Monthly Archives: August 2015

Superstition

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Witmer (PhD, University of Cambridge) is the pastor of Pepperell Christian Fellowship in Pepperell, Massachusetts and teaches New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the author of Eternity Changes Everything and the forthcoming Revelation volume in Crossway’s Knowing the Bible series. In an article entitled “Are You a Superstitious Calvinist?” he writes:

John Calvin uses a surprising term to describe our neglect of the doctrine of God’s providence in the course of our everyday lives. He calls it superstition.

Superstitious people wrongly attribute supernatural power to things that do not actually possess that power: a black cat, a broken mirror, a ladder overhead, salt thrown over your shoulder, the chalk of the third base line.

But what does superstition have to do with providence? The classical Reformed view of providence teaches that God is in ultimate control of everything in the universe, including the free choices and actions (good and bad) of all people. If this understanding is correct, it is superstitious to think and feel and act as though other human beings possess ultimate causality in what they do. We’re ascribing God’s role to them.

But isn’t this how we often think, feel, and act — even those of us who are Calvinists? We live as though the people who hurt and harm us are writing their own damaging scripts rather than fulfilling the sovereign plan of God.

Seeing the Bad Fruit of Superstition

In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin exposes the bad fruit of our superstition:

We are superstitiously timid, I say, if whenever creatures threaten us or forcibly terrorize us we become as fearful as if they had some intrinsic power to harm us, or might wound us inadvertently and accidently, or there were not enough help in God against their harmful acts. (1.XVI.3)

Our superstition makes us timid and afraid. Early in my pastoral ministry, one woman with influence in the congregation was regularly critical of my preaching and leadership. Even her occasional affirmations were backhanded put-downs; she once complimented one my sermons by saying it was much better than another subpar sermon I had recently given.

Over time, I developed a prickly sensitivity toward her. I realize now I was being superstitious, ascribing to her a power she didn’t actually possess, forgetting God’s sovereignty over the words she spoke and his intention to work something good in my life through them. I didn’t need to fear what she said. As Calvin says, “there is no erratic power, or action, or motion in creatures, but . . . they are governed by God’s secret plan in such a way that nothing happens except what is knowingly and willingly decreed by him.” The fruit of my failure to live in light of this knowledge was fear.

Symptoms of a Superstitious Calvinist

Calvin’s use of the category of superstition isn’t perfect. It could wrongly be interpreted to imply that humans have no real agency. But I think it’s a helpful way of expressing a widespread problem. Many of us are superstitious Calvinists. We believe in God’s exhaustive, meticulous providence, but in our actual experience of daily life, we don’t live from that conviction. Our superstition makes us into:

1. Avoiders of People

Superstitious people avoid black cats, broken mirrors, ladders, and Friday the 13th. Superstitious Calvinists avoid people who intimidate us with their words and actions. Continue reading →

6 Reasons Why We Should Evangelize

Posted on by
Reply

John Calvin’s 6 Reasons (from Joel Beeke):

There are many reasons why we must evangelize. John Calvin offers the following:

1. God commands us to do so. “We should remember that the gospel is preached not only by the command of Christ but at his urging and leading.”

2. We want to glorify God. True Christians yearn to extend God’s truth everywhere so that “God may be glorified.”

3. We want to please God. Calvin writes,” Calvin says. He adds, “It is our duty to proclaim the goodness of God to every nation.”

5. We have a duty to our fellow sinners. Our compassion should be intensified by knowing that “God cannot be sincerely called upon by others than those to whom, through the preaching of the gospel, his kindness and gentle dealings have become known.”

6. We are grateful to God. We owe it to God to strive for the salvation of others; if we do not, we are behaving in a contradictory manner. Calvin says, “Nothing could be more inconsistent concerning the nature of faith than that deadness which would lead a man to disregard his brethren, and to keep the light of knowledge… in his own breast.”

This excerpt is taken from Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism by Joel Beeke.

How to be a better critic

Posted on by
Reply

In an article entitled ” showing our logical mistakes or lack of clarity.

Critique done poorly—whether through overstatement, misunderstanding, caricature—is a losing proposition for all. It undermines the credibility of the critic and deprives the one being criticized from the opportunity to improve his or her position.

It’s impossible in a blog post to set forth a comprehensive methodology of critique—if such a thing can even be done. But there are at least three exhortations worth remembering about criticism: (1) understand before you critique; (2) be self-critical in how you critique; (3) consider the alternatives of what you are critiquing.

1. UNDERSTAND BEFORE YOU CRITIQUE

Mortimer Adler makes the important point in How to Read a Book:

Every author has had the experience of suffering book reviews by critic who did not feel obligated to do the work of the first two stages first. The critic too often thinks he does not have to be a reader as well as a judge. Every lecturer has also had the experience of having critical questions asked that were not based on any understanding of what he had said. You yourself may remember an occasion where someone said to a speaker, in one breath or at most two, “I don’t know what you mean, but I think you’re wrong.”

There is actually no point in answering critics of this sort. The only polite thing to do is to ask them to state your position for you, the position they claim to be challenging. If they cannot do it satisfactorily, if they cannot repeat what you have said in their own words, you know that they do not understand, and you are entirely justified in ignoring their criticisms. They are irrelevant, as all criticism must be that is not based on understanding. When you find the rare person who shows that he understands what you are saying as well as you do, then you can delight in his agreement or be seriously disturbed by his dissent. (pp. 144-145)

I do think we have to add at least one caveat to Adler’s perspective here. He is assuming goodwill upon the part of the one being criticized. In the last decade or so I’ve noticed theologians with novel interpretations or positions who perpetually protest that they are being misunderstood. At some point, we might judge that the theologian doth protest too much. If not even the most careful and considerate critiques can understand one’s point, it may be that there is some incoherence to the point itself. The idea that understanding and critiquing the theology of some folks is “like trying to nail jello to a wall” has now become a cliche—but the metaphor is apt and exists for a reason.

Nevertheless, Alder’s perspective is one we need to hear and to heed in so far as it depends on us. Viewed from a biblical perspective, there are moral imperatives bound up with the act of reading and critiquing. Jesus tells me to do unto others as I would have done unto me, and he tells me to love my neighbor as I love myself—and this includes how I interact and critique. Continue reading →