What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you. I know your exhortations will not help me. But if anything has been done to save me, will you not tell me the facts?"
-John Gresham Machen
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
My View on Creation
Ok, so, I really like this page. This is a thoughtful summary of a creation account. I highlight it because it is basically where I stand right now as I read Scripture and learn about the science.
I realize that for some, it may be: "Duh- this is just the definition of Old-Earth Creationism", but for me, I've sort of arrived at alot of these conclusions doing some independent research and thinking, and I guess it was just cool to come across a quick synopsis that doesn't have its head in the sand on the science and also isn't chucking the bible. Also, that was a long sentence.
The article from "Reasons to Believe."
I realize that for some, it may be: "Duh- this is just the definition of Old-Earth Creationism", but for me, I've sort of arrived at alot of these conclusions doing some independent research and thinking, and I guess it was just cool to come across a quick synopsis that doesn't have its head in the sand on the science and also isn't chucking the bible. Also, that was a long sentence.
The article from "Reasons to Believe."
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Luther's 1518 Disputation
Warning: The following if applied to a heart, could yield dramatic freedom. I borrow from Mark Driscoll's blog.
Naked and filthy or clothed and righteous
People stand naked in sin or clothed in the identity of Christ. There's no middle ground in between. We can do good before God but only in a passive capacity. Consider this analogy:
“[As water] can be heated but cannot heat itself, the will is driven by Satan or by God, as it acts in the vertical sphere of life. Instead of trusting the Word of the Lord, we turn to the lie of the Deceptor, and doubt binds our wills as it deafens our ears. Freedom comes only through the new identity given through Christ’s death, that becomes our death to captivity and deception.” – Robert Kolb, Luther on the Theology of the Cross
Do your best and God does the rest?
Claiming we somehow add just a little bit of good to our standing with God through our efforts is what Gerhard Forde coined as human “affrontery.” As if we could simply do our best and have God do the rest.
“The person who believes that he can obtain grace by doing what is in him adds sin to sin so that he becomes doubly guilty.” –Thesis 16, Heidelberg Disputation
Still we strive for just a teeny-weenie bit of good deeds to gain God’s favor. This proclivity masks itself as piety, but it’s an affront to God’s perfect work of Christ, on the cross, for our sins. Christ’s death and resurrection is complete (it is finished), not a supplement to our shortcomings.
People have the capacity to do good, but only when God comes onto the scene and makes us alive again.
Death to valiant efforts
Humans are not autonomous beings. We are to image our creator and receive our identity in him. But still we twist this beautiful truth towards our means and make rules for ourselves—rules that highlight our valiant spiritual efforts—in spiritual disciplines, idol-hunting skill, or even belief in our own belief. None of this will do.
“Striving for the standards people set for themselves can convince them that they are not able to reach their goals, but apart from the perspective at the foot of the cross they will not understand that the solution lies not in trying harder but in dying to their sinful identity. At the foot of the cross sinners finally lose the presumption that they simply must stretch a bit higher. They fall to the earth to die to their sinful identity.” –Kolb
The beauty of all this is that we are born anew. Death always comes before a resurrection.
Naked and filthy or clothed and righteous
People stand naked in sin or clothed in the identity of Christ. There's no middle ground in between. We can do good before God but only in a passive capacity. Consider this analogy:
“[As water] can be heated but cannot heat itself, the will is driven by Satan or by God, as it acts in the vertical sphere of life. Instead of trusting the Word of the Lord, we turn to the lie of the Deceptor, and doubt binds our wills as it deafens our ears. Freedom comes only through the new identity given through Christ’s death, that becomes our death to captivity and deception.” – Robert Kolb, Luther on the Theology of the Cross
Do your best and God does the rest?
Claiming we somehow add just a little bit of good to our standing with God through our efforts is what Gerhard Forde coined as human “affrontery.” As if we could simply do our best and have God do the rest.
“The person who believes that he can obtain grace by doing what is in him adds sin to sin so that he becomes doubly guilty.” –Thesis 16, Heidelberg Disputation
Still we strive for just a teeny-weenie bit of good deeds to gain God’s favor. This proclivity masks itself as piety, but it’s an affront to God’s perfect work of Christ, on the cross, for our sins. Christ’s death and resurrection is complete (it is finished), not a supplement to our shortcomings.
People have the capacity to do good, but only when God comes onto the scene and makes us alive again.
Death to valiant efforts
Humans are not autonomous beings. We are to image our creator and receive our identity in him. But still we twist this beautiful truth towards our means and make rules for ourselves—rules that highlight our valiant spiritual efforts—in spiritual disciplines, idol-hunting skill, or even belief in our own belief. None of this will do.
“Striving for the standards people set for themselves can convince them that they are not able to reach their goals, but apart from the perspective at the foot of the cross they will not understand that the solution lies not in trying harder but in dying to their sinful identity. At the foot of the cross sinners finally lose the presumption that they simply must stretch a bit higher. They fall to the earth to die to their sinful identity.” –Kolb
The beauty of all this is that we are born anew. Death always comes before a resurrection.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
The one great lesson Al Mohler has learned
Ok, so if you've heard me talk about this guy before, you know I'm not his biggest fan. However, what he says here speaks right into where I'm at right now trying to figure out what to do with my increasingly precious time.
Although there are many, is there one lesson the Lord has taught you that you would care to share with us?
I think the one great lesson the Lord has taught me over these years is that the importance of the family and the local congregation supersedes every other relationship to which the Christian is called. Christians demonstrate the glory of God and the power of the gospel by the way we marry and stay married, by the way we raise our children, by the way we love each other, and by the way we live faithfully in the congregation of believers. In the end, I fear that far too much energy is devoted to and far too many hopes are invested in institutions, programs, and projects that will not last. The centrality of Christ’s purpose to glorify himself in His church and the blessings of God that are directed to the precious gift of the family — these far exceed our other allegiances.
-Al Mohler, from an interview with Tabletalk
Although there are many, is there one lesson the Lord has taught you that you would care to share with us?
I think the one great lesson the Lord has taught me over these years is that the importance of the family and the local congregation supersedes every other relationship to which the Christian is called. Christians demonstrate the glory of God and the power of the gospel by the way we marry and stay married, by the way we raise our children, by the way we love each other, and by the way we live faithfully in the congregation of believers. In the end, I fear that far too much energy is devoted to and far too many hopes are invested in institutions, programs, and projects that will not last. The centrality of Christ’s purpose to glorify himself in His church and the blessings of God that are directed to the precious gift of the family — these far exceed our other allegiances.
-Al Mohler, from an interview with Tabletalk
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Video, Hope, and the Source of All Blessing
3rd place... The peeps who made this video- on the fly! Incredible!
2nd place... Hope Community Church- I love all the personalities that make up this ragtag group we call a church.
1st place... Jesus Christ. He deserves all the glory and thanks and praise here. The minute we think that HopeCC is the magic and not the God who blesses it, we lose it.
2nd place... Hope Community Church- I love all the personalities that make up this ragtag group we call a church.
1st place... Jesus Christ. He deserves all the glory and thanks and praise here. The minute we think that HopeCC is the magic and not the God who blesses it, we lose it.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The only response to Rob Bell worth noting
This sums up my main thought on the Rob Bell hulaballoo. Yes, Rob Bell should listen... but so should all the solid Reformed dudes who have responded to him. And you. And me.
Do We Really Believe What We're Saying? from The Church at Brook Hills on Vimeo.
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