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By In Culture

Peacefully Protesting Planned Parenthood

Tomorrow could be a huge day for pro-lifers. All over the United States thousands of Christians will be protesting Planned Parenthood. With over 300 protests planned around the country, several of my friends have indicated that this may end up being one of the largest pro-life demonstrations in history.

Tomorrow could also be a terrible day for pro-lifers. We will be on the stage and the world will be watching.  Any minor infraction will be used against us to discredit what we are doing. The media will hunt for a way to destroy our momentum. Here are some tips for making sure the protests honor Christ. These are in no particular order. If you have other suggestions or disagree with a point make a comment.

1. Remember to evangelize. The immediate purpose of the protests is to make a point about Planned Parenthood and to prevent babies from being killed. But our ultimate goal is to bring people to Jesus Christ. Keep that in mind with the women going into the clinics, the doctors, the nurses, and those who oppose you.  Tell them about Jesus and how he can cleanse them from all their sins. Make sure you are not just protesting, but you are also evangelizing. There is blood on the hands of those you will meet. They need to know how that bloodguilt can be taken away. Have brochures inviting people to church. Keep the big picture in mind.

2. Pray before going out, while protesting, upon returning home, and in the weeks that follow. Those of us who cannot go need to pray for those who will be there. Without the Lord’s aid we are hopeless. If we think numbers, resources, signs, organization, videos, or protests will bring us victory we are foolish. Prayer reminds us that this is the work of God. Pray hard, trust God, and then get to work.

3. Sing. Bring sheets with the Psalms on them for folks to sing. If the crowd does not know the Psalms then bring some common hymns that people can sing.

4. Bring your children or grandchildren.  I would love to see dozens of children of all ages at these protests.  Children will do at least two things. First, they are visual reminder that protesters are not just anti-abortion, but pro-children. We love children. Second, they will often keep those who are protesting in check. Let’s be honest if our child is watching we will usually watch our language and actions more closely .

5. Have good options for the those ladies who do not want to have an abortion. Are there brochures you can hand out? Are there people at your church who would adopt the baby? Are there care facilities where a single pregnant mom can get aid? Is there a place they can get a free ultrasound? Make sure there are Christian women there who can counsel these ladies, pray with them, and encourage them. Be ready with solutions for these women.

6. Know what the laws are and follow them. This is not the time or place for civil disobedience or stupid actions. Cameras will be on. Hundreds of protests could be quickly undermined by one foolish decision (I Peter 2:13-25).

7. Stay away from arguments that are a waste of time. People can get belligerent when you interrupt their freedom.  Choose your battles wisely. Avoid any physical altercation. If you are a hothead, don’t go.  If you feel yourself losing control, leave. Try to remain at peace with all men, while still making your point (Romans 12:18).

8. Set up a laptop or other device where people can watch the shorter videos from the Center for Medical Progress.  For us it is hard to imagine not knowing about these videos. But many have not heard of them or seen them. Ask people if they would like to watch what Planned Parenthood has been doing. We have never had this resource before. Use it.

9. I would avoid signs that show dead babies. I would use less graphic signs that make it clear what you are protesting and then have the more graphic videos available.

10. Read sections of Scripture out loud. The Word of God is powerful. Read it before going out. Read it with people as you protest. Read it to those who are going in. Read some after the protest is over as well. Lean hard on God’s Word.

Here is the Protest Planned Parenthood website. If you need to find a protest in your area you can look there. All protests are scheduled from 9-11 am on Saturday, August 22nd.

Here is good article by John Piper on why he will be attending the protest in his hometown.

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By In Culture

18 Simple and Practical Ways to Advocate for the Unborn

Guest post by Michael Graham

I have had a good number of people ask me how they can help advocate for the unborn. When issues are this large and complicated it is easily to get lost in the weeds of what you can do about it resulting in paralysis and inaction. Here is a compiled list of simple and practical list of ideas. Not every single idea is a good fit for everyone but there is something in here for everyone.

NOTE: these were not organized with order of importance in mind.

NOTE: we need to have both a pre-birth and post-birth serving mindset if we expect people to choose life.

1. Pray – privately and publicly

2. Read – Why Pro-Life?The Case for LifeBonhoefferAmazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery – as powerful as Alcorn and Klussendorf’s books were Eric Metaxas’ biographies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and William Wilberforce has carried the most substantive source of encouragement

3. Dialogue – have a meal and civil conversation about life and abortion

4. Write Elected official – write your congressman and senators

5. Vote – vote for candidates that support life

6. Sidewalk Counseling – effective and empathetic physical presence at abortion clinics

7. Volunteer at Local Crisis Pregnancy Centers

8. Donate to Local Crisis Pregnancy Centers – supplies, money

9. Ultrasounds – explore bringing a mobile ultrasound ministry to your city
10. Peaceful Protest
11. Adopt – caring for the unborn means you take care of them after they have been born
12. Support Others Adoptive Efforts
13. Foster Care – do foster care or support others who do
14. Educate – teach people in your network, community or church about abortion and ways to help
15. Social Media – shine a light on the darkness – Gen. Patton made local Germans tour the concentration camps at Buchenwald
16. Teach young moms and dads – teach how to care for their babies
17. Pre abortive counseling
18. Post abortive counseling – we need to care for people no matter what, post-abortive counseling can be effective in preventing future abortions as well as present a unique Gospel opportunity
BONUS: Invest ethically – Here is a list of 77 companies that either directly fund or sponsor events of Planned Parenthood.

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By In Culture, Politics

Lesslie Newbigin: the Missional Church and Salvation by Community

Leslie Newbigin: the Missional Church and Salvation by Community

Nearly 70 years ago, Rev. Lesslie Newbigin was chosen to lead a new “united” Church in India composed of Anglican, Methodist, and Reformed congregations. This ecumenical endeavor became the Church of South India (CSI) and is now the second largest church in India, serving four million members throughout Southeast Asia. Few modern efforts in the field of missiology compare to Newbigin’s success.

Leslie Newbigin: the Missional Church and Salvation by Community The Local-Missional Church

Attempting to escape the barriers of his Western distinctives, Newbigin began translating the gospel into a vernacular that non-Christians could grasp. His missionary endeavors literally began with efforts in translating as he learned the Tamil language and recognized that, in the mission field, one first needed to build a common “currency” of communication. Newbigin advocated a type of contextualization of the Christian witness where Churches are immersed in the language and culture of the local people. As Newbigin attempted to retire, he returned home to England, which was now markedly non-Christian. There he continued his work by urging Christians in the west that, to survive, they must adopt a missional view of the Church.

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“It is the church which lives on the frontier that will be ready to advance in strength.” – Lesslie Newbigin
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Newbigin for the Missional Church

In Northern California, Reformed Church in America minister turned Anglican priest Fr. Joshua Lickter embraces both Newbigin’s missional worldview and his love for the people of India.

Instead of the rural villages of Tamil Nadu or Madras, however, Fr. Lickter spends his time in Roseville, CA, with skeptics and those disenfranchised from Church. Like Newbigin, Fr. Lickter recognized that his community is largely outside of a Church context or has intentionally left the Church.

Roseville Christian Church“Our goal has always been to be a safe place for people from various spiritual backgrounds and traditions to ask hard questions without fear of being judged,” says Fr. Lickter. “Thirty-nine percent of the total population of the greater Roseville area consider themselves ‘de-churched,’ and this has proven an excellent environment for some of them to work through their spiritual issues.”

In the same way, the nuts and bolts of Newbigin’s model have always been at the local community level, as he said: “It is surely a fact of inexhaustible significance that what our Lord left behind Him was not a book, nor a creed, nor a system of thought, nor a rule of life, but a visible community. He committed the entire work of salvation to that community.”

Early in 2015, members of Fr. Lickter’s Roseville congregation asked the Church to pray special intentions for the people of India after two Northern Californian Sikhs were arrested during a trip to Punjab, India. The father and son were held as political prisoners and reports surfaced that they were being tortured by the Indian government. Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa had recently begun a hunger-strike and was now being force fed while his son Ravinder languished in squalor at a nearby jail.

Fr. Lickter joined leaders in Northern California’s Sikh community to host a town hall meeting with Congressman Tom McClintock at the Roseville Sikh Gurdwara and discussed the situation. At the meeting he met Bapu’s daughter who came to tears as Lickter told her that his church had been praying for her father. “I knew someone must’ve have praying,” she said. “Keep praying, please. Your prayers are working.”

Josh Sikh Lickter

Success in a Newbigin Community

Since then, Congressman McClintock joined with five other Californian congressional representatives to demand “the Indian government abide by its international human rights commitments… and ensure that these rights are safeguarded for political prisoners and all citizens in India.” His son was released and Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa was released from force-feeding at the government hospital.

“I am often asked by people, why would you, as a Christian congregation, regularly pray for a Sikh man and his plight in India.” Fr. Lickter explains, “The image of God, in many people, is being oppressed in India. It doesn’t matter if they’re Sikh, or if they’re Christian, or if they’re Muslim, or if they’re Buddhist. It doesn’t matter what their background is — they are being oppressed because they believe differently.”

Responding to reports that hunger-striking Khalsa is in failing health and once again detained by Indian authorities (who want to end his political protest), the Anglican priest took his prayers, with the help of US-based human rights group Organization for Minorities of India, from inside his church to social media through videos on Youtube and Facebook. Khalsa, who lives in Lathrop, CA, is on a hunger-strike to protest for political prisoners in India who have completed their sentences but are not being released.

Roseville Christian Church

See the video here

Social Justice in a Newbigin Style Mission

“We believe that what affects one community in India affects us all,” says Fr. Lickter, priest at Incarnation Anglican Church. “All of humanity shares the image of God and Christians need to take it seriously when individuals bearing his image are oppressed anywhere.” In prayers for the 83-year-old American Sikh, he asked that God’s “hand would be upon him as he stands against the oppression that he sees in India right now.”

Fr. Lickter sees similarities between the plights of Indian Christians and Sikh political prisoners. He believes both often face the same caste discrimination and political persecution by the predominantly Hindu government. Last month, at a conference in Stockton, CA, he warned that minorities in India are “oppressed because the Indian government embraces a belief system that dehumanizes entire people groups.”

Home to nearly 60 million Christians, India’s religious nationalism is considered by various religious liberty advocates as the leading source of Christian persecution. Although anti-conversion laws criminalizing freedom of conversion encourage violence against religious minorities like Sikhs and Christians, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to nationally implement such legislation. Meanwhile, minorities are seeing their places of worship vandalized as their already impoverished communities are discriminatorily denied essential services like government food subsidies.

Standing behind his church’s altar, Fr. Lickter prayed: “Lord, we ask that you would be with Bapu, that you would strengthen him, as he hungers, as he allows his body to hunger because so many other people right now are hungering for justice.”

The witness of the Church of South India is strengthened as they strive to live Newbigin’s vision. The Church continues to grow, despite harsh persecution, because Christians there have embraced our Lord’s prayer for unity. Christ calls for his people to be one, just as He and the Father are one. (John 17:21) This picture of unity is nowhere more clear than in the work of Christians serving their communities as they recognize their oneness with others made in the image of God.

Father Joshua Lickter pastors Incarnation Anglican Church in Roseville and is part of the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others in the Anglican Church in North America.

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By In Culture, Family and Children

The Coming Division Between Christ and Family

For many generations Christians or converts to Christianity in the West (Europe & America) did not have to sacrifice much. The reason was Western Christendom. Most of society was built on Christian laws and operated under a Christian ethic. If someone  got saved at a revival meeting they went out into a world, that for the most part, approved of their conversion and the actions that flowed from it.  If a preacher called a man to come to Christ, that repentance rarely meant that the man would lose his family or job for believing in Jesus. Christianity was the air that we breathed. It was not perfect of course. The cracks that were there are now causing the structure to collapse. But for a long time the Western world was a safe place for Christians and those who converted to Christianity.

This is changing rapidly.  Conversion to Christ in the West  will require more and more sacrifice as the years go by. In particular, we will find families divided. There will be other types of loss, such as jobs and money, but few things compare to being rejected by family. Losing family is a deep and painful wound. New Christians will not find their family members approving of them and their actions. Instead they will find themselves in the position of many Muslims who lose all when they choose Christ. Two Muslim brothers who came to Jesus described it this way:

Faith [in Jesus] often means the total rejection of culture, ethnicity, family, and friends. To find heaven’s glory in Jesus Christ, we Caner brothers lost our father. (Islam Unveiled)

Another example is Rosaria Butterfield who was a lesbian professor at a major university when she came to Jesus. In the account of her conversion she notes that not only did she lose her friends, they felt betrayed by her. They put their trust in her. They counted on her to support them. When she came to Christ, they felt like she had stabbed them in the back. While this was not her biological family, the bonds she felt with these people were as strong as natural family bonds.

Stories like these will become common as the years progress.  We will hear of sons being rejected by fathers and fathers rejected by sons. We will hear of children raised in homosexual homes converting to Christ and being rejected by their parents. We will hear of daughters being kicked out of homes for their faith in Christ. We will hear of Muslims rejecting family members for conversion, not in the Middle East, but here in America. We will hear of close knit groups who hate a member for leaving them and following Jesus. The possibilities are endless, but the probability of families, biological or otherwise, being divided by Christ get higher with each passing day.

How can the church prepare for this?

First, we must remind ourselves and tell those we evangelize that Jesus demands absolute loyalty. Family is not the highest good. Jesus is. You can gain your family and lose Jesus. You can hold to all sorts of wonderful family values, like the Mormons and the Muslims, and still burn in Hell. Jesus came to separate.

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:34-38)

Family is important, but it does not trump Jesus Christ.  If we give the impression that family is more important than Jesus people will not make the choice to follow Jesus with their whole heart. They will be divided. We must declare without apology, that if the choice is Jesus or family, Jesus wins.

Second, our churches must be places where broken families integrate into God’s family of brothers and sisters. Single mothers, divorced folks, people recovering from sodomy and abortion, the abused, the sexually broken, etc. when they trust in Christ and are baptized should find a place in our churches to serve and grow. Widows must be cared for and orphans must be adopted. If our churches cannot or will not bring in these people then we are saying biological family trumps God’s family. We are saying you must come from a whole family in order to be part of God’s family. That is a grievous sin and shows disloyalty to Jesus. However, teaching this is not enough. Somehow, and it is not easy, we must create a tone, an atmosphere where broken families are welcome. A church that emphasizes family can make people from broken homes feel unwelcome. We must remember deep in our bones that we  too were broken (Titus 3:3) and outside of God’s family (Ephesians 4:14-22), but God in his grace adopted us and saved us.

Third, we must maintain strong families, but not idolize them. A good Biblical home is a wonderful witness of God’s grace to the watching world. We should teach and model what a Christian husband and wife look like. We should teach parents to raise their children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. We should encourage our young people to get married and have lots of children.  But all of this must be done, not as an end to itself, but as a way to glorify God and build his kingdom. If we build the family for the sake of the family then we have made the family an idol. And God destroys idols. But if we build our families so they might serve Christ and serve His church, including those among us do not have families, then we are reflecting Biblical priorities.

Fourth, we should be grateful for the good relationships we have with non-Christian family members. For many of us, even though our family is not worshiping Jesus, we still get along. The relationship is not completely severed.  Of course, there is always a divide. No matter how much we love our family, if they do not trust in Christ there is chasm that cannot be crossed until they believe.  But God is kind. He gives common grace so we can enjoy their company and they our’s despite their lack of faith.

Finally, we should be thankful when our biological family is Christian. My whole family believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. He could have made me choose between Christ and my family as many Christians around the world have done. But he didn’t. God in his mercy has made my temporary, biological family part of my eternal, spiritual family.  The only proper response to this astonishing fact is gratitude.

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By In Culture, Music, Worship

It’s A Musical Life

It's A Musical LifeAll of history and the Christian life can be described as a divine musical. Think of our generation as a modern, global cast of characters in the most recent grand production. We are playing our part in the story, the themes having already been introduced by the master playwright years ago. Alas, we are not following the script as closely as previous casts were careful to do, and the current cast has a slight issue, our modern actors have all but lost the musical ability to perform the roles. You can imagine the difficulties there. To compensate, the modern cast and crew have seen fit to edit and rework the musical by removing the most challenging and recognizable music numbers and replacing them with dialogues and diatribes requiring less time and coordination to perform. They are spreading the word that singing and dancing are optional skills for performing in this musical. And, if that were not enough, the cast has collectively decided to meet and rehearse their lines when they wish or at home rather than be bothered by the imposition of rehearsing when the playwright and director call rehearsals.

What the current cast does not grasp is that they have lost both the inspiration and the ability to perform the musical with a devotion to the author’s story. This particular rendition is rather fragmented and clunky, lacking in flow and rhythm. Things are falling apart. Rather than refine and restage the story as previous iterations of the cast, they have extracted difficult sections. The flow and beauty of the playwright’s original script is disconnected, detached. We, as the real live cast of this story must decide what to do, how to respond to our own mess.

How Will We Respond?

First, as Christians in a musical story since creation, we must repent of our arrogance, refusing to acknowledge and give thanks for the previous generations of actors that have been faithful in retelling the story. We must see ourselves as conduits and participants in a message that is outside ourselves and bigger than ourselves. We must see the value of our small part in the story that is being told, see it in context. If we do not perform well, how will the next cast stand on our shoulders? But in order for all this to happen, we must know how to meet the bar already set for us and raise it.

Second, we must realize that this is, afterall, a musical and it calls for a lot of singing. God rejoices over his creation and the story that he’s telling with song. Zephaniah 3:17 says that he “joyfully sings over us,” his actors, in the midst of this musical drama. Not only that, but he has made us as his image bearers and given us the tools to sing in similar joyful ways. This is no small task and requires much work. This means that all of us should be trained in music to some degree so that we can more fully participate in the musical roles that God has for us. At the very least, we are called to be part of the chorus ensemble numbers on Sundays, and see to the training of the next generation of actors as well. We should be able to sing and dance in such a way that points to the Master playwright, the Triune God, and He is no amateur.

Third, our unity as a cast, as a body, depends upon our rehearsal together. The culmination of knowing, rehearsing, and fellowshipping in the author’s words makes that possible. If you’re like me, it always seemed a bit funny when the dialogue in a musical would suddenly break into spontaneous song and dance, until I realized that the song and dance was only spontaneous to me as a member of the audience looking on. The world now is our audience. The only way to be a unit, the only way to not step on your neighbors toes, the only way to jump from dialogue to song is to practice together. The music must be so familiar that the singing happens naturally, simply an overflow of our hearts.

The comparison of our life to a musical should cause us to review the musical language that is present in the scriptures from cover to cover with a mind to take back up our callings as singers. Consider the songs of Miriam, Deborah, David, the Psalms, Zechariah, Mary, the Angels at Jesus’ birth, the songs of Paul and Silas, and even the songs of those surrounding the throne in the book of Revelation. Think about how the joy we have been given through salvation in Jesus Christ demands far more than systematic responses of faith and affirmation written down on paper only. Our joy and thankfulness should spring into song and dance.

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Jarrod Richey currently lives in Monroe, Louisiana with his lovely wife Sarah and their five children. He is both the Director of Choral Activities and Pre-K4 through 12th grade music teacher at Geneva Academy. In addition to this, he has been on staff at Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church since 2005 handling both church media and choral music responsibilities. Jarrod has recently founded Jubilate Deo Summer Music Camp in Monroe, LA that seeks to train joyful worshippers and young singers. For more information on the camp visit, www.jubilatedeo.org. He is also featured in an upcoming Music Education Discussion titled, “Recovering Music Education in Christian Education” from Roman Roads Media.

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By In Culture, Film, Theology

Gran Torino, Unforgiven, and the Justice of God

Gran Torino

Both of these movies are rated-R and contain quite a bit of salty language. Unforgiven also has some sexual content.  I will be giving the basic plot of the each movie including the ending. So if haven’t seen them and plan to you may want to come back. 

Gran Torino  is directed by and stars Clint Eastwood. He is an old Korean War vet who lives in Detroit. The movie opens with his wife’s funeral. His neighborhood has been overrun by Asians. He is the last white man left. He spends his days keeping up his yard, drinking at the bar, mocking the local priest, and yelling racial epithets at his Asian neighbors. Through a series of events he becomes friends with the Asian family next door and begins to mentor the teenager in the family, which includes teaching him to cuss and work hard.  A local gang insists that the boy join up, but he refuses.  This gang ultimately beats up and rapes (this is not seen on screen) the boy’s sister in retaliation for his refusal to join the gang as well as his friendship with the veteran. No one will give up the men in the gang. The neighborhood is silent. Eastwood figures out that this boy will never be free of the gang. The movie ends with Eastwood going to the gang’s house unarmed. He tricks them into killing him in public so they will go to jail and the boy and his family can be free. He sacrifices his life so the young man can have a new life.

Unforgiven is another movie which Eastwood directs and stars in. He is a washed up gunfighter in his last days. His wife is dead. He is weak. The movie begins with him chasing a pig around the pen and ultimately falling in the slop.  He agrees to take on one last job with a young, hotheaded gunfighter who dreams of glory but does not understand the cost of killing men. Eastwood recruits his old partner, Morgan Freeman, to help them. They do the job, which means killing a man and his partner who cut up a prostitute’s face. In the process they come in conflict with the tyrannical, local sheriff, Gene Hackman. Hackman ultimately kills Morgan Freeman in brutal fashion. The movie ends with Eastwood coming back to town and taking vengeance by shooting Gene Hackman. Unforgiven is not your typical revenge movie. Killing in the movie takes a toll. Eastwood does not want to talk about his gun slinging days. He dreams of men he has killed covered in maggots. Killing is not glorified. Yet it still is a revenge flick. Eastwood’s wrath is on full display at the end as he points his gun at Hackman’s face.

 

As Christians we typically look at these two movies and see one that tells a Christian story of sacrifice for others and one that tells a non-Christian story of revenge. However, this is splitting apart what should not be torn asunder. Our God is a God of vengeance (Romans 12:19). Vengeance and wrath are part of the Christian story. They are part of God’s character. The story of Jehu’s purging of Ahab’s house is a great, bloody example of God’s wrath poured out on man. But wait you say, “Unforgiven is not about God’s wrath. It is about man’s wrath.” To which I say, “That is all a movie can do.” In movies men can be little Christs sacrificing for those around them or they can be little Christs executing vengeance on the wicked. Just as Gran Torino is Christ’s sacrifice put on the small screen so Unforgiven is the wrath of Christ put on the small screen as well. (I am not saying the director meant it that way or that it is a perfect representation.) We reap what we sow. Justice will be served. Wrongs will be set right. The wicked will either take the sacrifice of Christ or will pay with eternal damnation. Christ’s blazing sword is as real his bloody cross.

This is not a wholehearted defense of revenge movies. Bloodlust is a problem in our culture, especially among young men. Movies like Unforgiven can appeal to that lust for blood instead of a longing for justice. Revenge movies can exploit violence in a way that is not good. And few of them are done as well as Unforgiven. But revenge movies resonate with us for a reason: we long for justice. When Gene Hackman whips Morgan Freeman to death we know that something has gone  wrong.  Freeman was not perfect, but Hackman is a monster behind his badge and smile. So we wait for justice and vengeance. Eastwood’s shotgun is that justice. A father’s daughter is kidnapped and killed. The police never find the culprit. So we wait for justice. Nine people are killed at a Bible study. We wait for justice. Christians are beheaded, nuns are raped, children are exploited and we wait for justice. Old men are mocked, babies are chopped up, sodomy is praised, and we wait for justice. Sometimes justice comes in the form of  the magistrate’s sword. Sometimes it comes in other forms, such as rival gangs, cultural decline, or diseases brought on by wickedness. It can come at the Cross. It may come on the Last Day when all will stand before Christ.  But justice will come. Revenge movies remind us of this. They remind us that the character of God is not just seen at the Cross, but is also in the fires of Hell.

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By In Culture

To the Families of the Charleston Victims

The writers at Kuyperian give our most sincere condolences to the families of the victims who lost their lives in Charleston on June 17. One might wonder if the nation even remembers Charleston. In the span of two weeks we’ve already changed topics at least three times: to the Confederate flag, then Obamacare subsidies, and now the nationalization of gay marriage. Sometimes our attention span is too short for its own good. But we know that you have not moved on. We mourn with you and are praying that the peace of Christ would continue to fill your hearts and minds during this time.

In response to this tragic loss you were a witness of God’s mercy. When confronting the killer, you urged him to repent and offered him forgiveness. You followed the examples of Jesus and Stephen (Luke 23:34; Acts 7:60). Dylann Roof was an agent of death and yet you gave him the words of eternal life. That seems so foolish; it is antithetical to man’s every inclination. But your actions displayed the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). You proclaimed the gospel to our nation and to the world. We are grateful for your testimony, as it encourages us to be so bold.

The nine people who died that night are playing a significant role in the growth of Christ’s kingdom. Though the killer was motivated by racial hatred we ought not forget that this tragedy took place in a church, directed towards Christians. Intended or not, this attack on race became an attack on the church simultaneously. (more…)

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By In Books, Culture

Why Christians Should Read Virgil

Why Christians Should Read Virgil

The works of Virgil are often associated with painful assigned readings and Latin lessons, but a careful reading of this Roman poetry can help the modern Christian understand the first century context of the Christian Church. The poetry of Virgil’s Eclogues, Georgics, and the Aeneid represents a new shift in classical literature, away from tragedy in the Greek sense and toward the expectation of a new golden age.

Virgil Writing on the Eve of Christ’s Birth

Roman Virgil EcloguesWriting in the period following the death of Julius Caesar (44 BC) and during a time of unrest and civil war, Virgil’s initial poetry longs again for peace. Recognizing that the power of the Caesar was not enough to provide a stable future, the poetry focuses on a greater motif of the goodness of creation and nature. Virgil’s agriculture poetry serves two purposes in that it remains relatable to their common life and points to the perfection of the original creation. In relating to his fellow Romans, Virgil’s pastorally lines about husbandry and agriculture remind us of those used a few decades later by the triumphalist born of a virgin who hailed from the town of Nazareth.

The parables of Virgil and Jesus offer accessible wisdom for a generation caught amidst uncertainty and turmoil – hope for people crushed by the weight of the Roman Empire. The use of pastoral parables by Virgil and Jesus are also aimed at the same goal of bringing forth the image of creation. Both the Yahweh of the Jews and the Jupiter of Olympus offer a perfect garden-city where man ought to return. Restoring paradise or returning to Eden is the cultural lens of these pacific scenes of simple farming life. With a clear common cultural context on this issue, it is no surprise that Western culture has kept Virgil in the realm of their own hagiography.

The Messiah’s Garden-City in Virgil’s Poetry

Virgil’s Eclogues represent the first and prophetic part of the poet’s commentary on the political future of Rome. It is here again that Western thinkers picked up on the more messianic triumphalism of Virgil’s writing. The golden age of Rome, according to Virgil’s fourth Eclogue, was to be brought about by the birth of a savior. The following lines represent a messianic view of the man to come:

Yet do thou at that boy’s birth,

in whom the iron race shall begin to cease,

and the golden to arise over all the world,

holy Lucina, be gracious; now thine own Apollo reigns. (2. 8-11.)

It has been speculated whether Virgil may have been influenced by Jewish or Eastern thinkers in putting forward a prophecy similar to those made by Isaiah. Although there is not evidence to suggest that Virgil interacted with the Hebrew writings or even that the later Gospel writers interacted with Virgil’s poetry. Virgil’s messianic verses have caused Christian thinkers throughout the centuries to consider the poet a type of prophet for Christ. The timing of this prophecy is perhaps one of the reasons Dante Alighieri employs Virgil as a “guide” in his own poetry in the Divine Comedy.

Virgil, Dante and the boatman, Phlegyas

Virgil, Dante and the boatman, Phlegyas

Rome’s Version of “Thy Kingdom Come”

While the prophecy of Isaiah would predict the coming of a Messiah whose, “Kingdom would have no end” (Isaiah 9:7), Virgil’s later work would reveal Jupiter putting forth Rome as the “imperium sine fine” or the endless empire. The hope of Virgil’s triumphalism is the imminent realization of this savior to usher in the new world, albeit through Virgil’s personal identification with Roman patriotism, morality, and heroism.

Expecting that the Golden Age of Rome is at hand, Virgil is called to write his great epic The Aeneid.  The story is again a garden story. The story of noble and perfect beginnings that Rome now longs for under their current emperor. In a triumphalist sense, Aeneas is to Adam what Octavius is to Jesus. The Rome that was once Eden is to be restored to wealth, virtue, and peace under the rule of the endless empire. There is in this climax a certain parallel between the Pax Augustus and Pax Christi.

Hail! King of the Jews!

Their parallels ultimately converge as St. John the Baptist announces the coming of Christ’s Kingdom. Christ’s role as the “Son of God” serves as a direct challenge to the narrative of Virgil with the Roman Emperor as “son of God.” This doctrine coupled with the Christians’ commitment to only worship the true emperor, is the source of the conflict between Rome and the Christian Church. Christ’s imperial reign begins at the edict of Pilate as this title was hung above his dying body: “Jesus Of Nazareth The King Of The Jews.”  The Roman world hungry and ready for the Kingdom of the “Son of God” then follows the Roman Centurion, who at the foot of the cross transferred that title from Rome to Jesus.

Roman Coin Son of God

Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, and subsequent Roman emperors were regularly referred to as “son of God” (divi filius)

Reading Virgil allows us to see how the Romans of the first century would have received Christ’s ministry and understood the reality of his kingdom. A hearty reminder that the sentimental and personalized Jesus born out of our modern age would make little sense to the ancient reader of the Gospels. Christ’s ascension was a clear picture of his enthronement and his reign from the right hand of the Father. The Kingdom really is now. The hope and longing of all of history is realized in the present reality of the reigning King who has and is making all things new.

Recommended Resources for Reading Virgil

  1. Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, & Hope In Western Literature by Peter Leithart
  2. The Cambridge Companion to Virgil  by Charles Martindale
  3. Virgil’s Gaze: Nation and Poetry in the Aeneid by JD Reed
  4. Virgil: A Study in Civilized Poetry by Brooks Otis
  5. Virgil: Eclogues (Cambridge UP)
  6. Virgil: Georgics (Cambridge UP)
  7. Virgil: The Aeneid (Cambridge UP)
  8. C. S. Lewis’s Lost Aeneid: Arms and the Exile by AT Reyes


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By In Culture, Family and Children, Theology, Wisdom

God Is Not Enough: The Story of Christian Community

Guest post by Pastor Rich Lusk

God pic

The story of Christian community begins, as every Christian story does, in the Garden of Eden. Adam was created in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. He was created in perfect covenantal fellowship with the Triune Lord. No sin stood in the way of their communion, as the Creator and creature loved one another in fullness. Moreover, Adam didn’t have to earn anything; God had freely and graciously blessed him. He had all the privileges of divine sonship. The Lord had, in the most intimate way, breathed life into Adam, imparting his own Spirit to the first man (Gen. 2; cf. Jn. 20). The Lord gave him access to the Tree of Life and a fatherly warning to avoid the Tree of the Knowledge of Good Evil until the time was right. The Lord gave him meaningful labor, as he was to serve and guard the garden the Lord had planted for him. He had abundant food and a beautiful environment in which to live, worship, and play. All of creation was his, as God’s vice-regent. And yet, the Lord evaluated the situation at the mid-point of the sixth creation day and said “It is not good that man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18).

Alone?! Adam was emphatically not alone at his creation. He enjoyed friendship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He was the son of God. He was included in the Triune family. What more could he need? We’d expect the text to read, in harmony with the rest of Gen. 1-2, “And the Lord God said, ‘It is good for man to be with me, to have me as his friend.” But that’s not what the inspired narrative says.

Apparently Adam’s pre-fall communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was not enough. God made man for more than fellowship with himself. To be complete, to be satisfied, to be fully realized as a creature made in God’s image, the man needed fellowship with other humans. He was not only created, as Augustine suggested, with a Trinity-shaped void in his heart that only the Father, Son, and Spirit could fill; he was also created with a human-shaped void that only other people could fill.

This is part of what it means to be made in God’s image. God is not a single individual. He is a community of three distinct persons, bound together in an absolute oneness of love and fellowship. For man to image this kind of God required a plurality of humans in fellowship with one another. An isolated individual is not a full image of the plural Godhead. Thus, God is not enough. People need other people to be complete. We were made for each other.

Because we are made in God’s image, God is the model for humanity. The Father, Son, and Spirit mutually indwell one another’s lives (Jn. 13-17). The theological term for this is “perichoresis.” “Peri” is Greek for “around.” We get the word “choreograph” from “choresis.” The idea is that the three persons of the Godhead “dance around” or “dance within” one another. Their lives are totally intertwined. They move in lockstep with one another because they abide within one another. But this is precisely how we are to live in Christian community. We are to open our lives to others so they can indwell us, but we are also to seek to “move into” the lives of others, abiding in them. In this kind of community, as we indwell one another and live “perichoretically,” we image the life of the Triune God.

Obviously, the claim “God is not enough” is hyperbolic. This should not be understood in an idolatrous fashion. Obviously, in an ultimate sense, God is enough for man. We can and must still speak of the absolute adequacy of God. It is God, after all, who provided all Adam’s needs. It is God who created Eve and gave her to Adam as the crown of his other gifts. God stands back of all Adam’s satisfaction and joy. It is God who ultimately completes Adam.

But our point here concerns God’s creation design. God designed humans to live in community with one another. This is part and parcel of what it means to be imago Dei. God made us in such a way that vertical fellowship with the divine would be insufficient; we also need horizontal fellowship with other humans. God did not just make us for himself, he made us for each other.

Or, to look at things from another angle, God made the world in such a way that his presence would be mediated from one human to another. God dealt directly with Adam, but for the most part God deals indirectly with us. He speaks to us, disciplines us, molds us, and so forth, though the agency of others. God works through means, especially the means of humans made in his image.

Community is inescapable. Each one of us comes into existence only because two other people “communed” (so to speak) in just the right way. After birth, we would perish in days, if not hours, if others did not care for us. We learn every social skill we possess (or don’t possess) from others – language, manners, games, proficiencies, etc. And this need for others is not something we outgrow. It is more obvious in the case of infants, but just as real in the case of adults. No man is an island and no man is self-sufficient.

Thus, the pessimistic dictum of existentialist philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, “Hell is other people,” is exactly backwards. Hell is the absence, not the presence, of other people. In fact, in hell, the wicked will be utterly alone, apart from an all-too-personal, all-too-close relationship with the God they utterly despise. Contrary to existentialism, other people do not stifle our freedom or get in the way of our self-actualization. Rather, it is precisely in community that we are free to find and be our true selves. We are not self-made, but God- and others-made.

Heaven and the new creation are precisely what Sartre dreaded, but in a form he could not imagine. Heaven is, as Jonathan Edwards put it, “a society of love.” It is not the absence of other people, but precisely their presence that makes heaven so heavenly. The saved community is marked out even in the present by this mutual love (Jn. 13). Our love for one another shows that the power of God’s new creation is already at work in the world. This love will be perfected in the resurrection.

Ultimately, salvation itself must be understood in communal terms. Just as sin wrecked our fellowship with God and with one another, so in redemption that fellowship is restored. Psalm 133 spells out the connection between salvation and community in beautiful, poetic terms. Brothers dwelling together in unity is likened to the precious anointing oil flowing down Aaron’s beard to the edge of his garment. The priest’s body and robe become symbolic of the oneness of the community. The body of the priest is now the body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 12). The oil – usually symbolic of the Spirit in Scripture – covers the body from head to toe. The psalmist goes on to compare fellowship among the redeemed to the refreshing dew of Hermon flowing down Mount Zion. This is an interesting picture, since Hermon was in northern Israel and Zion in the south. The Spirit, now symbolized by the dew, unites things disparate in space and even culture. The conclusion is remarkable: “For there the Lord commanded his blessing – life forevermore.” That is to say, eternal life takes the shape of community life. The structure of the psalm itself makes the point: Just as the inner sections of the psalm match (oil and dew, priests and mountains), so the outer sections match (brothers dwelling together in unity and eternal life).

The gospel, then, is irreducibly social. Liberals in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century used the label “social gospel” to refer to their program. They substituted salvation from poverty and ignorance through state-mandated welfare and educational programs for salvation from sin and damnation through the cross and Spirit. One theologian characterized the social gospel of liberalism as a God without wrath, bringing men without sin into a kingdom without judgment though a Christ without a cross. Obviously, that is a total distortion of the biblical teaching.

But in another sense, we could benefit from restoring and redeeming the label “social gospel.” The gospel is social through and through. Traditional Christian teaching claims that outside the church there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. That is to say, forgiveness from sin and incorporation into Christ’s body go hand in hand. Salvation includes a new status (justification) and a new community (the church).

Moreover, the whole Christian life can only be lived out in the context of the church community. The New Testament authors presuppose that followers of Christ will be discipled in the matrix of an ecclesial community (cf. Acts 2:42ff). Numerous apostolic commands only make sense in this light. For example, we are told to love one another, pray for one another, bear one another’s burdens, confess to one another, forgive one another, and so on. In other words, we’re to “one another one another.” But this can only happen in the environment of a church body. It can’t be done in isolation.

American Christians struggle with these things because of our heritage of individualism and dislike for authority (including church authority). Community means you give up some privacy, some of your rights. It means you sometimes have to accommodate yourself to things you wish could be done differently. You have to learn to “give a little,” and to be flexible. It means we have to learn that life together involves becoming vulnerable at times, admitting weaknesses and needs. It also means meeting needs and showing strength on behalf of others at times. Communal life means we are willing to submit to the brethren, especially those God has put in charge of us through ordained office.

But whatever the costs, it is imperative that we learn to live in community once again. We must learn to deal with our differences in a biblical manner (Phil. 2:1-11). We must learn to live under authority (Heb. 13:7, 17). We must learn work together on the common project of building God’s kingdom. We must learn to live as an organic body, in which every part of the community cares for every other part. We must learn what it means to be the communion of the saints, as we confess in the early church creeds. We must rediscover what it means to live shared lives of generosity, of mercy, of friendship, and of hospitality. Many of these virtues the ancient church excelled in have been lost on us.

American spirituality often treats church community as a “tacked on” extra to a personal relationship with Jesus. In other words, we often act as if God alone is enough, and other Christians were quite unnecessary. “Quiet times,” in which the individual gets alone with God, have replaced the church’s corporate gathering as the pinnacle of spiritual growth. But the Bible points us in a different direction. Remember Adam: life alone with God is not the divine plan for us. God alone is not enough, in a profound sense. We must live in fellowship as one body with other believers if we are to grow and mature as God’s people. As Augustine said, the essence of God’s plan for humanity is mutual fellowship with himself. We are called to share a common life with the Trinity and with one another.

So: Is God enough? Yes, we must insist that he is in an ultimate sense. God is our all in all. But how does God manifest his all-sufficiency towards us? Precisely through giving himself to us in one another. God meets our needs by giving us each other, and together we are called to mirror his life – the life of Triune, perichoretic community.

Rich Lusk has served as the Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church since December, 2004. Before that he served at Redeemer Presbyterian (PCA) in Austin, TX and Auburn Avenue Presbyterian (CREC) in Monroe, LA. He and his wife Jenny have four kids. Rich is a graduate of Auburn University (B. S. in Microbiology) and the University of Texas at Austin (M.A. in Philosophy). This article is used with permission, and originally appeared at the Trinity Presbyterian website.

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By In Culture, Theology

No Adam, No Christ

Here are some quotes from J.P. Versteeg’s book Adam in the New Testament

In this first quote, he is addressing the argument that Paul thought Adam was historical, but now we know he was not. He shows that despite claims to the contrary, this idea unravels Christ’s work as a historical event. 

Therefore, if in the case of Adam the intention of Paul in his own time is divorced from its significance for us today, that must also have consequences with respect to Christ. For the redemptive-historical correlation between Adam and Christ entails that if what Paul says about Adam no longer holds for us [i.e. that Adam was a historical figure standing at the beginning of the human race], it is impossible to see why what he says about Christ in the same context must still hold for us. What is the sense of an antitype, if there is no type? What is the sense of fulfillment, if there is nothing to fulfill? The redemptive-historical correlation that Paul sees between Adam and Christ means that no longer honoring Paul’s intention when he speaks about Adam must entail no longer honoring Paul’s intention when he speaks about Christ…To no longer honor Paul’s intention when he speaks about Adam entails that the framework in which Paul places Christ and his work, collapses.

Versteeg again, quoting another author:

And suppose that Paul…did indeed believe in the historicity of the first Adam but that is this is no longer relevant for us…because we are only interested in the function of Adam as a ‘teaching model’ why should we…not take the same view regarding the last Adam?

Versteeg brings up an interesting point regarding the guilt of man if we deny a historical Adam. Christians have held that sin entered the world because our representative head, Adam, chose to eat of the fruit in the garden. In Adam, we all sinned. There has been debate about how this works itself out, but the basic structure is essential to Christian orthodoxy. What happens when there is no historical Adam (and Eve) to sin? Here is what Versteeg says:

If Adam only lets us see what is characteristic of everyone because Adam is man in general so that the sin of Adam is also the sin of man in general, and if on the the other hand Adam may no longer be regarded as the one man through whom sin has come into the world, it is apparent that in a certain sense sin belongs to man as such. Sin thus has become a given “next to” creation…In Romans 5 Paul intends to say how sin has invaded the good creation of God. The concept “teaching model” cannot do justice to [Romans 5]. If Adam were only a teaching model, he would only be an illustration of man in whom sin is inherent. The concept “teaching model” eliminates the “one after the other” of creation and fall, and leaves only room for the “next to each other” of creation and sin. In essence, then, one may no longer speak of the guilt of sin…Where evil thus becomes a “practically unavoidable” matter, sin loses its character of guilt. 

I had not thought of the historicity of Adam from this angle before. Normally, I think of Adam in reference to Christ and salvation, not man and sin. But of course, these cannot be separated. If we mess with Adam, we mess with Christ, sin, redemption, man, and—as Richard Gaffin argues in his foreword—the resurrection, in the process. Where do sin and guilt come from if there was no Adam? Have they always been? Is sin inherent in man? Did God create man sinful? How can man be guilty if sin has always been? If sin has not always been, when did it enter? Who/what brought it in? 

I am convinced that a denial of a historical Adam leads naturally and logically to heresy. As Versteeg says:

To be occupied with the question of how Scripture speaks about Adam is thus anything but an insignificant problem of detail. As the first historical man and head of humanity, Adam is not mentioned merely in passing in the New Testament. The redemptive historical correlation between Adam and Christ determines the framework in which—particularly for Paul—the redemptive work of Christ has its place. That work of redemption can no longer be confessed according to the meaning of Scripture, if it is divorced form the framework in which it stands there.

Not all who deny the historical Adam become or are heretics, but given their framework, there is no reason they couldn’t be. To capitulate here is to begin unraveling the basics of Christian orthodoxy, and most importantly, to strip away the glory of Christ’s work in redeeming fallen man.

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