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Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather

On May 4, 2015 By In Scribblings

Pacquiao’s Radical Biblicism

Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather

The most expensive match in boxing history is now behind us. Manny Pacquiao’s under-dog status, his charisma were not enough to defeat the undefeatable Floyd Mayweather. Floyd is now 48-0. One more victory puts him in the same league as the legendary Rocky Marciano.

But the things behind the scene of this magnanimous match is what has caught the attention of many in the media. Mayweather is an extraordinary fighter. He happens to be also an extraordinary domestic abuser. His well and hideously documented record of abuse can be found here. Many were boycotting the fight in protest. The validity of such tactic can be discussed at another time.

What is, however, most disturbing is the media’s reaction to Pacquiao.

News.Mic has made this clear in a recent article referring to Pacquiao as the Bible-Thumping Reactionary. Pacquiao’s sin is that “he does happen to be a Bible-thumping politician who thinks gay marriage will usher in a modern-day “Sodom and Gomorrah” and opposes affordable contraceptives for poor women with little access to modern health care.” Manny Pacquiao is hailed by the liberal media as a paragon of intolerance. In summary, the article concludes:

It’s not an exaggeration to say that as a politician, Pacquiao supported pushing the Bible over the health and well-being of his constituents.

Pacquiao’s clear Christian conscience over issues that are conspicuously orthodox now serves as a rationale to place Manny on the same scale as the despicable Mayweather.

The hero Congressman and boxer from the Philippines should be praised for suffering persecution for defending truth. Flannery O’Connor once wrote that, “truth is truth whether you are able to stomach it or not.” Manny’s platform has provided him with a remarkable opportunity. His victories in the ring may determine his legacy as a great boxer, but his legacy as a Christian activist may speak louder and hurt his opponents even more.

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On May 2, 2015 By In Scribblings

Life on the Totem Pole

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Nevermind the “academic world,” Professors Wolterstorff and Plantinga offer good advice for “Christian conduct” in any sphere. The gospel gives us identities which free us from ingratiating ourselves with superiors on the one hand, and demeaning those beneath us on the other.

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On April 29, 2015 By In Scribblings

Christian Culture in an Enchanted Cosmos

tolkein

“For whatever else we feel, we certainly feel that we are looking out; out of somewhere warm and lighted into cold, indifferent desolation, out of a house onto the dark waste of the sea. But the medieval man felt he was looking in. Here is the outside. The Moon’s orbit is the city wall. Night opens the gates for a moment and we catch a glimpse of the high pomps which are going on inside… The motions of the universe are to be conceived not as those of a machine or even an army, but rather as a dance, a festival, a symphony, a ritual, a carnival, or all these in one. They are the unimpeded movement of the most perfect impulse towards the most perfect object.” – CS Lewis

P. Andrew Sandlin (of the Center for Cultural Leadership) recently delivered a lecture (on cultural engagement) in which he persuasively argued for an enchanted view of the universe, which is to say a Christian view of the cosmos. I highly commend Dr. Sandlin’s ministry generally, and the lecture specifically.

 

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On April 28, 2015 By In Scribblings

C.S. Lewis: Subversive Protestant

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In this brief letter[i] (written in Latin) to a Roman Catholic Priest, C.S. Lewis appeals to (or at least hints at): (1) heart conversion/piety, (2) justification by faith alone, (3) the priesthood of all believers, (4) assurance of faith, (5) and the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement.  Only Clive, my friends!

 

From the College of St. Mary Magdalen

Oxford

26th December

St. Stephen’s Day, 1951

Dearest Father,

Thank you for the letter which I have received from you today and I invoke upon you all spiritual and temporal blessings in the Lord.

As for myself, during the past year a great joy has befallen me. Difficult though it is, I shall try to explain this in words.

It is astonishing that sometimes we believe that we believe what, really, in our heart, we do not believe.

For a long time I believed that I believed in the forgiveness of sins. But suddenly (on St. Mark’s day) this truth appeared in my mind so clear a light that I perceived than never before (and that after many confessions and absolutions) had I believed it with my whole heart.

So great is the difference between mere affirmation by the intellect and that faith, fixed in the very marrow and as it were palpable, which the apostle wrote was substance.

Perhaps I was granted this deliverance in response to your intercessions on my behalf.

This emboldens me to say to you something that a layman ought scarcely to say to a priest nor a junior to a senior. (On the other hand, out of the mouths of babes: indeed, as once to Balaam, out of the mouth of an ass!)

It is this: you write much about your own sins. Beware (permit me, my dearest Father, to say beware) lest humility should pass over into anxiety or sadness. It is bidden us to ‘rejoice and always rejoice.” Jesus has cancelled the handwriting which was against us. Lift up our hearts!

Permit me, I pray you, these stammerings. You are ever in my prayers and every will be.

Farewell,

C.S. Lewis

 

 

 

 

[i] Lewis, C. S., Giovanni Calabria, and Martin Moynihan. 1998. The Latin letters of C.S. Lewis. South Bend, Ind: St. Augustine’s Press. Pg. 65-67.

 

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On April 28, 2015 By In Scribblings

Responding to Critics

Critic

Over the years my church has received various kinds of criticism from various quarters. Most of the time these criticisms are brought to the members of my church and not directly to the leadership. So and so from such and such church met with a lady  from  our church at the park and she had “concerns” about our church. Here  are some of the ways I have encouraged my flock to respond to that type of criticism. This is for the average member in the pew, not the leadership. I left our church’s name, Christ Church of Morgantown, in the post.

1. Always be gracious. Treat the person with kindness and charity, assuming they have good motives. Throughout conversations, try to find things you agree on and emphasize those. Often those who criticize us are Christians who love Christ. Treat them with kindness.

2. Do not apologize for believing what the Bible teaches. Many of us tend to shrink back when confronted. This is a product of our modern relativistic age where everyone’s opinion is supposed to be equal. Satan wants us to walk around doubting everything we believe. Do not back down from what you believe. Do not be mean, but be firm.

3. As you talk to people make them deal with the Bible. Often people have not actually looked at what the Bible says on an issue. Go to Scripture and discuss it with them. This means you need to know what the Bible teaches. If you have questions about the Biblical basis for what we do or believe then set up a meeting with an elder and he can explain it to you.

4. Tell critics about the work Jesus is doing at Christ Church. Christ is clear that men shall know us by our fruit. (Luke 6:43-45) All of you spend hours each week with people from Christ Church. You see Christ being formed in your brothers and sisters around you. You see Christ presented every week in songs, prayers, confession of sin, preaching, at the Lord’s Table, and as you are sent out. We are not a perfect church, but the fruit is there and growing. Bring these things up, not in a proud way, but simply to show that God is working. Of course, fruit is but one part, but it is a real part. Paul often noted the fruit of his labors as a sign of God’s work.

5. Do not accept vague accusations from people about what they think we teach. Get specifics. Ask questions like, “So exactly what is it that you think we believe about…?” This is a fundamental requirement of Biblical justice. If someone is going to accuse an elder  or a church of false teaching, it must be proven. Proving does not mean reading something somewhere about what someone thinks we teach. It means communicating with the specific men accused and getting the facts.

6. If someone brings up specific concerns about Christ Church, ask them if they have attended our worship service, communicated with the leaders, or listened to sermons which are available on our website. If they say, “No,” then encourage them to do those things, especially the last two. If someone is not interested in doing some or all of the things mentioned above, then they are not really interested in finding the truth. Too often critics have received second hand information that is faulty. Make them go the the primary sources.

There are many critics that are not worth your time. They rant and rave with little concern for truth and error. But some really do want to know if you teach baptismal regeneration or why you believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church with the emphasis on “catholic” or why you sprinkle instead of immerse or kneel for confession of sin or teach that men are heads of their households or have the Lord’s Supper every week. Answer those critics with grace and kindness standing firm in what the Scriptures teach and avoiding foolish arguments.

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On April 22, 2015 By In Scribblings

Earth Day: Kuyper Style

earth

 

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it…” -Psalm 24:1

“…Jesus thus does, climactically and decisively, what scripture had in a sense been trying to do: bring God’s fresh Kingdom order to God’s people and thence to the world.”- NT Wright

“…creation is going to be delivered (Rom. 8:18-22), we are not going to be delivered from creation. This means we cannot separate creation and the kingdom of God…because the new world of which Scripture speaks is not a replacement world, but a renewal, restoration and glorification of this one…Thus it was, and remains, our calling to bring out and unfold all of creation’s potentialities in terms of God’s command to turn creation into a culture.” –Joe Boot

“…In the death of Jesus God dealt with the evil of the whole world, and in his resurrection the renewing power of a renewed creation broke into history. This restored creation will one day fill the whole earth and all of history will culminate in the kingdom of God. If this is true…the Gospel is not a private message. It is news about the goal of universal history, the cosmic completion of God’s purpose to restore his original creational intentions for the whole creation and all of human life.” –Michael Goheen 

“The cosmos was considered by ancients and medievals alike to be ordered and harmonious, because it was created by a God of order and harmony… Dante’s universe did not simply exist; it meant, and it meant intensely. The universe was less a thing to be studied than a poem to be loved and enjoyed.” -Louis Markos

Below are a number of videos to help us all think more christianly about earth on this Earth Day.  The first is a great clip from For the Life of the World put out by Evan Koons and the good folks at the Acton Institute (it includes a brilliant quote by Hans Urs von Balthasar!). The second video the Center for Cultural Leadership‘s P. Andrew Sandlin beautifully arguing that the cosmos is enchanted. The third is NT Wright singing Dylan’s When the Ship Comes in, which has everything to do with God’s intent for creation. The next clip is a speech by Chris Wright (of Langham Partnership) at the Global Day of Prayer for Creation Care. The fifth is Russell Moore talking winsomely, as usual, about environmental protection. The sixth video is Michael Wittmer discussing how the “creation regained” paradigm “changed everything” for him. In the seventh video, Pastor Chris Robins answers the question “why don’t many Christians care about the environment?”  The following is Mike Williams arguing that the physical world isn’t going to hell in a handbasket, regardless of what your youth pastor told you. Similarly, the last video is of esteemed New Testament scholar Doug Moo discussing ecology in light of eschatology.

Happy Earth Day, friends!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bocNGXptsZk

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On April 13, 2015 By In Scribblings

Transformative Hospitality

Trinity1

Many books can be filed under “true.” A smaller number should be filed “good.” As everyone knows, the slimmest folder in the book-file is “beautiful.” Peter Leithart’s Traces of the Trinity is one of the few books that falls in that rare category. Perhaps the most beautiful chapter in the book is the seventh, Making Room. Here, Leithart describes the motivation for hospitality as “transformation” rather than “toleration.” Says Leithart:

“We don’t welcome the naked so they can be naked in our presence; we don’t show hospitality to the hungry so they can watch us eat. We welcome the naked and hungry to change their circumstances. We make room for them so we can clothe and feed them. So too with moral hunger and personal shame. We don’t welcome addicts so they can continue in their addiction. We make room for them, and take up residence in their lives, in order to be agents of ethical transformation. We don’t receive the prostitute to help her get more tricks. We open our lives to the prostitute so we can deliver her from her slavery—to the pimp, perhaps to drugs, to poverty, to a destructive life. Hospitality is not universal approval. It is universal welcome for the sake of renewal. We make room not to tolerate but to transform.”

If Leithart is right, then we must not only ask the question of ourselves, “do we ‘welcome’ and ‘serve?'” We must go a step further and ask, “are those whom we are welcoming and serving being transformed?” If the answer is “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second, it may be that our efforts, however noble they may appear, are motivated by something other than love, which is always transformative.

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On April 10, 2015 By In Scribblings

Ezekiel and Revelation

One of the great joys of a reformed, typological reading of the Scriptures is that I keep finding more and more connections between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Of course, I always saw the connections when there was a direct quote, such as Matthew quoting Isaiah. But as I read the Scriptures more I see deep connections between books like Leviticus and Matthew or Romans and Isaiah or Deuteronomy and Hebrews. These connections go far beyond a few select OT quotes by the writers. A good example of these deep connections is the link between Ezekiel and Revelation. Numerous books discuss Revelation in light of Daniel, which is not wrong, but the key OT book in understanding Revelation, if there is a key one, might be Ezekiel, not Daniel.  David Chilton has written a commentary on Revelation called Days of Vengeance. The book presents a post-millenial reading of the Apocalypse. However, even if you do not agree with the final analysis, it is worth reading to help make the connections between Revelation and the other books of the Bible. Here is a chart he gives on the similarities between Ezekiel and Revelation. John clearly structures his book after Ezekiel.

1. The Throne-Vision (Rev. 4/Ezek. 1)

2. The Book (Rev. 5/Ezek. 2-3)

3. The Four Plagues (Rev. 6:1-8/Ezek. 5)

4. The Slain under the Altar (Rev. 6:9-11/Ezek. 6)

5. The Wrath of God (Rev. 6:12-17/Ezek. 7)

6. The Seal on the Saint’s Foreheads (Rev. 7/Ezek. 9)

7. The Coals from the Altar (Rev. 8/Ezek. 10)

8. No More Delay (Rev. 10:1-7/Ezek. 12)

9. The Eating of the Book (Rev. 10:8-11/Ezek. 2)

10. The Measuring of the Temple (Rev. 11:1-2/Ezek. 40-43)

11. Jerusalem and Sodom (Rev. 11:8/Ezek 16)

12. The Cup of Wrath (Rev. 14/Ezek 23)

13. The Vine of the Land (Rev. 14:18-20/Ezek. 15)

14. The Great Harlot (Rev. 17-18/Ezek. 16, 23)

15. The Lament over the City (Rev. 18/Ezek. 37)

16. The Scavengers’ Feast (Rev. 19/Ezek. 39)

17. The First Resurrection (Rev. 20:4-6/Ezek. 37)

18. The Battle with Gog and Magog (Rev. 20:7-9/Ezek. 38-39)

19. The New Jerusalem (Rev. 21/Ezek. 40-48)

20. The River of Life (Rev. 22/Ezek. 47)

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On April 2, 2015 By In Scribblings

Dr. Gregg Strawbridge on Infant Baptism

On March 23rd, Dr. Gregg Strawbridge debated James White on the topic of infant baptism. Here is a presentation Dr. Strawbridge gave to Providence Church in Pensacola, FL. It contains the main arguments he used in his debate with James White. You can also buy his book, using the link on the sidebar, covering the same topic.

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On April 2, 2015 By In Scribblings

What’s Maundy Thursday?

Holy Week is inaugurated on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday is the unfolding drama of Jesus’ last week before his death. As the King enters into Jerusalem to inspect his holy city, received by a multitude of rejoicers, he discovers that the city is corrupt (Zec. 9). As the week continues, Jesus enters into a host of confrontations with the religious leaders of the day, which caused them to detest the Paschal Lamb, and ultimately crucify Him.

The events of Maundy Thursday are powerful events in the life of the Christian Church. The name “Maundy Thursday” is derived from the Latin word mandatum meaning “commandment.” In John 13 :31-35, Jesus tells his disciples that he has a new commandment, that you love one another. Obeying this commandment serves as the way the world will recognize the children of God.

Another element of Maundy Thursday is the administration of the Eucharist. Maundy Thursday describes the disciples’ Last Supper with their Lord. It was during that meal that Judas was identified as the one who betrayed our Lord. Judas’ kissing the Son of Man was the confirmation that he himself had become the son of perdition. His betrayal by a kiss is indicative of his all-consuming hatred for the message of Jesus. Judas, who partook of Christ at the Last Supper, now partook of Christ’s body by the kiss of death.

Maundy Thursday is a service of love and gratitude. On this day, the people of God join others to renew their love for one another, and to renew their commitment to our Lord as we eat his flesh and drink his blood. By this they will know that we are His disciples.

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