C.S. Lewis- The Lie that Says "I'm as Good as You"

"You are to use the word (democracy) purely as an incantation...It is a name they venerate. And of course it is connected with the political idea that all men should be equally treated. You then make a stealthy transition in their minds from this political ideal to a factual belief that all men are equal. Especially the man you are working on. As a result you can use the word Democracy to sanction in his thought the most degrading...of all human feelings. You can get him to practice, not only without shame, but with a positive glow of self approval, conduct which, if undefended by the magic word, would be universally derided.

The feeling I mean is of course that which prompts a man to say I'm as good as you. 

The first and most obvious advantage is that you thus induce him to enthrone at the center of his life a good, solid resounding lie. I don't mean merely that his statement is false in fact, that he is no more equal to everyone he meets in kindness, honesty, and good sense than in height or waist-measurement. I mean that he does not believe it himself. No man who says I'm as good as you believes it. He would not say it if he did. The St. Bernard never says it to the toy dog, nor the scholar to the dunce, nor the employable to the bum, nor the pretty woman to the plain.

The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept.

And therefore resents. Yes, and therefore resents every kind of superiority in others; denigrates it; wishes its annihilation. Presently he suspects every mere difference of being a claim to superiority. No one must be different from himself in voice, clothes, manners, recreations, choice of food. 'Here is someone who speaks English rather more clearly and euphoniously than I- it must be a vile, upstage, la-di-dah affectation. Here's a fellow who says he doesn't like hot dogs- thinks himself too good for them no doubt...If they were the right sort of chaps they'd be like me. They've no business to be different. It's undemocratic...'

Under the influence of this incantation those who are in any or every way inferior can labor more wholeheartedly and successfully than ever before to pull down everyone else to their own level. But that is not all. Under the same influence, those who come, or could come, nearer to a full humanity, actually draw back from it for fear of being undemocratic. I am credibly informed that young humans now somethimes suppress an incipient taste for classical music or good literature because it might prevent their Being like Folks; that people who really wish to be (and are offered the grace which would enable them to be) honest, chaste, or temperate, refuse it. To accept might make them Different, might offend against the Way of Life, take them out of Togetherness impair their integration with the Group. They might (horror of horrors!) become individuals." 

--C.S. Lewis, "Screwtape Proposes a Toast"

Your Fly is Open

"The skeptic is never for real. There he stands, cocktail in hand, left arm draped languorously on one end of the mantelpiece, telling you that he can't be sure of anything, not even of his own existence. I'll give you my secret method of demolishing universal skepticism in four words. Whisper to him: "Your fly is open." If he thinks knowledge is so all-fired impossible, why does he always look?" 

--Robert Farrar Capon, Hunting the Divine Fox (1974 A.D.), quoted in James Sire, The Universe Next Door (2009 A.D.)  

 

Hilarious Attack Ad for the Dirtiest Election Ever

Update from Louisville: Stein Class and Spring Term

Hello again from Louisville. I wanted to update you on the last couple of weeks, and give you a preview of what I will be doing in the Spring semester. God willing, I plan to be home this coming Sunday before the Spring starts.

J-Term: Greek Exegesis of Mark's Gospel- Dr. Robert Stein

Having thoroughly enjoyed his books A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible and Jesus the Messiah (a book I have often excerpted on this blog), getting to sit under Dr. Stein was an undeserved honor. Now retired, he taught New Testament at Bethel College in Minnesota before coming to Southern. He still resides in Minnesota with his wife. That book you see on the table in front of him is his commentary on Mark, which we used as a text. As he put it, "I can honestly say that of all the commentaries on Mark that are out there, it's the one I agree with the most." :-) The class consisted of two papers (one of which I am still writing), and translation of assigned passages of the Greek text of Mark. Dr. Stein himself made it very enjoyable. We began every class with prayer, even once all reciting the Lord's Prayer together. I didn't agree with him on everything, but his reverence for and knowledge of God's Word were humbling and exemplary. By now he is back home in Minnesota with his wife. He is 76 years old, so you may pray that God will make his remaining years fruitful.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Robert+H.+Stein&x=0&y=0

New Dorm
After my last day of class on Saturday, I spent several hours lugging my excessive amount of stuff from my J-term home in Williams Hall to Spring-term home in Manly Hall. The dorm is so-called because it was named after Basil Manly, one the founders of the school, but I like to think that the fuller meaning of the name includes a description of its occupants. This dorm room is designed for one person, and is about half the size of my other one. A photo is forthcoming, since I can't get my camera to work at the moment. Due to technical difficulties, I haven't been able to access internet in my room until today, when a man finally came and fixed it. This is a positive development. :-)

Also on the domestic front, my meal plan kicked in this week, enabling me to simply swipe my card and eat cafeteria food, which means a few less peanut butter sandwiches. Oh, and speaking of food, I received a package from the Bakers containing a huge bag of those chocolate chips we always snacked on at their house. Thanks, guys!!!! And speaking of chocolate chips, after five months of no exercise (when Tilly moved out, my motivation to exercise in Miss Beth's garage plummeted), I am finally back on the weights and the running track.

Spring Class Schedule
After seeking counsel and shuffling some things around, I have decided to take five classes this coming semester. Here they are.

1. Elementary Hebrew- Dr. James Hamilton

Of all my classes, this one will be the most difficult. Hebrew is Greek to me! (That pun was for Mr. Tad and Mr. Pinzur). I would definitely covet your prayers for a sharp memory on this one.

2. Islam and the Christian Mission- Dr. Zane Pratt

This is only Dr. Pratt's second semester here, as President Mohler talked him off the mission field last summer to come back to the states and serve as the head of the Billy Graham School of Missions here at SBTS. He is also a member of the church I am attending, which is nice. Based upon counsel I received from a faculty member, I appealed to the school to let me substitute this class for a certain required class. I am looking forward to it. For those of you who are interested, here is the assigned reading:
The Koran
The Gospel for Muslims- Thabiti Anyabwile
A Christian Guide to the Quran- Raouf and Carol Ghattas
Islam: Its Prophet, People, Politics, and Power- George W. Braswell
The Camel- Kevin Greeson

3. Greek Exegesis of 1 Peter- Dr. Brian Vickers

This one is an elective. Pastor Rod Wilton once encouraged me to get as much of the languages as I could while I was here. I figured I'd be wise to take his advice. We will be reading Thomas Schreiner's commentary on 1 Peter, a book which Chris and I both regularly consulted while we were preaching through 1 Peter, and practicing tracing the flow of Peter's argument through diagramming. This should be fun.

4. The Messiah in the Hebrew Bible- Dr. James Hamilton

This one is my last remaining elective, and my second class with Dr. Hamilton. I am taking it for at least four reasons: (1) Old Testament and biblical theology are Dr. Hamilton's area of expertise (2) Other than two semesters of OT Introduction, I haven't gotten to take a lot of OT while here. (3) I would like to be able to preach from the OT (something, as you know, I haven't done much of yet). (4) I would like to able to see Jesus more clearly in the OT.

Dr. Hamilton is also the pastor of Kenwood Baptist Church here in Louisville. Our reading list for this class is:

God's Glory in Salvation Through Judgment- James M. Hamilton (yes, professors assign their own books, :-) )
The Servant King- T. Desmond Alexander (a delightful and easy-to-read little book)
Dominion and Dynasty- Stephen Dempster
The Messiah in the Old and New Testaments- edited by Stanley Porter
Four chapters of the Old Testament per day.

5. Introduction to Christian Philosophy- Dr. James Parker

This class is required, and is one I decided to pick up at the last minute. I believe Tiffany had Dr. Parker as a professor while she was at Boyce. It'll be three hours on Thursday night, but from everything I've heard, if there's any instructor who can hold your attention for three hours, it's Dr. Parker. This is a blessing. Other than the fact that he is hilarious and has more degrees than Fahrenheit, I know hardly anything about Dr. Parker. But speaking of his humor--now that I think of it--Tilly and I met Dr. Parker in the cafeteria on the day we came up to visit the campus, and he told us this story about an incident where someone was excited to meet him and introduce him to their friends because they thought his name was James Packer (i.e. J. I. Packer). He said the guy was so excited that he almost didn't have the heart to disillusion him. :-)

The reading list is:

Life's Ultimate Questions- Ronald Nash
The Universe Next Door- James Sire
Faith and Reason-Ronald Nash

Well, that's my schedule. As you can see, it's a busy one. As Dr. Hamilton warned me, "You've can't do this and play video games all semester." Of course, as you all know, not playing video games won't be a problem for me. Instead, I will have to say goodbye to the Redbox for a few months. :-(

After this semester is over, I will have only eight classes left. One reason I mention this is that based upon a couple of comments I have heard, it seemed that some might have gotten the idea that this was my final semester. This is not true. The M.Div requires that 24 hours of coursework be done on the Louisville campus,  and now seemed like the best time start on those. This is one of the reasons I decided to add a fifth class. Between the J-term and Spring, I will have completed 21 of those 24 hours (that is, 7 of 8). This means that, barring some unfortunate turn of events, I should be able to do a couple or three classes this summer and then maybe three or four this Fall, finishing no later than next J-term. But while man proposes, God disposes. So let me add "If the Lord wills, I will live and finish my M.Div."

I have crafted these posts deliberately, because I want you to know the names and faces of these men so that you can pray for them. In serving me, they are serving all of you as well. So, Mr. Tad, if you could appoint someone to bring these four men's names up on Wednesday night, I would appreciate it: James Hamilton, Brian Vickers, Zane Pratt, and James Parker.

I am looking forward to seeing all of you this Sunday. It's been too long.

Justin

How Did C.S. Lewis View War?

See Andy Naselli's link.

http://andynaselli.com/lewis-war#more-6776

When it Comes to Presidential Candidates, You Can't Please Us Americans

From Kevin DeYoung on the Republican debates (forgive the white background, I don't know how to get rid of it).

"The debates over the past months, and the election in general, exposes a number of inconsistencies about Americans.

• We want to be rich and want politicians who will promise to make us richer. But we don’t like our politicians themselves to be wealthy.

• We want candidates to give straight answers and not dodge hard questions. But when they give specific answers to hard questions their answers will be ridiculed as dull or will be held against them.

• We want our leaders to be super confident, super competent, and super intelligent. But we hate elites.

• We want the president to be one of us and above us and unlike us at the same time.

• We want someone to be an effective executive in the labyrinth of legislative, judicial, bureaucratic, military, and diplomatic tasks that face the modern President. But we also want him to be a complete outsider with no experience in how any of that works.

• We want politicians unsullied by the real life tradeoffs, lobbyists, and interest groups of politics. But what they are like in the rest of life doesn’t really concern us. They can compromise in everything but politics."

Should We Always Interpret Scripture Literally?

One way to answer that question would be to ask, did Jesus and the apostles always interpret Scripture literally. To find the answer, let's look at an Old Testament prophecy, the New Testament interpretation of it, and Dr. Robert Stein's comments on it.

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5-6) 

"And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.” [To which Matthew adds, "Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist." Matt. 17:13]

(Mark 9:9-13 ESV; see also Luke 1:13-18)

“It is evident that Jesus and the New Testament writers often interpreted Old Testament prophecy in a nonliteralistic way. They undersrtood the prophets as using metaphorical and impressionistic language to proclaim their prophetic message. They used the tools of a poet rather than the tools of a photographer to convey their divine message. They understood the ‘literal meaning’ of the prophets as involving what the prophets meant to convey by their words, not what a literalistic interpretation of the words (used figuratively by the biblical author) means. Thus Malachi 4:5 refers to one who would fulfill the role of the prophet Elijah, that is, John the Baptist (see Mark 1:4-6). The dress of John the Baptist indicates that he also saw himself as the fulfillment of the prophecy in Malachi 4:5-6.”
--Robert Stein, Mark, Baker Exegetical Commentary

Parenting, War, and Economics

This comes from a fascinating book on just-war theory entitled War, Peace, and Christianity:Questions and Answers from a Just-War Perspective. The authors organize the book around 104 questions about just-war from the perspectives of history, theology, philosophy, and the experience of combatants and non-combatants. This question deals with whether or not the threat of war or military-preparedness can actually deter war. What I found fascinating was how they talked about economists, parents, and human nature.

Q 85: Does deterrence work?

At the academic level, this is a question that generates no little controversy and disagreement. At the practical level, by comparison, the matter of deterrence is relatively noncontroversial. The reason for this discrepancy would seem to have more to do with one's assumptions about human nature than with war and peace per se. If you talk to social scientists, for example, you'll find that most, though by no means all, of them believe that deterrence has little effect on human behavior. And there is a reason for this conclusion. Those who are skeptical generally have a more secular and optimistic understanding of human nature: humans, it is generally believed, are basically good rather than inherently flawed. As a corollary of that view, punishment is thought to be injurious to a person's psyche.  

Most economists, by contrast, answer the question 'Does deterrence work?' in the affirmative. They observe the wide range of human activity in the realm of economics, business, and finance. Here, alas, humans are remarkably predictable and act accordingly. When handling money, material goods, and services, they operate as if there is some law--or cluster of laws--that directs them. While economists are not necessarily more religious than social scientists, their view of human nature is much more inclined to a moral realism with regard to human behavioral patterns. In their projection of future market trends, coupled with their estimation of human psychology and behavior motivation, they are characterized by a realistic understanding of human behavior...

Does punishment deter? While many social scientists are inclined to say it does not, most parents, regardless of religious belief, will say without hesitation that it does deter. In fact, in all likelihood they will automatically attempt to implement 'the law of deterrence' with their own children, whether consciously or unconsciously. As seen through the lens of parental control, the only case in which punishment--that is, pain or deprivation--does not deter is the child who has never known moral restrictions. For that individual, few things in this life will inhibit evildoing. And, of course, that child will end up being a 'menace to society,' and society will need protection from that individual...

The difference between a social scientist's understanding of human nature and that of the economist might be summarized as follows: the latter is guided by a moral realism, while the former operates on the assumption of moral positivism. It is noteworthy that most--though certainly not all--parents tend, at least in their own homes, to be 'economists' and not 'social scientists.' The same can be said for law-enforcement officers, and for good reasons."

--J. Daryl Charles and Timothy J. Demy, War, Peace, and Christianity:Questions and Answers from a Just-War Perspective, http://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Christianity-Questions-Perspective/dp/1433513838/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327115234&sr=1-1

We Might As Well Be Buddhists

"If Christianity is not rooted in things that actually happened in first-century Palestine, we might as well be Buddhists, Marxists, or almost anything else. And if Jesus never existed, or is he was quite different from what the Gospels or the church's worship affirms him to have been, then we are indeed living in cloud-cukoo land."

--Tom Wright 

The Frightening Prospect of Reaching Your Full Potential

This is a comment that Dr. Robert Stein made in class yesterday.

"A lot of TV preachers talk about how people should reach their full potential. But the last thing I want to do is reach my full potential. My parents immigrated from Germany in the 1920's. Had they stayed there, my full potential might have been as a guard at Auschwitz." 

There Are No Ordinary People

From one of the best essays I've ever read.

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare…There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.”

--C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”  http://www.verber.com/mark/xian/weight-of-glory.pdf

My All-Time Favorite Hymn

This hymn is sadly little known, but is probably my all-time favorite. I owe the "discovery" to my brother Caleb, who bought the CD on which I first heard it years ago. The lyrics were penned by Isaac Watts as a paraphrase/theological commentary on Isaiah 49:13-17. The tune was composed by colonial American composer William Billings. The singers are known as "His Majestie's Clerkes" (yes, this is spelled correctly--in British standard English).

Scripture:


Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the LORD has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
Your builders make haste;
your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
(Isaiah 49:13-17 ESV)


Audio/Video: (lyrics below)

Lyrics:

Now shall my inward joys arise
And burst into a song
Almighty love inspires my heart
And pleasure tunes my tongue.

God on his thirsty Zion hill
Some mercy drops has thrown
And solemn oaths hath bound his love
To shower salvation down.

Why do we then indulge our fears,
Suspicions, and complaints?
Is he a God? And shall his grace
Grow weary of his saints?

Can a kind woman e'er forget
The infant of her womb?
And 'mongst a thousand tender thoughts
Her suckling have no room?

'Yet,' saith the LORD, 'should nature change
And mothers monsters prove,
Zion still dwells upon the heart
Of everlasting love.

Deep on the palms of both my hands
I have engraved her name;
My hands shall raise her ruined walls
And build her broken frame.'

Lyrics: Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Tune: "Africa;" William Billings, c. 1770

Free Download of John Piper's "Bloodlines"

John Piper is making his book Bloodlines available for free download today. Here's the link.

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/download-bloodlines-for-free

I Have a Dream: The Full Speech

If you've never seen the whole speech, today would be a good first time. Let it be part of your history for today. And whatever else you may think of Dr. King's personal life, thank our Lord Jesus that Lily and Rosie Hays are allowed to drink out of the same water fountain.

Update from Louisville: Dever Class and Campus

Brothers and sisters at Grace,

Good to talk to you again. Thank you for all of the kind emails and Facebook posts thus far. I miss all of you and am praying for you all by using my makeshift membership list.

I wanted to give you an update on my life here so far. I want to look at this under four headings: Taking Class, Auditing, Going to Church, and Touring the Campus

Taking Class
My first J-term class just ended: The Doctrine of the Church, with Dr. Mark Dever (picture below). Dr. Dever is pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., where Josh and Abigail Abbotoy are members, and author of numerous books on the church. He's also a really pleasant guy.

Classes would run from 9:00-12:00, then from 1:30-3:30 every day. He began class every day by calling the roll, only instead of saying "Here," we had to tell what passage we read in our devotions that morning. We would then sing a hymn (e.g. "Doxology," "There is a Fountain" "Arise, My Soul, Arise"), and then he would pray. Next, we would read through and discuss what various Protestant Confessions had said about the Church: The Augsburg Confession (Lutheran), the Thirty-Nine Articles (Anglican), the Westminster Confession, the First London Baptist Confession (1644), the Second London Baptist Confession (1689), the New Hampshire Baptist Confession, the Abstract of Principles (Southern Seminary's statement), and the three versions of the Baptist Faith and Message (1925, 1963, and 2000).

Next he would lecture us on various aspects of the church. There was a lot of interaction, as well. The overall topics we learned about were:

I. Preaching (along with the proper administration of the ordinances, gospel preaching is one of the two marks of a true church)

II. Baptism (the meaning, the mode, baptism and infants, baptism and children, baptism and membership)

III. The Lord's Supper (the various historical views, how the ordinances make the church visible, whom to allow to take communion, how often should we take it, etc.)

IV. Membership and Discipline (the Bible's teaching, its purpose and  meaning, 12 steps to regaining meaningful membership in your church, should unbaptized people be allowed to join your church?, how church discipline was done in early 19th century Baptist churches in Georgia, 9 steps to restoring biblical discipline to your church, etc.)

V. Polity/Church Government (the different forms, biblical arguments for congregationalism, elders and deacons, plurality of elders, the authority of the congregation and the elders, biblical arguments for the regulative principle of worship, arguments against the practice of multi-service and multi-site, etc.)

In short, the class was wonderful. The required reading list consisted of the following, any of which I would recommend to any of you.
Edmund Clowney, The Church
John Hammett, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches 

Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love
Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, What Is the Mission of the Church?
Jonathan Leeman, Reverberation
Mark Dever and Paul Alexander, The Deliberate Church

As for the authors above, Dever was my professor, Gilbert pastors the church I will be attending, and Leeman conducted Jared and Maggie's wedding. What a small world! :-)

As for people, I got to meet and befriend many very dear brothers. Lunch time was good for fellowship, as I made it a point to seek at least one class mate out to eat with. The class contained Christians from China, South Korea, India, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. [addition to the original post: I am in class with Matthew Price, who was the interim pastor for the church that the Reformed Baptist Church of Nashville sent Jeremy Meeks to revitalize. Jeremy came up to visit Matt, and we had lunch together at a Cuban restaurant.]


Auditing
With my spare time (I did most of the reading before I got here), I sat in on a Christian philosophy class with Dr. Paul Helm (picture below). Why? you might ask? Well, the content didn't interest me too awful much, but Paul Helm is one of the most celebrated Reformed Christian philosophers in the world. And since he is also 71 years old, I thought it safe to assume he was a wealth of wisdom that I probably won't ever get the chance to sit under again. He is an Englishman (Yay, Miss Jane!), and a very witty, kind, and godly man. Pray for him, as he'll be flying back to England today to be with his wife.

Going to Church
I have been in Louisville now for two Wednesday nights and one Sunday. The church I plan to attend and pursue associate membership with is called Third Avenue Baptist Church, pastored by Greg Gilbert (http://www.thirdavenue.org/). Why Third Avenue? Well, there are several very good churches here, but I chose Third Avenue because of its association with both Capitol Hill Baptist (where Josh and Abby are members) and Gilford Baptist (where Rob and Caroline used to be members, and where Pastor Carroll, Miss Linda, and I have attended several times while visiting the Spinneys). Greg Gilbert, the pastor, was formerly a pastor at Capitol Hill, so I assumed that Third Avenue would be very similar in its worship and structure with CHBC and Gilford. I was right. :-)

Gilbert began a 7-part series on Ezekiel last Sunday morning. Their Sunday night service is a combination of prayer meeting, church family time, and a brief devotional. I plan to pursue associate membership with them, which will require me to go through the membership classes which are offered in the Sunday School track. Since they do not have a Wednesday night service (they do small groups during the week), I have attended Clifton Baptist Church both Wednesdays I have been here. Why? Because three of my former professors attend or are elders there: Thomas Schreiner, Bruce Ware, and Shawn Wright. So far, I've met Dr. Wright (who remembered the Davises and the Lakes) and Dr. Ware.

[Note for college students: moving away from home for an extended period of time means that you need to find a like-minded, evangelical church where the gospel is preached, the ordinances are properly administered, and church discipline is practiced (the most accurate embodiment of which will be Baptistic and Calvinistic, but if you can't find the Baptistic part, try Presbyterian or Anglican :-) ) and plug in as soon as possible. If you are a member at Grace, college is not meant to be a time when you float around churchless for four years like a severed body part. Such a practice will only cause you to dishonor God and dry up spiritually.]

Touring the Campus
Here are some photos I have taken. The descriptors will be listed above.

The inside of my current dorm room [It is not good for man to be alone]

 The outside of my current dorm room: Williams Hall.

The James P. Boyce Library (named after one of the seminary's founders).

Norton Hall, where pretty much all my classes will be.

It's been a long email, I know. In honor of Martin Luther King Day there will be no classes on Monday (note to Ezra Baker: I will miss being there to watch the "I Have a Dream" speech with you like last year). My other J-term class with run from next Tuesday through Saturday, 8:00-5:00 daily. I'll save that one for another update.

I love all of you, and look forward to being with you again soon. Thank you for your support, both spiritually and materially. Keep the emails and Facebook posts coming.

Justin Dillehay

I Admit That I Deserve Death and Hell. What of It?

"When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus:

'I admit that I deserve death and hell.

What of it?

Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation?

By no means.

For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf.

His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Where he is, there I shall be also."

--Martin Luther 

 

 

 

 

True Believers, Dissidents, and Doublethinkers

"In any place where dissent is banned, society fractures into three groups. One group is those who remain committed to the prevailing order because they agree with it--the true believers. Another group is made up of those who are willing to defy the prevailing order despite the risk of punishment--the dissidents. For members of these two groups, there will be little or no gap between their private thoughts or public statements. Unlike true believers or dissidents, members of the third group do not say what they think. This group is comprised of people who longer believe in the prevailing ideology, but who are afraid to accept the risks associated with dissent. They are the 'doublethinkers...' 

Doublethinkers live in constant tension from the gap between their thoughts and their words, They always avoid saying what is not permitted but also try to avoid saying what they do not believe. But fear societies do not generally leave their doublethinkers such a luxury. They demand from the 'cogs' constant expressions of loyalty...

If a fear society is repressive enough, it will appear to an outside observer to consist of only true believers when in reality it may have thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of doublethinkers living in terror. Moreover, while it is impossible to know how many doublthinkers there are in a fear society, one thing is certain: With every passing day, the number of doublethinkers in a fear society always increases...

In Saudi Arabia, one can definitely be arrested or imprisoned for expressing one's views. While many people who grew up in liberal democracies would regard life in Saudi Arabia as oppressive, can it be said that the people of Saudi Arabia, who appear to agree with the prevailing ideology, live in fear? Aren't the Saudis simply living according to their age-old traditions?...This question assumes that the people of Saudi Arabia agree with the policies of the regime. But how do we know that? Because of what the Saudis say publicly? Can we assume that what people living in a fear society are willing to say publicly is the true expression of their beliefs? The books of dissidents describing how how Saudis flying to Europe hurry to change into their Western clothes while still on the airplane and adopt different modes of behavior when they are abroad are enough to convince me that Saudi Arabia is steeped in doublethink. Even if these stories only refer to the Saudi elite, the process of internal decay, when more and more people are conforming to a world they no longer believe in, is clearly under way. We must always keep in mind that the public statements of those who live in fear societies are motivated by fear. If we fail to recognize this, we will only be deceiving ourselves."

--Natan Sharansky, The Case for Democracy 

 

The Most Important Supreme Court Ruling on Religion in 20 Years

See Justin Taylor's link.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/01/11/the-most-important-supreme-court-ruling-on-religion-in-20-years/

"This is a huge win for religious  liberty."
--Douglas Laycock, University of Virginia Law School

"It is not just a spectacular win on multiple issues and with multiple (indeed, all) justices on board, but it's the Court's sweeping language that is so important...The words of the various justices' opinions ring out like a liberty bell for religious freedom."
--Carl Esbeck, University of Missouri, Law professor

Finally, a word on religious liberty from a Baptist, written to King James I of England in 1612. He was imprisoned for writing it.

"The King is a mortal man, and not God, therefore he hath no power over the mortal soul of his subjects to make laws and ordinances for them and to set spiritual lords over them...If the king's people be obedient and true subjects, obeying all humane laws made by the King, our Lord and King can require no more: for men's religion to God is betwixt God and themselves; the King shall not answer for it, neither may the King be judge between God and man."

--Thomas Helwys, 1612 (English Baptist), A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity

This is the Wonderful Exchange

"[We] cannot be condemned for our sins, from whose guilt he has absolved us, since he willed to take them upon himself as if they were his own. This is the wonderful exchange which, out of his measureless benevolence, he has made with us; that becoming Son of Man with us, he has made us sons of God with him; that by his ascent to earth, he has prepared an assent to heaven for us; that by taking on our mortality, he has conferred his immortality upon us; that, accepting our weakness, he has strengthened us by his power; that, receiving our poverty unto himself, he has transferred his wealth to us; that, taking the weight of our iniquity upon himself (which oppressed us), he has clothed us with his righteousness."

--John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.11.10 

Live from Louisville, It's Mark Dever

OK, well not exactly live, but here are some quotes from Dr. Mark Dever form the last few days in class:

"Joining a church is joining an assurance of salvation co-operative."

"The Lord's table is only for sinners, and it's only for repenting sinners."

"God is terrible outside of Christ."

"If your church becomes more healthy, it will become more attractive."

'Rather than hurting them, we serve non-Christians by making it clear to them that they don't belong [to our local church]."

"As the gospel drains away, religious ceremonies become more important." (referring to liberal churches that still stress baptism, etc.)

"Authority well exercised blesses those underneath it.' (referring to 2 Samuel 23:3-4)

 "I often tell young men who enjoy reading John Piper and Wayne Grudem, 'If you're not willing to get up an hour earlier to give a 90 year-old man a ride to church, I'm not sure you're saved.'"

"When it comes to how we admit new church members, hypocrisy can't be prevented, but it can be discouraged." 

"Terrible people can do wonderful things because they're made in the image of God. Wonderful people can do terrible things because they are fallen."

Four Reasons Why Non-attending Church Members Are Toxic

"Biblically, if a member shows prolonged negligence in gathering with God's people, how can he say he loves them? And if he doesn't love them, how can he say he loves God (cf. 1 John 4:20-21)?

Pastorally, if a member who could attend continually neglects to meet with the people of God, church leaders are simply no longer in a position to externally witness the fruit of his life, and for that reason can no longer externally affirm his conversion by uninterrupted membership.

Evangelistically, meaningless membership damages the corporate evangelistic witness of the church in the surrounding community. Members usually go AWOL to cover up more serious sin; but they are committing that sin as people who are still likely to be know by others in your community as members of your church! In other words, they are sinning in ways that make your church look hypocritical to the unbelievers in your community.

Most seriously of all, when we allow prolonged nonattenders to keep their names on the membership rolls, we actually help deceive them into thinking they are saved when their behavior is in fact calling their salvation into question."

--Mark Dever, The Deliberate Church 

All the World's a Stage--For God!

I'm taking two classes this Spring with Dr. James Hamilton. This excerpt is taken from one of his books which he has assigned.

"The created realm (creation) is a spectacular theater that serves as the cosmic matrix in which God’s saving and judging glory can be revealed. God’s glory is so grand that no less a stage than the universe—all that is or was and will be, across space and through time—is necessary for the unfolding of this all-encompassing drama. The psalmist sings, “The heavens are recounting the glory of God, and the skies are proclaiming the work of his hands” (Ps. 19:1). Similarly, Paul exclaims, “From him and through him and to him are all things; to him be the glory forever! Amen” (Rom. 11:36). Creation is for the glory of God."

--James Hamilton, God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology

More on Local Church Membership

OK. I'm quoting a lot of Leeman because I'm reading it for a class. Plus it's just a good book. More on the necessity of church membership:

"A man who claims to be righteous in Christ and yet makes not effort to pursue a life of righteousness is, at best, self-deceived. Likewise, a woman who claims to love all Christians everywhere but does not love her Christian sister is likewise self-deceived. Both are hypocrites. They are nominal Christians--Christians in name only--because their profession does not translate into action or reality...So too with one who claims to belong to the church without belonging to a church. I fear that he looks very much like a nominal Christian and a hypocrite. The apostolic church on earth was given the authority to bind and loose. What else can we conclude about someone who professes to belong to the church but will not submit to an apostolic church on earth? As the apostle John puts it, 'He who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20).'"

--Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love 

Not Joining a Local Church is Not an Option

"Christians do comprise "the church," but Paul and Jesus both speak as if it's the gathering that constitutes us as a church, just like a basketball team must gather in order to be considered " a team." This formal gathering has an existence and an authority that none of us has separately. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, because Christ has given the whole an organizational charter. Nineteenth century Congregationalist pastor John Angell James put it like this: 'A church member is something more than a Christian, just as a citizen is something more than a man. Each has duties arising from the relationship--to state or to church.'

The church on earth is located in the local church. If Christ calls us to submit to him by submitting to the apostolic church, he intends for us to do this through the local church. To refuse his lordship by refusing to submit to a true local church, if one exists where on geographically abides, calls into question whether we have been truly converted. It's true that we must choose to join, and it's true--in some places in this world--that we have to choose which church to join. But not joining, if a local church exists, is not really an option. Membership in the local church is voluntary, and it's not voluntary."

--Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love 

 

The Desire for Absolute Certainty

This excerpt deals with the danger of embaricing falsehood out of a desire for closure and absolute certainty.

"The quest for certainty is not the same as a quest for truth. There is a subtle but important distinction between the two. Truth is objective reality; certainty is the level of subjective apprehension of something perceived to be true. But in the recognition that truth is objective reality, it is easy to confuse the fact of this reality with how one knows what it is. Frequently the most black-and-white, dogmatic method of arriving at truth is perceived to be truth itself. Indeed, people with deep religious convictions are very often quite certain about an untruth. For example, cultists often hold to their positions quite dogmatically and with a fideistic fervor that shames evangelicals; first-year Greek students want to speak of the aorist tense as meaning "once-and-for-all" action; and almost everyone wants simple answers to the complex questions of life. At the bottom of this quest for certainty, though often masquerading as a legitimate epistemological inquiry, is really a presuppositional stance, rooted in a psychological insecurity.

--Daniel Wallace, quoted in Roy E. Beacham. One Bible Only?: Examining Exclusive Claims for the King James Bible 

Christian Principles for Realistic Politics

Wise counsel (in my judgment) about politics from Kevin DeYoung. I can hear the influence of Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions in his talk about trade-offs and the origins of war.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2012/01/03/christian-principles-for-realistic-politics/

Update from Louisville

Brothers and Sisters,

I don't have a lot of time tonight, but I wanted to let you know that though it was snowy on the drive up today, God was merciful, and I am safe and sound in Louisville. I am in a second floor dorm room for the next three weeks during this January term, after which I will need to move all my stuff to a dorm about 500 feet to my right. :-) Class starts at 9:00 in the morning. I have just finished a nutritious dinner of Beanee Weenee and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I will share more in the next few days about what classes I am taking. Hopefully, I can learn how to use this camera so that I can post some pictures.

I love all of you.

Justin

Free Audiobook- Packer's Knowing God

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