ClanBlack

Adam and Jo Black have some pictures of India up on their blog now. Great stuff.

Universalism? Predestination?

Brodie's very helpfully posted some background theology to his Stanley Hauerwas quote I recently commented on:

"just as there is no God who is not the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so there is no God who must be satisfied that we might be spared. We are the spared because God refuses to have us lost”.

I hadn't even heard of Hauerwas before reading Brodie's quote, so let that be an indicator of how deeply I've thought and read about anything you find on this blog! I voiced my concern that while I agreed with the sentiment, it sounded a bit like universalism, and I struggle to square that with what I read in the Bible. Brodie makes a very valid point: "Perhaps the questions we are left with, the why’s and how’s are there to draw us more into the mystery of God where in glimpsing something of His glory where the importance of the questions fades and we become transfixed by Him." I've experienced that more than once. However, that doesn't mean that the questions aren't important or that we should stop thinking about them. (To be fair that's not what Brodie's saying either). "A retreat into mystery should be a last resort".(I'm paraphrasing an alleged repeated quote of a lecturer at Glasgow Bible College/ICC/Scottish Baptist College).

My struggle with all of this isn't for me - I'm so grateful to God that he's so real in my life (I do get angry with him at times - but that's another post). My struggle is for those who God has, in a very real sense, allowed to be lost. I refuse to have the Calvinist attitude that the bottom line is "I'm alright Jack". Why did God choose Abel and not Cain? Why Jacob not Esau? Why David not Eliab? Why Israel not Egypt? Why me and not (until now at least) my cousin? God showing mercy seems so unjust. I'll continue to wrestle with this and maybe post again later.

"Christian pharisee"?

Someone mentioned that describing myself as a "christian pharisee" was a bit scary. I suppose it is! Although it's a bit tongue in cheek, I thought I'd explain what I mean. I was born and brought up in a loving christian home, and have been around church all my life. I made a committment to Christ at 7 years old and my teenage rebellion consisted of preaching in the school playground, such was my conviction of the truth. I'd read the Bible cover to cover several times when Eugene Peterson's "The Message" New Testament was published, but I think the freshness of that paraphrase challenged me to look again at the church culture that I took for granted and didn't see as in any way strange. I also looked again at the gospels and realised to my horror that the Biblical characters I identified with most weren't the disciples; or the "sinners" Jesus spent so much time with; nor Jesus himself. No I identified with the pharisees. They were the religious people of the day. They were zealous for God. They knew how God worked and how to please him. It was hard work and took a lot of dedication, but they were totally committed. They couldn't understand why Jesus wasted his time with those people who showed by their lifestyle that they weren't really interested in following God. All of a sudden, I realised that not only had I been there, done that and got the T-shirt - I'd been to the all night prayer meeting and signed up for the prayer newsletter too. Admitting to being a christian pharisee is a reminder that I need to repent of the same attitudes and actions of the pharisees that Jesus spoke so harshly against. By His grace I'll become more like Jesus and less like Caiaphas. I just want to be honest and say this is where I am, and that it's a daily struggle to find the grace and freedom for others that God has so abundantly shown to me. That's a very dangerous place to be, because if I won't forgive others - God won't forgive me.

Google News "emerging church"

You may have noticed in the sidebar I have some Google News results on "emerging church". It's interesting that almost a month after the event, the top news story is still the tragic death of Kyle Lake, electrocuted in the baptistry in Waco, Texas. Although I never met the man, I have really enjoyed the worship on David Crowder's CD's. Dave is the worship leader at the church and well worth a listen. His stuff is even more "raw" than Godfrey Birtill. From me that's great praise indeed.

Quote of the week

A reporter once asked Dr. Karl Barth if he could summarize what he had said in all 13 volumes of "Church Dogmatics". Dr. Barth thought for a moment and then said: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

Baptising Polygamists - a missionary's dilemma

Keith Smith is a World Horizon missionary in Burkina Faso (tr. "Land of the Upright Man"). I discovered his blog - under the acacias- today and liked it a lot. This post is a thought provoking account of a cross cultural issue I'd never considered before. What do you do when a new convert asks to be baptised when he has more than one wife?
In addition some of the photos Keith has on flickr are absolutely stunning. I urge you to check out his great blog here.

Quote of the Week

Iain Macaulay was the visiting preacher at our church last Sunday morning, continuing the theme of worship. Towards what would normally be the end of the service he said:
"We're now going to have an extended time of worship" (everyone looks at their watches and wonders if the chicken in the oven will last another half hour before turning into a burnt offering) "it starts when we all leave the building."

Believe right? Or live right?

Adrian Warnock wrote recently:
" If being born again is something done to you, how can you be unborn? Really this doctrine was always taken to mean that true Christians will persevere in their faith till the end. "
So you can't be sure someone's born again. But "by their fruits you shall know them". Too many evangelicals seem content to have ticked the boxes for believing the 5 points of calvinism and missed the call to reach out to people who desperately need Jesus. It's an "I'm alright Jack" attitude that God says stinks. It's starting off in the Spirit and ending up in the flesh. It's neglecting the religion that God finds acceptable. It's pharisaical in the extreme. We'd do well do take the proverbial warning directly to the heart: "If you think you're standing firm, be careful you don't fall". There's no place for a complacent, proud theology in the Kingdom of God. Calvinism may have it right intellectually, but if it doesn't result in a love for the lost, a compassion for the poor and a passion for the saviour then frankly, it's no more use than a waterproof teabag. Have you ever read the gospels replacing the words "pharisee" and "saducee" with "christian" and "evangelical" ? It's salutary stuff.
Like the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, I know that too often I DO thank God that I am not like other men. Lord God, forgive me for my smugness of religion, for concentrating so hard on doctrine that I neglect to "let my hands move at the impulse of your love".

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