December 2004

The First Thing Every Christian Needs To Know

  • Tim Challies
  • 12/22/04
  • 0

In the first article of this series I indicated that there are five things every Christian needs to know. These five things are distinctives which divide Christianity from every other religion. Further, they divide true Christianity, Protestantism, from Catholicism and cults and all other attempts to combine the wisdom of men with the wisdom of God. Today we will turn to the first of these five important points.

Here is the first thing every believer needs to know: The Bible alone is the infallible rule of faith for the church. This is known in theological circles as the doctrine of Sola Scriptura or Scripture Alone. This may seem to be quite an obvious doctrine to some, yet I would encourage you to keep reading to examine if you really do believe this, to see how an improper view of this doctrine can taint your walk with Christ, and to learn how a strong view of the Scripture’s authority is necessary for a strong and living faith.

At the time of the Reformation, when this doctrine was formulated, the church was just barely emerging from hundreds of years of rule by the Roman Catholic Church. For the Reformers, this doctrine had to do with the Bible being the final authority for Christians over against the authority of tradition, popes and church councils. The Reformers were convinced that the Bible claimed for itself the place of ultimate authority - an authority it could and would not share with anyone else. Martin Luther summarized this beautifully and courageously when, before the Diet of Worms, he said “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God…God help me! Here I stand.” In more recent times, the emphasis of this doctrine has shifted. This is not to say that the content of the doctrine changed, but rather that it came under attack from a different angle and Scripture’s authority needed to be defended from a different attack. In the last century Sola Scriptura became the battlecry of those who sought to defend the Bible’s inerrancy under the attacks of liberals who taught that the Bible was merely a flawed human book. These people tried seperate the Jesus of the Bible from the real Jesus. This battle was fought and won twenty years ago. In the contemporary church we find the emphasis shifting again. Having defended the Bible’s authority and inerrancy, today we fight to reestablish the sufficiency of Scripture.

Defining Sola Scriptura

Before we go any further, let’s further define this doctrine. Sometimes it is best to establish what something is not before we define what it is, so here are three things this doctrine does not teach:

  • The Bible is the only place where truth may be found and is the only way God has revealed Himself.
  • The Bible is equally clear to everyone.
  • We do not need the authority or instruction of the local church.

All three of these are erroneous views. God has revealed Himself in many ways, and Scripture is but one of these. The Bible is not equally clear to all people, as some are more easily able to grasp certain concepts than others. And finally, the Bible does not nullify the authority of the local church or the necessity of proper instruction.

I have earlier defined Sola Scriptura as meaning “The Bible alone is the infallible rule of faith for the church.” The Cambridge Declaration, formulated by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals provides a more detailed but still succinct definition:

We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.

We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian’s conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation.

The Formal Principle

The Reformers referred the Scripture Alone as being the formal principle of the Reformation. They used this phrase to express that this doctrine was the one that formed and shaped the rest. They would have been unable to formulate any other doctrines were it not for this one, for all depended on the source of Divine authority. Had the Reformers determined that the Roman Church was, as she claimed, the ultimate authority, the Reformation would have ended then and there. But when they found that the Bible reserved this position for itself, they were able to look to it to determine what else it said about the faith. Where the Bible contradicted the Church, they deferred to Scripture’s authority.

The Bible derives its authority from its very nature of being God-breathed revelation. It has often been argued that Protestants use circular argumentation to establish and prove this authority. After all, when asked how we know the Bible is the ultimate authority, we can only claim that the Bible tells us so. We are left with the question of how the Bible can claim for itself this authority. The answer is suprisingly simple. If the Bible is the highest authority, to what higher authority can it refer to prove this claim? Think of a soldier who has been promoted to the rank of colonel. How would you or I be able to verify that this man was, indeed, a colonel and not a sergeant or a private? We would ask a higher source of authority, perhaps a general, to verify this. The Bible has no higher authority to which it can appeal, so it appeals to itself. Anyone who claims authority over Scripture must first invalidate the claims Scripture makes about itself. We will now turn to some of those claims.

What Scripture Says About Scripture

There are many passages of Scripture we can refer to that will show us the Bible’s view of itself. We will turn to a few of these and see what they tell us about Scripture.

It is infallible in its totality. “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,making wise the simple.” (Psalm 19:7)

It is inerrant in its parts. “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.” (Proverbs 30:5,6)

It is complete. “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Revelation 22:18,19)

It is authoritative. “Your word, O LORD , is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.” (Psalm 119:89)

It is sufficient. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16,17)

It will accomplish what it promises. “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

These are no small claims. The Bible clearly claims for itself a position of supreme authority over the Christian, binding his conscience and giving assurance that the Scripture alone is the final authority. Furthermore, it condemns anyone who would claim this authority for himself or seek to add to or take away from it.

In our next article we will examine the implications of this doctrine on the Christian life and show why this truly is something every Christian needs to know.

Headlines (December 22)

  • Tim Challies
  • 12/22/04
  • 0

‘Tis The Season To Be Surveyed - A national survey of 1100 physicians conducted by HCD Research and the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City has found that 74% of doctors believe that miracles have occured in the past and 73% believe they can still occur today. Physicians surveyed crossed all religious and denominational boundaries. “The picture that emerges is one where doctors, although presumably more highly educated than their average patient, are not necessarily more secular or radically different in religious outlook than the public, stated Dr. Alan Mittleman, Director of The Finkelstein Institute.” They survey also found that over half regulary attend worship surveys and nearly half believe that prayer is very important to their lives. I have to wonder if these statistics are too vastly different from any cross-section of the American population. You can find more about it here.

What Makes Google Tick? - Every time we need to do a search we just know that Google will be there, waiting patienty to comb the Internet on our behalf. But of course behind that simple, plain little page is some of the most incredible technology known to man. ZDNet takes a fascinating look behind the scenes at Google. Did you know that Google only uses small, cheap servers rather than huge, expensive ones? Did you know that they have tens of thousands of these machines searching and indexing the web? Did you know that they handle over 1000 searches per second?

Bush Supports Cross-Hating Movement - Here is a strange story. President Bush and his father have both expressed support for a group of church leaders that endorse throwing crosses into the trash. One leader said: “The fact that the cross is a symbol of division, shame, suffering and bloodshed prove that it is not of God but Satan. On this 18th day of April 2003, we are beginning a new history. Pastors, please, help me to bring the cross down, because it is not of God but the devil.” The movement is closely affiliated with Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church who is positioning himself as the new messiah. Last week, the movement’s leaders presided over a Washington prayer breakfast featuring messages of thanks from both Bush presidents. Of course one has to wonder if the message of thanks was merely some mostly-meaningless, standard message or if it was a personal greeting actually written or endorsed by the President. You can read more here and here.

Support Scott Peterson - Would you like to support a man who murdered his wife and child? If so, this story is for you! Scott Peterson’s lawyer is now accepting online donations to fund the continued investigation into who really killed Laci Peterson. “We believe Scott Peterson has been unjustly convicted. This site will continue to monitor the happenings in this case until justice is finally served.” If you have always dreamed of donating money to a murderer and a slimely defense lawyer for whom no crime is too vile, this is your chance!

Church of the Dropouts, Losers, Sinners, Failures And Fools

  • Tim Challies
  • 12/21/04
  • 0

Road hockey is a Canadian tradition - so much so that we invented the word “shinny” to describe the informal games that are played on driveways, roads and parking lots across the nation. It seems that today’s youth generally prefers to play hockey on the PlayStation and it is becoming more and more rare to see panting kids, huffing and puffing up the road with frozen cheeks, frozen noses and missing teeth. But I digress. When I was in grade school I knew that any self-respecting boy had to have a hockey stick at school throughout the duration of the school year. Every recess and lunch break afforded us the opportunity to head outdoors, even if it was just for fifteen or twenty minutes, to play a bit of pick-up hockey. Of course the difficultly always arose that we needed to divide into teams. Now there were two methods of doing this. The first was an egalitarian method where all the sticks were thrown into a pile and a blindfolded person (actually, the blindfold was usually just a “touque” (another Canadian word, this one meaning “hat”) pulled over the person’s eyes) would divide them into two groups. The group your stick was in defined which team you would play for. The second method was the skill-based method where two captains would be elected and they would pick their teams as they saw fit. Naturally the most-skilled players were picked first and the least-skilled were picked last. While I was never a standout player, it was blessedly rare for me to be the last guy picked. Last guy picked was a position of shame and embarrassment and was reserved only for the most clumsy, least-athletic guy in the class. Of course the least-athletic guy was also considered the class loser. Popularity in grade school was largely determined by one’s ability to succeed in sports. Those who simply did not have the coordination and skill to do well in sports ranked at the very bottom of the pecking order.

As I reminisced about my childhood I became profoundly thankful that God didn’t use either of these methods to choose a people for Himself. The Bible tells us that God predestined to salvation those who would believe in Him. While we do not know exactly how He chose who would be among the elect and who would not, we do have some ideas about how He did not do this.

God did not sort people into a pile, determine how many he wanted to spend eternity in heaven with Him, and then go through them and count names off like a gym teacher. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, in! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, in!” We know this is not the way He acted because in the first verses of Ephesians Paul tells us that we were predestined “in accordance with his pleasure and will.” It was not mere statistics or chance that we were saved. Rather, we were saved by an act of God’s will.

We also know that God did not choose people based on what they had to offer Him. He did not choose us based on our love for Him, our desire to be His children or on the skill we could exhibit in serving or worshipping Him. Paul illustrates this in the letter to the Romans. Writing about Jacob and Esau he tells us that God announced His decision concerning which of the twins would love Him before they were even born so that “God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls.” (Romans 9:11-12)

Jon Foreman of the band Switchfoot wrote a song called The Beautiful Letdown where he describes the church. “We are a beautiful let down, painfully uncool, the church of the dropoutsand losers and sinners and failures and the fools.” I love those words. Any time I feel like I have something to offer God or somehow that I deserve God’s love, those words spring to mind. The church is not made up of the best of people - the most intelligent, the most athletic, the coolest, the funniest, the most-skilled. No, the church is made of dropouts, losers, sinners, failures and fools. It is made up of fools who have been made wise by God so that we can trust in Divine wisdom rather than the wisdom of this world. It is made of those who have left behind careers, dreams and riches to seek after God. It is made up of people who are empowered by God Himself so that He can live life in and through them. It is made up of those to whom God has given grace to see that success in His eyes is often failure in the world’s.

God has chosen a people for Himself, and thanks be to Him, He has done so using Divine wisdom that transcends any human mind. We do not know on what basis He chose us, but we do know that He set us apart to bring glory and honor to Him, both here on earth and for eternity in heaven. Or as Ephesians puts it, we were predestined “in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.” What a joy and honor it is to praise Him for His wisdom, knowing that our obedience brings glory to His name. God be glorified in and through me!

Five Things Every Christian Needs To Know

  • Tim Challies
  • 12/21/04
  • 0

Over a short series of articles, I am going to introduce five things I believe every Christian needs to know. This is not to say that one cannot be saved if from ignorance he does not know these, but that these five things are of foundational importance to the faith. One may be a Christian without knowing them, but one’s walk with Christ will be greatly enhanced by understanding, applying and treasuring them. To deny them, however, is to undermine the very bedrock of the faith.

If you have been a Christian for any length of time, and especially if you have been part of a Reformed tradition, you may well know of these five things. While their origin is the Bible, they were not formulated as doctrines until the time of the Protestant Reformation. This is often the way God has revealed truths about Himself. For example, the doctrine of the Trinity was not formulated until several hundred years after the death of Christ, though it was clearly revealted in the Bible all along. For the Reformers these five things defined what it meant to be a Protestant. The Roman Catholic Church could not and still cannot abide by these five things and has declared them to be anathema - false doctrines. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons along with other cultic groups cannot hold to them. These five things define Protestantism, even crossing the boundaries between Calvinism and Arminianism, and hence define a biblical view of the Christian faith. It is sad, then, that they are not better-known among believers. Very few churches today invest the time and effort to teach and defend these fundamental doctrines.

Yet whether we are aware of them or not, these five things continue to define us as Protestant even to this day. When we lose sight of and deny these distinctives, it could be argued that we are no longer Protestant at all, and hence are no longer a church that is truly grounded in the Scripture. These things tell us how we can know about God and define our relationship with Him and His relationship with us. These five things will enrich our walk with God, will ensure that we have a proper view of ourselves in relation to God, and ultimately impact every area of our lives. They are of critical importance to the Christian life.

Here are the five things, then, that every Christian needs to know:

  1. The Bible alone is the infallible rule of faith for the church.
  2. Our salvation has been accomplished soley and fully by Christ.
  3. It is only by God’s grace that we are given salvation.
  4. While we are saved by God’s grace, He does this only through the instrument of faith.
  5. Because of who He is and what He has done, we owe all glory to God alone.

You may also know these five distinctives as the five solas of the Reformation. The Reformers formulated five doctrines which defined their disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church. They defined these as Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), Solus Christus (Christ Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Sola Fide (Faith Alone) and Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone). Over time the emphases of these doctrines has changed. For example, at the time of the Reformation the emphasis on Scripture Alone was to defend against the Papal claims that the church was the ultimate authority in matters of life and faith. Later the emphasis changed so that the innerancy of Scripture became the focus of Protestant apologists. Today the emphasis has shifted again as we will see in our next article. But while the emphases may have changed, the doctrines themselves, being firmly rooted in the Bible, remain unwavering.

When I say that we need to know these five things, I do not merely mean that we need to have some knowledge of them, much as I may know that the capital of Ontario is Toronto or that George W. Bush is President of the United States. In the abstract, these five things will have little impact on my life. Instead I need to know them in a deep, personal, spiritual way, searching for them in the Scriptures and asking the Holy Spirit to help me apply them to my life. I need to regard them as foundational to my faith because they are foundationally important to God. When speaking of faith, the Reformers drew a distinction between ascientia, a Latin word which indicated mere mental assent to a fact, and fiducia, which involves trust, acceptance and giving oneself over. We need to have that sort of regard for these doctrines. Having been convinced that they are fully biblical, we need to give ourselves over to them.

Through this series I will introduce the five topics, provide their historical and contemporary contexts, show their biblical bases, and provide some ideas of how they can and should impact the lives of believers today.

Headlines (December 21)

  • Tim Challies
  • 12/21/04
  • 0

News Trends of 2004 - James Jewell, author of the Rooftop Blog has compiled a list of what he considers to be the top news trends among Christians of this past year. It begins with and obvious and most-contentious one - The Passion of the Christ - and closes with another that has generated its share of controversy this year - the faith of George W Bush. Here is his complete list:

  1. The Passion of the Christ: The Movie
  2. Islam's War on Christianity
  3. Evangelical Political Muscle
  4. Same-Sex Marriage Set-backs
  5. Crisis in Catholicism
  6. Mainstreaming of Christian Books
  7. New Media Sources for Conservative Christians
  8. DeChristmasizing of America
  9. The Ideological Alignment of the Church
  10. The Personal Faith and Integrity of President Bush

You can read about how he came up with this list as well as an explanation of each headline by reading the article.

Basilica Bar - St Peter’s Basilica now has its own rooftop coffee bar. Though it opened several months ago, its existence has only just become public. “Located on the terrace at the base of the cupola designed by Michelangelo, it commands a breathtaking view of St Peter’s Square all the way to the Tiber River and beyond. It is open to tourists who have already visited the top of Michelangelo’s dome and who want to stop for a coffee or soft drink on their way back down to earth.” And in other Vatican news, did you know that the pope has an email address? I am guessing he doesn’t check it all himself! I wonder if he gets those spam emails I get offering him a license to marry people in any state or country. This news prompted someone in a chatroom yesterday to suggest that the pope probably doesn’t type very quickly, but he mustn’t make any typos, at least when he is emailing ex cathedra!

Snuggling - Snuggling is not a word that is a consistent part of my vocabulary. I guess it just seems too iffeminate. However, today I will choke down my pride and post a link to a nice little article over at Crosswalk that talks about snuggling (with a baby, that is). My wife and I have often rejoiced in the fact that our children love to cuddle and I don’t quite know what I would do if I had some of those stand-offish children that would rather be on their own than on someone’s lap. “If there really is a best thing to snuggling, this would have to be it … revived by thoughts of long ago … a bundle wrapped together, two of us sharing the morning … the best thing of all surely being the promised assurance between human beings that what happens to you will happen to me … because I share your heartbeat.” I think when my days of parenting little ones is over, that is what I will miss most.

Christmas Music - Every year, right around this time, I start to think that I really ought to add some Christmas music to my collection. I have hundreds of albums but only one or two Christmas albums, and frankly they are so bad that I never listen to them. I do tend to put on The Messiah a few times, but that is about as far as I go. I have never enjoyed the standard Christmas carols and just haven’t found anything that strikes my fancy. Does anyone have some suggestions for some “different” Christmas music?

Biblical Methods of Criticism

  • Tim Challies
  • 12/20/04
  • 0

This post has been prompted by regarding IX Marks Ministries and their review of the teachings of Rick Warren, as summarized and popularized in his books, The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life and his program 40 Days of Purpose. We live in a very non-judgmental age. The first rule of the postmodern mindset is that "what is good for you is good for you, what is good for me is good for me." Absolutes are out, relative values are the rule of the day. Even Christians have slipped into this mindset and constantly quote Jesus' words that we should "judge not lest we be judged." This verse is often quoted without any view to its proper meaning, but instead is seen as a blanket statement that we are not to pass judgment on what other believers do, think or believe.

As they released their reviews of all things Purpose-Driven, IX Marks included a letter than outlined why they felt they needed to do this. I would like to examine this a little bit, not as it deals with Warren in particular, but how it deals with any issue relevant to Christians. I find it an excellent example of how to properly approach the criticism of another believer. While it may cause pain to have to criticize the teachings or even the actions of another believer, there are many times that this is necessary. Here is the first part of that introduction:

Why Him? Why Now?

Come on. Isn't this a little overboard? Do we really need to dedicate a whole edition of 9News solely to reviewing the Purpose Driven works of Rick Warren? After all, it's been almost ten years now since “The Purpose Driven Church” was published; not exactly cutting edge journalism at its finest, huh? And Warren himself is a conservative, Bible-Believing Evangelical! So why not go pick on someone who’s denying the gospel, or persecuting Christians, instead of nitpicking a sincere pastor who’s helping churches grow? Besides, Warren’s books have been some of the hottest selling evangelical publications since the Bible itself! He's got us on display tables in Barnes and Noble, Borders, even Wal-Mart sells The Purpose Driven Life in bulk. Evangelicals haven’t seen this kind of broad-based cultural acceptance since Jimmy Carter and the year of the Evangelical. And on top of all that, it’s WORKING! Warren's program seems like one of the most successful evangelism and discipleship programs in the history of programs. So why don't we just shut up and ride the wave?

Believe us, we’ve thought about it. These are all questions that we’ve been asking ourselves here at 9Marks for almost a year now. And that’s not to mention that it feels like we’re picking on someone a lot bigger than us. Warren has sold millions of his books. We’ve sold around…well, let’s just say we've sold fewer of ours - considerably fewer.

While this was evidently written particularly to address Rick Warren, with a few words changed here and there it could fit any of the “big” ministries out there. Billy Graham, John Eldredge, Bruce Wilkinson - any of these men and so many others have had their books and teachings explode in popularity and impact believers across all denominational boundaries. In many cases their teachings have even impacted unbelievers, changing perceptions of what the Gospel is and what their responsibility towards God is. These people have a very wide reach and have made a significant impact on the Christian landscape. As such they should not be surprised to find their ministries coming under ever-closer scrutiny from inside and outside the church.

The introduction continues:

First of all, let us affirm that we love and respect Rick Warren as a Christian brother, and we consider him a genuine comrade in pastoral ministry. His heart for evangelism is second to none. His passion to see people reached for Christ is pulsating, contagious, and quite frankly, convicting. His sincerity is unquestioned, and his apparent success is unparalleled. And we agree with Warren on the fundamentals of the faith. In fact, one of our primary concerns in releasing these reviews has been that we’ll be misperceived as turning our guns on our own guys if we say anything corrective. We’re not shooting at our comrade in arms here. Our intent is constructive, not destructive.

This is a paragraph that probably cannot apply to every situation. I cannot know for certain whether anyone else is a believer. The important point of this paragraph as we extend it to other situations, is that the person whose ministry is being called into question seems to hold many Christian beliefs and seems to be sincere in his desire to better the church. But now we get to the heart of the matter:

It is precisely the broad-based popularity of the Purpose Driven model that piques our curiosity. If so many churches are picking up the ball and running with it, shouldn't we at least be concerned to figure out if they’re heading towards the right end zone? Our concern is not borne from jealousy of Warren’s success. Rather, it’s borne from jealousy for the church’s health. We want to help the church think biblically about who she is and how she works, and evaluate the Purpose Driven model in light of the biblical data.

We’ve made every effort to tread carefully. Several recognized leaders of the Reformed evangelical community have critically evaluated these reviews and given constructive feedback. We sent all three to Rick Warren himself for review, but due to the busyness of his schedule, he was understandably unable to give them attention, but graciously encouraged us to post them anyway. So, with all those caveats and disclaimers on the table, we’d invite you to think with us for a little while about the Purpose Driven works of Rick Warren. “Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good” (1Thess 5:21).

We see that the short version of IX Marks’ answer as to why they would critically examine Purpose Driven principles is because of its wide acceptance in Christian circles. Their chief concern is with the health of the church, and obviously underlying that, is a concern for God’s glory. Jealousy for the health of the church is a noble goal and is an attitude every Christian should seek to foster. If the church was so important that Jesus died for her, it stands to reason that we should be quick to run to her defense. Any teaching that is as wide-reaching as Purpose Driven principles, Wild at Heart, Prayer of Jabez (and I could go on and on) demands close analysis, particularly by those God has especially equipped to do this. I especially appreciated IX Marks’ willingness to send their reviews to Warren for his consideration before posting them. It is unfortunate that he was unable to read them as I would have been interested to read his response. I am reminded of what Joh Calvin once said. “A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s Truth was attacked and yet would remain silent.”

In this situation I believe IX Marks Ministries has modeled a very biblical and inoffensive method of dealing with tough issues within the body of Christ. If people are offended or upset at what they have written, it will be based on their comparison of the teachings they are examining with Scripture and not on their format or methodology. And that is exactly as it should be. The men of IX Marks have shown love and grace and have gone out of their way to show that their concerns are not petty, but are rooted in a love for our Lord and a concern for His glory. Thus I hold this as a wonderful example of criticism done right.

Headlines (December 20)

  • Tim Challies
  • 12/20/04
  • 0

47 Years For Reading The Bible - That is the very unlikely worst-case scenario for some protestors at a gay pride event in Philadelphia. Four people were arrested for reading the Bible out loud at the event, focusing, of course, on passages that condemn homosexuality. After homosexual activists became irate, city officials told the protestors to move. “City officials told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the video did not show the start of the confrontation, when they said Marcavage tried to interrupt an onstage performance with his preaching and then disobeyed a police order to move to the perimeter of the “block party” to avoid the potential for violence…”They were not prohibited from preaching,” said Karen Brancheau, a lawyer for the district attorney’s office. “A reasonable request was made to prevent a situation from becoming dangerous to their own safety, as well as the safety of the participants.”” The four protestors face several charges - criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation and riot and five misdemeanor charges. It’s hard to know how to react to this. The protestors should have obeyed the officials who told them to move. Then again, it is a scary thought that they could face serious charges based on reading the Scriptures. You can get the story here.

Low Carb Craze Over? - It seems that the low-carb craze as popularized by Robert Atkins may be coming to an end. Thankfully. In February of 2004 9.1 percent of Americans were on a low-carb diet, but by November that number is down to 4.9 percent. Of course the holidays are now upon us and Americans will be glutting themselves with all sorts of fatty, high-carb foods, so perhaps January will see a resurgence. “As a result of dietary turnarounds…many companies that rode the low-carb wave are either out of business or refocusing their strategies.” Already. While the diet provided fast results, it is also somewhat unrealistic to expect that people will stay off carbohydrates for the long-haul. For me it was never an option. I’ve been known to buy a baguette (ie french stick loaf), but it in half, butter both halves, and eat it all in one go. I could exist without carbs.

Cold Snap - It was -24 degrees when I woke up this morning. It is now up to a balmy -22. Of course there is some wind too, driving temperatures below -30. For those of you in warmer climates, let me just tell you, that is really, really cold. This house we live in (we rent, not own) is terribly insulated, so it becomes a constant, and very expensive, battle to keep it heated. The kitchen is directly over the garage and is very poorly insulated so it is almost painful to stand on the kitchen floor when it is this cold. Don’t get me started on how cold the bathroom is! Anyways, judging by the forecast we should be getting into warmer temperatures again by tomorrow.

This Week’s Picture - This week’s picture, which you can see at the top of each page, is provided by Kathy Marie Kolb. Kathy has a blog that she doesn’t seem to update all that often, unfortunately. So thanks to Kathy for the picture. If anyone else would like to supply a photo, please contact me.

Sunday Ramblings

  • Tim Challies
  • 12/19/04
  • 0

It has been quite a while since I have taken the time to do a ramblings article on this site. I guess some could argue that rambling is all I ever do, but that would just leave me feeling all depressed and defensive.

As I write this my children are behind me trying to figure out just who or what Santa Claus is. There seems to be some confusion as to whether he is real or fake and just what his relationship is to God. “Can God see me whatever I do?” “Yes” says mom. “Can Santa Claus?” “He’s not real” says mom. “Yeah, but can he see me?” No matter how often we tell them that he isn’t real they just don’t quite seem to understand it. They keep getting mixed messages from the media and advertising and their friends and their parents. I suppose sooner or later they will figure it out - I just hope they learn to differentiate between a real God and a fake Santa.

For those who have asked, yes, I do intend to continue the series on Bible translations. As I began to write more articles about it, I realized I had to take a step back, of sorts, and learn some more background information. I am currently letting all of that percolate in my little brain and hope to begin the series on the different translations as early as this week.

This past week I have spent a lot of time researching the doctrine of justification. It is a doctrine with which I have a fair degree of familiarity (thanks to my Reformed upbringing) but can still learn much more about. I am continually amazed when I see the number of ways justification has come and is coming under attack. Even within Protestantism there are so many different emerging views on this doctrine, each of which undermines the historic and biblical view that justification is by faith alone. Every other version adds something to this. It may be something as seemingly insignificant as being justified by an obedient faith, but there is always an addition. If we lose site of justification by faith alone, we lose sight our very identity as Protestants. Even worse, we truly lose sight of our identity as Christians.

After Eli Manning’s performance in New York I guess I can no longer make fun of the guy. He finally had a fairly decent outing, throwing two touchdowns. For a little while he actually seemed to be a little bit in control of the offense. He still has lots of work to do and I’m not so sure he’ll ever be the franchise quarterback the Giants hope he can be, but there may be a future for him yet. Of course he still hasn’t picked up that first win…

IX Marks Takes On Purpose Driven

  • Tim Challies
  • 12/18/04
  • 0

IX Marks Ministries has decided to focus on Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven ministries in this month’s newsletter. As part of their focus they have posted in-depth reviews of The Purpose Driven Church, The Purpose Driven Life and 40 Days of Purpose. I have deep respect for IX Marks Ministries and have been looking forward to their take on the Purpose Driven phenomenon. They are a ministry with high visibility and, more important, high credibility. Where many critics of the programs have been from Reformed or various independent churches, IX Marks is an organization staffed by Southern Baptists - the same denomination as Warren. Some of the other reviews I have read, while they contained some good information, were tainted by the author’s obvious disregard for the Southern Baptist Convention. IX Marks, though, obviously has no agenda against the Southern Baptist Convention and is able to be unbiased in this regard.

I am not writing about this to (once again) give my take on Rick Warren’s teachings - that is well-documented on this site. Rather, I want to call attention to what I think is a very biblical and unbiased examination.

The IX Marks newsletter first provides all sorts of caveats and disclaimers. So many, in fact, it is almost irritating. We are told that that “several recognized leaders of the Reformed evangelical community have critically evaluated these reviews and given constructive feedback.” Furthermore, the reviews were sent to Warren himself, though he did not have time to read and evaluation them, he did encourage IX Marks to post them, though I presume all this was done through his deputies. The rest of the disclaimer reads as follows: “First of all, let us affirm that we love and respect Rick Warren as a Christian brother, and we consider him a genuine comrade in pastoral ministry. His heart for evangelism is second to none. His passion to see people reached for Christ is pulsating, contagious, and quite frankly, convicting. His sincerity is unquestioned, and his apparent success is unparalleled. And we agree with Warren on the fundamentals of the faith. In fact, one of our primary concerns in releasing these reviews has been that we'll be misperceived as turning our guns on our own guys if we say anything corrective. We're not shooting at our comrade in arms here. Our intent is constructive, not destructive.”

I suppose that is all fair enough, but I do believe there have to be some differences between the Reformed theology of IX Marks and the unrepentantly Arminian theology of Rick Warren. Unless the fundamentals of the faith do not include soteriology, IX Marks must be pandering a little bit here - probably a bit too much. In the review of 40 Days of Purpose, Greg Gilbert points out all sorts of very serious misunderstandings of the Gospel and the very basics of the faith, yet concludes that this must not have been written or even approved by Warren himself. As I said, they go overboard in their desire to be non-critical. I appreciate that they do not want to begin an internal battle, yet it seems the battle lines have already been drawn and they may be running from the fight.

The reviews of The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life, written by Paul Alexander, are probably the best I have read, and I have read just about all of them. The author, after providing a summary of each book and outlining a few helpful insights, dives right to the heart of the problems in each. For The Purpose Driven Church he outlines first Interpretive Difficulties and then Methodological Difficulties, while for The Purpose Driven Life he outlines Interpretive Difficulties, Evangelistic Difficulties and Discipling Dangers. Time and space do not allow me to summarize each of the sections, but suffice it to say he brings to the surface many very serious problems. He passes over some of the less-important critiques such as the use of multiple translations in favor of larger issues, such as Warren’s use of translations that provide a meaning completely foreign to the text.

If you are still not familiar with the arguments against the Purpose Driven phenomenon or are looking for introductory material to provide to others, you could not do much better than these articles. Read them, bookmark them and keep them handy. They are great resources. Kudos to IX Marks for taking on this contentious topic and for being willing to take a stand for truth.

Here are the links:

Headlines (December 18)

  • Tim Challies
  • 12/18/04
  • 0

Shootout At The Crystal Corral - On Thursday an employee of the Crystal Cathedral, home of heretic Robert Schuller, opened fire inside the Cathedral before barricading himself in a bathroom. Police officials attempting to talk him into surrendering, but he eventually shot himself, ending the holdout. There were no other casualties. The man was apparently known for exhibiting self-destructive behavior. “The 78-year-old Schuller, who was at home when the shooting occurred, came to the command post police set up near the cathedral and taped a personal message for the man, with whom he is acquainted. Police did not have the chance to play the message from Schuller or another message from the man’s wife, but they did play him a message from a friend who had successfully intervened in past cases where the man had become despondent, Prince said.” You can read more here.

Mother Murdered, Baby Stolen - Here is one from the sicko files. Some depraived individual murdered a pregnant woman, cut the baby from her stomach and kidnapped the child. A few hours later police found a child they believe is the one who was kidnapped and they are awaiting DNA identification. The child is healthy. The murdered woman is also survived by her husband who was immediately ruled out as a suspect. While it is truly awful that his wife was murdered, what joy in sorrow it must have been to know that his child had been found alive and well.

The Puritan Hope - The Puritan Hope by Iain Murray has recently been added to Revival Library’s online catalogue and is available to read free of charge. Personally I have a lot of trouble reading book-length documents on a screen, but I know some people enjoy it. If interested you can read it here. If it is by Murray it is bound to be excellent.

Saying Thank You - James White has adopted the habit of, whenever he sees a soldier, to go that person, shake his hand, and thank him for his service. Feel free to replace those masculine pronouns with feminine if necessary. “I’ve seen weary soldiers coming home rejuvenated. I’ve seen tears form in eyes that have seen things I will never see. “You have no idea how much that means to me” is a fairly common response.” I think that is a great idea. I wonder what would happen if we all took the opportunity to deliberately thank the people we rely on but so very seldom take the time to thank - police officers who protect us, pastors who teach us, parents who spend hours on their knees before the throne on our behalf. Of course in Canada it is near impossible to thank a soldier as I literally have not seen a member of the Canadian military for many, many years now, but I have seen a pastor, a cop and a parent!