A Boomer in the Pew

Why would God ask Abraham to Sacrifice his son Isaac?

"Sacrifice of Isaac", c 1542-44, by Vecellio Tiziano

I was reading through my "ESV read the Bible in a year plan" as I came across the telling of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac.

To be honest, this account blows my mind apart.  Why on earth would God ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son?  God just performed a miracle in providing the aged couple this son, and now he wants Abraham to sacrifice him?

My nature bristles as I contemplate this story.  There is so much, in my nature, that I want to scream out to God about. 

This is faith?  God, this seems so cruel?

This time, rather than accept the protest of my nature, I stayed.  This time, I asked the Holy Spirit to help me understand.  This time, he answered and I was melted.

I don't possess this measure of faith.  And I suppose, to put this in perspective, since God has not appeared in person to me, it is unlikely that I will require this measure of faith. 

With the help of Dr. Steve Lawson's exposition of this text, and a good deal of meditation, I now have a far better understanding of this account. 

Rather than than moving on, in disbelief, as has been my previous course of action, why not spend some time with Dr. Lawson, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit, and gain some incredibly valuable insight.

I promise, your faith and understanding will be strengthened.

Did Jesus Literally Walk on Water?

This post is part of my year long study of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.  To facilitate this course of study, I am following along with Princeton University's "A Year with the Institutes", which also includes an audio reading of the text.

Calvin's Institutes - 1.8.5-13

2 Timothy 3:16 - "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."

I was having a conversation, with new friends, on the subject of the Bible.  The question posed to me, by them, was, "do you believe that Jesus literally walked on the water?  Do you believe that Jonah was literally in the belly of a great fish?"

I believe that the Bible in the literal, inerrant, God breathed text for us to know God, and to lead us into saving faith.

To me, choosing particular sections as allegory, or perhaps some parts not applicable to us in the 21st century is very dangerous territory.  In my view, if natural man has any ability to say, that any part of the text is not true, then the entire text must be discarded, and no parts may lay claim to possess true truth.

So, what are we to say to those who don't hold to this high view of Scripture?  Here is a quote from Calvin's last paragraph in this section:

"But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known."

It is real clear to me that I am not to judge whether someone is, or isn't a genuine member of God's elect.  However, here are a few questions for us all to consider in our walk:

1. Is it possible for one to not believe in a literal interpretation of the Scriptures, and still be, with certainty, in the Lamb's book of Life?
2. If the text is not literal, and/or inerrant, who decides which parts are not God's literal words to us?  If not literal then perhaps Jonah wasn't in the belly of a fish, or Jesus did not walk upon water, perhaps Jesus words of only one way to heaven are not applicable, maybe Jesus doesn't really forgive sins, maybe Jesus was not really God, and on, and on...

I suspect Calvin would suggest that a man who doesn't hold to a high view of Scripture, would therefore possess a misguided faith.

What say ye?

Evangelism's Primary Tool - Scripture or Reason?

"St. John the Evangelist on Patmos", c 1547 by Titian.

This post is part of my year long study of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.  To facilitate this course of study, I am following along with Princeton University's "A Year with the Institutes", which also includes an audio reading of the text.

Calvin's Institutes - 1.8.1-4

I am going to change my tack a bit in blogging through John Calvin's Institutes.  I have noticed that when I post a recap of the day's reading, it doesn't spawn much conversation.

However, when I pull out a particular subject and ask a question, I seem to get more interaction.  Therefore, I am going to proceed in this direction and see what happens.

In this chapter, Calvin's starts right out with: 

"Scripture is superior to all human wisdom. Unless this certainty, higher and stronger than any human judgment, be present, it will be vain to fortify the authority of Scripture by arguments, to establish it by common agreement of the church, or to confirm it with other helps. For unless this foundation is laid, its authority will always remain in doubt."

And this:

"Now this power which is peculiar to Scripture is clear from the fact that of human writings, however artfully polished, there is none capable of affecting us at all comparably. Read Demosthenes or Cicero; read Plato, Aristotle, and others of that tribe. They will, I admit, allure you, delight you, move you, enrapture you in wonderful measure. But betake yourself from them to this sacred reading. Then, in spite of yourself, so deeply will it affect you, so penetrate your heart, so fix itself in your very marrow, that, compared with its deep impression, such vigor as the orators and philosophers have will nearly vanish. Consequently, it is easy to see that the Sacred Scriptures, which so far surpass all gifts and graces of human endeavor, breathe something divine."

He goes onto say that reason is a helpful, secondary tool, but none can compare with God's word, and the Holy Spirit's piercing.

So here's the question:  when you are sharing your faith, do you rely on reason, and Biblical hearsay, or do you deeply rely upon God's holy word to penetrate the hearts of the unregenerate?

My answer is God's word, but I continue to work on my mastery of its story to guide my path.

Calvin's Institutes - Scripture is Confirmed by the Holy Spirit, Not Reason

This post is part of my year long study of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.  To facilitate this course of study, I am following along with Princeton University's "A Year with the Institutes", which also includes an audio reading of the text.

Calvin's Institutes - 1.7.4-5

Calvin:  "Profane men think that religion rests only on opinion, and, therefore, that they may not believe foolishly, or on slight grounds, desire and insist to have it proved by reason that Moses and the prophets were divinely inspired. But I answer, that the testimony of the Spirit is superior to reason. For as God alone can properly bear witness to his own words, so these words will not obtain full credit in the hearts of men, until they are sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same Spirit, therefore, who spoke by the mouth of the prophets, must penetrate our hearts, in order to convince us that they faithfully delivered the message with which they were divinely entrusted."

And this:

"Let it therefore be held as fixed, that those who are inwardly taught by the Holy Spirit acquiesce implicitly in Scripture; that Scripture, carrying its own evidence along with it, deigns not to submit to proofs and arguments, but owes the full conviction with which we ought to receive it to the testimony of the Spirit.  Enlightened by him, we no longer believe, either on our own Judgment or that of others, that the Scriptures are from God; but, in a way superior to human Judgment, feel perfectly assured—as much so as if we beheld the divine image visibly impressed on it—that it came to us, by the instrumentality of men, from the very mouth of God. We ask not for proofs or probabilities on which to rest our Judgment, but we subject our intellect and Judgment to it as too transcendent for us to estimate."

Calvin is telling us that the elect, those who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, have the greatest proof of all, the testimony of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Certainly this is no proof to the unregenerate, but Scripture also makes it clear that God has hidden these things from the "wise".

Calvin's Institutes - Sola Scriptura (by Scripture Alone)

This post is part of my year long study of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.  To facilitate this course of study, I am following along with Princeton University's "A Year with the Institutes", which also includes an audio reading of the text.

Calvin's Institutes - 1.7.1-3

One of Christianity's great challenges is Satan's constant barrage of lies, and confusion about God's holy word.  I suppose we could call it, divide and conquer. 

Calvin faced, as we do today, those who would say it is Scripture plus something, that leads to God.  As we know, Calvin was exiled as the result of his doctrinal challenges of the Roman Catholic Church. 

Calvin:

"When that which professes to be the Word of God is acknowledged to be so, no person, unless devoid of common sense and the feelings of a man, will have the desperate hardihood to refuse credit to the speaker. But since no daily responses are given from heaven, and the Scriptures are the only records in which God has been pleased to consign his truth to perpetual remembrance, the full authority which they ought to possess with the faithful is not recognized, unless they are believed to have come from heaven, as directly as if God had been heard giving utterance to them."

In fact, retorts Calvin, it is a great insult to the Holy Spirit to portend that the Scriptures are anything but God breathed.

I like what my ESV Study Bible notes have to say:

John 5:39 The study of Scripture does not by itself impart life. The Scriptures rather bear witness to the One who gives life, namely, Jesus (cf. vv. 46–47). Consequently, the study of the Bible ought to result in genuine faith in Jesus, followed by obedient action and transformed lives, not merely acquisition of Bible knowledge. it is they that bear witness about me. People who (like Jesus' Jewish opponents) read the OT without seeing that it all points to Jesus fail to understand its message.

Here is the bottom line, so far as I see it:

• God is, and God reigns
• God has spoken, literally through the Bible
• The whole of the Bible points to Christ
• This "pointing" should result in faith in Jesus
• Which is followed by obedience, and transformed lives

It would seem to me, as Jonathan Edwards pointed out, whenever there is faith in Christ espoused, he immediately sends his demons to confuse, refute, discourage, and inflame.

I would like to illustrate this with a recent "chat" I had with a self-described Confessionalist.  Before I post this conversation, I would like to point out a few things:

• I did not have all of Christ's heart with me when beginning this conversation.  I must admit, and am ashamed, that I had a theological sword laying nearby.
• It is not my desire to disparage this person.  Therefore, I am not going to disclose his identity.
• I was taken back in that it seemed that the Confessionalist has put their faith in their confession, albeit a likely good confession, instead of solely in the person of Jesus Christ.
• I clearly understand that it is not my position to question whether one is truly of Christ.  My heart was sincerely that of inquisitiveness, although, as I mentioned, I did have that sword in my hand. 

So...on to the conversation...

Abraham the Ancient Cuckold?

"Sarah & Abimelech", 1960 by Marc Chagall.

One of the great proofs of the Bible's authenticity, for me, is its constant willingness to lay bare the depravity of its characters.

Today, as I was catching up on my daily reading of the Bible through the ESV Reading Plan, I was dumbfounded to find Abraham, once again, willing to sell his wife into adultery to become a cuckold.

It was just eight chapters ago, that Abraham sold his wife into adultery with Pharaoh, and here we see Abraham doing the same thing with Abimelech!

What can we learn from this:

1.)  All have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.  Clearly I have been guilty of putting the fallen human characters of the Bible, on a high pedestal.  Abraham, for crying out loud, was a depraved sinner, just like you and me.

2.)In spite of Abraham and Sarah's sin, God was sovereign, and protected them from the potential harm of their sin.  God, in both cases, stopped Sarah from becoming the adulteress.

3.)  These accounts of old give us perspective.  One of the great lies of the Great Bastard (Jonathan Edwards' name for Satan), is that we are so evil, we have sinned so greatly, that God has no use of us.  As we can clearly see, God was able to use the sinful Abraham greatly.  In fact, this is the great sinner of which holy God makes the Abrahamic Covenant!

4.)  Even after our regeneration, we are still prone to sin.  This most recent sin of cuckoldry, is after Abraham's covenant from God!

Therefore, how great a God we serve.  That through Jesus Christ, our greatest sins might be erased, thrown as far as the East is from the West, and through Christ's righteousness, we stand blameless.

Absolutely, incalculably, infinitely, grace! 

Thoughts about the ESV Daily Bible Reading Plan

"ESV Study Bible" c 2009, by David Porter  :)

I am currently 23 days into my plan to read the ESV Study Bible throughout the course of the year.

As such, I thought I would share a few thoughts with you of my journey thus far:

1.)  It seems that the actual printed version of my ESV Study Bible is more of a scout.  I only use my printed version when I am away from home, to gather information and bring back to the home base.

2.)  I am greatly enjoying the Bible reading plans that the folks over at Crossway Publishing have provided.  I am using the ESV Study Bible plan which also has wonderful accompanying audio.

3.)  More than once, I have found myself a little frustrated because I had found interesting material, and felt a desire to camp for a bit.  I need to continue reminding myself that this particular study is to read the Bible clear through.  A survey from 30,000 feet, if you will.  I am confident that this practice will serve me well in the future.

4.)  It would be wonderful to be doing this in community.  Imagine thousands of us, studying together a particular book of the Bible, and with the resources of the Internet, bringing along side certain great theologians to help us in our understandings.  Imagine the ability to dialog with Christians from all over the world as we studied together.  I have tasted this form of learning in communities, with Christians from all over the world, reading Christian Classics together.  It was a marvelous experience.

I am very, very grateful to have this wonderful new resource.  The online ESV Study Bible is my daily friend.  I am looking forward to more, and more of the Internets wonderful resources being added to this incredible resource, which contains not only words from my heavenly Father, but a great collection of treatise' from the world's great theologians.

Vermeer - Girl with the Red Hat

"Girl with the Red Hat", c 1665, by Johannes Vermeer.

Ever since my college days, when I roamed the great Art Galleries of Europe, I became a lover of great art.

Vermeer was always a particularly favorite of mine because of his use of light and color.

Here is a wonderful video, produced by the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C., highlighting this particular painting.

Watch this short video and gain a better perspective on this marvelous work in the National Gallery's collection.

Calvin's Institutes - Finding the one true God

This post is part of my year long study of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.  To facilitate this course of study, I am following along with Princeton University's "A Year with the Institutes", which also includes an audio reading of the text.

Calvin's Institutes - 1.6.1-4

Calvin has shown the God is, and that he has made himself known to all through his creation, such that none have excuse.

Now, however, he wants us to understand that this knowledge alone simply causes the natural man to dream up all matter of false gods and philosophies.

Therefore, the only way for God to direct man's path is to provide for us a written record.

Calvin:

"Therefore, though the effulgence which is presented to every eye, both in the heavens and on the earth, leaves the ingratitude of man without excuse, since God, in order to bring the whole human race under the same condemnation, holds forth to all, without exception, a mirror of his Deity in his works, another and better help must be given to guide us properly to God as a Creator. Not in vain, therefore, has he added the light of his Word in order that he might make himself known unto salvation, and bestowed the privilege on those whom he was pleased to bring into nearer and more familiar relation to himself. For, seeing how the minds of men were carried to and fro, and found no certain resting-place, he chose the Jews for a peculiar people, and then hedged them in that they might not, like others, go astray. And not in vain does he, by the same means, retain us in his knowledge, since but for this, even those who, in comparison of others, seem to stand strong, would quickly fall away. For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any books however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly. God therefore bestows a gift of singular value, when, for the instruction of the Church, he employs not dumb teachers merely, but opens his own sacred mouth; when he not only proclaims that some God must be worshiped, but at the same time declares that He is the God to whom worship is due; when he not only teaches his elect to have respect to God, but manifests himself as the God to whom this respect should be paid."

We now have, before us, two matters that we must reconcile

1. God is
2. God has provided the Bible to direct our paths to him, and protect us from inventions of our natural minds.

Do you believe both of these to be true?  No other text makes the claims that this text does.  Unfortunately, as Calvin laments, most are too lazy to explore the sacred text, and therefore rely, unwisely, upon gods of their own imaginations.

Please dear reader, don't allow yourself to fall into this camp.  Better to read and reject, then to be found an imbecile.

Abortion = Murder as Convenience