Scribblings Archives - Page 24 of 34

On April 4, 2014 By Kuyperian In Scribblings Like

Christians form human shield to prevent Chinese government from bulldozing a church

Thousands of Chinese Christians have mounted an extraordinary, round-the-clock defence of a church in a city known as the ‘Jerusalem of the East’ after Communist Party officials threatened to bulldoze their place of worship.

In an episode that underlines the fierce and long-standing friction between China’s officially atheist Communist Party and its rapidly growing Christian congregation, Bible-carrying believers this week flocked to the Sanjiang church in Wenzhou hoping to protect it from the bulldozers.

Their 24-hour guard began earlier this week when a demolition notice was plastered onto the newly-constructed church which worshippers say cost around 30 million yuan (£2.91 million) and almost six years to build.

Officials claimed the church had been built illegally and used red paint to daub the words: “Demolish” and “Illegal construction” onto its towering facade. Read the rest…

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On April 3, 2014 By J. Luper In Scribblings Like

Abraham Kuyper: On Baptism

We are Christians. Thus what distinguishes us, is not that we believe in God, for Melchizedek too did this, but what marks us is our holy Baptism; and that Baptism is administered unto us in Christ’s name, that as His purchased ones we should confess the Triune God. Christ, and He alone, makes separation between us and those who are not Christians. And Christ makes division between them and us, but not as Mahomet distinguished between Mussulmen [Muslims] and those who are called “unbelievers.” Hence it is not because in Him we honor the founder of our religion, nor yet because we hold ourselves to His institutions and make His doctrine our own; but because a mystical, mysterious tie binds us to Christ and unites us with Him in one body.

—Abraham Kuyper, His Decease at Jerusalem<>

On March 25, 2014 By Kuyperian In Scribblings Like

Pray For Hobby Lobby

“On Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. ET, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two very important cases involving religious liberty and the freedom of conscience. Before the Court are Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius.

We are inviting you to join other organizations and churches to encourage people to pray for the Hobby Lobby Case on Tuesday. You can help us spread the word by changing the avatar on your social media accounts and posting with the hashtag #PrayForHobbyLobby.

The owners of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties believe their religious liberty has been infringed due to the federal government’s “HHS Mandate,” a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires all businesses to provide their employees with access to insurance plans that include contraception, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization”

– See more at: http://erlc.com/article/pray-for-hobby-lobby#sthash.sFXuSqLB.dpuf

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On March 24, 2014 By Kuyperian In Scribblings Like

Not a horror movie: Aborted babies used to heat hospitals in the UK

Gary Demar writes:

At first I thought it was a tag line for a new horror movie, but as I began to read the article I realized that the story is about what hospitals in Great Britain have been doing with aborted babies.

“The bodies of thousands of aborted and miscarried babies were incinerated as clinical waste, with some even used to heat hospitals, an investigation has found.

“Ten NHS trusts have admitted burning foetal remains alongside other rubbish while two others used the bodies in ‘waste-to-energy’ plants which generate power for heat.”

On March 21, 2014 By Kuyperian In Scribblings Like

Doug Phillips is suing three former associates and friends

WORLD reports:

On March 13 Phillips’ attorney sent a letter to three of Phillips’ former friends and associates charging that “the three of you have conspired together, and with others, in an attempt to destroy Doug Phillips, his family and Vision Forum Inc.”

The article concludes:

Despite the litigation fog, some lessons do remain clear, including the need for early disclosure, robust accountability, and serious care with positions of authority. Other scandals reveal that fame brings danger, and pride can infect anyone. Phillips hinted at that reality himself by noting, in his resignation letter, “I thought too highly of myself. …”

Read the rest…

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On March 21, 2014 By Kuyperian In Books, Scribblings Like

St. Augustine’s Confessions & More

No man can be a good metropolitan if he loves his title but not his task

“Like a colossus bestriding two worlds, Augustine stands as the last patristic and the first medieval father of Western Christianity. He gathered together and conserved all the main motifs of Latin Christianity from Tertullian to Ambrose; he appropriated the heritage of Nicene orthodoxy; he was a Chalcedonian before Chalcedon–and he drew all this into an unsystematic synthesis which is still our best mirror of the heart and mind of the Christian community in the Roman Empire. More than this, he freely received and deliberately reconsecrated the religious philosophy of the Greco-Roman world to a new apologetic use in maintaining the intelligibility of the Christian proclamation. Yet, even in his role as summator of tradition, he was no mere eclectic. The center of his “system” is in the Holy Scriptures, as they ordered and moved his heart and mind. It was in Scripture that, first and last, Augustine found the focus of his religious authority.”

–From the Introduction by Albert C. Outler

AUGUSTINE’S TESTIMONY CONCERNING

THE CONFESSIONS

I. The Retractations, II, 6 (A.D. 427)

1. My Confessions, in thirteen books, praise the righteous and good God as they speak either of my evil or good, and they are meant to excite men’s minds and affections toward him. At least as far as I am concerned, this is what they did for me when they were being written and they still do this when read. What some people think of them is their own affair [ipse viderint]; but I do know that they have given pleasure to many of my brethren and still do so. The first through the tenth books were written about myself; the other three about Holy Scripture, from what is written there, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,even as far as the reference to the Sabbath rest.

BOOK ONE

CHAPTER I

1. “Great art thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is thy power, and infinite is thy wisdom.” And man desires to praise thee, for he is a part of thy creation; he bears his mortality about with him and carries the evidence of his sin and the proof that thou dost resist the proud. Still he desires to praise thee, this man who is only a small part of thy creation. Thou hast prompted him, that he should delight to praise thee, for thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee. Grant me, O Lord, to know and understand whether first to invoke thee or to praise thee; whether first to know thee or call upon thee. But who can invoke thee, knowing thee not? For he who knows thee not may invoke thee as another than thou art. It may be that we should invoke thee in order that we may come to know thee. But “how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe without a preacher?” Now, “they shall praise the Lord who seek him,” for “those who seek shall find him,” and, finding him, shall praise him. I will seek thee, O Lord, and call upon thee. I call upon thee, O Lord, in my faith which thou hast given me, which thou hast inspired in me through the humanity of thy Son, and through the ministry of thy preacher.

…..

This work is a must read. As Augustine plumbs the depths of his humanity and finds sin, he also mines the Word of God and finds grace, forgiveness, and power unto holy living. If you want to begin your journey through Augustine’s confessions, here are some resources to help get you started:

The book online at CCEL: http://www.ccel.org/a/augustine/confessions/confessions.html

The hard copy on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Oxford-Worlds-Classics-Augustine/dp/0199537828

The Kindle version: http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Oxford-Worlds-Classics-ebook/dp/B00AAW5EDG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

…..

If you’ve already read read Confessions, it is time to move forward in your studies of St. Augustine. His Commentary on the Psalms contains his “Theology of Wonder”describing the humanities in such a way that later men were able to define the 7 liberal arts.

This book online at CCEL: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf108.toc.html

The hard copy on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Expositions-Psalms-Works-Saint-Augustine/dp/1565481402/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395402056&sr=1-11&keywords=Augustine+Psalm+Commentary

The Kindle version: http://www.amazon.com/Expositions-Psalms-Augustine-Hippo-ebook/dp/B008T4N2J0/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395401770&sr=1-3&keywords=Augustine+Psalm+Commentary

A lecture by Dr. George Grant at Wordmp3.com: http://www.wordmp3.com/details.aspx?id=4725

There’s a little to get you started. Enjoy!<>

On March 20, 2014 By Kuyperian In Scribblings Like

GKC: Extraordinarily Ordinary Things

“Ordinary things are more valuable than extraordinary things; nay, they are more extraordinary. Man is something more awful than men; something more strange. The sense of the miracle of humanity itself should be always more vivid to us than any marvels of power, intellect, art, or civilization. The mere man on two legs, as such, should be felt as something more heartbreaking than any music and more startling than any caricature. Death is more tragic even than death by starvation. Having a nose is more comic even than having a Norman nose.”

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, “The Ethics of Elfland”<>detskiy-dom.kh.ua раскрутка а одесса

On March 6, 2014 By Kuyperian In Scribblings Like

Another blow for the PCUSA

The Blaze wrote about a megachurch that will suffer a great financial loss by sticking to its orthodox roots and leaving the mainline presbyterian denomination (PCUSA):

Specifically, the church expressed concern that many Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders do not believe in the deity of Jesus, nor do they embrace salvation through Christ. These are central tenets of most mainstream Christian churches, leading to a difficult ideological splintering.

The document cited a 2011 survey of pastors in the denomination who were asked for their level of agreement with the following statement: “Only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved.”

Read the rest.

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On March 6, 2014 By Peter Jones In Scribblings Like

Pursuing Hospitality:Biblical Foundations

Hospitality is a lost art in Christian circles. Despite the priority it has in the Scriptures and the wonderful picture we paint of God as we do it, hospitality is largely ignored by the people of God. Yet it is one of the great privileges, obligations, and joys of every Christian. Christ has invited us to be guests at his table. The Lord, who made heaven and earth, is an excellent host who feeds and cares for this world. (See Psalm 104) As disciples of Christ and subjects of the Kingdom of God we are to imitate Christ by doing the same. Our tables are to be surrounded by guests. We are to wash the feet of the saints, which is a picture of hospitality. We are to entertain strangers. Paul says we are to be given to hospitality. (Romans 12:13) The word “given” means to pursue with all our heart. Hospitality is not something we get to if we can, but it is an essential part of our love for the Church and our witness to the world. Below are a few verses, which provide the Scriptural foundation for hospitality. I would encourage you to “eat these verses.” We begin with what God has done for us in Christ and then move on the specific commands of Scripture. There are many other verses we could add to the list.

Matthew 22: 1-14 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ‘ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Romans 12:9-13 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

I Peter 4:9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

I Timothy 5:9-10 Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man, well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.

I Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach.

If you would like to hear a great sermon on hospitality you can listen to Pastor Joost Nixon’s sermon from 2001 Christ Church Ministerial Conference. It can be found here. <>

On February 26, 2014 By Joffre Swait In Scribblings Like

On the Artistry of Sex

Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile has just posted a quick bit at his Gospel Coalition blog, the blog being called Pure Church and the post The Artistry of Sex Forgotten in the World. In it he says that sex is supposed to beget not only children, but artistry. I find it interesting that he doesn’t say “fun” or “joy” or “recreation” or “communion”. He says “artistry”.

I would absolutely love to read your comments on the worth of that statement. Half of his post was this Francis Schaeffer quote:

How often do Christians think of sexual matters as something second-rate. Never, never, never should we do so according to the Word of God. The whole man is made to love God; each aspect of man’s nature is to be given its proper place. That includes the sexual relationship, that tremendous relationship of one man to one woman. At the very beginning God brought Eve to man. A love poem can thus be beautiful. So if you are a young man or a young woman and you love a girl or you love a boy, you may indeed write beautiful love poetry. Don’t be afraid. That too can be praise to God. And when the two people are Christians it can be a conscious doxology (Art and the Bible).

Given that I recently posted an erotic poem at my blog, you will not be surprised to know that such words please me. What is your degree of comfort with such things? Do find them to be a good at all? The response to my poem at the blog and on social media platforms was all positive, those who didn’t like it presumably maintaining a kind silence.

But there was one dude whose response was “uuunsubscribe”.

So what do you think? Can your sex be a doxology? Can your love poetry be a doxology? Or am I just being silly?<>