Sunday before last was Sanctity of Life Sunday and we had a young woman who works with the Women’s Care Center speak to the congregation. There was no way the congregation could have been prepared for the story she began to tell. She told about a young girl who was a friend of hers who recently had an abortion…her second one.
She began the story with her friend nervously walking into the clinic and sitting down with seven or eight other girls. The price for the “procedure” was $450 and they all had paid and were waiting for their name to be called. The girl mentioned there was some awkward conversation between the women, whose age ranged from 18 to mid-thirties. The nurse came out and asked her to come back to one of the rooms and to change clothes. After the girl changed clothes she sat for a while waiting on the nurse to come in. During these few minutes the girl understandably became very emotional and wondered if she was doing the right thing. When the nurse came in she noticed that the girl was troubled, but she proceeded to ask her the routine questions: “Do you know who the father is?” and “Does he feel the same way about the child?” and so on. The last question was “Are you sure you want to do this?” The young girl spoke through the tears a troubled “no”. So, the nurse directed her to a room where she could take some time to think about it. The girl sat in there for three hours…alone, torn with the decision to keep her baby, or to “have it taken care of”. The most support the nurse would offer was “have you made up your mind yet?” There wasn’t anything like “why don’t you go home and think about it if you need to, there’s no hurry”. After the three emotional hours the young girl decided to go through with the abortion. When she finally went in to see the doctor he looked at her and smiled and said “You’re my favorite patient today”. When the girl asked him why he replied, “Because you’re my last one. I can go home after this.” So the girl went through with the abortion.
As I mentioned earlier, the girl in the story is the friend of a really good Christian lady in our Church who is helping her work through this and trying to lead her to repentance and faith in Christ. Please pray for both of them. Also please pray for the Women’s Care Center in our town that tries to educate women on the alternatives to these horrible procedures by using Ultrasounds and solid Christian counsel. Finally, pray that the hard hearts of the clinics and doctors performing these procedures would be softened by the Holy Spirit and the prayers of people interceding for these helpless victims.
January 29, 2008
January 27, 2008
Brief Hiatus
My family and I have been on a brief hiatus with our son, Landon, the past few days as he has been in the hospital, so I haven't been able to post. Thanks be to God he is back home and doing well. God has been telling an amazing story of his mercy with our son, and some day I hope to put it on here.
I have a lot of posts on the backburner and I will try to get them out this week.
Thanks and God Bless.
I have a lot of posts on the backburner and I will try to get them out this week.
Thanks and God Bless.
January 19, 2008
Hebrews 6, the corporate translation
"For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt." (Hebrews 6:4-6, ESV)
A lot of the time people will read this verse and wonder "is this me?". Especially those who have been caught up in some certain sin or another. But one thing that has struck me about these verses after reading this is the corporate nature of the language in these verses. If you look you will see words like those and them. If you follow the more Redemptive Historical explanation offered in the paper listed above (or here) its hard not to conclude that at least part of the authors intentions were to address them in a corporate manner. In other words, if we (church/corporate body) fall away from God in the same way that Israel fell away from God, then that we will not be able to be restored again. But this falling away is not just any falling away. In the events at Kadesh-Barnea the Israelites were ready to stone Moses, God's mediator, and expose him to the shame of being cast outside the camp and killed. But here if there is not forward progression, then the author says that the consequences are much worse now that we are in the New Covenant, for it's not Moses now, but Jesus that we will put to an open shame if we fall in this way!
Now the big question is to what extent did they fall away at Kadesh-Barnea? In other words, what did it look like to those looking on? I hope to deal with that in the next post.
Go back and look at the story of Israel in the wilderness and the events leading up to Numbers 14 through the lenses of Hebrews 5 and 6. To me this corporate approach makes more sense than the individualistic interpretations that we've all heard.
A lot of the time people will read this verse and wonder "is this me?". Especially those who have been caught up in some certain sin or another. But one thing that has struck me about these verses after reading this is the corporate nature of the language in these verses. If you look you will see words like those and them. If you follow the more Redemptive Historical explanation offered in the paper listed above (or here) its hard not to conclude that at least part of the authors intentions were to address them in a corporate manner. In other words, if we (church/corporate body) fall away from God in the same way that Israel fell away from God, then that we will not be able to be restored again. But this falling away is not just any falling away. In the events at Kadesh-Barnea the Israelites were ready to stone Moses, God's mediator, and expose him to the shame of being cast outside the camp and killed. But here if there is not forward progression, then the author says that the consequences are much worse now that we are in the New Covenant, for it's not Moses now, but Jesus that we will put to an open shame if we fall in this way!
Now the big question is to what extent did they fall away at Kadesh-Barnea? In other words, what did it look like to those looking on? I hope to deal with that in the next post.
Go back and look at the story of Israel in the wilderness and the events leading up to Numbers 14 through the lenses of Hebrews 5 and 6. To me this corporate approach makes more sense than the individualistic interpretations that we've all heard.
January 16, 2008
Quote from Internet Monk
One of the wonderful things about God's grace is that sometimes he uses our sin somehow to ultimately draw us to Himself. Here is a great quote from Imonk that stresses this point:
"God is not harsh to reject us, but faithful to love us, through these seasons. He often lets our own persistence in sin become the means of working his grace into us. If we have acquired a taste for sin, we may drink it to the dregs and suffer the consequences before we see the superiority of our Savior and the pleasures of obedience. Persistent sin is rarely- thankfully- cured instantly, but over time, and in God’s time. His goal in our lives is not a plant that grows quickly without root, but a tree that bears fruit. There are seasons when trees that will be fruitful look, even to the eyes of the mature, to be dead and hopeless. But this is a God who brings life from the dead."
"God is not harsh to reject us, but faithful to love us, through these seasons. He often lets our own persistence in sin become the means of working his grace into us. If we have acquired a taste for sin, we may drink it to the dregs and suffer the consequences before we see the superiority of our Savior and the pleasures of obedience. Persistent sin is rarely- thankfully- cured instantly, but over time, and in God’s time. His goal in our lives is not a plant that grows quickly without root, but a tree that bears fruit. There are seasons when trees that will be fruitful look, even to the eyes of the mature, to be dead and hopeless. But this is a God who brings life from the dead."
January 14, 2008
More on McKnight's Blog
Ok, I've read a lot more of McKnight's Blog (Jesus Creed) and he has a lot of thought provoking material on there, especially about how he has moved from a Calvinist view of Scripture to, well, something he calls "Post-Calvinism" (read here). This was all thanks to a series of events, the most important being when he was asked to teach through the book of Hebrews at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I think he asks a lot of questions that need to be thought about and discussed. Maybe his post should be called "Calvinism Isn't Enough"! I don't think I agree with everything he's written, but I definitely enjoy reading and working through it.
Great Explanation of warning passages in Heberews
I've found a new blog by Scot Mcknight that I've really been enjoying. He has a really good exegesis of the warning passages in Hebrews. It's broken down into four sections which really helps. They are:
Exhortation
Sin
Believers or Not?
So What?
I'm not sure I agree totally with his "phenominological-true believer" category, and he doesn't subscribe to the Calvinistic view of Hebrews completely, but I appreciate the way he honestly writes about struggling with it. The comments are great, too.
Exhortation
Sin
Believers or Not?
So What?
I'm not sure I agree totally with his "phenominological-true believer" category, and he doesn't subscribe to the Calvinistic view of Hebrews completely, but I appreciate the way he honestly writes about struggling with it. The comments are great, too.
January 12, 2008
Sin comes with guilt
Unfortunately when we sin it often comes with a lot of guilt when we realize how bad we've messed up. This is especially true when there is sexual failure in a Christian's life. Pastor Wilson has a great post here on repentance, forgiveness and how to deal with the guilt in light of Christ's sacrifice.
January 9, 2008
A different look at John 3:16..
This is how my family and I see John 3:16 now that we are Presbyterian!
For God so loved the world (covenant of redemption) that he gave his one and only Son (propitiatory covenant sacrifice), that whoever believes in Him (puts faith in covenant promises) will not perish (suffer covenant curses) but have eternal life (enjoy covenant blessings).
Amen.
For God so loved the world (covenant of redemption) that he gave his one and only Son (propitiatory covenant sacrifice), that whoever believes in Him (puts faith in covenant promises) will not perish (suffer covenant curses) but have eternal life (enjoy covenant blessings).
Amen.
January 8, 2008
January 3, 2008
Redemptive Historical look at Hebrews 6
Some of the passages in Hebrews are very hard to take in if not read in the right context and with the authors intentions and audience in mind. Here is a paper that looks at the warning passage in Hebrews 6:4-6 in its RH context, which is very helpful.
January 2, 2008
Free John Owen Stuff
Here is a link to some free high quality PDF's of some of John Owen's works. Free stuff is always the best!
January 1, 2008
Calvin on voluntary sin vs. sins of ignorance
Here is another quote from Calvin on the subject of voluntary sins vs. sins of ignorance:
“Certain men, somewhat more prudent, when they see the teachings of Novatus refuted by the great clarity of Scripture, do not deem every sin unpardonable, but only voluntary transgression of the law, into which one knowingly and willingly falls. Now those who speak thus allow pardon for no sin, except on that is an error or ignorance. But in the law the Lord commanded one sort of sacrifice to be offered to atone for the voluntary sins of believers (Lev. 6:1ff), another sort to redeem their acts of ignorance (Lev 4). Consequently, what depravity it is not to grant any expiation for voluntary sin. I say that nothing is more apparent than that Christ’s sacrifice is alone sufficient to forgive the voluntary sins of the saints inasmuch as the Lord has attested this by carnal sacrifices as seals.” (Calvin, Institutes).
Novatus was a contemporary of Calvin that taught that if someone sinned one of the "bad sins" voluntarily after being baptized that they had to be excommunicated from the Church and no forgiveness remained for them. If that was the case then there probably weren't a whole lot of people left in his church! As Calvin points out in several places this is a grave error and it does not see sin the way Scripture does, and worse than that it attempts to limit the extent of forgiveness that Christ's sacrifice accomplished. Thankfully Christ's death on the cross makes an allowance for the worst of sins, as long as there is repentance involved (I John 1:9).
Note: If it seems like I'm spending a lot of time and effort on this subject, well its for a couple of reasons. #1, it's the reasons I created this blog, to struggle through some of these verses. #2, it's because I have struggled with these verses. In the past I have struggled with God's forgiveness for certain sins in my own life in light of a lot of these passages. But to my surprise I keep finding one thing...grace! And I hope that's what these blog entries convey to whoever reads them.
(Go here for rest of this series)
“Certain men, somewhat more prudent, when they see the teachings of Novatus refuted by the great clarity of Scripture, do not deem every sin unpardonable, but only voluntary transgression of the law, into which one knowingly and willingly falls. Now those who speak thus allow pardon for no sin, except on that is an error or ignorance. But in the law the Lord commanded one sort of sacrifice to be offered to atone for the voluntary sins of believers (Lev. 6:1ff), another sort to redeem their acts of ignorance (Lev 4). Consequently, what depravity it is not to grant any expiation for voluntary sin. I say that nothing is more apparent than that Christ’s sacrifice is alone sufficient to forgive the voluntary sins of the saints inasmuch as the Lord has attested this by carnal sacrifices as seals.” (Calvin, Institutes).
Novatus was a contemporary of Calvin that taught that if someone sinned one of the "bad sins" voluntarily after being baptized that they had to be excommunicated from the Church and no forgiveness remained for them. If that was the case then there probably weren't a whole lot of people left in his church! As Calvin points out in several places this is a grave error and it does not see sin the way Scripture does, and worse than that it attempts to limit the extent of forgiveness that Christ's sacrifice accomplished. Thankfully Christ's death on the cross makes an allowance for the worst of sins, as long as there is repentance involved (I John 1:9).
Note: If it seems like I'm spending a lot of time and effort on this subject, well its for a couple of reasons. #1, it's the reasons I created this blog, to struggle through some of these verses. #2, it's because I have struggled with these verses. In the past I have struggled with God's forgiveness for certain sins in my own life in light of a lot of these passages. But to my surprise I keep finding one thing...grace! And I hope that's what these blog entries convey to whoever reads them.
(Go here for rest of this series)
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