Straining Gnats

You reckon the thief on the cross or the early Christians would've known what to make of this hairsplitting issue about why you should love God? Is it an issue anywhere in the N.T.?

Hello? Am I missing something? Duh, I thought we worship Him (which I always assumed includes loving) bec. He is worthy of worship. Plain and simple. We're designed to worship Him in the same way we're designed to breathe.

To cut down on unnecessary carpings and cavelings, how about just calling no man your master: not Piper, nor Sproul, nor McA nor McC, nor Nevin, nor the Pope, nor Luther, nor Calvin, nor whatever other teacher-idol is yet down the road. That way, you don't get all tangled up in picayune non-essentials. Life is too short.

Talk About Strange Doctrines! ROTFL!

More mirth from the 3-T camp: even the best of us are prone to typos (viz. my "Rudolf" [the perils of being a polyglot, sigh] and "Nobel fir" [that tree deserves the Nobel prize for heavenly fragrance!]), but then there are misspellings which betoken complete ignorance (can anything intelligent emerge from the Emerg*** swamp?). A particularly hilarious one appeared recently @ Solameanie's comments (8th comment down, 2nd paragraph, penultimate line). This type of blooper puts a whole new face on "Merry."

LongTerm Ramifications

Perhaps this isn't an original thought, but I keep wondering if pomo-ism isn't simply a great-great-greatgrandchild of Nominalism.

Why Can't It Be Both?

[PRELIMINARY NOTE: The primary reason this blog lacks comment capacity is bec. I view these utterances of mine as mere mutterings from an underling in the back pews. (Secondary reason: no time or energy for religious wranglings.)]

{GASP!} This li'l hole-in-the-wall blog (which originated mainly so that I could occasionally comment @ the Pyro-metas---IOW, I never intended for it in any way to match the caliber of blogs by IMonk, Pyros, or Challies), this potatobug-under-a-rock collection of pipsqueakings has been mentioned @ the BHT. (I doubt that IMonk ever read my blog before; summun musta ratted.) Is this sorta like Rudolph getting attention from Santa? :)

But seriously, I fail to see why waiting precludes joy. Is it not cause for joy that for our sake: He who is immortal should become mortal; the One Who is infinite should become finite; the Light of the Universe should descend into the darkness of a fallen planet; the King of the Universe would leave behind ineffable splendor and Joy to descend into our Pit of Squalor and Misery?

I still think the barbiturate piece lends itself better to Lent.

Spiritual CodLiver Oil

A good 90% of the time, IMonk's writings edify me in one way or another. But his latest piece on Advent is like a barbiturate. It's not that he doesn't make some valid points here and there, but the TONE of the piece---the sanctimonious preachiness---totally contradicts the joyousness of the season. That "Advent" piece is to Advent what a plastic Christmas tree is to a freshly felled Noble fir.

I need some eggnog to wash the taste out of my mouth.

Say What?

Considering that doubt in God's Word caused The Fall ("Hath God said?"), it's odd that McClaren should diagnose theological confidence (= belief in Absolute Truth) as a "cancer" and as THE Primary Cause of Man's Moral Malaise.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Involuntary Comedy

Most of the time, the blatherings of the Emer***g "Church" supply fuel for thunder, but very occasionally, they provide first class mirth. Consider this clown comment (h-t comments @ Dan Phillips' post): "for your list of solas, i would encourage you to consider adding one that the original reformers were passionate about: sola reformada (always reforming). this was a central tenant of the reformation, but got lost (including the use of the phrase)."

Would it seem that perhaps some sort of residue of "Armada," "Torquemada," and "The 5 Solas" is swirling around indiscriminately in this poor commenter's head? And evidently, the church is not merely "only reformed," but the Reformation was some sort of edifice (well, actually, yes, a magnificent spiritual and intellectual "edifice"), where strangely-named inhabitants resided. (Perhaps for that particular tidbit, the commenter's brain was---ironically!---subconsciously playing the verse that says, "the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.")

In the face of this sort of linguistic lint, I can't help but recall Solomon's insights into the fool, "Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he doesn't have a mind to grasp anything?" "...A fool flaunts his folly." "Not for the fool is eloquent speech..."

This "LS" Business

Over at iMonk's blog, there've been numerous commenters plugging the literalist RCC view (or the Lutheran one, which to me isn't that different) of the LORD's Supper. Citing 1 Corinthians 10:14-23 NASB, one fellow even goes so far as to insinuate that those who don't share that interpretation are committing idolatry.

His comment struck me as an ironic boomerang, because if we take "participation" to mean spiritual, not physical (as per Jesus' words in JOHN 6:63, "It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life"), then the exhortations of Paul against idolatry could be applied precisely to the literalist practice.

Play It Again, Dan!

Dan Phillips has blogged what I would consider his best essay to date (and also, I might add, the Riposte Ultime to the criticisms of Phil's dynamite posters). The best sentence reads, "Is not my word like Jello, declares the LORD, and like a comfy chair that lulls the world's paramours to sleep?"

Bizarre Retrogression

My previous post brought to mind the adage "Cleanliness is next 2 Godliness." (You're right, that's not in the Bible, altho sandwiched around His cleanliness commands to His people, we often find "I am the LORD! Be ye holy as I am!" Cf. for ex. LEV. ll:45 & 19:2). My train of thought went like this: civilization is a corporate expression of man's being made in God's image (I know, I know: civilizations always end up dissolving from corruption, but that's simply a proof of the enduring effects of The Fall), and think how crucial hygiene and sanitation are to the maintenance of civilization. Next, think of how just a few key subtle definition changes can begin the undermining of spiritual "civilization" (by that, I mean, the maintenance of The Body of Truth and the concomitant healthy functioning of the Body of Christ). Doctrinal hygiene is as paramount in the spiritual realm as physical hygiene is in the material realm.

Now, if "modern" man is so well-versed in the urgency of maintaining hygiene and sanitation in the physical realm (altho as a result of the decades-long fallout from the Marxist 60's cant, "hygiene is bourgeois nonsense," even that has been increasingly neglected), why is he so abysmally derelict---indeed rebellious!---about the vital importance of spiritual hygiene?

Eureka!

One of the most intriguing passages on heresy in the Bible is Peter's "just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them..." For decades, I have puzzled over this, specifically, how they could "secretly" deny the Master, bec. after all (went my thinking), if they're teaching heresy, it's out in the open, and just a matter of right-thinking people pointing it out, right? That "secretly" was like a pebble in my theological shoe. It just would not compute.

But now, thanx to the wisdom of a commenter named "Truth Unites...& Divides" (see comment #10), I finally have my answer (read the complete blogpost to understand what he's nutshelling here):

Subtle linguistic word games are a fundamental tactic used by the adversary to embed incremental, creeping, nearly indetectable heresy into Christ’s bride.

Word games + Feelings Manipulation vs. Inerrant Scripture.

Wide Path: Word Games & Feelings Manipulation.

Narrow Path: Inerrant Scripture

[emphasis Trothkeepr's]

TUAD, you're hired as my resident Bible mentor. :)