"Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her." -Jacob (Gen. 29:21)
As fitting a reason as ever for wanting to get married. Tobit gets it all wrong when it condemns sexual desire. We should listen to Jacob rather than some deuterocanonical pseudepigrapha.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Does God get intimate with those He loves?
"Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine." (Ezek. 16:8)
Things to look forward to this Summer.
I'm a bit of a Zinzendorfian. I think God reveals his glory and his judgments in the beauty of the seasons, and the transcendence of the mountains. God always has something particularly special to give us, His children, each season. For winter it is usually depression and melancholy, but the arrival of summer....well now:
"See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come." (Song of Solomon; 2:11-12)
Ohhhhh yeahhhh.
1. Romance.
2. Evening fires.
3. Swimming in lakes.
4. Laughter.
5. Music and singing.
6. Kissing.
7. Adventure.
8. Swimshorts and bakinis.
9 Road Trips.
10. Cottage excursions.
All of this and more. Oh what happiness! Thank you Jesus!
"See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come." (Song of Solomon; 2:11-12)
Ohhhhh yeahhhh.
1. Romance.
2. Evening fires.
3. Swimming in lakes.
4. Laughter.
5. Music and singing.
6. Kissing.
7. Adventure.
8. Swimshorts and bakinis.
9 Road Trips.
10. Cottage excursions.
All of this and more. Oh what happiness! Thank you Jesus!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Does Jesus reveal a non-violent God?
I'll let the parables answer that question for me:
"But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them- bring them here and kill them in front of me" (Lk. 19:27; the Parable of theTen Minas. This parable is actually refering to Jesus, not God the Father.)"What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." (Lk. 20:15b-16a; The parable of the Tenants.)
"In anger his master turned him over to the jailors to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed." (Mt. 18:34; The parable of the unmerciful servant.)
And, lest anyone doubt that Jesus is actually making a theological point in the above verse: "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." (18:35)
"The son of Man will send out his angels, and they will....throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Mt. 13:42; The parable of the Weeds explained. Cf. also 13:47-50)
And so on and so forth. There is lots more where this came from, so don't be shy to ask me if you want extra scriptural evidence.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Wrightian works-righteousness
"The result is that when somebody then lives the kind of life which in Christ is honoring to God, it isn't that they are earning their final justification by their own efforts; it is already given; it's a datum; it's part of who they are in Christ from the moment they believe and are baptized. Rather it is the Spirit working in them, through them, so that they are freely choosing to do what the Spirit wants them to do." N.T. Wright (http://www.ivpress.com/title/ata/wright_qa.pdf)
The problem with your soteriology, Mr. Wright, is that it smacks of catholicism. It has nothing to do with Reformation theology, despite your protest to the contrary. John Calvin would rather cut his lips off with dull scissors than claim that God gives us "final justification" on the basis of deeds performed through an infused righteousness. For the Reformation project (and for anyone who feels compelled to take the New Testament seriously), a man is only ever justified by faith. Deeds can have as little merit for justification at the end than at the beginning. Jesus makes this perfectly clear when he states, "No one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law..." (Rom. 3:20). Note the future tense. Wrightians have made a huge deal of the future tense in 2:13 to argue for a final justification on the basis of a life well lived. Why have they neglected to apply the same logic here?
The problem with your soteriology, Mr. Wright, is that it smacks of catholicism. It has nothing to do with Reformation theology, despite your protest to the contrary. John Calvin would rather cut his lips off with dull scissors than claim that God gives us "final justification" on the basis of deeds performed through an infused righteousness. For the Reformation project (and for anyone who feels compelled to take the New Testament seriously), a man is only ever justified by faith. Deeds can have as little merit for justification at the end than at the beginning. Jesus makes this perfectly clear when he states, "No one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law..." (Rom. 3:20). Note the future tense. Wrightians have made a huge deal of the future tense in 2:13 to argue for a final justification on the basis of a life well lived. Why have they neglected to apply the same logic here?
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Analyzing a popular, but misleading maxim.
"If you say you are a Christian, then act like one."
The assumption behind this aphorism is that a particular (written or unwritten) moral code defines, confines, or constrains the ontology of a Christian. The Christian's actions must line up with this set of pearl-strung laws or he/she does not qualify to be one. But Christianity is not moral code. It is a response to a moral code. Christianity revolves around the basic fact that Jesus Christ, not our own personal actions or our ability to live up to and emulate a pre-selected list of rules, is our righteousness. Those who "act like Christians" are, nine times out of ten, seeking to follow a law of righteousness that they have built for themselves. But this is not, in any sense, a submission to God's righteousness. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that, "twisted as you are" you ought to come to the Father and expect good things from Him (in Luke Jesus modifies this teaching to disclose the receiving of the Holy Spirit). In other words: "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Pastors who engage in moralism in their sermons never take God's Holy Law seriously. They assume that if a person doesn't get drunk, sleep around, cheat their neighbor, or lie, he has sufficiently demonstrated enough good behavior to honestly call himself a Christian. Or positively, a person who writes encouraging emails to said pastor, attends church faithfully, participates in local ministries, and tithes generously is "acting" like a Christian. God's Holy Law will allow for none of this. According to the sacred writ in Romans, both the pious Jew and religious Gentile are forced to clap their mouths shut as God righteously damns them for their ungodliness and wickedness. They are unclean. Their good deeds and Christian actions are worthless in God's sight. They have aroused His wrath which burns to the grave below and cannot be quenched. They have sighted God's free gift of salvation and erected a triple-barrior of requirements in front of it. James says," Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." To this day, I have not met a man or woman who takes this verse seriously. Since it is most certainly true, the one embodiment of truth and knowledge that a Christian has to guage the autheniticity of his "Christianess" stands clearly and immutably against him. His flimsy structure of good deeds and partial fulfillments fall before one word. He has kept certain commands but has neglected others (love your neighbor as yourself? love your enemies? love God with your whole heart? Be perfect? Be holy as God is holy? Avoid so much as a hint of sexual immorality, greed, and impurity?) and thus he has kept no commands. He has broken all of them.
"If you say you are a Christian, then act like one" is a lawless statement. It is a call to take up that filthy pile of fishy-smelling menstrual rags and build up a ramp to Heaven. You may be certain that God will come down and scatter your pride.
The assumption behind this aphorism is that a particular (written or unwritten) moral code defines, confines, or constrains the ontology of a Christian. The Christian's actions must line up with this set of pearl-strung laws or he/she does not qualify to be one. But Christianity is not moral code. It is a response to a moral code. Christianity revolves around the basic fact that Jesus Christ, not our own personal actions or our ability to live up to and emulate a pre-selected list of rules, is our righteousness. Those who "act like Christians" are, nine times out of ten, seeking to follow a law of righteousness that they have built for themselves. But this is not, in any sense, a submission to God's righteousness. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that, "twisted as you are" you ought to come to the Father and expect good things from Him (in Luke Jesus modifies this teaching to disclose the receiving of the Holy Spirit). In other words: "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Pastors who engage in moralism in their sermons never take God's Holy Law seriously. They assume that if a person doesn't get drunk, sleep around, cheat their neighbor, or lie, he has sufficiently demonstrated enough good behavior to honestly call himself a Christian. Or positively, a person who writes encouraging emails to said pastor, attends church faithfully, participates in local ministries, and tithes generously is "acting" like a Christian. God's Holy Law will allow for none of this. According to the sacred writ in Romans, both the pious Jew and religious Gentile are forced to clap their mouths shut as God righteously damns them for their ungodliness and wickedness. They are unclean. Their good deeds and Christian actions are worthless in God's sight. They have aroused His wrath which burns to the grave below and cannot be quenched. They have sighted God's free gift of salvation and erected a triple-barrior of requirements in front of it. James says," Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." To this day, I have not met a man or woman who takes this verse seriously. Since it is most certainly true, the one embodiment of truth and knowledge that a Christian has to guage the autheniticity of his "Christianess" stands clearly and immutably against him. His flimsy structure of good deeds and partial fulfillments fall before one word. He has kept certain commands but has neglected others (love your neighbor as yourself? love your enemies? love God with your whole heart? Be perfect? Be holy as God is holy? Avoid so much as a hint of sexual immorality, greed, and impurity?) and thus he has kept no commands. He has broken all of them.
"If you say you are a Christian, then act like one" is a lawless statement. It is a call to take up that filthy pile of fishy-smelling menstrual rags and build up a ramp to Heaven. You may be certain that God will come down and scatter your pride.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Why I haven't been posting lately.
I'm still a lazy bum. This can only mean that you as a reader have neglected to pray for me. There is no progress in sanctification unless brothers and sisters intercede for one another.
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