Halucination?

Well, it is the time of year for all the different theories of the resurrection - what really happened? A relatively common one is that Jesus' disciples were undergoing mass hallucination. I think we can rule that out on the basis of Luke 24:36 ff. In this section Jesus appears to the disciples and has them touch him and eats a piece of brolied fish. He does these to prove that he is not a ghost but has been physically raised. Whatever you think of the validity of this account you have to rule out hallucination. In other words either it is true or the disciples are being willfully deceptive. The latter would be strange given that most of them went to their deaths proclaming the resurrection. But away with this idea that the disciples were well-meaning but simply deceived into thinking that Jesus had risen. Luke 24 rules that out.

Christ is risen!

Taylor on Reinker on Ferguson on Owen on Saving Faith

Once you trace it all back, Sinclair Ferguson has made a number of comments on Owen's view of saving faith. Read them here.

Even better, read Owen himself here.

Thompson on the present state of Anglicanism

Mark Thompson has written a very good overview piece describing the development of the present situation the Anglican communion finds itself in. So good, infact, that it has been picked up by an Anglican discussion group here in NZ. Read the full article here. Becuase the discussion group is closed I'll let you know general responses to it when (or if) they happen.

The worst of Easter

Amanda was pointed to this by someone she has met here in Methven. This person was absolutely genuine that this had moved her to tears as a picture of the Cross, and was encouraging people to watch it.

It is difficult to even know where to begin. Of course this is a collage from a movie - I haven't seen it and maybe (!?) the movie as a whole is more subtle and nuanced than this clip portrays. Of course there is an aspect of the atonement which this piece captures - the concept of one for many, and it attempts to deal with the pain of the Son's death.

But the problems with it monumentally outweigh the benefits. The Son's death is labelled as a tragic mistake, and indeed is seen simply as an accident. The Son himself has no intention to die for the passengers on the train - he slips and falls (cf Jn 10:18). Here indeed is child abuse.

What is more, the passengers on the train are 'saved' - but with no reference to the Father or the Son. They simply carry on in their 'pre-salvation' lives, completely ignorant of what has happened for them. Surely, if anything, this clip promotes universalism!

I do appreciate what this clip, and similar illustrations in sermons, attempt to do. As with any articulation of the gospel, not all things can be covered at once. However, I have to conclude that this is such a distortion of the gospel that I wonder if it is any gospel at all.

Preach the gospel this Easter. Preach the glories of the triune God who took on flesh that our sin might be borne and punished in him that we might be forgiven. Preach that any who turn to Him, with their doubts, worries, fears and anxieties can be released and freed and born to a new life in Christ. Preach that grace has been given, sin has been conquered, death has been defeated and that creation will never - can never - be the same again.

Preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But don't preach the bridge.

Journeys III

Be prepared. Baden Powell coined the phrase as the motto of the Scouts, but it holds true for any trip you go on, as well as for the Christian life. Be prepared. It means you make sure you’re ready to go, you take sustenance with you and you prepare for bad weather.

Jesus was pretty clear that once you started on this journey with him there wasn’t any going back (Luke 9:57-62). Being ready to go means that you are ready to see it through ‘till the end. And part of our preparation must surely involve realising that this journey with Jesus is the only one that makes sense – where else have we to go, when only He has the words of eternal life?

And on that journey he provides the sustenance – his own Spirit who comforts (Jn 16:7) and crys out (Rom 8:15-17) and his Scriptures which teach, correct, rebuke, and train us in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). He has also provided us with his church, our family, who walk with us, as well as those who have walked before us, and speak to us from our shelves.

And be ready for bad weather. Anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim 3:12) and face trials (1 Peter 1:6ff), but we take heart for God is sovereign, and protects us from what we cannot bear (1 Cor 10:13).

The Judgment of God

Some words from John Woodhouse on 1 Samuel 3:12-13

12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.

The judgment of God against human wickedness is always a terrible thing to contemplate. It is hardly possible for us, embrolied as we are in the sinfulness of humanity, to see clearly the rightness of God's ways. It is very important for us to take care here and humbly listen to the word of God, not passing judgment on it, but allowing it to illumine our minds.

By the standards that we might apply to ourselves, Eli was not an excessively wicked man. [...] The trouble with all of this is that Eli is not being judged by us. It is the Lord who said that his sons were blaspheming and that he did not do what he should have done. It is not for us to sit in judgment over the Lord. He is the God of knowledge, by whom deeds are weighed (1 Sam 2:3). There is a certain absurdity in responding to this passage as though we know more about Eli's innocence (from the few pages that we have!) - and have a keener sense of justice - than the Lord does!

A quote from Colreidge

'the profoundest piece of writing in existence'. Any guesses which piece of writing he was describing?

Maybe we could have a prize for the first correct answer. What do you think Dave? You need to be quick becuase one of our many readers is sure to get it quickly.

Journeys II

One of the most basic rules of any journey is to let someone know where you are going. Whether it be boating, a walk in the bush, or a long-distance trip in the car, you always let someone know where you are going and what time you expect to be back. If it’s a long journey you might check in with that person occasionally, to let them know how you’re going, how you’re progressing. Why? So that if you get into trouble someone else can help you. So that someone else knows your situation and can step in if you need it.

The Christian journey isn’t really any different. Our walk with Christ is our own, but we are not alone as we walk. God in his kindness has given us brothers and sisters – a family in the church – so that we might bear each other’s burdens (Gal 6:1-3), that we might encourage each other and spur each other on to love and good deeds (Heb 10:24-25); and that, if our brothers and sisters get into trouble on their journey, we might gently restore them and by God’s grace, set them back on their journey with Christ (Jude 22-23; 2 Tim 2:25-26; Gal 2:11ff).

So from time to time tell someone how you're going, and keep an eye out your fellow travellers. Don't attempt this journey on your own - it's too long and too important - and we want to do all we can to ensure that we all make it to the finish line.

Packer on Adoption

If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers, and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. [...] To be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the father is a greater.

JI Packer Un-Trinitarian?!

I have read the charge that Packer's book Knowing God is un-Trinitarian. Not that it denies the Trinity, but that it does not give the doctrine of the Trinity the place it deserves in a book about knowing God. Unfortunately I can't remember where I read this charge (but hey this is a blog not a peer reviewed piece!) but I have to say having re-read his chapter on 'Sonship' I have to disagree in the strongest possible way. Packer's book is Biblically Trinitarian in that it does not spend its time discussing the Trinity in abstract terms but, in precisely the same way that the Bible does, shows how the doctrine of the Trinity plays out in practice - as God works in the life of the believer. In this chapter - as in the book as a whole - you will find a throughly Biblical understanding and application of the doctrine of the Trinity that will warm your heart. Read it!

Journeys I

It is commonly said that what matters is not the destination but the journey. It isn’t not so much where you’re going, the thought goes, but how you get there. The maxim is applied to life, and, at times, to the Christian life. But like so much in theology and Christianity more widely, it is not an either/or, but a both/and. For a journey requires a destination in order to be a journey. Otherwise it’s called being lost.

Paul’s letters are full of imperatives. He was clearly concerned with the journey, with how Christians lived their lives. But he also was clear that Christians knew where they were going. They have a goal, a prize, a destination. And what they do now matters, because of that. The journey is informed by the destination.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever (1 Cor 9:24-25).

The journey matters. But it matters because of the destination.

Journeys

Since moving back from Sydney I’ve been aware of how people talk about the Christian life. Some talk of it as a walk, some talk of it as growing in faith, but back here the most common description has been that the Christian life is a journey. Maybe it’s just my cynicism, but I get the feeling that this term is left very open, very broad, and has very little real substance.

Over the next week or so I plan to post a series of reflections of what a journey (of any sort) involves, and how these concepts might be applied to the Christian ‘journey’. This is with the view that we might sharpen our language, and help those ‘journey-ers’ who like the language but really have no idea what the Christian journey involves. Any thoughts you have on the metaphor would be welcome.