Tag Archives: Reformed Theology

Why are scary movies scary?

29 Saturday Dec 2012

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And now, for something completely different…

Someone brought my attention to this video…I found it very interesting and wanted to make some brief comments on it.


So, I think something else could be added. Why exactly do people fear the aliens coming and exercising retribution for all the things we’ve done wrong?

The short answer is, that sort of judgment-scenario is evidence of the imago Dei; the stamp or image of our Creator. We understand “doing wrong,” even if we try to rationalize it away…and while we want other bad people to get what’s coming to them, we fear getting what’s coming to ourselves.

So really, scary movies are scary, at least in part, because we fear God’s judgment on some basement-level in our being.

Far-fetched? Thoughts?

PS: How does something like Phantom of the Opera work? It takes place in a city. Or does it? I mean, the basement of the opera house isn’t exactly an urban setting…maybe it’s the surrogate wilderness!

Lon Chaney, Sr., and Mary Philbin in the 1925 Phantom film. Yes, 1925--not the 1929 remake. I know my screenshots when I see them.

Lon Chaney, Sr., and Mary Philbin in the 1925 Phantom film. Yes, 1925–not the 1929 remake. I know my screenshots when I see them.

Holiness

25 Friday Feb 2011

Posted by in Personal, Theology

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…the term “holiness” is not exhausted by that of “moral purity.” Granted, the latter is not excluded, but neither is it the only meaning, not even the primary one. … Holy is that which in all things conforms to the special laws God has ordained for it. Holiness is perfection, not only in a moral sense, but in the comprehensive sense in which the unique legislation of Israel conceives it: a religious, ethical, ceremonial, internal, and external sense.

–Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics vol. 2: God and Man, Baker, 2004: pg. 219.

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

–Hebrews 12:14, ESV.

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Jesus, Our Example

30 Thursday Dec 2010

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Recently, I attended a mainline church here in St. Louis and heard the children’s sermon in which the children were instructed that the cross showed us how much God loved us, and that Jesus shows us the right way to live.  Nothing else was said: nothing about the atonement, nothing about what Jesus was doing there (except a possible inference that He was somehow setting an example of self-sacrifice) and certainly nothing about how we actually go about being like Jesus apart from emulating a certain niceness which is desired of all Christian boys and girls.

Louis Berkhof has something to say about this in his Systematic Theology (pg.387-388).  He speaks directly to the Example Theory of the Atonement.

This theory was advocated by the Socinians in the sixteenth century, in opposition to the doctrine of the Reformers, that Christ vicariously atoned for the sin of mankind.  Its fundamental principle is, that there is no retributive justice in God which requires absolutely and inexorably that sin be punished.  His justice does not prevent him from pardoning whom He will without demanding any satisfaction.  The death of Christ did not atone for sin, neither did it move God to pardon sin.  Christ saves men by revealing to them the way of faith and obedience as the way of eternal life, by giving them an example of true obedience both in His life and in His death, and by inspiring them to lead a similar life.  This view really establishes no direct connection between the death of Christ and the salvation of siners.  Yet it holds that the death of Christ may be said to expiate the sins of man in view of the fact that Christ, as a reward for His obedience unto death, received power to bestow eternal life on believers.  This theory is objectionable for various reasons.

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Getting Used to Justification

08 Monday Nov 2010

Posted by in Book Discussion, Personal, Theology

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For my Spiritual and Ministry Formation class, we’re assigned blog summaries in which we interact with material assigned the previous week.  This week’s assignment was to read the Lutheran view of Sanctification as discussed in Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification, edited by Donald Alexander, published by IVP.  The Lutheran view was articulated by Gerhard Forde.  I figured I’d share my assignment on my blog.

Dr. Forde begins his discussion of sanctification as “the art of getting used to the unconditional justification wrought by the grace of God for Jesus’ sake.  It is what happens when we are grasped by the fact that God alone justifies.”  In other words, Dr. Forde asserts that sanctification is the natural byproduct of justification and thus, all of it is indeed brought about by none other than the Christ who bought us.  Many people view sanctification as the “getting down to business” of the Christian life.  It’s what we bring to the table after Christ saves us and is (so it is thought, anyway) the way we stay in God’s good graces.  This is, Dr. Forde asserts, “entirely false.  According to Scripture, God is always the acting subject, even in sanctification. ”

Repeatedly, Dr. Forde calls attention to the dangers of speaking of sanctification.  All the discussion appeals to the old man, he says, becoming a verbal exercise which sounds very impressive, but lacking the necessary foundation of love which the old man is completely incapable of laying himself.

Sanctification, as well as justification, is rooted in the unconditional promise of God.  This is something the old man does not know how to handle because “as old beings, we simply cannot understand or cope with the unconditional promise of justification pronounced in the name of Jesus.  What we don’t see is that what the unconditional promose is calling forth is a new being.  The justification of God promised in Jesus is not an ‘offer’ made to us as old beings; [instead,] it is our end, our death.”

Are you putting YOUR old man to death?

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The Holy Spirit Spoke to Me!!

29 Wednesday Sep 2010

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The Holy Spirit said *what* to him??

Lately, some folks have been totally taken over by frenzy.  They put down their Bibles and want to reach out to God in another way.  These guys criticize others who preach from the Bible, saying that we’re “just following the dead letter of the law.”  Here’s what I want to ask them: where do they get this Spirit that shows so much contempt for biblical teaching as being so low and childish?  If they want to tell me that it’s the Spirit of Christ, I’d tell them they’re being ridiculous!

None of the apostles or early church-goers were ever taught to hold the Bible in such contempt…not by the Holy Spirit.  Instead, they had great respect for it…dare I even use the very old-fashioned word ‘reverence’?  The Holy Spirit taught of His ruling over His people when he spoke through Isaiah, after all:  “My Spirit is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring…forevermore” (59:21).  This is the way the Church is happy: by being ruled over by the Spirit of God in his Word!

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An interesting interaction

04 Saturday Sep 2010

Posted by in Personal

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Last night, I was working at the store and a Oneness Pentecostal guy came in.  I told him I had relatives that had gone to ABI (Apostolic Bridal Bible Institute) and instantly he wanted to talk, which was cool.

It was a fascinating discussion.  We talked about imputed righteousness, eschatology, holy living, the marks of a true Christian…all in the space of one hour.  I was in it more to hear how he heard my questions and how I might ask them better of someone I’m trying to share the gospel with, so it was a fruitful time.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him, however, that not only was I not baptized “in Jesus’ Name,” but that I’ve never spoken in tongues.  He did get to the point however, where he would refer to himself and me in terms I’d relate to “the invisible Church.” He put a high premium on inspiration (his own) through sermon prep and even at one point claimed to have seen the backside of God in a dream.

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Only the Law, Ma’am

04 Wednesday Aug 2010

Posted by in Book Discussion, Scripture, Theology

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In part 6 of my ongoing series on C. F. W. Walther’s  Law and Gospel: How to Read and Apply the Bible, I said:

…if the only teaching applied to people is the Law, then they despair, die and perish in their sin.  More on this in a future post…

Here is that future post.

This statement is one side of a coin.  Some people grow up, live and die under all-law preaching and never have this melt-down I’ve described, or better put, never realize that this is what’s ticking under their hood.

The other alternative is for a person to be crushed under the weight of the fact that they don’t love the Lord with all of who they are…and to not let themselves off the hook because they realize that they do not keep the law perfectly.

Obey! No exceptions! This is the demand of the Law.

Teaching people that “it takes more than faith to really please God” is, in reality, extremely cruel.  To those who are convinced of their own righteousness, it pushes them on in their odious good works.  Telling the ones who despair of their sin such a thing drives them further and further away from the Gospel…that Christ has obeyed perfectly in their place all that the law demands.

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Rightly Dividing the Word: Law & Gospel

22 Thursday Jul 2010

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One of the instrumental programs which has helped me to understand the distinction of Law & Gospel is The White Horse Inn, hosted by Reformed theologian Michael Horton.  This episode is a live panel discussion, recorded in Los Angeles. I hope you enjoy it.

Listen here.

Podcast Description: What does it mean to “rightly divide the word of truth”? (2 Timothy 2:15) On this program, the White Horse Inn hosts will be taking a look a one of the most crucial and fundamental distinctions in all of Scripture, namely the contrast between justice and mercy, precept and promise; law and gospel.  (Originally broadcast on May 22nd, 2005)