Narrative wins (most of the time)
June 1, 2007
Most of my friends don't have a clue what the Emerging/Emergent Church movement is - but they do share some of the same concerns that the Emerging church has with Reformed/Presuppostional Theology. My friends (and I) like narrative. As Paul Helm points out:
What happens is that in this effort to combine a narrative and a logical approach to theology the narrative approach invariably wins out. Stories are so much more fun than logical deductions and discriminations.
Donald Miller, known for his lived or hated "Blue Like Jazz", and his influence in the Emerging Church movement says in this month's issue of Christianity Today:
"Truth is rooted in story, not in rational systems. The Christian mission is not well served when we speak in terms of spiritual laws or rational formulas. Propositional truths, when extracted from a narrative context, lack meaning. "The chief role of a Christian," he says, "is to tell a better story."
The tension between the two is magnified on both sides - presuppositional apologetics vs. emerging metanarratives. I like Helm's piece because it highlights the strength of Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology.
Yes, I would agree that great minds like Helm and even Miller (in very different ways) probably can't hold the tension between the two. Me, I like my Biblical Theology with a strong dose of Systematics thrown in - my small mind has no problem holding the two as compatible.
Bible Study for Foodies
July 1, 2006
Bible study for foodies like me. Last night our small group studied 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
We talked about great meals or food memories that smelled great - that just the mention of the aroma, and we are hungry. Some of the memories were a neighbor‘s Bar-B-Q, bakeries on Sunday mornings, Thanksgiving Dinner and bread-baking (my memory - now that I’m low-carb it is a distant memory). Paul makes it clear that we as Christians are the “aroma of Christ” and His righteousness to God. But, to those who are perishing we are the smell of death.
This morning I came upon Thomas Chalmers‘ exposition on the imputation of Christ’s righteousness where he speaks of, “the merit of His well-beloved Son is to Him a sweet-smelling savor.” (HT: Michael Haykin)
“Had we fulfilled the law of God, heaven would have been ours, and it would have been given to us because of our righteousness. We have broken that law, and yet heaven may be ours, not because of our righteousness, but still because of a righteousness; and the honor of God is deeply involved in the question, What and whose righteousness this is? It is not the righteousness of man, but the righteousness of Christ reckoned unto man. The whole distinction between a covenant that is now exploded, and the covenant that is now in force, hinges upon this alternative. If we make a confidence of the former plea, we shall perish; and if of the latter, we shall have everlasting life.
”The merit of His well-beloved Son is to Him the incense of a sweet-smelling savor, so that the guiltiest creature who takes shelter there, has posted himself on the very avenue, along which there ever rolls the tide of divine complacency. We should invest ourselves then with this merit, and wrap ourselves firmly in it, as in a covering. We should put on Christ, who is offered to us without money and without price. We should present ourselves before God, with His invitation as our alone warrant, and the truth of His promises, which are yea and amen in Christ Jesus, as our alone confidence. His place in the new covenant is to declare our forgiveness, through the blood of a satisfying atonement. Our place in the covenant, is to give credit to that declaration.“
Thomas Chalmers, from his introduction to Abraham Booth’s The Reign of Grace from its Rise to its Consummation (1768)
I am so thankful that Christ has covered me with the smells of July 4th Bar-B-Q’s, baking bread, and Thanksgiving Dinner and not the reek of rotting death.
Technorati Tags: imputation
Luther and the Bible
November 3, 2005
I just saw the 2003 version of Luther with my Bible Study. I know I'm a little behind the times - but it was a small way for us to celebrate Reformation week.
Thinking of my previous post - I must say I really like the Prince Fredrick's hands tremble when Luther hands him his gift of the German translation of the New Testament. What a privilege, honor, hand trembling moment it is for us to hold the Bible, translated so we can READ it and understand!
Worshipping the Book
November 3, 2005
Cathy Seipp writes an interesting piece on the Koran flushing incident and respect for holy books, and books in general.
I also generally agree with official U.S. policy that the holy books of other cultures should be treated with respect. Still, there's a limit as to how much respect any mere object - even a book - should command. When religious fanatics break out into murderous riots at the mere thought that their special book has been (as they say) "mistreated," I think that limit has been reached.
In my other blog I've been writing a lot about the Doctrine of the Word of God. Yes, we should have the highest respect and honor for the Word of God. But... notice I say the Word of God - the God-breathed holy Scripture,
It is not the paper, the binding, the gold-leaf we worship - it is God, revealed in holy Scriptures. God is living, the Holy Spirit quickens our hearts to understanding. We are people of the book. Not - people who worship the book.
Happy Reformation Day
October 31, 2005
On October 31, 1517 - Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the church door at Wittenburg. He declared there that the church must return to Scriptural authority. Our foundation must be Scripture alone. It was the start of the Reformation.
We have so much to celebrate this Reformation day. The faithful who went before us, calling us, imploring us to read, hear and believe the Word of God. Men like Warfield, Luther, Knox, Machen, Spurgeon, Calvin and more. I love the history of the Reformation. I love it because it calls me back to Scripture. Our sword - our weapon - our defense - is the Word of God.
One lady who went into battle with this mighty sword, and stood on her ground on the firm foundation of the Bible was Lady Jane Grey. I'm thankful to Historia Ecclesiastics for profiling this Reformation woman. Michael Haykin points out that:
Her faith and witness, which shone out so strongly in the days before her execution on February 12, 1554, is a good reminder that the heroes of the Reformation are not simply the remarkable cadre of theologians that emerged at that time, men like Martin Luther, Huldreich Zwingli, Heinrich Bullinger, Thomas Cranmer, and John Calvin. But the faith that these Reformers sought to explicate and promote gripped the hearts of many who were not vocational theologians. Jane Grey was such a one. Only a day or so before her death, Jane wrote in her Greek New Testament a letter for her younger sister Katherine, who was fourteen. She was seeking to encourage Katherine to turn from the fleeting pleasures of this world to embrace Christ and find a treasure that is eternal. She wrote:
“I have sent you, good sister Katherine, a book, which although it be not outwardly trimmed with gold, yet inwardly it is more worth than precious stones. It is the book, dear sister, of the laws of the lord: It is His Testament and Last Will, which He bequeathed unto us wretches, which shall lead you to the path of eternal joy, and if you, with a good mind read it, and with an earnest desire, follow it shall bring you to an immortal and everlasting life. …as touching my death, rejoice as I do and consider that I shall be delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption, for as I am assured that I shall for losing of a mortal life, find an immortal felicity.”
Here we see the typical Reformation love of the Scriptures: “it is more worth than precious stones.” And central to this love of the Scriptures is Jane’s clear understanding as to why they were given: to lead sinners—those whom Jane calls “us wretches”—“to the path of eternal joy” and “immortal and everlasting life.” Finally, she has an assurance of salvation, a basic datum of New Testament Christian experience that had been recovered by the Reformers.
If we ask why she had such an assurance, a final document that she wrote, also on the eve of her execution, tells us. She wrote the following three sentences in her prayer book, the first in Latin, then one in Greek and the final one in English: “If justice be done with my body, my soul will find mercy with God. Death will give pain to my body for its sins, but the soul will be justified before God. If my faults deserve punishment, my youth at least, and my imprudence, were worthy of excuse; God and posterity will show me favour.” She has assurance of salvation because she stands justified before God, she has been made right with God, and thus is now confident of his favour.
Thank you reformers, and Lady Jane Grey for your faithful witness! Happy Reformation Day
Leather Bible and Jihad
May 4, 2005
As if there were any doubt, read John McCandlish Phillips piece When Columnists Cry 'Jihad': in the Washington Post.
I have been looking at myself, and millions of my brethren, fellow evangelicals along with traditional Catholics, in a ghastly arcade mirror lately -- courtesy of this newspaper and the New York Times. Readers have been assured, among other dreadful things, that we are living in "a theocracy" and that this theocratic federal state has reached the dire level of -- hold your breath -- a "jihad."
Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
TNIV for who?
February 18, 2005
Driving with my son today he wondered why I just ordered the new English Standard Version Study Bible. I explained the controversy surrounding the TNIV gender neutral, politically correct Bible. I stated that I was using the ESV - and actually liked it better.
His comment "You mean they are trying to make a Bible for non-Christians that doesn't offend anyone? Come on it's the BIBLE!!??"
I praise God that the word of God gives offense - it is after all the Good News.
Check out more on Mark D.Roberts - Is the TNIV Good News?
To Know Mercy
February 10, 2005
Thursday morning's Women of the Church Bible Study always leads to blog thoughts. Today we were studying Romans 9 using Boice's excellent commentary. Our discussion of the doctrine of election led us to explore God's justice and God's mercy. We were commenting on how mercy only has meaning if there is justice first.
One of my friends had the privilege of studying under R.C. Sproul many years ago. Sproul made an impact on her when he said,
If you really want to experience God's mercy in your life, first - pray for God's justice.
We all gasped - yes, we want God's mercy, but his justice????
Thankfully, God is a God of justice and a God of mercy! Sproul sure knows how to say it!
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