Social Media news outlet Mashable has done us the favor of creating some sin-approval-graphs/charts (not to be confused with flannelgraphs from Sunday School days) analyzing Internet buzz after President Obama’s recent support of gay marriage. From the adjoined article: “The chart below shows just how much of a positive sentiment infusion Obama got from his announcement . . .” Positive sentiment infusion?!? Oh, they meant standeth in the way of sinners.
Monthly Archives: May 2012
Nevin: Reformation Thought, Again
“The Heidelberg Catechism was designed, as we have already seen, to serve the cause of union and peace. . . . From beginning to end, it is occupied with what is positive in truth; rather than with its negative aspects and relations. . . . This is truly remarkable, when we consider the particular period in which it appeared, and the tone that had come to characterize too generally at the time the thinking and speaking of the different parties in the Protestant world” (J. W. Nevin, History and Genius of the Heidelberg Catechism(Chambersburg, 1847), 57-58).
Piper: Regeneration, Again
Following the heading, “Never Separate the New Birth and Faith in Jesus,” John Piper goes on to say:
The life given in the new birth is the life of faith. The two are never separate. . . . Therefore, when answering the question What happens in the new birth? never separate these two sayings of Jesus in John 3: “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3), and, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (v. 36). What happens in the new birth is the creation of life in union with Christ. And part of how God does that is by the creation of faith, which is how we experience our union with Christ” (John Piper, Finally Alive, 33)
Scripture & Christ
Scripture is God speaking to us; Scripture is God abstracting the world in order to teach us about the world. This is why Scripture is more like a poem, a song, or a novel, and less like a textbook. Scripture is more like an italicized word–carrying emphases and nuance–and less like a proper noun or another part of speech. In Scripture we see God isolating, enhancing, and highlighting elements of history. Why? Because Scripture is all about Jesus. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the Father is telling the created world (God is telling us) about his son, the second person of the Trinity, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.Why? Because God loves the world (John 3:16), and this means that Scripture provides for Christians both true and enhanced knowledge of God and the world.
Poem: Strength – Proverbs 31:25
Girl
Thou haveth fierce strength
Comely Woman
What type of strength is this?
From your womb
Comes forth the dragon-slayer
Skeletal crushing man
Mother Mary
The offspring of your holy womb
He is
Terrible as an army with banners
Silencing, mouths of fools
Dashing, the wicked’s child
They shatter against, the Rock
That Rock in the wilderness
Terrible as an army with banners
Girl
What type of strength is this?
God and the World
At First Things you can read article by Dr. Peter J. Leithart on the worldliness of God. One could mediate on Leithart’s musings at length.
Christian worldliness is cruciform: We seek the world’s good by denying ourselves and sharing the cross of Jesus. To get this right, we have to move in circles: We worship God, but worshiping the Triune God drives us back to the world God rescues; we serve this world, but we offer up our service to God, the God who rescues the world.
However we keep our balance on the tightrope, it is clear that we cannot follow Jesus without sharing His passion to see the world redeemed. For Christians, the issue is never whether to be worldly but how.
Music
“[I]f we reject a form of music out of hand because it is not the form of music we prefer, then we are trying to kick against the variegated world that the triune God created.” Go here to read more good thoughts on music by Pastor Doug Wilson.
Piper: Regeneration
Some of John Piper’s thoughts on regeneration from Finally Alive:
“The new birth, as you will see, is not a work of man. No human makes the new birth happen. . . . When you are truly born again and grow in the grace and knowledge of what the Lord has done for you, your fellowship with God will be sweet, and your assurance that he is your Father will be deep. I want that for you” (18).
“What is the new brith? That is, what actually happens? What is it like? What changes? What comes into being that wasn’t there before” (19)?
“What happens in the new birth is not getting new religion but getting new life” (28).
“[W]hat happens in the new birth is not merely affirming the supernatural in Jesus but experiencing the supernatural in yourself” (30). . . . He [Holy Spirit] blows where he wills. We don’t control him. He is free and sovereign. He is the immediate cause of the new birth” (31).
“Jesus himself is the life that the Holy Spirit gives. Or we could say: The spiritual life that he gives, he only gives in connection with Jesus. Union with Jesus is where we experience supernatural, spiritual life” (32). See John 14:6.
“So there is no spiritual life—no eternal life—apart from connection with Jesus and belief in Jesus. We will have lots more to say about the relationship between the new birth and faith in Jesus. But we can put it this way for now: In the new birth, the Holy Spirit unites us to Christ in a living union. Christ is life. Christ the vine where life flows. We are the branches (John 15:1-17). What happens in the new birth is the supernatural creation of new spiritual life, and it is created through union with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit brings us into vital connection with Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. That is the objective reality of what happens in the new birth” (32).