Threads from Henry's Web

Category: Christianity

  • On Lying Literalists

    I liked this quote:

    Bible believers do not believe in the Bible. They accept the message they wish to hear, that God loves those who are rewarded with wealth, but the message of Amos they have little time for. … Be careful before becoming a Bible believer – it is not always a comfortable place to be!

    While I do know people who use the label “Bible believer” and really mean it, in my experience the louder one uses that label, the less likely it is to be accurate.  (Perhaps the opening verses of Matthew 6 apply here.)

    Go read the whole thing.

    (HT:  Exploring Our Matrix)

  • A Christian Case for Limited Government?

    Allan R. Bevere is making a Christian case for limited government. Scot McKnight has linked to it. Some of the discussion is heated. Fun!

  • On Faith Preceding Works

    Some time ago I wrote an essay titled A Fruitful Faith, in which I maintained that there is a pattern of grace before law that is consistent throughout scripture, both Old Testament and New.  One can also express this idea as call before response, or, as I’ve been thinking today especially, faith before works.

    Frequently faith and works are seen as contradictory, and there is, of course, an approach to works that contradicts faith.  There is also an idea of faith as abstract belief that divorces it from any form of works.  I’m reminded, however, of the reformation formulation “by faith alone, but not by the faith that is alone.”

    I found two quotes in my reading on Hebrews today (Hebrews: Ancient Christian commentary on Scripture, New Testament X).  The first is from Athanasius, Festal Letters, 11.3, and is found on page 178:

    [Paul] deemed it necessary to teach first about Christ and the mystery of the incarnation.  Only then did he point to things in their lives that needed to be corrected.  He wanted them first to know the Lord and then to want to do what he told them.  For if you don’t know the one who leads the people in observing god’s commands, you are not very likely to obey them.

    I like the way this is expressed.  Works done to earn God’s favor or to learn about God are very different from works done because one know and loves God.  The former are futile; the latter rewarding.

    Again, St. John Chrysostom, On the Epistle to the Hebrews, 22.4, on page 179:

    How was it “by faith” that “Enoch was taken up”? Because his pleasing God was the cause of his being taken, and faith the cause of his pleasing God.  For if he had not known that he should receive a reward, how could he have pleased God?  But “without faith it is impossible to please” God. How? If a person belives that there is a God and a retribution, that person will have the reward.  (emphasis mine)

    God’s grace, received by faith, is the cause of doing good, and doing good pleases God.  But clearly none of that comes from us; it all proceeds from God and comes to us because God has called us.

  • Contest via my Company – Energion Publications

    This is a sort of commercial message, except I’m trying to give some money away. My company, Energion Publications, is sponsoring a contest, and entries are very slow. There are two $50 B&N gift cards on the line, one for the best affirmative and one for the best negative entry in answer to the question:

    Was Jesus of Nazareth the Christ (Messiah/anointed one) as claimed in orthodox Christianity?

    “Best” will be determined by popular vote, provided we have entries. Right now, we only have one entry for the affirmative, and none at all for the negative. Entries close on Marcy 27, so someone could quite easily claim a $50 gift card with very little competition.

    Even if you’re not interested in entering, I’d appreciate any help letting people know. This is a good opportunity especially for some of the smaller blogs.

    Again, for details, see Consider Christianity Week contest at Energion.net.

  • Christian Carnival CCCXX Posted

    … at And She Went Out …

  • Christian Carnival CCCXIX Posted

    … at Thinking Christian.

  • Augustine on the Need to Know Hebrew and Greek

    … a quote at The Sacred Page.

  • Glenn Beck is Right – He Should Run from Social Justice

    Why? My pastor, Geoffrey Lentz, says it’s because following Jesus in social justice is hard and demanding and might mess up our lifestyes:

    What would happen if we “let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everlasting stream” (Amos)? It wouldn’t work out very well for me.

    This one hits us right where it hurts!

  • On Academic Freedom and Denominational Colleges

    No, I’m not talking about my former denomination, the Seventh-Day Adventists. In this case, it’s Erskine College and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

    Let me make clear that I believe a denomination has the right to do what it wants to do with its institutions, always assuming that they uphold existing contracts. For example, if they contract to do one thing and then change their mind, I don’t think they are less liable for their contractual obligations than any other person or business. But apart from that if they want a doctrinally narrow faculty and even student body, that is their prerogative.

    It is also, however, the prerogative of accreditation boards to take all of this into consideration, and outsiders can comment on the resulting educational quality. I would like to add one note, however, which I have gleaned over time. It is possible for informal structures to be as restrictive as formal ones. An academic department or institution can become very narrow without enshrining that narrowness in regulations.

    I make this side-comments to introduce an excellent article on academic freedom, titled The Nature of Academic Freedom, from Tony Mitchell. It’s well worth reading and discussion. So go read it and discuss already!

  • Harvest of Souls International Ministries Web Site

    Via Dave Black Online and Nick’s blog I found that biblioblogger Nick Norelli’s church, Harvest of Souls International Ministries, has a new web site.

    Now why do I link to this particular church web site at this moment? Is it merely to congratulate them? Well, I do congratulate them, but I had something more specific in mind. Recently I’ve been going back to one of my favorite topics, Christian essentials. One of my hopes in this area is that Christians will spend more time thinking about this topic. (Bob MacDonald has written a very interesting post that takes a substantially different view than I do, and I want to link that here.)

    I want to call attention to the Harvest of Souls page regarding their beliefs. I really like this page, even though it expresses beliefs that would probably mean I would never become a member there. We start out explicitly stating the basic position, and then defining what is essential. Following that we have a list of more detailed doctrines. It is in these more detailed doctrines that I would find some significant disagreements.

    But based on the second paragraph, I find it easy to believe that I would be comfortable as a brother in Christ in working with folks from that congregation even if we tended to disagree enough regarding the second rank doctrines that we might not fit in the same congregation.

    I find this outline for a belief statement to be very admirable. It lets the reader get a clear idea both of what’s most important to the particular church family, but also what they hold to be important, though not essential. I’m again reminded of my friend Alden Thompson’s illustration of the castle. There’s a keep, a courtyard, and there’s “outside the walls.” In the keep are essentials, in the courtyard are things that are important to us, but not critical, while outside the walls are all the issues that we really aren’t taking a position on. As Nick notes in his blog post, he can “can affirm the statement of faith with one or two small variations, none of which concern any of the major doctrinal tenets set forth therein.”

    The issue I’m raising right now is not whether we agree on the list, but whether we have thought about what beliefs (if any) are critical for each of us and for our respective fellowships.

    So both congratulations and “good job!”