Mom's Counsel Biblical

"Think before you speak."  Many of us first heard this counsel from our mothers.  It is actually biblical: "The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil" (Prov. 15:28).

Education Reform

Doug Wilson speaks a lot of good sense on the education front.  It does offend many of our idolatries, however, so brace yourself if you are going to venture into reading some of that wholesome educational food-for-thought.  Read any and all of his posts on education.  Hit the title here to read a recent post that is helpful.  We need to be in this discussion far more than we are today, taking our brains off the couch for ten minutes once in a while.

A Carnival of Pillage

Hear Wilson and Calvin on the collective wisdom of our government and her citizens.  Click on the title of this post to take you to the link.

"There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Ps. 36:1).

By What Logic or Necessity?

Chapter I in Book 1 of Anselm's Why God Became Man raises the question upon which hangs the whole work.  The question is this: "By what logic or necessity did God become man, and by his death, as we believe and profess, restore life to the world, when he could have done this through the agency of some other person, angelic or human, or simply by willing it?"  Or, more briefly: "By what necessity or logic did God, almighty as he is, take upon himself the humble standing and weakness of human nature with a view to that nature's restoration?"

Why God Became Man

St. Anselm (1033-1109), bishop of Canterbury, is perhaps most famous and known for his setting forth of the ontological argument for God's existence in The Proslogion.  It is simply this: That God is that than which nothing greater or better can be conceived.

He wrote during his mature years what has come to be a very influential work: Why God Became Man.  In the preface to this work, he tells the reader how he's arranged the work into two books and what each book is about.  Book 1 provides the objections of unbelievers who repudiate the faith because they suppose that it militates against reason and the answers of the faithful to such objections.  Anselm asserts that "it proves, by unavoidable logical steps," that without Christ it is impossible that anyone could be saved.  Book 2 proposes that even if nothing were known of Christ it can be demonstrated "with no less clear logic and truth" that the aim for which God made humanity--that "the whole human being should enjoy blessed immortality"--makes it inevitable that the outcome for which man was originally created should become a reality.  And this outcome, moreover, could only come to pass through the agency of a God-man.  And so, he says, "it is from necessity that all the things which we believe about Christ have come to pass."

The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Emily and I are wrapping up reading through Calvin's Institutes this year. And how healthy it has been to trek through the thick theology of the great Genevan reformer. The scope and breadth and depth of this work are truly astounding and breathtaking. It was the life's work of rare theological and pastoral genius. I commend it to every Christian. It is not just for pastors and theologians or historians! It is one of the great pieces of Christian literature of all time, graciously bestowed upon the Church for her profit.  It is a shame so few have read it.

So please, for the love of God, the good of his Church, and the sake of your soul—take up and read! Working through thoughtfully and prayerfully such Christian classics would be, so I judge, an important component of the much-needed reformation in the superficial and anemic American church. So love God with your mind and read great books. And Calvin's Institutes is surely tops on the list of great books.

Uttering Words

Praying aloud is a practice that used to be commonplace in the Church until fairly recently, as far as I'm able to discern.  Today, however, we don't utter audible words.  Luther urges uttering words to help us soar upwards.  I confess that I need this aid or my weak mind quickly strays.

"No one should depend on his heart and presume to pray without uttering words unless he is well trained in the Spirit and has experience in warding off stray thoughts.  Otherwise the devil will thoroughly trick him and soon smother the prayer in his heart.  Therefore we should cling to the words and with their help soar upward, until our feathers grow and we can fly without the help of words.  I do not condemn words or the spoken prayer, nor should anyone spurn them.  On the contrary, they are to be accepted as an especially great gift of God.  However, it is wrong when the words are not employed for their fruitful purpose, namely, to move the heart, but are only mumbled and muttered with the mouth, on the false assumption that this is all that is necessary."

Notice how in his recommedation of "uttering words" he warns of making them the heart of the matter.  They must be "employed for their fruitful purpose, namely, to move the heart."  O Lord, teach us to pray.

Lifting Up of Heart and Mind to God

What is the essence of prayer?  Luther taught the common person that "prayer is nothing else than the lifting up of heart or mind to God."  He continues, "But if the lifting up of the heart consitutes the essence and nature of prayer, it follows that everything else which does not invite the lifting of the heart is not prayer."  Luther says this in an exposition of the Lord's prayer, urging heartfelt prayer at a time when mindlessly mumbling through beads had become one of the marks of piety.  And so the average Christian had a distorted view of prayer.  The heart of the matter is the heart, and lifting up our hearts to God alone moves and pleases him.

"This people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men" (Isa. 29:13; cf. Mt. 15:8).

Kiss the Son

Conservative Christians ordinarily make quite a big deal out of being Bible people.  They say that we should all obey the Bible and go no further.  This is good and right.  But one of the problems, for example, is that conservatives ignore quite a lot of the Bible. 

Take Ps. 2:12: "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.  Blessed are all who take refuge in him."  Now, let me ask some difficult questions for conservative American Christians: Should Obama be told to kiss the Son?  Should he be required to obey King Jesus and submit to his righteous rule?  "Uh, ur, but, but what about the separation of church and state, the separation of church and state, our inviolable notion of the separation of church and state?"  So no doubt many would stutter and mutter while holding a big fat Bible.  Well, what does the psalmist say?  "Now, therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way" (vv 10-12).  Does this include twenty-first century rulers?  American Presidents?  Of course.  To whom do the apostles say this psalm refers?  To King Jesus (see Acts 2 and Heb. 1, for instance).  And should David, a mere pointer to the ultimate King, David's greater son and David's Lord, receive such regard but not the one to whom the psalm was ultimately pointing?  The apostles upset the world with their preaching for a reason: the were preaching Jesus as King (Acts 17:6-7). 

May God grant deep repentence in the church in America.  And I mean all of us. We're in this stinkin' mess together, and we need to pray to the Lord of Hosts to deliver us.  We continue to want to separate what God has joined together.  Jesus is Lord of all.  This is not difficult.  This is, after all, to our shameful neglect, the basic Christian confession and the center of the Gospel.  And somehow we've lost it and don't see it.