Seminary Day 12

 Apologetics –
In his book Creation Regained, Al Wolters introduces the concept of structure and direction. This conceptualization helps us to think about things in terms of what they were meant to be by the creator (the “structure”), and how it has been distorted by our rebellion against him (the “direction”). One can employ this to think about something as simple as a tree or as complex... as economics or the arts. Briefly, how is a tree distorted from its intended creational use? Perhaps the most obvious way is by those who worship nature instead of the True and Living God, but it is also in the abuse of forests for mere profit (for example). We were given care over the creation and while it is there for us to use, the way in which we use it matters. Trees have key functions in our environment, like that of producing oxygen and of preventing erosion with their roots. Likewise, the concept of money and economics is a gift from God and is good, but it has been distorted by our rebellion. No longer is money a servant, but to many it is their master. It reveals hearts of greed, which then place security, power, or pleasure over the wellbeing of others. It is not money that is the root of all sorts of evil, but the love of money. Finally, we can appreciate the goodness of the arts, their ability to stir the soul and to challenge by showing reality, yet because we are fallen, we can use the arts to merely shock, titillate, to push our own agenda, to glorify evil, to entice people into buying things that won’t provide happiness, and to degrade others. Yet the structure-direction concept allows us to look at things not merely in a black and white manner, but to recognize the creational good in something, while seeking to correct the fallen direction that has distorted it.

Reformation History -
In 1541, Calvin presents proposal for church reform in Geneva, but does not get all he wants. He asks for weekly communions, but gets quarterly ones. For Calvin, this is less about sacramentalism and more about church discipline. He wants ordination by the laying on of hands, but is turned down. He also wants prospective pastors to be examined exclusively by other pastors and only upon approval to then by brought to the council for their approval. Instead the council insisted that it be included in this first step as well. At this time in history because there was not separation between the church and state, there are some things they did that seem to our society unpalatable. Adultery, for example, is not merely an ecclesiastical matter, but it is a civil crime. To be excommunicated was to be placed for all intents and purposes, outside public life. This is also why non-conformists, such as the Anabaptists, were not seen merely as those with differing opinions, but as subversive radicals. Thus, the Consistory (having 4-12 pastors and 12 counselors or elders) met once a week and held the power of excommunication. People were summoned and despite rumors that they always went for the harshest sentence, they operated with great pastoral sensitivity – but they did make bad missteps. There was also a feeling that this was a French institution intruding upon their society.

Seminary Day 11

Apologetics -  Pop Culture is produced in a world of general revelation - a world where the creation itself testifies of God's existence and his power and invisible qualities. A world where mankind, in order to continue the belief in autonomy, suppresses this revelation like pushing a beach ball under the water in a pool. No matter how hard man tries, the reality of this creational witness pops up so ...that none of us have an excuse. As we seek to engage the world and make connections, pointing to the reality of God's World, we are challenged to consider the ways in which the Image of God expresses itself in our lives, and where sin and rebellion has distorted and led us to misinterpret this image and general revelation.

As an example, we considered a music video by Jonsi, for his song "Go Do." Ted Turnau, the author of Popologetics, led us through a discussion of this video. I will include the lyrics here for those who are not familiar with who he is (I wasn't), but the music video includes a depth of communication that is not there with merely the lyrics.

What is the story, the narrative, or the mood in the video? Jonsi appears as an anthropomorphized bird, caged; liberation theme; drawing on the walls and breaking through them; liberation through expression; existentialism; issues a moral imperative - "we should always know we can do anything."

What is the imaginative world this is projected into? There is a lot of cold black and white, red and black in the beginning - the bird is the exception. There is a move to flesh tones and warmth as the video progresses. Jonsi was the focus of every shot except the lovers montage, and they employed many jump cuts, which give it a sense of frenetic energy - which reflects the title "Go do."

What is good, true, and beautiful about this (i.e. where is common grace evident)? The theme of freedom, the optimistic view, the idea of rebirth and renewal, and the creativity in the video. There is a longing to be freed to nature which is evident, and birds as a symbol of that freedom.

How does it show the fallenness of humanity? There is a commitment to autonomy - that Jonsi is the authority you should listen to. There is an idealization of nature - for instance, there is no predation in the world we are shown. Even the idea of freedom - is it freedom from all authority (yet he includes his own "should"), from all boundaries? Or freedom to be what you were meant to be?

What direction might a conversation take to talk of our fallenness? What if the thing that is imprisoning you is not outside you, but within you? There seems to be a contrast of great effort and "letting go" to achieve liberation. Is it just your own efforts you have to let flow? Doesn't this idealized view of nature belie the fact that predation spoils the idea that nature is our goal of salvation? Just as energy must be directed and perhaps even organized by an intelligence to be helpful and healing rather than destructive and decaying, so too freedom and creativity are not just blasted all over life. Do the lives of many creative people show that perhaps unfettered freedom or creativity leads to destruction and chaos in life? Is it merely "Go do?"

How does the gospel speak into this world and redeem it? There is a God worth trusting. This God gives you the joy of belonging and the freedom to struggle and work out your freedom. You no longer need to struggle to be free, but you are free to struggle from within that relationship. If you are the source of the restraints on you, you need a new relationship outside yourself. We need a relationship with someone who has the authority to give us a new identity - and creativity under this healing authority means you don't have to hurt others in expressing it. Ultimately, we don't create ourselves, but have been created by our creator with a plan and purpose in mind, and true freedom comes in being who you were created to be.

 

Doctrine of Man - Meredith Kline spoke to three components to the image of God in man. Mankind's role as vice-regent over creation reflection a functional or official image, a judicial overseeing and an exercising of lordship under God's Lordship. The second component is the formal or physical image. God is Spirit and thus had no body, yet our eyes reflect that he is the God who sees,... and our hands reflect that he is the God who creates. If we insist that physicalness is not part of the image of God, then our bodies become incidental to salvation - and the resurrection does as well. But God the Son takes on humanity and thus brings humanity into the Godhead, not making us gods, but rather becoming the perfect mediator between God and man, the perfect sacrifice for sinful man, and the perfect image of God. The third component of the image of God in man is the ethical component. Adam was inclined to holiness but Eden was not his destiny, There was always an ultimate maturity in view, a change from a simple righteousness to a confirmed righteousness. Adam was in a sense in his "infancy of righteousness."

The goal of redemption is not merely a return to Eden. In Eden, Adam was given all that he needed to obey, but he was not yet confirmed in his righteousness and thus could fall. But Jesus, the second Adam, does not merely return us to the probationary period of righteousness Adam had, but rather fulfills Adam's role as representative and brings us to the final destiny of humanity - a confirmed righteousness from which we cannot fall.

 

Church History, Reformation - Like Luther (and all of us), Calvin was a flawed man. He was a product of his times, though he brought great reform as well. He was a Lawyer as well as a Theologian. There are multiple editions of Calvin's Institutes, showing growth, depth, and reforming of his own positions as he went on through life. When Geneva becomes Protestant, a lot of the intellectual elite and skilled labor leaves the city (for the RC Church was the primary means of education then). But, there is also an influx of skilled labor from Calvin's homeland of France. Because Protestantism is a religion "of the Word" it attracts readers, which helps counter the earlier loss - but immigrants are not easily welcomed into the city, and much of the clash has an ethnic quality to it.

There is much crossover from the church to civic leaders, and theological crimes are civic crimes with civic penalties. Calvin preaches and writes, and his exegetical works are one of the few works from the 16th century that are still useful today. Calvin has a pastor's heart and weaves pastoral application throughout his exegesis. In 1541, he presents proposals for church reform: weekly communion (more about church discipline than sacramentalism), ordination by the laying on of hands, and pastors to be examined exclusively by other pastors and then passed to the council for approval. He gets quarterly communion not weekly, they say no to ordination by laying on of hands, and the council changed the examination so that it (the council) was also included in that first step.

In Scotland, church discipline dealt with issues of folk religion, but in Geneva, the issues were pertaining to marriage. The Consistory was formed and met once a week. It operated with great pastoral sensitivity, but there were rumors that it always went for the harshest resolution to matters - this was untrue, but it did have missteps. It banned pubs at one point, turning them into places to read and discuss the Bible, but that lasted only 2-3 weeks. There is a sense among Genevans that this is a French institution imported there.

One of the most infamous moments of the Consistory is when Cervatus comes and denies the Trinity, making him guilty of blasphemy. One of Calvin's students brings the charge. Because Calvin is a lawyer as well as a theologian, he brings the prosecutions case against Cervatus, who is found guilty and burned at the stake. This has the effect of enhancing Calvin's power, as he becomes known as "the man who finished off Cervatus." (The same error of Cervatus continues to this day, as Socinianism morphs into Unitarianism) A man name Castellio who does not see the Song of Songs as canonical (because of the sexual content in it), and who does not agree with Calvin's interpretation of the assertion in the Apostle's Creed that Jesus descended into hell, and who was censured by the civil authorities, argues against Calvin here, making the case that theological crime is not a civil case.

Seminary: Day 10

Day 10

Apologetics: We don't just appeal to facts as if they were neutral, for behind every interpretation of the facts is a worldview that shapes our interpretation. Our hearts actively rebel against the creator and only because reality is so unavoidable in areas such as mathematics, hard sciences, and engineering is the rebellion subdued to a large degree. Socrates is reported to have said t...hat "The unexamined life is not worth living" and Santayana observed "he who does not remember the past is condemned to repeat it." Few of us ever consciously examine the basic assumption by which we live life, yet these assumptions fall into common categories. Most worldviews have flaws that are self-contradicting, and eventually they show through. For instance, Sigmund Freud exposed the flaw in his world view in a simple statement in a love letter: "Let's not talk about philosophy, just love me irrationally." Materialism fails when it tries to claim a universal negative ("There is no ...") and especially when it speaks to the non-existence of the non-material, which by definition lies outside the realm of the material. John Cage was an American composer and musical theorist who pioneered indeterminacy in music. The purpose of the universe, he said, is purposeless play. He has authored pieces such as 4:33 where the pianist closes the lid of the piano for 4:33. He also was a hobby mycologist (someone who studies fungi), where he admitted "If I approached my mushrooms the way I approached my music, I would die." And finally, postmodern architects may do unusually things in their designs (like staircases that go nowhere), but foundations of houses are never done to such post-modernist musings, but standards where there is a right and wrong way to do them. We play at the edges of absurdity with our worldviews, but there is always something we do to belie that we know the truth ... Our desires point to the reality of fulfillment, and the saddest moment of an atheist's (or non-theist's) life is when they feel thankful, but believe there is no one to thank ...

Church History: There is a tendency for us to look back at history anachronistically, that is, by assuming that time is like ours and that the sensibilities of today are the same as they once were. We can easily go into the examination of this history with a tendency to assume either that Luther definitely contributed to the Anti-Semitic fray that led to the Holocaust, or to assume he did not. Because the Holocaust is catastrophic evil, it is hard for us not to look back through history and see it building up to that moment in time. William Shirer's thesis in "The Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich" sees Luther as the source of German Anti-Semitism, and he links together Luther, Wagner, Huston Chamberlain, Hitler, and Gorbineau - thus linking Luther with the hideous "final solution." Thus, the issue for Shirer is the Pathological Anti-Semitism of Germany and Luther is the source. But we must be aware of the logical fallacy of anachronism!

First, Anti-Judaism doesn't start with Luther - Edward I in 1290 expelled the Jews from England. The Puritans were split on the idea of bringing them back. By the 12th century, there was the common slander of blood libel against the Jews (for which there is no evidence), which becomes part of anti-Jewish writings. Nothing in Luther's writings were original with him. Second, Luther does have a cross-centered piety, which did cause speculation on "who" put him there (my answer: I did). Third, there were not such strong national identities at that time, so that those who were outside the Catholic (and then what became the Lutheran) Churches were "outside society" (along with other groups such as the Anabaptists). This persecution was not really a racial issue (it is questionable whether they would have even looked at race the way we do today), but primarily a religious problem. Fourth, It was not until the 19th century when the anti-Judaism was more racial in character, which can be shown by looking at the Nuremburg laws, which did not care whether the Jews religiously converted, where in Luther's time that would have settled the issue for most.

Finally, as we consider two of Luther's writings, we must remember a historical principle: "What is normal for the time does not need explanation, but the abnormal does." In 1523, Martin Luther wrote a piece explaining the Jewishness of Jesus - this was highly unusual for the time. But in 1543, Luther wrote his piece "The Jews and their Lies," which was (unfortunately) not that unusual in those times. So, in reality, it is the 1523 piece that needs the explanation - so why did Luther write it? Luther had a very strong sense that the Reformation was bringing about the end times, and he thought that evangelism would prosper and the Jews would accept the gospel. But during the following years of the 1530's and 1540's, he becomes discouraged, realizing that the end times are not being ushered in, and he looks for someone to blame. His dreams are not coming to pass, and he becomes in many ways a bitter old man who reverts to the attitude of his surrounding culture with a vengeance.

So we must not be simplistic in our answer to the question: "Did Luther cause the Holocaust?" But we must not shrink back from saying "yes" and "no." It is clear that his writings are used to justify the horrors of what was later done. And it does seem that his anti-Semitism helped the line of metamorphosis that became the devilish hatred of the Jews. But Martin Luther was not the source of such anti-Semitism, and he did not always hold such views. And he is certainly not responsible for the evil in the hearts of those that followed him and took his writings further than we might hope he ever wanted to go. But Luther stands in church history as a great reformer, but as a deeply flawed man who faced his God at death with a less than stellar record in his final years. God does not cover up the flaws of faithful men and women in Scripture (Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, David, Paul, etc.), and neither should we. Because of his belief in the Jewish Messiah Jesus, even the sins of Martin Luther were placed on Him and He received the full punishment for them. And Martin Luther - and I - will be eternally grateful for such mercy and grace.

Seminary: Day 9

Day 9

AP: There are no "brute facts" because there is no one who is truly neutral and everything is interpreted. We all have preconditions or presuppositions that give thought and life meaning. In our natural state, every one of us has a sense of God, but we suppress it. Yet, it is like holding a beach ball underwater - it will continue to exert pressure on us and pop up. Issues of conscience... point to an ultimate reality of right and wrong, but we suppress this evidence because we desire to be autonomous. Our presuppositions point to what we think is ultimate in life, and they are points of contact with God's self-revelation in the Bible.

DM: Martin Luther's theology was "reformed" as he thought through the implications of the doctrines he rediscovered in the Word by examining the writings themselves. He came to see that man was given all that was necessary for him to obey in the garden, which is why the fall was such a tragic decision. The righteousness of Christ is imputed (not infused) to those of faith, which replaces what was lost in the fall. Calvin said that the Imago Dei (Image of God) are "those marks of excellence which God had distinguished Adam over all other living creatures." In the fall, we became a frightful deformity, however mankind both loses and retains the image of God after the fall. In Genesis 9:6, the argument is made that if anyone sheds man's blood (murders), man shall shed his blood - for God made man in his image. If man has completely lost the image in the fall, then this argument loses its force. Yet it is also clear from Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 that there is a difference between the "old man" and the "new man." This is a renewing into God's image by the power of the gospel.

CH: Martin Luther at the end of his life only considers two of his works worthy of reprinting: his catechisms and The Bondage of the Will. Luther focuses on the perspicuity (clarity) of scripture and the nature of the will. For Luther, much of this discussion revolves around the issue of certainty. He was haunted for years to know how a sinner stands before a Holy God, and for him that certainty is peace and stability. Erasmus has doubts about the assertion of anything - he holds a view of Scripture that it is fundamentally obscure and therefore you need the magisterium of the church to help you.

Seminary: Day 8

Day 8

　

AP: "I believe; I believe. It’s silly, but I believe." These are the well-known words spoken by young Susan Walker in the popular Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street (1947). They provide just one example of how faith is commonly portrayed in our culture as a blind leap in the dark—believing for no reason at all. Fideism is belief without reasons. But Biblical faith is not fideism.

　

Faith, according to the Bible, is not irrational or "silly." It is not a blind commitment or an arbitrary feeling of closeness to God. What is faith then? Christianity has historically defined saving faith using 3 terms: notitia, assensus, fiducia. Notitia signifies that saving faith believes something - it has an intellectual content. Assensus refers to the intellectual conviction that the knowledge one possesses is factually true and personally beneficial. The third element is fiducia, or trust. Without this, "faith" is purely an intellectual enterprise - like the demons who know God exists, yet shudder at the thought. They refuse to trust him because they hate him. Fiducia is a personal trust in Christ as he is offered in the gospel and a complete reliance upon Him for salvation.

　

Certain opponents of Christianity confuse fideism with true faith, like Richard Dawkins who asserts that faith stifles critical thinking. Fideists believe because they believe, but the Christian fait rests on facts of history, and it is a robust worldview able to withstand questions from honest seekers.

　

CH: Martin Luther comes to disagree with the Roman Catholic view of the mass, but still sees a real presence of whole Christ in the elements. He keys in on the phrase "Hoc est corpus deum" where Christ says "This is my body." Zwingli believes that communion is a memorial, keying in on the phrase "Do this in remembrance of me." Because of Luther's dealings with radicals like Karlstadt, who also believed in a symbolic view of the elements, he associates anyone whose view is symbolic with radicalism, even going so far to say that a symbolic view is non-Christian. Calvin comes along and gives another view of communion. He says that parts of the Lord's supper are a mystery and that we must resist the urge to go beyond what Scripture says - at those points, we kneel in worship. The Lord is truly present in the Lord's supper, but it is not a physical presence. We receive the body and blood not because Christ is in the elements, but because we are united with him in heaven. These sacraments are "the visible word" and are communicated through the senses in an olfactory way. God has accommodated us in communicating through language in the Word and in the sacrament through the senses. Many years later when Luther hears of Calvin's view, he admits that had Calvin been present in his disagreement with Zwingli, they probably could have come together.

Seminary: Day 7

Day 7

AP: We have rebelled against God and deserve nothing but wrath and judgment. Yet God has provided a way to uphold justice in the universe, to uphold his goodness of character, while providing a way to escape the coming wrath. Not by breaking the rules (i.e being inconsistent with his character) or overlooking evil, but by crediting us with his goodness, and crediting Jesus with our rebellion. Christ was actively obedient, obeying God at all times throughout his earthly life, and he was passively obedient - accepting all suffering that came his way though it was unjust. He became sin and accepted the full force of God's wrath that we deserved, died the death sin brings, and rose from the grave, showing that his sacrifice was accepted. This "great exchange" (our sin for his goodness) is applied to all who believe and trust in Him. His work fully accomplishes our salvation - there is nothing we do to add to it, and in fact if we try, we have not grasped the gospel. Because of this, when we believe we are accepted by God and adopted into His family - never to be cast out.

ST: God made man in his own image, but the language used is particularly peculiar: "Let us make man in our image." As people have tried to understand this verse through the centuries, a number of views have surfaced. The first view is that God is talking with the angels - but in no other place in Scripture are angels said to create; there is a single Creator God. The second view is that God is making use of the "royal we" - as if a Queen says "We are not amused." The third view is that this is a glimpse of the Trinity, that God is having a self-directed discussion between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This option is particularly appealing because there are other places where the Old Testament is like a fully furnished room that is dimly lit - such as where what is sometimes called the "proto-gospel" is in Genesis 3:15 when God curses the serpent: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Later, the more full revelation of truth comes in Jesus. With no other creature does God say he will make it in "our image." This image is not an add-on to humanity, but is the essence of what it means to be human. Mankind was also uniquely given dominion over the creation as God's vice-regent. Adam was good, with no flaw in his reason, knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, having the law of God written in his heart and having the power to fulfill it, but he was not yet confirmed in his righteousness (or not yet glorified or not yet in his eschatological state) - i.e. his relationship with God could be lost. Mankind fell from this lofty position when Adam rebelled, but the gospel does not merely return us to Eden, but takes us to Eden's goal. The second Adam - Christ - succeeds where the first Adam failed and thus secures for all who believe that final state of glorification where sin is completely removed, which means heaven is not another trial as Eden was, but is a relationship with God that cannot be severed because sin and the desire to sin will be removed from us.

CH - Zwingli was a different reformer than Luther was, for many reasons - not the least of which that there is no "Zwinglian Church" or "Zwinglian Reformation." Zwingli was a humanist in the 16th cetury use of the word - a man of letters (learning), a man of the city - while Luther was a man of the countryside, a man more in touch with the medieval sensibilites. Zwingli, like Luther (and all of us) was a flawed man, and there were rumors (assumed to be Catholic propaganda by some) that he got a woman pregnant outside wedlock. Some years later, a confession was found in a book in Zwingli's handwriting that this was in fact true. This and Luther's (a former monk) marriage to a former nun was used by Catholic opposition to say that the Reformation was really just about sex. For Zwingli, the reformation was about the sovereignty of God in light of the plague, during which 25% of the population of Zurich died. Zwingli, like Luther, did not reject everything from the Catholic church (hence the title of "reformer"), for instance, he still believed in the perpetual virginity of Mary, and his Marion devotion continued. But Zwingli was a pre-modern man, and the plague was a mysterious act of God. His "95 thesis" moment surrounds the eating of sausages (!), breaking the Lenten fast. Zwingli did not actually eat, but sat among those who did. This leads to a series of disputations, and with the advent of the printing press, word spreads quickly. (Incidentally, printers at that time were considered very radical, and there were risks when printing controversial material). These disputations accented the role on the Bible as normative for life, and he swings violently against the Anabaptists. Because the church and state were so closely tied at this point in history, people like the Anabaptists were considered on the fringe, opting out of society. One other interesting development at this time is in ministerial training where a gathering of ministers sat and each expounded on a passage (the same one), starting from the least experienced and proceeding until the most experienced pastor would speak. Zwingli eventually rejects the sacramental view of the Lord's supper, seeing it as a memorial. It was an argument in essence about the meaning of the word "is," as in "This is my body." Zwingli argues that the use of "is" here is more closely related to "symbolizes" than one of identity. Thus, a "pamphlet war" broke out on the presses of the day

Seminary: Day 6

Day 6

Apologetics: Mankind knows God, but processes that knowledge wrong, because we reject God's authority over us. There is, however, a general mysticism that many people are attracted to, but they reject the True God who is truly greater and above all creation, the One who transcends our experience of life. Others affirm a rationalistic or naturalistic approach to life, rejecting this tran...scendent God who is also immanent - as close to us as our next breath. It is only because we reject this God that we seek something vaguely similar to him to satisfy our inner being. But we suppress the truth because we want to live life according to our desires: "My kingdom come, my will be done ..."
Romans 1:19-21 "...what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened."

Church History: Martin Luther was a sort of medieval "rock star," but the reformation went in some directions he never intended. He certainly was not a perfect man, and some of his sins are stains on his reputation to this day. His writings against the Peasants and against the Jews perhaps sully his reputation the most. At the end of his life, the only works Luther himself considers worthy of reprinting are his 2 catechisms and "The Bondage of the Will." Luther genuinely believed the reformation movement was the ushering in of the end times. Some identified Luther as one of the angels in Revelation 14, and while he does not say that himself, neither does he refute it. During this time, large crowds follow Luther wherever he goes, and the trade in Luther posters boom. But Luther is scared and he has reason to be. Most Diets (Trials) in those times did not end well for the accused - and burning at the stake was a real probability. At the Diet of Worms where he is told to recant his works, his response is to divide them into 3 groups: writings on morals that even his enemies affirm are good and true, others written against the papacy over which if he is tried, the Diet should be as well, and writings against individuals where he admits that he may have been over the top. But when he is asked for a straightforward answer, he gives his famous answer that includes "unless I am convinced by Holy Scriptures and sound reason, I cannot and will not recant, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me." At the conclusion of the Diet, Luther is kidnapped (to save him from being kidnapped by his enemies), by his benefactor Frederick the Wise, who sends him to Wartburg. He disappears for 11 months, during which time he translates the Scriptures into German, the language of the people. Later, there develops a division on the issue of the Lord's supper - are the elements merely symbolic, or is the body and blood of Christ really present? Karlstadt, who leads a very radical wing of the reformation, views them as symbolic and for the rest of his life Luther will not be able to separate a symbolic view from radicalism, which will color his meeting with Zwingli in 1529.

Seminary: Day 5

Day 5

Tim Keller proposes four basic models for cultural engagement. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, which means that perhaps we should not limit ourselves to one particular model, but self-consciously modify the one we most naturally lean to in order to combat its weaknesses.

Transformationalist - pursue your vocation from a Christian worldview with the goal of transforming it; sometim...es this worldview is too cognitive and not enough responding of the whole person to the whole creation, and it doesn't deal with the worship of the heart.

Relevance - Christian faith is fundamentally compatible with the surrounding culture - God has not abandoned the culture "out there;" sometimes the gospel is minimized or even forgotten and the distinctives of the church get blurred.

Counterculturalists - purpose is to show that the world is at enmity with God. In this worldview, there is no confusion or false hope about this world - our treasures are in heaven. Sometimes very pessimistic about social change, tends to demonize business, markets, and governments. It can also downplay justification and the atonement because "we're the good guys."

Two kingdoms - Christ and culture in paradox; Christ governs the church by his word, and the world by the sword. Puts a very high value on secular callings, and doesn't see merely one way of being a "Christian dentist." The state is there to give freedoms. It does seem to place more emphasis on "common grace" than even the Bible does. Christians can also be silent on social issues when they shouldn't be - for example, many pulpits were silent on slavery in the 1840's and 1850's.

After creation, God did not rest because he was tired, but he ceased from his creative activities - though he remains active in sustaining and redeeming creation - as an expression of his kingly sovereignty. This seventh Day has never ceased. The cycle of 6 days of work plus one day of rest for mankind anticipates entering God's rest, which will never end. Thus the command to set aside one day for rest is a breaking in of God's rest in on this fallen creation. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Sabbath rest as he inaugurates the Kingdom and enters the rest of God, which is why Christians moved the Sabbath to Sunday. With Christ's resurrection, the rest is not at the end of the week, but the already-not yet rest has begun. We enter God's rest not by works, but by resting in Him by faith.

Martin Luther had a law-gospel divide in viewing scripture in his early days. He saw God's Word as powerful and living, and that you preach law to slay self-righteousness, then the gospel when despairing of one's own efforts to lead to Christ. But by 1525, Luther sees a need for ethics and gets a more Pauline balance in his preaching and teaching. Good works are not to be done to earn salvation, but works to be done to delight God and for our fellow human beings in unconditional love. And by later in his life, he realized there was more to sanctification than merely the realization that you have been justified in Christ.

Seminary: Day 4

Day 4

Unlike many of the religions man has come up with, God has revealed that mankind has an inherently high dignity because we are made in the image of God. We are not merely beasts of burden for the "gods," nor are we merely fortunate accidents. Mankind is God's vice-regent who has delegated lordship over the creation. We are given the task of making sense of the world, of bringing it into o...rderly submission. In the fall, we rejected our creaturely dependence on God and distorted the three offices given to man. We have distorted the role of prophet, reinterpreting God's Word to suit our desires. We have distorted the role of priest, serving other gods and false idols. And we have distorted the role of king, ruling poorly and even abdicating our role. Even with all this, God has not condemned us, but provided redemption - not merely restoration - to all who will trust Christ for their escape from the coming wrath.

The medieval authority of the Roman Church was tied to sacramentalism. Luther reduces the sacraments to 2 or 3 (depending on how you view the 3rd). He thought the medieval view of baptism was too low, since one needed the other sacraments when sin rises up in you. Baptism was regenerational in his view. He also believed that transubstantiation in the mass was an Aristotelian import (though it probably was not this), and said that the bread & wine and the body & blood must all be present. And the third sacrament, though he did not stress it or command it because he did not see it in Scripture, was the idea of Penance or confession. He saw this sacrament as a means of tyranny or social control, and the "keys" were not tied to an office, but to the church as a whole.

Seminary: Day 3

Day 3

In Exodus 17, the Israelites are camping out at Rephidim but had no water nearby, so they quarreled with Moses about this. The Lord told Moses to go out in front of the people with the elders of Israel with the staff he struck the Nile with. Then the Lord says something that is easily overlooked in the text: That He will stand upon (Hebrew “al” – aleph lamed) the rock and Moses is to st...rike the rock, and water will come from the rock for the people to drink. So Moses did and the people had water.
This moment is a foreshadowing of what God would later do on the cross with Christ. The people deserved judgment but God himself was symbolically struck in their place, and the result was that the life-giving water was given to the people. Many years later, Jesus would become our sin, our rebellion, and take our punishment from the Father on the cross so that we might be given the life-giving Spirit.
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Science, like everything else, is done by human beings and is therefore not impersonal and cannot rightfully claim an uncorrupted interpretation of data. There is a strain of conservative Christianity that exhibits a fear or shunning of science, but the creation itself is worthy of examination. There is also a strain of liberal Christianity that exhibits a fear of scientists, letting science be its own separate sphere within the world, but to disengage is to lack the “fear of the Lord” (or reverent respect). To be sure, men of faith have sometimes had too much confidence in their interpretations of the Bible that led to unnecessary stands on issues that were not really put forth by Scripture (i.e. that the earth was flat). None of us come to scripture without our own leanings, biases, and assumptions. But there is more to life than merely the physical, material world. Science has provided us with many great things – but it cannot give us ultimate things, a reason for existence, a goal for life.
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In 1518 Martin Luther lays out his developing theology in the Heidelberg Disputation. Thesis 28 says “The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it. The love of man comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.” We love because we find something to be lovable, but God loves the unlovable and makes them lovable. Which is great news, for there is nothing in us to commend us to God.

Seminary: Day 2

We each wear our own "interpretive glasses," through which we try to make sense of the world. All of us know God through the creation around us, but because we do not want God, our interpretations of this creation are tainted by error and pride. This resistance goes so deep in us that we have no hope of getting an accurate picture of God - unless he has taken it upon himself to reveal himself to us.

Seminary: Day 1

As a learning aid, I have decided to try to summarize my classes each day in order to pick out the main points, try to become more succinct in my writing, and to study.  And perhaps it will be interesting to others as well.  ... here's Day 1 ...
(the classes I am taking are Introduction to Apologetics, Doctrine of Man, and History of the Reformation.  Once in a while I may add something from chapel, too).

 

“We bargain away our souls for cheap thrills” – Os Guiness. We settle for merely a quiet life, a good job, health, entertainment, power, or a host of other things that are mere trinkets compared to what is offered and what we give away. We make a Faustian bargain, not taking God seriously when he says “What does it profit someone to gain the whole world and forfeit their soul?” We are like children preferring to make mudpies in the street when a vacation at the shore is offered … The value of what God offers the sinner in forgiveness and adoption far outweighs all the gold in the world – nay, even the world itself. "Let us eat, drink, and be merry - for tomorrow we die" is our life philosophy ...

- Our culture sees guilt as something you feel, but Biblically, guilt is something you are. Shame and guilt are shunned and minimized today, yet shame and guilt make us aware of our need for someone to rescue us. The Gospel is only good news for those who understand the bad news.

- The conflicts and heresies throughout church history have strengthened our understanding of what is true and necessary in the gospel.

Book Review: Reasons of the Heart by William Edgar

Reasons of the Heart

Part One: Foundations
1. Today's Unusual Opportunity
2. Beyond Cheap Impact
3. Apostolic Apology
4. The Larger Biblical Mandate
5. A Rich Palette

Part Two: Conversations
6. Initial Barriers
7. Beyond Belief
8. One Way? No Way?
9. The Great Outrage
10. Faith on Its Way to Assurance

God's sovereignty and the Boston Marathon Bombing ...

There is within theology an area of study called theodicy, which is the defense of God in light of the existence of evil. The question of why evil exists if there is a good and omnipotent God is for many a key argument against the existence of God - especially the Christian God. I find most of our objections come from our assumptions - especilly the assumptions we make about what a Good God should do. In effect, we are prosecutors putting God, as CS Lewis said, "in the dock" (i.e. on trial in the courtroom). But this is to judge God by our standards. And all of us would admit that we don't live up to our own standards. Some of us even see that our standards are affected by our imperfections and finiteness. Some would call that the "noetic effects of sin" or the effect our fall had on our minds. Thus, in reality, we should be suspicious of our own perceptions of ultimate good and evil, of true right and wrong. We need someone who sees more clearly than we do to help us see Truth - but alas, all human beings are in the same boat. Our glasses are broken, distorted, and warped. But if God is the Creator of all things and if the Universe is as a pebble to him, then it does us no good to rail against him. It is the definition of lunacy for a created mite to rail against the creator. We must accept and deal with reality, whatever it may be, and whether we like the God that exists is irrelevant. Only a fool rages against the sun. We need this God to reveal himself, for although we can find out many things by studying the creation that is his handiwork, we cannot use methods of this realm to study the One who transcends it. He must speak, and we must listen. And God has spoken - through His creation, through His Word, and through His Son. Creation is a true revelation of his power and majesty, but it is marred by the fall of man. And because our minds has been corrupted by our rebellion, we would misinterpret creation even if it was not marred. And we do not normally have access to the work and life of the person who is Christ, revealed to us in the God-breathed scriptures. But here agin, we must recognize that we must work to see accurately the scriptures, for our minds are still corrupted. We must conform our thinking to Scripture, starting with those things which are clear, and pryerfully thinking through the things which are unclear, being humble enough to consider other's thoughts on the same topic. In Scriptuure, it does not appear that God steps back from his responsibility as ruler of all: "If calamity comes upon a city, is it not I the Lord who has done it?" "All things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to his purpose ..." Joseph on being sold into slavery by his brothers: "you ment it for evil, but God meant it for good." In the book of Job, we see that Satan had to be given permission to touch Job's property, his family, and his health. God permits Satan to torment Job for reasons Job never finds out this side of heaven. And so on. God makes clear that Satan is not his adversary as much as a shamed foe on death row, who nevertheless rages against all that is good. The question we all have for this is why? And it's one of those questions which we cannot answer. Perhaps we could not grasp the reasons. Perhaps God wants us to trust him rather than have "all the answers" and trust them. Whatever the case, God is not ignorant of the pain and tragedy of the events in Boston. He knows who did the bombing and why. The hard part is that he knew beforehand that it was being done, and he could have stopped it. I can't tell you why he did that. But I can tell you that he did not intervene on another day 2000 years ago, on a day where His Son was wrongfully convicted, mocked, spit upon, beaten, crucified and killed. He even turned His back on His Son, who cried out to him. And God did this so that we might be brought into his family, into his kingdom. Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him - for the joy of bringing many sons and daughters into the kingdom. For the joy of bring you and me into his family. We know that the most unjust event in human history was part of God's plan before the foundation of the world. If that is true, then can we learn to trust His heart when other tragedies occur "on his watch?" God is up to something, but his ways are higher than our ways. Let us all cry out to him in our grief and trust our Father's heart ..

The Boston Marathon Bombing and our fear ...

What do you do when your fears have merit? We love to label our fears: acrophobia - fear of heights; Triskaidekaphobia - fear of the number 13; Arachibutyrophobia - the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. Sometimes, these fears have little connection to the reality of this world, but other times they reflect a real danger in the world which we cannot control. If you have a fear of flying, no amount of rational talk may calm your fear. Even though the statistics say that flying is safer than driving, it is still a fact that some planes do in fact crash. This fear or anxiety of flying is a pessimistic prediction about the future: I know the likelihood of a crash is low, but some planes do in fact, crash - and I'm sure that this plane I'm about to get on is one of those planes. You cannot rationally talk someone out of this fear, because there is logic in much of their argument. So what do you do when you live in a world where bad things do happen? What do you do when you live in a world where someone would bomb the runners and spectators of the Boston Marathon? How do we protect ourselves from this danger? The experts will do their best figuring out who and how and why this occurred, though that will be little comfort for those who lost loved ones and limbs in the attack. I suspect there will be far fewer spectators next year at the Marathon because it is nearly impossible to protect 26 miles of a public course through the city. The fear of "what if it happens again?" will probably lead to many watching at home on the TV. I know that fear - my family had to go to Dallas in October of 2001. I decided that we would drive rather than fly because I did not want to face the uncertainty of "what might happen." That turned out to be a memorable trip for us, travelling through a few states for the first time. Is there any other option? Is there any hope? Is the answer "You can't let them win by making us afraid" or "Just don't think about it" or even a fatalistic "if it is your time to go, you can't change that?" People who have a naturalistic world view must in the end deal with it in their own strength, for there is no one greater to appeal to. But for the Christian, we must remember that nothing that happens on this earth goes unnoticed. Our pain is not merely the electrical response to stimuli, but moves God's heart. Sure, there are hard questions to ask about the existence of evil, but in times of grief and fear, we need to know that Our Father sees, hears, and comforts us even in the most grievous circumstances. The only way to navigate this broken world where evil people do evil things is to know that there is someone greater than those who plot evil. The solution to our fear is not a technique, not denying the reality of life, and not finding strength in ourselves. Trust in the One who rules the Universe settles fear. That's not a guarantee that bad things will not happen, but that you will not be alone if they do. And nothing comes into your life that does not first pass through His nail-pierced hands. This world is not the way it should be, and it is not forever. One day, for those who trust Christ, when we see Him face to face we will be like Him - and all pain, all suffering, all sin, all death, all decay, all destruction, all seperation from what is good will be gone. And he will wipe every tear from our eye ...