Primacy of Love

The primacy of love in Christianity —The distinctiveness of Christianity lies not so much in the theoretical discovery or proclamation of the principle of love, either as constitutive in the Divine character or as regulative for human conduct, but rather in the production of forces and motives which give to the principle a new concrete reality in the life of men (cf. Mark 12:32, Luke 10:27, 1 John 2:7, 3:4). Still, even as a subject of teaching, love occupies a prominent place in the apostolic writings. It appears not merely as one important factor among others in the Christian life, but as its chief and most characteristic ingredient, greater even than faith and hope (1 Cor. 13:13).

The Pastoral Epistles utter a warning against the absorption of the religious interest by the false gnosis and its asceticism or impure love to the detriment of true Christian love (1 Tim. 1:5, 5:8, 2 Tim. 2: 22-25, 3:1-4, 10). The primacy of love also finds expression in such passages as Rom. 13:8-10, Eph.1:4, James 2:5, Rev. 2:4.


Source: Geerhardus Vos, ‘Brotherly Love’, Accessed 31 Aug. 2007. Available: http://www.biblicaltheology.org/brotherlylove.pdf

Building Behemoth

Canada’s Wonderland is adding a new roller coaster for the 2008 season, and the ride was officially announced just a few hours ago. Called Behemoth, the non-looping hypercoaster will rise 230 feet – Canada’s tallest. The cars (called prototype open-air seating) are unusual in that there is a gap between each second row of seats. This will provide an unobstructed view for all riders.

The website (http://attraction.canadaswonderland.com/public/ride/stats.cfm) has plenty of spiffy features including videos, pictures and computer renderings.

I’m not sure why the name Behemoth was chosen, but I like it. Behemoth is a creature mentioned in the book of Job. The Hebrew root is used for ‘cattle’ but the form found in Job 40:15 implies the meaning ‘the beast beyond comparison’, which sounds like a very suitable name for a roller coaster! The section of Job in which Behemoth is referred to, emphasizes God’s power over pride and wickedness. The monsters (Behemoth and Leviathan), according to the editors of the Reformation Study Bible, “probably represent such forces of evil that God can control but before which Job is helpless.”

The ride is scheduled to open in May. I’m already excited!

Titus 3:1,2

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Titus 3:1,2 (ESV)

God's Warriors

I watched the three-part series aired on CNN called God’s Warriors. I enjoyed the documentary – especially the informative explanations and history in the Judaism and Islam segments. I was less impressed with the Christian show.

It was an excellent profile of white American evangelical (Arminian) Protestantism. As for the rest of Christendom, well they (we) were pretty much ignored. If the series were about religion in America, that would be fine, but I got the impression from the first two shows that the documentary was to investigate religious fundamentalism as a worldwide phenomenon. Debates over evolution in public schools and whether large ten commandment monuments should be allowed in public courthouses are distinctly American issues. Predictably, (although regrettably) American politics had a central role in the documentary.

My other initial reaction after watching the programme was that other than white evangelical Protestantism, there was no mention of Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, Mormonism and Liberal Protestantism. This could be excused if the documentary was meant to be about white evangelical American Protestantism, but the documentary was posited to be a profile of God’s Christian Warriors.

As well, sadly absent were viewpoints from Asian, African-American and Hispanic Christians. This is unfortunate, and only further perpetuates the stereotype among those uninformed about evangelical Christianity that all conservative Christians are of European stock. Indeed, the exact opposite is true.

The documentary was at its best when the people were able to tell their stories. The profile of a homeschooling family, and the segment on Battle Cry (especially the interview with the young woman overcome with emotion) were stellar. It was also a delight to watch the home video of a crowd gathered in rural Kentucky at a high school graduation stand to their feet in triumphant provocation after the graduating class recited the Lord's Prayer, despite a judge 'instructing' them that religion had no place in a public school ceremony.

The documentary hit home that theology matters. A common theme (restrictions placed on women in religious leadership, conservative dress, restrictions on alcohol, dating, tv etc) was (and probably purposely) thread throughout all three documentaries. It’s another superb reminder that what makes us Christian is Christ. We are not Christians because we dress modestly, or that we don’t get drunk. Lots of other people, who have very different opinions about the Messiah, also dress modestly and abstain from alcohol.

Rather, we are Christians because we trust that the guilt and penalty of our sin is accounted to Christ, and His righteousness is reckoned to us.

Baseball Understatement

The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles yesterday.

Although ‘beat’ probably isn’t the right verb.

The final score 30-3, which was the first time in 110 years since a major league team scored 30 runs in a game.

I checked out the Orioles website last night during the game.

The headline, “The Orioles are in a hole as they play the opener of a twin bill with Texas,” was certainly an understatement!

Source:
Texas scores 30 runs against Orioles. The Toronto Star. 23 Aug. 2007. Accessed 23 Aug. 2007. Available: http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Baseball/article/249099

A Puritan Prayer

Compassionate Lord,
Thy mercies have brought me to the dawn of another day,
Vain will be its gift unless I grow in grace,
increase in knowledge,
ripen for spiritual harvest.
Let me this day know thee as thou art,
love thee supremely,
serve thee wholly,
admire thee fully.
Through grace let my will respond to thee,
Knowing that power to obey is not in me, but
that thy free love alone enables me to serve thee.
Here then is my empty heart,
overflow it with thy choicest gifts;
Here is my blind understanding,
chase away its mists of ignorance.
O ever watchful Shepherd,
lead, guide, tend me this day;
Without thy restraining rod I err and stray;
Hedge up my path lest I wander into unwholesome pleasure,
and drink its poisonous streams;
Direct my feet that I be not entangled in Satan’s secret snares,
nor fall into his hidden traps.
Defend me from assailing foes,
from evil circumstances,
from myself.
My adversaries are part and parcel of my nature;
They cling to me as my very skin;
I cannot escape their contact.
In my rising up and sitting down they barnacle me;
They entice with constant baits;
My enemy is within the citadel;
Come with almighty power and cast him out, pierce him to death,
and abolish in me every particle of carnal life this day.

Source:

Arthur Bennett ed,, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions. East Peoria, IL: Versa Press Inc., 2005, p.117.

Housing Entitlement

The growing worldwide market turmoil sparked in the American real estate market crises was given an interesting human perspective in an article recently published in The Washington Post.

The article, written by a man, who bought a house with a risky interest-only mortgage in 2005 encapsulates why a problem that shouldn’t have happened did. At the root of the difficulty, is greed, both on the part of banks and other financial institutions that issued perilous loans to people who ordinarily wouldn’t qualify, and the homebuyers themselves.

Certainly some sympathy and compassion must be extended to the homebuyers who are facing very difficult decisions. But, there is a reason why banks, up until recently, refused to issue loans to people with bad credit rating, insufficient money, and those who couldn’t afford the down payment.

One such homebuyer is Michael S. Rosenwald, who with his wife bought a house for $459,275.

“Our total interest rate could jump as high as 10.125 percent, according to our mortgage papers, which would be rather unpleasant,” he said. “But that wasn't really on our minds two years ago.”

He continued, “For us, and I suppose others who signed such deals, the lower payments afforded by an interest-only loan helped us buy a house in an expensive county – Montgomery- where we wanted to live and eventually send our children to school.”

And this paragraph explains it all, “Could we have lived farther from the District for less money, perhaps allowing us to get a less risky mortgage? Yes. Could we have continued to rent, waiting, perhaps, for the market to even out and our salaries to increase? Yes. But we already make nice livings. We pay taxes in the highest bracket. Our parents bought homes at our age. It may sound crass, but we deserved a nice home. We did what we had to do to get one.”

Such a contrast to the quotations in the last entry on this blog! Such a contrast.

Source:

Michael S. Rosenwald, “Was the Mortgage a Mistake?” The Washington Post. 19 Aug. 2007. Accessed 19 Aug. 2007. Available: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/18/AR2007081800089.html?hpid=topnews

Self-Denial Contentment

Christ teaches self-denial and how that brings contentment.

1. Such a person learns to know that he is nothing. He comes to this, to be able to say, 'Well, I see I am nothing in myself.' That man or woman who indeed knows that he or she is nothing, and has learned it thoroughly will be able to bear anything. The way to be able to bear anything is to know that we are nothing in ourselves. God says to us, 'Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not' (Proverbs 23:5) speaking of riches. Why, blessed God, do not you do so? you have set your heart upon us and yet we are nothing. God would not have set our hearts upon riches, because they are nothing, and yet God is pleased to set his heart upon us, and we are nothing: that is God's grace, free grace, and therefore it does not much matter what I suffer, for I am as nothing.

2. I deserve nothing. I am nothing, and I deserve nothing. Suppose I lack this and that thing which others have? I am sure that I deserve nothing except it be Hell. You will answer any of your servants, who is not content: I wonder what you think you deserve? or your children: do you deserve it that you are so eager to have it? You would stop their mouths thus, and so we may easily stop our own mouths: we deserve nothing and therefore why should we be impatient if we do not get what we desire. If we had deserved anything we might be troubled, as in the case of a man who has deserved well of the state or of his friends, yet does not receive a suitable reward, it troubles him greatly, whereas if he is conscious that he has deserved nothing, he is content with a rebuff.

3. I can do nothing. Christ says, 'Without me you can do nothing' (John 15:5). Why should I make much of it, to be troubled and discontented if I have not got this and that, when the truth is that I can do nothing? If you were to come to one who is angry because he has not got such food as he desires, and is discontented with it, you would answer him, 'I marvel what you do or what use you are!' Should one who will sit still and be of no use, yet for all that have all the supply that he could possible desire? Do but consider of what use you are in the world, and if you consider what little need God has of you, and what little use you are, you will not be much discontented. if you have learned this lesson of self-denial, though God cuts you short of certain comforts, yet you will say, 'Since I do but little, why should I have much': this thought will bring down a man's spirit as much as anything.

4. I am so vile that I cannot of myself receive any good. I am not only an empty vessel, but a corrupt and unclean vessel: that would spoil anything that comes into it. So are all our hearts: every one of them is not only empty of good but is like a musty bottle that spoils even good liquor that is poured into it.

5. If God cleanses us in some measure, and puts into us some good liquor, some grace of his Spirit, yet we can make use of nothing when we have it, if God but withdraws himself. If God leaves us one moment after he has bestowed upon us the greatest gifts, and whatever abilities we can desire, if God should say, 'I will give you them, now go and trade', we cannot progress one foot further if God leaves us. Does God give us gifts and abilities? Then let us fear and tremble lest God should leave us to ourselves, for then how foully should we abuse those gifts and abilities. You think other men and women have memory and gifts and abilities and you would fain have them-but suppose God should give you these, and then leave you, you would utterly spoil them.

6. We are worse than nothing. By sin we become a great deal worse than nothing. Sin makes us more vile than nothing, and contrary to all good. It is a great deal worse to have a contrariety to all that is good, than merely to have an emptiness of all that is good. We are not empty pitchers in respect of good, but we are like pitchers filled with poison, and is it much for such as we are to be cut short of outward comforts?

7. If we perish we will be no loss. If God should annihilate me, what loss would it be to anyone? God can raise up someone else in my place to serve him in a different way.
Now put just these seven things together and then Christ has taught you self-denial. I may call these the several words in our lesson of self-denial.
Christ teaches the soul this, so that, as in the presence of God on a real sight of itself, it can say: 'Lord, I am nothing, Lord, I deserve nothing, Lord, I can do nothing, I can receive nothing, and can make use of nothing, I am worse than nothing, and if I come to nothing and perish I will be no loss at all and therefore is it such a great thing for me to be cut short here?' A man who is little in his own eyes will account every affliction as little, and every mercy as great. Consider Saul: There was a time, the Scripture says, when he was little in his own eyes, and then his afflictions were but little to him: when some would not have had him to be King but spoke contemptuously of him, he held his peace; but when Saul began to be big in his own eyes, then the affliction began to be great to him.
There was never any man or woman so contented as a self-denying man or woman. No-one ever denied himself as much as Jesus Christ did: he gave his cheeks to the smiters, he opened not his mouth, he was as a lamb when he was led to the slaughter, he made no noise in the street. He denied himself above all, and was willing to empty himself, and so he was the most contented that ever any was in the world; and the nearer we come to learning to deny ourselves as Christ did, the more contented shall we be, and by knowing much of our own vileness we shall learn to justify God.
Whatever the Lord shall lay upon us, yet he is righteous for he has to deal with a most wretched creature. A discontented heart is troubled because he has no more comfort, but a self-denying man rather wonders that he has as much as he has. Oh, says the one, I have but a little; Aye, says the man who has learned this lesson of self-denial, but I rather wonder that God bestows upon me the liberty of breathing in the air, knowing how vile I am, and knowing how much sin the Lord sees in me. And that is the way of contentment, by learning self-denial.

8. But there is a further thing in self-denial which brings contentment.
Thereby the soul comes to rejoice and take satisfaction in all God's ways; I beseech you to notice this. If a man is selfish and self-love prevails in his heart, he will be glad of those things that suit with his own ends, but a godly man who has denied himself will suit with and be glad of all things that shall suit with God's ends. A gracious heart says, God's ends are my ends and I have denied my own ends; so he comes to find contentment in all God's ends and ways, and his comforts are multiplied, whereas the comforts of other men are single. It is very rare that God's way shall suit with a man's particular end, but always God's ways suit with his own ends. if you will only have contentment when God's ways suit with your own ends, you can have it only now and then, but a self-denying man denies his own ends, and only looks at the ends of God and therein he is contented. When a man is selfish he cannot but have a great deal of trouble and vexation, for if I regard myself, my ends are so narrow that a hundred things will come and jostle me, and I cannot have room in those narrows ends of my own. You know in the City what a great deal of stir there is in narrow streets: since Thames street is so narrow they jostle and wrangle and fight one with another because the place is so narrow, but in the broad streets they can go quietly. Similarly men who are selfish meet and so jostle with one another, one man is for self in one thing, and another man is for self in another thing, and so they make a great deal of stir. But those whose hearts are enlarged and make public things their ends, and can deny themselves, have room to walk and never jostle with one another as others do. The lesson of self-denial is the first lesson that Jesus Christ teaches men who are seeking contentment.

An Excerpt from the Puritan classic The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs

Plain, but Wonderful Ottawa

Reading Andrew Cohen’s chapter on Ottawa in his recently published book The Unfinished Canada: The People We Are, one could get the impression that Ottawa really is a depressing and ugly city.

It’s not.

Indeed, his condescending critique is more a reflection of his arrogant personality than the state of the city.

He does credit downtown with some redeeming value, although everything outside the few blocks around Parliament Hill, doesn’t meet his approval.

Yes, as he argues, Bronson and Bank, King Edward and Rideau are not especially photogenic. But most North American urban streets wouldn’t pass the postcard test. Ottawa may not be overtly attractive, but it’s functional, efficient and homey.

The chapter itself is an unfortunate addition to an otherwise strong book, (which will undoubtedly feed his ego further - Mr. Cohen was by far my most haughty professor).
Ottawa may not be Paris, or London, or Washington DC. But it’s the staid skyscrapers and telephone pole lined streets that make the city so appealing. Canada doesn’t need a pretentious capital city, filled with glittering monuments and daring architecture. Plain is beautiful.

Unregenerate Elect

Last night I stumbled across an answer to a question I have grappled with for over two years – the state of the elect in God’s sight before regeneration and conversion.
Apparently, this was one of the theological issues that caused tremendous tension among the Reformed community in the late 17th century.

There were two viewpoints.

Daniel Williams wrote:
It is certain from God's decree of election that the elect shall in time be justified, adopted, and saved in the way God hath appointed; and the whole meritorious cause and price of justification, adoption and eternal life were perfect when Christ finished the work of satisfaction. Nevertheless the elect remain children of wrath and subject to condemnation till they are effectually called by the operation of the Spirit
Isaac Chauncy wrote,

... an elect person, as such, hath a hidden relation to, standing and right, not only in respect of election, satisfaction and procurement, but a secret passing over of grace. So that to be a child of wrath in regard to the Law-sentence, and a child of mercy, are not 'contradicentia'; they may be predicated of the same subject in divers respects


The first position is more biblical. If the love, which God had for the elect before their conversion, was identical to that which He has for them after it, then it nullifies the necessity of justification.

Benjamin Keach noted that very notion of being justified presupposes that one was formerly in a state of guilt and condemnation. If unbelievers are under God's wrath (as John 3:18, 36 bear witness) and at the same time also ‘actually justified,’ then the very notion of justification becomes meaningless, notes Michael Haykin.

This quandary has tremendous practical implications – both in the manner of how a preacher is to call his congregation to repentance, and in the relationship between God and an unregenerate member of the elect. God, after all, doesn’t respond to the prayers of an unregenerate because he/she is His enemy. And so, such a person requires a good work done by God (to convict, regenerate, and convert) before He responds to prayer.

Praise the Lord for drawing me to resources that help me better understand regeneration and conversion!

Sources

Peter Toon, Puritans and Calvinism, 1973, Accessed 14 Aug. 2007. Available:
http://www.anglicanbooksrevitalized.us/Peter_Toons_Books_Online/History/puritanscalvinism.htm

Michael Haykin, The Reflections of a Puritan Theologian on Regeneration and Conversion, Accessed 14 Aug. 2007. Available: http://www.the-highway.com/articleFeb06.html

There is a reason

A great new song by Caedmon's Call called There is a reason. The lyrics are below:

late at night I wonder why
sometimes I wonder why
sometimes I’m so tired

I don’t even try seems everything around me fails
but I hold on to the promise that there is a reason late at night,
the darkness makes it hard to see the history of the saints who’ve gone in front of met hrough famine, plague and disbelief

His hand was still upon them cause there is a reason
there is a reason
He makes all things good
He makes all things good

there’s a time to live and a time to die
a time for wonder and to wonder why
cause there is a reason
there is a reason
i believe in a God who sent His only son
to walk upon this world and give His life for us
with blood and tears on a long, dark night
we know that He believed
that there is a reason
there is a reason for the lonely nights
and broken hearts
the widow's mite
in the rich man's hand
and the continent
whose blood becomes a traitor
for the child afraid to close their eyes
the prayers that seem unanswered
there is a reason
there is a reason

Our First Love

Reading Thomas Watson’s discourse on Christian theology recently I was pleased to find the term ‘Our first love’, referring, of course to Christ.

Michael Olson penned this wonderful truth in a great song. The lyrics are below:.

Our First Love

Have we’ve grown so numb
And we’ve forgotten where we’re from
How far away have we run
From our first love

We have sight but do not see
Our ears fail to hear you speak
Wake us from our restless sleep to our first love

Chorus

You are our first love
You are our first love
So draw us closer, ever closer, Lord

You’ll be our last love
You will be our last love
So draw us closer, ever closer, Lord

Father breathe a breath on us
Draw us in and lift us up
And we will drink from the cup
Of our first love

Turn our tears into joy
Tune our ears to hear your voice
We will stand and rejoice at our first love

Mr. Elmi

Mahad (Mohamed) Ahmed Elmi died today.

He was a Somali journalist dedicated to advancing human rights in his home country.

And for that he was murdered.

I met Mr. Elmi in 2004.

He spoke to a small group of students on October 20, 2004 at an event organized by the Carleton University Journalism Society. The event attracted a disappointedly small crowd, yet that didn’t seem to faze Mr. Elmi. He spoke passionately about his mission to a group of students fanned around him in a semi-circle of desks.

He graciously left his family and his restaurant during the busiest time of Ramadan to share with us his daring and heroic work with Horn Afrik Media Company, an independent press that he co-founded in 1999.

Mr. Elmi, whose radio station critized the Somalian government and Islamic militants, sought to bring alternative views to the public policy debate in that country.

I disagreed with several of Mr. Elmi’s opinions, but his passion and gumption were undeniable and incredibly amirable. He was a humble and gracious family man.

I hope and pray his death (as well as a collegague’s murder) will stimulate discussions of the necesity of freedom of the press.

Mr. Elmi’s voice may have been silenced. But his vision remains.

Mr. Elmi was 30 years old.

Spirit of Truth

The Spirit of truth, to whose tuition Christ has committed his church, and the truth of the Spirit, which is the scepter of Christ, abide forever; therefore the soul begotten by the immortal seed of the Spirit (1 Pet. 1:23), and this truth, must not only live for ever, but also prevail over all that oppose it, for both the Word and the Spirit are mighty in operation (Heb. 4:12). And, if the wicked spirit is never idle in those whom God has delivered up to him, we cannot think that the Holy Spirit will be idle in those whose leading and government is committed to Him. No, as He dwells in them, so He will drive out all that rise up against Him, until He is all in all.

What is spiritual is eternal. Truth is a beam of Christ's Spirit, both in itself and as it is engrafted into the soul. Therefore it, and the grace wrought by it, though little, will prevail. A little thing in the hand of a giant will do great things. A little faith strengthened by Christ will work wonders.
The purpose of Christ's coming was to destroy the works of the devil, both for us and in us; and the purpose of the resurrection was, as well as sealing to us the assurance of his victory, so also (1) to quicken our souls from death in sin; (2) to free our souls from such snares and sorrows of spiritual death as accompany the guilt of sin; (3) to raise them up more comfortable, as the sun breaks forth more gloriously out of a thick cloud; (4) to raise us out of particular slips and failings stronger; (5) to raise us out of all troublesome and dark conditions of this life; and (6) at length to raise our bodies out of the dust. For the same power that the Spirit showed in raising Christ, our Head, from the sorrows of death and the lowest degree of his abasement, that power, obtained by the death of Christ from God, now appeased by that sacrifice, the Spirit will show in the church, which is His body, and in every particular member thereof.

- Richard Sibbes

Source: Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed, Accessed 10 Aug. 2007. Available:
http://www.monergism.com/bruisedreed.html#13