From My Heart, Out Of My Mind

I commend Michael Horton’s radio program “White Horse Inn” to those seeking a thoughtful faith

Don Bryant — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:18:21 +0000

If you have read my blog postings, you are aware that I am increasingly concerned about the trajectory of Reformed theology. It’s obsession with the sovereignty of God in what I have to consider a ruthless and psychologically damaging way does strange things to those who fully buy in. The great story of God’s seeking love in the Bible is submitted to the rubric of a God obsessed with himself, a predetermined plan that (to me) implicates God in great moral evil and finds a certain amount of satisfaction in human suffering. I do understand the Reformed responses to these but find them in the long run unconvincing and morally deadening, Spinoza-like. It is not pantheism, but has too much in common with its passivity and lack of outrage over evil. Its final cut is the belief that God predetermines not to save people he could save but for his own glory chooses to consign them to eternal suffering. I have at times along the way chosen to go along with this trajectory, primarily because I found no way to give God glory for his sovereignty apart from this narrative. To give him glory for his sovereignty seemed to mean that everything that happens has to be directly related to a “secret will” of God whereby he determines to happen what he explicitly declares he does not want to happen. I am aware of all the caveats the Reformed build into this, but in the long run this is so disturbing of a moral compass that it undermines a healthy spirituality. It wants its cake and to eat it, too.

Michael Horton is Reformed. He is even the Reformed of the Reformed. However, he is in conversation with the full gamut of theological and biblical issues. He seems to know not just his own position but states the position of others in a way that they would state it. He doesn’t engage in ad hominem attacks nor building straw men. The one who comes closest to Horton is RC Sproul, though Sproul seems to be a bit more snarky and combative. Sproul’s response to Chuck Colson and The Evangelical Catholics Together episode demonstrated to me that his attempts to narrow Christianity down to its essence doesn’t just cut to the bone but cuts away some of the bone itself. I love Sproul’s stuff but I am always aware of his tendency to go too far.

Horton’s program is titled The White Horse Inn. It’s hard to even count the number of books he has written.

Winsome Words 1/28/12

Don Bryant — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:00:53 +0000

Blessed is the man who having nothing to say abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact. —George Eliot

So Driscoll, MacDonald say Jakes is a classic Trinitarian – I guess it must be so.

Don Bryant — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:04 +0000

Driscoll and MacDonald and company at the Elephant Room have given Jakes his green card to work in the Evangelical vineyard. They have passed on his Trinitarianism. Well, ok. I guess they think he is a trinitarian of the classical kind. They said so.

But, as Carl Trueman points out, we ought to stop first and ask who is giving the exam. Trueman thinks it’s time some biblical scholars stepped in to ask some questions. Read his thoughts here.

Do you belong to a church that shows leadership of an authoritarian kind?

Don Bryant — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:42:25 +0000

Wade Burleson describes some signs in a church that leadership is moving in an unhealthy direction. (I do not know Burleson but ran across the comments from Jesus Creed).

How does one know if the Christian community or church to which he or she belongs is following Christ’s teachings on leadership or is a reflection of the pagan’s understanding of authority? What are the signs imperial authoritarianism in the church? The following are ten indicators:

(1). There is never any freedom to question the leader.
(2). The leader often makes claims of having special insights from God, insights that the laity are unable to possess.
(3). Disagreement with the leader is deemed a sign of the devil’s influence in one’s life.
(4). Events are designed to bring attention and praise to the leader rather than equipping others to do the work of the ministry.
(5). Any concept of equality is immediately labeled rebellion or the end result of a “liberal” denial of the Bible.
(6) Authoritarian leaders are only comfortable around like-minded leaders; thus, there is an unoffical ‘speaking tour’ where only imperial, authoritarian leaders share the platform with each other.
(7). The measure of success becomes the number of people who follow the leader (“It must be of God! Look at how many come to hear me speak!“)
(8). If a person leaves the community or church, the problem is always in the person who leaves, not the leadership.
(9). Leaders who wrongly perceive themselves as those “with authority” insulate their lives by demanding absolute loyalty through giving large financial benefits to their closest ‘advisors.’
(10). The ultimate end of this kind of Christian leadership is always more; more money, more power, more followers, more publicity, more, more, more…

The problem in most churches continues to be a lack leadership, no doubt. Still, there is a celebrity culture growing in evangelicalism where all the gears are in sync to produce the star. The model, like any model, can lead to some real damage when it grows unchecked.

We are coming close to the time when the pioneering generation of the new megachurch stars will be moving off the stage. Robert Schuller’s exit could be the first of many like stories to come. The question is whether or not the local churches which have been based on these models show the capacity to transition well.

Critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo pick the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923

Don Bryant — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:00:43 +0000

Here’s the link. This isn’t the best 100 of all time. This list brings us into the ideas that form our time, a way to chart what’s flowing through us, around us.

Winsome Words 1/27/12

Don Bryant — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:00:56 +0000

“You gotta kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight” Bruce Cockburn

Have we taught people to hate home?

Don Bryant — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:04:12 +0000

A new Census report finds that the percentage of Americans who are changing residences has dropped to an all-time low. Just 11.6 percent of Americans moved last year, down from 12.5 percent in 2009 and way down from 18.6 percent in 1987. In fact, the Census tables show that geographic mobility has been declining steadily since the end of World War II, when one-fifth of all Americans regularly moved.

So what’s going on? What went on?

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/2012/01/25/how-they-taught-us-to-hate-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-they-taught-us-to-hate-home

Ben Witherington reflects in an Arminian way on the passing of his daughter

Don Bryant — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:00:50 +0000

I grieve with Ben and his family on the passing of his daughter. I remember Ben from his days as a student in the IVCF chapter I led at UNC-Chapel Hill. Ben went on to become a leading evangelical biblical scholar. He has stayed out of the blog wars that stir up over this or that and focuses instead on biblical studies and writing books – and I mean books. The man is a machine. See here. He blogs here.

Many Christians in grief remind themselves that in God’s sovereignty the death of a loved one fits into God’s plan and purpose in such a manner that the death itself comes from the hand of God. Ben thinks not.

The question becomes, then how shall we be comforted? If this is not from the hand of God, where can we find peace? Ben answers that question. It is not a full theological presentation. Who would want to do that at such a time as this? But there is enough that you get the sense of where he is going.

How different this is from John Piper’s piece of some time ago about the death of a child from a random bullet.

I am increasingly inclined to agree with Witherington. Piper’s piece made my blood run cold.

An Appreciation for O Palmer Robertson

Don Bryant — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:23:34 +0000

O Palmer Robertson was my Old Testament prof in seminary. In his very kind Mississippi dialect, he serves up a strong menu of Old Testament interpretation that stands the test of time. If you think of the word fad, then Robertson is the opposite of that. He sticks by the stuff, keeps rooted in the text and focuses on Christ. He builds a model of biblical interpretation that sticks with you and gives you the tools to sweep over the whole text of Holy Scripture and find yourself at home anywhere. While he is not a pulpiteer in the charismatic sense of the word, his teaching and preaching are so wedded to the text of Holy Scripture and the applications so genuine and natural that the listener and student returns to Robertson again and again.

Robertson (Th.D., Union Theological Seminary in Richmond) is principal and director of African Bible College in Uganda and adjunct professor of Old Testament at Knox Theological Seminary. He has served pastorates in several states, spoken at many conferences, taught at several seminaries, and lectured in Africa, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

He has a series of lectures on biblical theology that are well worth the listening.

His books are:

The Christ of the Covenants - this is Robertson’s class work and one that I have read and re-read over the years. It weaves the whole of Holy Scripture together into a seamless fabric that demonstrates unity in the midst of all the diversity in a book that was written by over 40 authors, in three languages, in radically different times.

The Christ of the Prophets

The Israel of God: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - in this book Robertson takes pains to demonstrate that the church is the Israel of God (Gal 6:16) and fulfills the Old Testament promises made to Abraham.

The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah

God’s People in the Wilderness: The Church in Hebrews

Understanding the Land of the Bible: A Biblical-Theological Guide - Robertson’s grasp of the geographical characteristics of Middle East open up the Bible and many of its dynamics.

Prophet of the Coming Day of the Lord: The Message of Joel

The Current Justification Controversy - Robertson was at Westminster Seminary when the controversy over justification by faith dominated the seminary community, a la Norman Shepherd. Robertson spoke for the traditional understanding of justification by grace through faith in Christ alone. He was unmoved, firm, clear and yet not by demeanor a controversialist.

Jonah

Psalms in Congregational Celebration - Robertson is a lover of the Psalms and transferred that love to me.

Winsome Words, 1/25/12

Don Bryant — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:00:35 +0000

Not ignorance, but the ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge. —Alfred Whitehead