewish people don't want to be converted?

If you don't believe in the Roman Catholic Church, why would the Roman Catholic Church praying for you to be converted bother you? Unless you think that those prayers will be heard and answered, in which case, you should probably be grateful for them, right?

At any rate, the ritualistic prayers of the Roman Church don't really scare me. But shouldn't each religion have the right to desire that other people would see the "truth" of that religion? Seems weird to get mad about that.

At any rate, in order to offend everyone, I will now issue a prayer for the conversion of every man.

More Richard Sibbes

I thought this was expressive of some things I have been emphasizing lately in this blog.

Therefore we should have our hearts in continual jealousy, for they are ready to deceive the best. In sudden encounters some sin doth many times discover itself, the seed whereof lieth hid in our natures, which we think ourselves very free from. Who would have thought the seeds of murmuring had lurked in the meek nature of Moses? that the seeds of murder had lurked in the pitiful heart of David? that the seeds of denial of Christ had lien hid in the zealous affection of Peter towards Christ?

This is the self-doubt the ancients practiced, and without which we are in great danger of falling. This is why so many do not end well. Sibbes speaks deeply here, but I will spare you more.

The emerging church speaks often of self-doubt, by which they mean, doubt towards the clarity of God's revelation. But here is a better self-doubt...a doubt that cleaves to truth. Doubt yourself, not God.

Some brief thoughts from Richard Sibbes

By the way, the only time I ever get comments on my blog is when I write about some author I don't like.

Whence we may further observe, that we are prone to cast down ourselves, we are accessory to our own trouble, weave the web of our own sorrow, and hamper ourselves in the cords of our own twining. God neither loves nor wills that we should be too much cast down. We see our Savior Christ, how careful he was that his disciples should not be troubled, and therefore he labors to prevent that trouble might arise by his suffering and departure from them, by a heavenly sermon; 'Let not your hearts be troubled.'

The context is his exposition of a psalm of David, in which David says, "Why, O soul, are you cast down within me?"

In this sense, cast down means not struck with a sense of one's sin. Nor is he saying that suffering and sorrow are things that we can avoid through "right thinking" or increased faith, or that they are directly linked to our own sin, as if, a illness, or death of a loved one were the result of some sin committed.

Rather, he is saying that the soul that refuses to find joy in Christ in the midst of sorrows, does so out of sin. This is not meant harshly, but honestly.

Sin, after all, is constantly at work to hinder our intimacy with God. This is true in me, and is the testimony of the Scriptures.

Love is the measure of all things in the kingdom

I have already written a post on this topic, but it bears repeating. Love covers over all things, and the clearest mark of the Christian given by Paul, by John, and of course, by Jesus is our love.

This means not the large acts of charity, but the small ones. Define how well you love by how well you act in the smallest areas. Look at your patience, your gentleness with others.

Love involves understanding, transporting yourself into another person. The most profound view of love is the husband's love shown in Ephesians 5. The husband is to love his wife "as his own body." In other words, he is to respond to her needs as to his own...think of it this way. When you touch something hot, you instinctively move to protect your hand. When you itch, you instinctively act to ease your discomfort. Imagine this kind of responsiveness to the needs of another.

There is some of this in our love for others. But love also involves a radical self-skepticism, knowing that we are prone to self-love and self-protection in all our actings. We can easily convince ourself that actions which spring from a wicked self-interest are really done out of love.

This is my experience, judged through the lens of Scripture.

So we have a new president...

Good news! His name is Barack Obama.

Bad news! He was the candidate that I stated last February would be the most likely to turn out to secretly be a robot.

So we could be at grave risk. Unless he was programmed with Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics. In which case he would do no harm to a human, or through any inaction, allow a human to be harmed.

Ten of my Favorite Books for Acquiring a Proper Perspective on Doctrine as it Relates into our Experience

In case anyone asked, which I can't remember anyone asking...

1. Temptation and Sin by John Owen

2. Precious Remedies for Satan's Devices by Thomas Brooks

3. The Christian in Complete Armor by William Gurnall

4. Apostasy from the Gospel by John Owen

5. A Quest for Godliness by J.I. Packer

6. Knowing God by J.I. Packer

7. The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards

8. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

9. Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges

10. Hebrews Commentary by John Owen

I'm done

I'm not going to write about The Shack again.

Eugene Peterson, on The Shack

“This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ did for his. It’s that good!"

Have you read Pilgrim's Progress? I have. It is a masterwork of allegory, which has virtually no merit as a story, per se. If it nothing to do with Christianity, it would be an awkward, clunky, rather boring story. What makes it great is the way it brings to life Scripture.

In fact, many versions of the book have the sides coated with Scripture references...Bunyan's original version included these references so that his allegories would not be missed. The book was an avenue to bring to life Scriptural truth. It was, and should always, be embraced not as a fictional story but as vivid account of Spiritual life. I can't imagine why it would have any attraction or resonance with anyone who is not a Christian.

The Shack has slightly more literary value, perhaps. But John Bunyan and William Young have vastly different ends for their respective works.

Young was "hurt" by "the church" and for years had rejected it.

Bunyan was also "hurt" by "the church," I guess, since he wrote his book while in prison, but he wouldn't have given a darn, wouldn't have gone through counseling, and certainly didn't consider Pilgrim's Progress as some sort of cathartic experience.

Young was concerned about the harmful ways that God has been portrayed, and so he tries to connect to the culture around him by present the trinity in an accessible way.

Again, Bunyan is also concerned about the ways God is portrayed, but again he wouldn't have given a darn about his culture "connecting" to his "presentation" of God. He was concerned about one thing...how does God communicate himself in his own Word? All other considerations were the vain speculations of man and were worthless.

I guarantee that if John Bunyan were alive today he would laugh at the existential angst of Young and other men who were "hurt" by the church, or by God, or by their vision of fathers, or whatever other concerns people seem to have these days. The perspective is all wrong.

John Owen, saw all ten of his children, and his wife, die. Yet somehow, this did not change his "view" of God.

I don't understand Eugene Peterson. Are we reading the same book? There is richer spiritual content on one page of The Pilgrim's Progress than in the entirety of The Shack.

The Shack inspires men to follow a vision of God of the creation of man. PP is concerned with presenting the Christian life as it is presented in the Bible. One drives men inwards, towards a low regard for holiness. The other drives men upwards, towards a true vision of God as presented in the Bible.

The "Irresistable" Revolution

Consider it resisted.

If he is going to teach on how to live, he needs more than a few selected Scriptures. He needs a holistic view of Scripture.

What does the Bible say about this? is the constant question of the teacher.

There is a proverb:

It is not good to have zeal without wisdom,
Nor to be hasty and miss the way.

Mr. Claiborne has plenty of zeal. But he forgot the only light for his path.

Here's a statement

Everything you do is a statement of belief. It is not necessarily a communicated statement of belief, or a self-aware statement of belief, nor over time is it a consistent statement of belief. But underlying all practice is doctrine.

If practice is to be right, than your doctrine must be right.

Right doctrine comes only from the Word, as revealed to our minds by the Spirit.

Right doctrine is only living when it speaks into our practice.
--------------------------------------------------

Shane Claiborne

Positives:

1. Addressing legitimate concerns

2. Concern and love for people

3. Willingness to hang out with homeless people

Negatives:

1. Weird faith in the innate goodness of people

2. Annoying tendency to use the word "ole."

3. Inserting mildly sarcastic comments into otherwise unfunny stories, than assuring me in the introduction that the stories will "make me laugh."

4. Flagrant overuse of the word "dance."

5. Stunning naivete.

6. Recycling stale old socialist talking points and expecting me to be shocked.

7. Constant selective use of Scripture.

Vision!

Some advice about how to make this year the best year ever!

1. Die. (note: does not apply to those who do not know Jesus)

2. If you dying is not an option, here is some more advice.

--Spend an hour with God contemplating the following two questions:

What helped me grow spiritually over the course of the last year?
What hindered my spiritual growth over the course of the last year?

If you are wise, and God sees fit to illumine the past year for you, there should be many applications for this coming year.

3. Resolve to spend as much time learning to love and serve others next year, as is humanly possible.

4. Read a few books. Even if you do not like reading.

5. Memorize the Word of God. Daily.

(This is a personal aside. Every year that I have asked myself those questions {see No. 2}, the same answer has come up regarding my spiritual growth. Memorizing the Word. Gosh darn it, nothing has helped me more. And old dudes walking with God say the same thing. It seems so simple. Memorize the Word. The capacity you have does not matter. Some can easily and quickly memorize long passages. Some cannot. But the important things is that you maximize your own capacity. Try it!)

6. Compare the amount of time you spend watching TV, movies, etc. with the amount of time you spend praying. Seriously! The result, if you are anything like me, should be convicting. You will know how to apply it.

7. Finally, if you resolve this year to get to know your friends better, and to figure out how you can love them better, I guarantee good stuff will come. Be the first to move! Remember, the pattern of our love reflects the pattern of God's love. Thankfully, God did not wait for us to act. Follow the same pattern towards your friends.

Much love,
Steven