WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 10. Q & A

WCF & Reformed Theology

Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson’s The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.

WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 10.

 1. What is the difference between the Roman Catholic and Reformed Churches with regard to the supreme judge in matters of religious controversy?

WCF clearly teaches that Reformed Churches regard the Holy Spirit speaking through Scripture as the “supreme judge” in all matters of religious controversy, e.g., “decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits.” Roman Catholic churches do not believe this: Roman Catholics believe (a) the Roman Church can “infallibly interpret the infallible Word of God” and (b) the Pope can speak officially regarding doctrinal controversies, i.e., the doctrine of Papal infallibility.

2. Can the Church speak infallibly? If not, then how can it speak with authority or value?

No. Only God speaks infallibly (God is infallible, thus, he can speak infallibly). The Church can speak with authority and value insofar as it declares the Word of God.

3. In the Synod of Jerusalem did Peter act as pope? Who made the decision? Upon what was this decision based?

Peter was not acting as pope at the Synod of Jerusalem. The Church made a decision by appealing to the Old Testament (see verses 14-18).

WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 9. Q & A

WCF & Reformed Theology

Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson’s The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.

WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 9.

1. False religions deny that the Bible is God’s complete revelation. What other aspect of revelation do they deny?

False religions (and Christian viewpoints that are not fully Biblical) deny the sufficiency-and-perspicuity of Scripture, and they also deny that Scripture interprets itself (since they believe Scripture is deficient, they insist it needs an outside interpreter).

2. In such religions is the Bible important or necessary to the individual believer (according to the view of that religion)?

In such religions the Bible is not necessarily important, since it is not the ultimate standard or authority. The outside interpreter is the authorial matrix; the outside interpreter becomes the standard, thus it becomes necessarily important. (And this is over and against Scripture; it is a myth to insist that Scripture and the outside interpreter, e.g., Tradition, are parallel standards/authorities.

3. Reconcile any apparent conflict between the Reformed insistence that the Bible is self-interpreting and the Reformed teaching that there are to be ministers of the Word ordained with authority to teach the Word in the Churches.

There is no conflict. The Bible is self-interpreting, but the Bible still needs to be studied in depth and taught; there are many hard things in Scripture, but they are understandable. It takes effort and time, it takes exertion and care. Pastor’s are ordained to “study” Scripture (see 2 Timothy 2:15), and after studying to preach!

 4. Are all portions of the Scripture equally simple to understand? If not, does this change the fact that they are self-interpreting? Explain.

No. All portions of Scripture are not equally simple to understand. This is why we say Scripture is self-interpretive – “that difficult places are clarified by the parallel passages which speak more clearly” (18), i.e., oftentimes this is referred to as the “analogy of faith” – all of Scripture is united, “the sense of Scripture is one (not many)” (18) – and since all of Scripture is harmonious and without contradiction you are able to clarify difficult passages by the passages that are not difficult.

 5. Why is creedless Christianity a perversion of this doctrine?

Creeds are evidence that the teaching of Scripture is clear and has perspicuity. If you say, “No creed but Christ!” then you are denying the clarity of Scripture.

6. Why do creeds (which are agreeable with Scripture) have authority?

Creeds, while subordinate to Scripture, are both “useful” and “authoritative”, but this is only to the “degree that they are ‘agreeable to and founded on the Word of God.” Because Scripture is self-interpretive we are able to formulate creeds, and “creeds are evidence that the Bible is clear” (19).

Tuesdays with Blaster at Tree & The Seed: TMWAJ – Tracks 13, 14, and 15

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*I started this weekly review last year, but now finishing it. This is one of my favorite punk rock records by the band Blaster the Rocket Man.* 

**This post is technically a day late.**

Today’s installment is over Tracks 13, 14, and 15 of Blaster the Rocket Man’s 1999 release, The Monster Who Ate Jesus.

Go here for initial comments on album and the linear notes.
Go here for comments on Tracks 1, 2, and 3.
Go here for comments on Tracks 4, 5, and 6.
Go here for comments on Tracks 7, 8, and 9.
Go here for comments on Tracks 10, 11, and 12.

Track 13 – Frankenstein’s Monster Wants a Wife

Jazzy-rhythmic guitar chord progression throughout the song. The first minute-and-a-half is an instrumental opener with an infectious double-picking lead guitar that functions as a refrain throughout the song. Musically this is one of my favorite tracks.

Lyrically this song derives its subject matter from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. In that novel, Frankenstein’s monster demands – threatens – that his creator make a wife for him. Frankenstein begins to, but aborts the process. I believe Blaster is allegorically using this scene from Frankenstein to illustrate how sin is a vicious monster that then demands more sin from its creator (man). Thus, Frankenstein’s dilemma: “Just cut this hand off, it’s offending me!” 

She’s much too fresh.
Where did you get her?
Now, don’t confess
for I must wed her
to my abomination
son of man.

“Doc Frankenstein!”
Who said that?
“Won’t you be mine?”
Now, cut that out!
I’ve got cuttin’ to do.
I’m not finished with you.
No chit chat till this is through.

It’s no easy operation
to apprehend the apparition,
to make the phantom corporeal,
substantial stuff for us to feel.
Scalpel, please. Make incision.
Scissors! Oh, these quick decisions!
It takes a steady hand…
Curse my monster’s sick demands!

How does she look?
Do the scars show?
She’s all sewn up
with no place to go,
save on a hellish honeymoon
that ends all too soon
in hell, well…

“Doc Frankenstein!”
Who said that?
“Won’t you be mine?”
Baby, how you been?
Oh my, your hand’s so cold.
But I’ll be bold
and hold it anyhow.

It’s all so thrilling 
When you’re willing
To fudge and fake
To make a killing
Still I want to tear it apart!
Stop the beating of this hideous heart!
Why do I abandon my endeavor to sever
To pick up the needle and sew it back together?
Oh, it’s neverending, can’t you see?
Just cut this hand off, it’s offending me!
Once dead, but now…
It’s alive!
It’s alive!

Track 14 – I Like Lycanthropy

Lycanthropy (or Lycanthrope) = Wolfman/Werewolf. To get this song you have to know something about the reality-mythology of man-to-beast shapeshifting. Werewolves are mythological creatures, humans who shapeshift into wolves. You are probably most familiar with Werewolves from the film Teen Wolf starring Michael J. Fox.

In any case, while shapeshifting is truly mythological, what is not mythological is the truth (reality!) that God does curse sinners by turning them over to their sins and their minds become clouded, and, as a result, they become beast-like. As Paul says in Romans 1:21-25:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. 

And because they worshipped the creation (beasts of the field) in place of God, they became like the thing(s) they worshipped (as the saying goes, “You are what you worship.”). In the subsequent verses (vv26-32), Paul denotes that God gave them up to “vile affections” and a “reprobate mind”. When God does this, the human is given over to sin (perhaps even given over to demons), and sometimes this includes becoming beast-like, e.g., Nebuchadnezzar becomes beast-like, he becomes like a Cow/Ox (Daniel 4), and Jesus cast a Legion (many devils/demons) out of a man who had become beast-like (Matthew 8 and Luke 8) — the text says that this man had been bound with chains and in fetters but had broken them, and was wandering naked in the wilderness; also, fornication, homosexuality, and bestiality are sins whereby God gives humans over to their sins and they become beast-like, i.e., in the same way that the animals do not exercise discipline and self-control in sexuality, so too humans who have been given over to “reprobate minds” are beast-like through promiscuous sexuality. All that to say, the Bible depicts that humans becoming beast-like is a symbol of God’s judgment.

This is a classic punk rock tune. (May their tribe increase!) Distorted guitars. Power chords. Palm mutes. Pick-slides. Opens with vocal refrain overlaying drumming, “I like lycanthropy!” All of this, obviously, is tongue-in-cheek, because the point of the song is that all those given over to sin (those who are beast-like, like the Werewolf in this song) must humble themselves like the Cow-King, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; sinners must humble themselves and look to Heaven, i.e., as Blaster says, “There’s no way for new life to begin, No! Unless you confess and turn away from your sin You’ve got to die with Jesus to know the Resurrection.”

I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like it!

Don’t call it murder when I feed
It’s just the nourishment I need
I cannot curb this appetite
or I’ll disturb my natural plight

So what if’ I’m a wolf on full moon nights
I’m still part man and I’ve got rights
I’m sniffin’ out the blood and I take bites!

If you are walking by
and I transmogrify,
be prepared to run or die!

I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!

The wolfman is back!
Don’t call it a curse.
Sticker on my car
Read it and weep
for the ones you love.
Says, “Equal Rights for Werewolves!”

I’m sniffin’ out the blood and I take bites!
Why do you look at me with a look of fright?
So what if I’m a wolf on full moon nights!

If you are walking by
and I transmogrify
be prepared to run or die!
Run or die!

I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!
I like lycanthropy!

The wolfman in me
I like lycanthropy (He likes it! He likes it!)
The wolfman and me
I like lycanthropy (He likes it! He likes it!)
Wolf!
Claw! Bite! Sniff! Bark! Scratch! Tear! Growl!
Howl!

Like king Nebuchandezzar
You gotta’ turn your eyes to Heaven
Like King Nebuchandezzar
You gotta’ turn your eyes Heavenward!

There’s no way for new life to begin, No!
Unless you confess and turn away from your sin
You’ve got to die with Jesus
to know the Resurrection
You’ gotta’ die, die, die with Jesus
to know the Resurrection
You gotta’ die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!
with Jesus
to know Life!

I like lycanthropy!
I like it!

(The Mysteriously missing third verse:)

A chorus of Redeemed Ones shouts the truth in 
unison to the werewolf:
“Your throat is an open grave!”
Our Lycanthrope Hero responds in despair:
“I know no other way to behave!”
The Redeemed Ones keep shouting in Love:
“You must repent, you Cursed Wretch!”
The werewolf snarls in defiance:
“I’ll not relent. Your flesh I’ll fetch!”

Despite the Lycanthrope’s unrepentance,
The Crucified One Who is Lifted Up
continues to offer forgiveness to all
monstrosities who will believe on Him.

Track 15 – Tundra Time on Thulcandra

This is another song that is lyrically derived from C. S. Lewis’ Sci-Fi Trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. Ransom is main character throughout the trilogy. In the first book he travels from earth to Mars, in the second he travels to Venus (and fights/defeats the Unman), and in the third he is the Pendragon of Logres (i.e., the Leader of King Arthur’s realm in Britain), and he and his team are instrumental in assisting in the war against the “Macrobes” (fallen angels/demons).

Down in the handramit [this is the canals on Malacandra where breathable air can be found]
I wanna’ be on the harandra [the suface of Mars]
An alien on this planet
On my way back to Thulcandra [Planet Earth]

Malacandra [Planet Mars] on my mind 
Perelandra [Planet Venus] all the time
Nevermind, it’s tundra time

Get cozy in the cockpit
Snuggle in the turret
Grunts gotta’ make the best of it

Warmth from the blast of the laser cannon
Keeps me goin’
When it won’t quit snowin’

Man the console
Console the man

Malacandra on my mind
Perelandra all the time
Nevermind, it’s tundra time

South wind blows
We know summer is coming soon
Lightning flashes
We know the Son is coming again

And what will the silent planet, Tellus [Latin for Earth]
tell us when they pull Deep Heaven
down on their heads?
I guess this is life during wartime

when Thulcandra is the battlefield.[Earth is the battlefield of incredible spiritual warfare in That Hideous Strength.]

Next week will be the last installment for Tracks 16, 17, and 18!

40 Days for Life Kickoff Rally

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Yellowstone Valley Christians for Life sponsors the local 40 Days for Life here in Billings. Last night was the Kickoff Rally, hosted at St. Bernard Catholic Church. I provided the opening prayer (see below), and Father John, Orthodox Priest at St. Nicholas, and Mike Rapkoch, member of YVCfL, provided a couple wonderful talks, and Dr. Bill Phillips, President Emeritus at Yellowstone Christian College, provided the closing prayer.

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7 PM
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
40 Days for Life Kickoff Rally
St. Bernard Catholic Church
Billings, MT

2 Chronicles 7:14  “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Our Father in Heaven: You are the Master and Blessed Creator of the Universe and Jesus Christ, your only Begotten Son, is the Savior and Redeemer of man. We are your covenant people, called by your name because You, the Father and the Son, have sent us your Holy Spirit, to fill and empower and communicate to us the righteousness and victory that Jesus Christ secured for us through his life, death, burial, and resurrection.

O Lord, because we have your Holy Spirit we have an unction and understanding, because now your Law has been written in our hearts, so that we might do all that Christ commands. And since we know that which Christ commands, we come before you this evening as faithful Christians; as brothers and sisters in the household of faith; as citizens in the Kingdom of God. We come before you this evening at this Kickoff Rally, O Triune Lord, as a members of the Culture-of-Life, and as a Witness against our Nation’s and the World’s Culture-of-Death.

In your Perfect Law you condemn murder: to Moses you said , “Thou shalt not kill.”

Our society, O Lord, has scoffed at your Law. Truly, our Nation is a country of sinners and scoffers. And because of this, we, your people – those who are called by your name – we come now before you in humility and prayer, interceding on the behalf of our nation.

Lord, we confess and acknowledge that we live in a society that has built prosperity and a culture, economies and our cities upon the blood of the Aborted. Blood flows from the operation tables in the abortion facilities, out doors, over sidewalks, and into the streets. This blood is mixed with the mortar that is our Nation’s progress and growth, and thus, Lord, we come before you and confess that we live in a Nation of bloody-city-builders.

Lord, we thank you that we can be witnesses against the culture of death and against the vain raging of a Nation that builds cities with the blood of the unborn: their voices have been silenced, but we will not be silenced by the power of your Spirit. So, O Lord, we ask that you would do a mighty work through the 40 Days for Life in our Valley. Protect the many who in the days to come will offer up the sacrifice of prayer to you on the behalf of the unborn; and we rejoice knowing that you have promised through your Word, which never returns void, that “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.“

We ask that the hearts of fathers and mothers would be turned to their children through our witness. We ask that you would save babies here in Billings! We ask that you would prevent mother’s from committing the sin of aborting their children here in Billings! We ask that you would close the Abortion Facility that is here in Billings — in our midst, in our city, just up the road — and we ask that you would do all this in order that you might be Glorified!  We pray these things in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 8. Q & A

WCF & Reformed Theology

Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson’s The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.

WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 8.

1. How many “Bibles” are there (in the ultimate sense)?

In the ultimate sense, there is only one Bible, “given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life” (WCF. I.2.).

2. Give the correct definition of “the Bible.”

It is the original text [the “autographa of the inspired authors” (15)] written by authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

3. Do we actually possess the original manuscripts upon which the Word of God was originally written?

No. We only have copies (apographa) of the original text. But these copies “actually possess it [the original text] in “authentical” form” (15).

4. What does the Modernist say about the “original, infallible Word of God”?

He says, “What use . . . is an infallible Bible when no one possesses it?” (The Modernist equivocates the original manuscript, which we no longer have, with the original text, which we do have preserved in copies.)

5. Could a copy of the infallible Word of God be as infallible as the Word of which it is a copy? Explain.

Yes. A copy preserves and transmits the truth of the original.

6. Were the early copies perfect?

Some could have been, but they could not all necessarily be perfect because they were copied by uninspired persons. They were copied by hand and men make mistakes.

7. What two chief factors worked to preserve the perfect text even through imperfect copiers?

First, there is a cloud of witnesses (copies). Each copiest made his own mistakes, and the other copies stand as witnesses of both a) the entire text and b) against that copiest’s mistakes.

Second, the Greek-speaking Churches that were founded outside of Palestine were familiar with the text and mistakes would have been noticed, this “helped reduce the errors of copiers to an exceedingly small amount” (17).

8. Which of these do you believe most important?

Williamson believes the former is weightier.

9. Why is it no longer necessary that preservation of the true text depend on the Greek-speaking Church?

Because we now have “mechanical means of printing” (17), i.e., printing presses, copy machines, e-publishing, photographs and digital imaging, etc.

10. What is the glorious result of God’s singular care and providence so far as Scripture is concerned?

God has by his “care and providence” kept the original text pure through the ages; “We do now actually possess before our very eyes the “authentical” text of the Word of the living God” (17).

Unifying Approach to Life: ‘Is this wisdom or folly?’

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“But it [Book of Proverbs] is not a portrait-album or a book of manners: it offers a key to life. The samples of behaviour which it holds up to view are all assessed by one criterion, which could be summed up in the question, ‘Is this wisdom or folly?’ This is a unifying approach to life, because it suits the most commonplace realms as fully as the most exalted. Wisdom leaves its signature on anything well made or well judged, from an apt remark to the universe itself, from a shrewd policy (which springs from practical insight) to a noble action (which presupposes moral and spiritual discernment). In other words, it is equally at home in the realms of nature and art, of ethics and politics, to mention no others, and forms a single basis of judgment for them all” (Derek Kidner, The Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: The Proverbs, 13).

Roger E. Olson says, “Me No Likey Clavinistic Creep!”

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For a side splitting laugh, go read Arminian-powerhouse Roger E. Olson’s musings on New Calvinism.

We’ve heard of “Mission Creep” — when a project expands beyond its original goals. Roger E. Olson is struggling with “Calvinistic Creep” — “What am I going to do with all these Calvinists (that are showing up in the unlikeliest of places, i.e., in Wesleyan, Pentecostal, Holiness, and Anabaptist Churches)!!!”

My thoughts: John 3:8 “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 7. Q & A

WCF & Reformed Theology

Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson’s The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.

WCF. I. Of the Holy Scriptures – 7.

1. What does “perspicuity” of Scriptures mean?
Perspicuity is used to describe the clarity of what Scripture teaches: Scripture is easily understood and lucid.
2. What is the Roman Catholic doctrine on this same point?
Roman Catholics do not agree with Protestants on this point. They believe “We can know the true meaning [of Scripture] . . . from the Catholic Church which has been authorized by Jesus Christ to explain His doctrines” (Baltimore Catechism, Q. 1328). Thus, they are saying that Scripture is not lucid, since they insist Scripture needs the interpretive imagination of the Roman Catholic Church.

 

3. Contrast Roman Catholic and Reformed views of the creed.
For the former, creeds are the lucid interpretations provided by the Church of the unclear Scriptures. For the latter, the “authority of creeds is determined by Scripture, not determinative of Scripture” (13). The Reformed view is that the creeds are always subordinate to Scripture.

 

4. Does the doctrine of perspicuity of Scripture teach that there is nothing difficult to understand in Scripture? What is the difference between this admission and the Roman Catholic teaching?
No. The doctrine of perspicuity of Scripture does not teach there is nothing difficult to understand in Scripture. There are many profound things taught in Scripture, e.g., Doctrine of Election, Doctrine of Trinity. “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter” (Proverbs 25:2). These profound things are hard to understand because of the nature of their content, but they can be understood.
5. What must the humblest as well as the most learned Christian do to understand the Scriptures? Do you think that those who complain of Scripture being too hard to understand have ever really done this?
All must study the Scriptures in order to understand the Scriptures. This is a diligent work. It is not something that is accomplished with “spasmodic spurts of effort” (13). If you read Scripture diligently and cumulatively, then you cannot say it is too hard to understand.
6. How does Scripture itself indicate that God regards his Word as clear enough for all to understand?
God tells us to search and study and read the Scriptures, and God’ s Word is addressed to all men.

2 Timothy 3:15-17 “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

Acts 17:11 “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

 John 5:39 “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

 Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

7. What would you believe are “the ordinary means” which must be duly used?
Study the Bible in a systematic fashion with aids (pastoral help, the creeds, Bible commentaries, Christian devotional writings, etc.).