Monthly Archives: December 2011

The Prime Minister’s Speech

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Late last week, the English Prime Minister gave a quite amazing speech honoring the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. He said:

The Bible is a book that has not just shaped our country, but shaped the world.

And with 3 Bibles sold or given away every second, a book that is not just important in understanding our past, but which will continue to have a profound impact in shaping our collective future.

In making this speech I claim no religious authority whatsoever. I am a committed – but I have to say vaguely practising – Church of England Christian, who will stand up for the values and principles of my faith… but who is full of doubts and, like many, constantly grappling with the difficult questions when it comes to some of the big theological issues.

But what I do believe is this. The King James Bible is as relevant today as at any point in its 400 year history. And none of us should be frightened of recognising this.

Why?

Put simply, three reasons.

First, the King James Bible has bequeathed a body of language that permeates every aspect of our culture and heritage… from everyday phrases to our greatest works of literature, music and art.

We live and breathe the language of the King James Bible, sometimes without even realising it. And it is right that we should acknowledge this – particularly in this anniversary year.

Second, just as our language and culture is steeped in the Bible, so too is our politics.

From human rights and equality to our constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, from the role of the church in the first forms of welfare provision, to the many modern day faith-led social action projects… the Bible has been a spur to action for people of faith throughout history, and it remains so today.

Third, we are a Christian country and we should not be afraid to say so.

Read the full speech here.

The Mystery of the Incarnation

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If we can use our imagination Jesus, shortly after His birth, it would be true to say that humanly speaking, He was fragile as He was being held in the arms of His mother; yet if we could peer for a moment beyond the physical, Jesus as God, was not only holding His mother, but every cell and atom together in this Universe.

Talking of Christ, Colossians 1:16, 17 says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

He is the Creator of all things and in Him all things hold together. That’s quite a thought isn’t it?

More on this here.

Arminianism v. Arminians

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“I do not serve the god of the Arminians at all; I have nothing to do with him, and I do not bow down before the Baal they have set up; he is not my God, nor shall he ever be; I fear him not, nor tremble at his presence… The God that saith today and denieth tomorrow, that justifieth today and condemns the next… is no relation to my God in the least degree. He may be a relation of Ashtaroth or Baal, but Jehovah never was or can be his name.” – C.H. Spurgeon

“They are Arminians to a man; they deny the absolute sovereignty of God, his eternal choice of an elect people, and that Christ bore their sins only. They deny the total depravity of man, for they insist that he possesses a free will and can accept Christ and besaved by a decision of his own; thus directly repudiating God’s word,as found in John1:13; 6;44; 8:36; Rom 9:16, and other passages. And where any teacher or preacher is unsound on these basic truths, no confidence must be placed on him on any other subject. If he is all wrong at the foundations, his superstructure is bound to be faulty.” – A. W. Pink, Letter to Lowell Green August 19, 1934

“A “god” whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to Deity, and so far from being a fit object of worship, merits nought but contempt.” – A. W. Pink

Having said that, while the doctrines of Arminianism are to be rightly despised, maturity and balance is needed concerning how we view Arminians. See this article here, and this one here.

The same Spurgeon who wrote so forcefully about Arminianism (above) also said this:

“We give our hand to every man that loves the Lord Jesus Christ, be he what he may or who he may. The doctrine of election, like the great act of election itself, is intended to divide, not between Israel and Israel, but between Israel and the Egyptians, not between saint and saint, but between saints and the children of the world. A man may be evidently of God’s chosen family, and yet though elected, may not believe in the doctrine of election. I hold that there are many savingly called, who do not believe in effectual calling, and that there are a great many who persevere to the end, who do not believe the doctrine of final perseverance. We do hope the hearts of many are a great deal better than their heads. We do not set their fallacies down to any willful opposition to the truth as it is in Jesus but simply to an error in their judgments, which we pray God to correct. We hope that if they think us mistaken too, they will reciprocate the same Christian courtesy; and when we meet around the cross, we hope that we shall ever feel that we are one in Christ Jesus.”

“I do not ask whether you believe Calvinism. It is possible that you do not. But I believe you will before you enter heaven. I am persuaded that as God may have washed your hearts, He will wash your brains before you enter heaven.” – Spurgeon, Sermons, Vol. 1, p. 92

Do Christians commit shirk?

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Islam teaches that shirk (Arabic: ???? širk) is the sin of idolatry or polytheism, i.e. the deification or worship of anyone or anything other than the singular God, or more literally the establishment of “partners” placed beside God. Within Islam, shirk is an unforgivable crime; God may forgive any sin except shirk.

According to this Islamic scholar, “Saying ‘Merry Christmas’ is worse than fornication or killing someone.”

“To our Muslim readers: We (Christians) worship one God, who has manifested Himself in Three Persons. One Yahweh, one God, Three Persons. No association of anything created or non-eternal. No married gods, no wives or consorts (contra Q. 6:101). Three co-equal and co-eternal Persons sharing fully the one, indivisible being of God. While the Qur’an attempts to identify this as shirk, the author of the Qur’an clearly did not understand the doctrine he was seeking to deny.” – Dr. James White

Friday Round Up

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(1) Outspoken atheist Christopher Hitchens died last night at the age of 62. A statement from Vanity Fair said that he died Thursday night at a cancer center in Houston of pneumonia, a complication of his esophageal cancer. Doug Wilson has written an interesting obituary here.

(2) Three quotes on Arminianism (not for the feint of heart):

“I do not serve the god of the Arminians at all; I have nothing to do with him, and I do not bow down before the Baal they have set up; he is not my God, nor shall he ever be; I fear him not, nor tremble at his presence… The God that saith today and denieth tomorrow, that justifieth today and condemns the next… is no relation to my God in the least degree. He may be a relation of Ashtaroth or Baal, but Jehovah never was or can be his name.” – C.H. Spurgeon

“They are Arminians to a man; they deny the absolute sovereignty of God, his eternal choice of an elect people, and that Christ bore their sins only. They deny the total depravity of man, for they insist that he possesses a free will and can accept Christ and besaved by a decision of his own; thus directly repudiating God’s word,as found in John1:13; 6;44; 8:36; Rom 9:16, and other passages. And where any teacher or preacher is unsound on these basic truths, no confidence must be placed on him on any other subject. If he is all wrong at the foundations, his superstructure is bound to be faulty.” – A. W. Pink, Letter to Lowell Green August 19, 1934

“A “god” whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to Deity, and so far from being a fit object of worship, merits nought but contempt.” – A. W. Pink

Having said that, while the doctrines of Arminianism are to be rightly despised, maturity and balance is needed concerning how we view Arminians. See this article here, and this one here.

(3) Once again, Ligonier has some excellent deals today in this week’s $5 Friday sale. The online sale starts at 8 a.m. EST and goes on for 24 hours or until items are sold out. Check out the $5 Ligonier sale here.

A Few Thoughts on Hyper Calvinism

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“Remember… while some Arminians are Armenians and some Armenians are Arminians, Armenians and Arminians are two very different groups. Second, while it’s true that some Calvinists can be a bit hyper, that doesn’t make them Hyper-Calvinists.” – Justin Taylor

Amongst the archives at www.aomin.org here I found this, written by my friend Dr. James White; a response to a man I shall call Brian (not his real name). It is rather lengthy but I think you will find it worthwhile. To allow for easy reading I will make James White’s words appear in bold type:

James writes:
The following exchange took place around the year 2000. If I am recalling correctly, an unsolicited e-mail arrived with a large “cc” list of people. As you will see, my initial response was very brief, because I learned long ago that these kinds of impromptu e-mail lists will suck the life right out of you if you let them. False teachers have, seemingly, unlimited time resources. In any case, when the reply came, I did invest a few moments to type out a few thoughts I have had on the subject of the demands of hyper-Calvinists. I hope they are useful to others as well.
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Word and Sacrament in Worship

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Dr. Kim Riddlebarger is senior pastor of Christ Reformed Church (URCNA) in Anaheim, California, and is co-host of The White Horse Inn. He is also author of A Case for Amillennialism. He writes:

In those fundamentalist churches in which I was raised, most Sunday mornings the minister preached from a well-worn Bible, told a few stories to illustrate his point and then reminded us that Jesus is our only hope of heaven. But every service ended the same way, with an altar call. Those who heard the message and were convicted of their sins were invited to come forward and speak with the minister, who would ask those brave enough to repeat the sinner’s prayer and thereby be assured of God’s favor toward them. Sometimes church members would go forward, which was always a shock, because you wondered what they did the week before that required such a public act of contrition. On a rare, but joyful, occasion, someone for whom the church had been praying, was ready to accept Jesus as their “personal Savior.” They would get up out of their pew, walk the aisle and be received with great joy, especially when the person was known to be an unbeliever or a “backslider.”

On the one hand, there was something truly wonderful about this. Heaven rejoices when a sinner repents (Luke 15:7). It was wonderful to be assured of Christ’s favor and to know that even in those times when we struggle with some particular sin, or when doubt chips away at our faith, we could be reassured of God’s favor in some tangible way. On the other hand, there was something quite troubling about this practice. There was always a qualification. The minister would tell us that if we were truly sincere — “if you really meant it”— then God’s promises about the forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven truly applied to us. But I wasn’t sure I really “meant it.” No doubt others felt the same way.
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