Explaining Health Care Reform & “Christian” Reflections Thereof [REPOST]
Can the common man understand this health care debate? Is there a particularly Christian perspective on health care? Also, a curious and unexpected memorial to Ted Kennedy. Read on.
[Editor's Note: This is a repost of an article posted in August. It was fairly popular at the time, and in light of the potential difficulties the current health care bill may be facing due to the fight for Senator Kennedy's Senate seat, I thought it might be helpful to post this up again. I'm also posting this to go along with a recent post I put up on my personal blog called "I sort of want this health care bill to die." It has to do with this Massachusetts's Senate race and health care reform. I hope these resources spur your thoughts on these issues facing our country.]
Below is a series of illustrations by Dan Roam and Dr. Tony Jones of Digital Roam explaining the current Health Care system and proposed reforms to that system. This is by far the best explanation I’ve seen. So much so, it is forcing me to break a bunch of my own rules concerning this site and perhaps even give some new freedoms for what I post up here. Take a few moments and look through this series of slides and familiarize yourself with these ideas. Analysis will follow below. A couple of things before you start: I have no idea why this guy calls these “napkins” nor do I know why he says there are only four. Don’t let that distract you too much. The quality is such that I am more than willing to forgive these minor lapses of clarity.
A Theology of Ethics, Truth, & Contemporary Applications
In a continuation of an exchange concerning Slavery in the Bible, some atheist critiques are addressed concerning ethics, the Bible, and modern society.
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[EDITOR'S NOTE: At my personal blog, the long way home, I have been working on a series of posts responding to some old atheist friends of mine on the topic of slavery, ethics, and the Bible. So far: what the Bible says, why I'm doing the series, Philosophy & Ethics, and now, Theology & Ethics. If you want, read the other posts and feel free to get in on the lively discussion. I'm posting this article on this site, because I believe it addresses very real societal and cultural ideas and assumptions that affect our everyday lives and do not just belong to the areas of academia or theology. Let me know if you disagree.]
Objective Truth & Morality
The ideas mentioned in the previous post of transcendent ethical principles (and not simple behavioral norms) and a hierarchy of those principles (and not simplistic applications) within ethics are nothing new to Philosophy. Those enough could show the overly simplistic nature of the usual argument concerning general Christian ethics made when talking about slavery in the Bible. The Bible does not have simplistic do/don’t do ethics. It has consistent transcendent principles that are then wisely and faithfully applied in ways that look differently throughout history. This is the way that ethics works, even on a secular level. But, these are not uniquely Christian. There are ways that Christianity and the Bible uniquely further inform our ethics.
The first thing, and the most important thing I want everyone to get from this post is that neither the Bible nor historic Christianity believes in Objective Morality or Objective Truth. This is an idea of modernism. Modernism redefined “Truth” to mean anything that has a one-to-one correspondence with created reality. An unintended consequence of this mindset was that the only vehicles for Truth, then, became history and science. This meant that anything that called itself “true” had to be speaking in either historical or scientific terms — nothing else. Christians were influenced by these ideas and then began defending the Bible on the basis of these assumptions (best example: Creation “science”). This even seeped into many Christian articulations of Morality (“there is only one set of ‘good things’ people everywhere, at all times, should do”). But this is not the Biblical view of Truth nor Morality. The Biblical view is not that of objective Morality/Truth, but of an objective standard for Morality/Truth. This is such an important distinction. The Bible relocates Truth and Morality as anything that has a one-to-one correspondence with Ultimate Reality — the nature and character of God. This exists outside of created reality (and therefore outside the realms of history and science). In that case art, poetry, stories, myths, and even children stories can now fully be relied upon for truth and moral principles even if they have little or no basis in history, science, or universal applications of the ethical principles. There is an objective standard for Morality and Truth that is now subjectively applied by using wisdom, discernment, discourse, debate, intellectual thought, and engagement — not naive cut and paste applications of the Bible to life.
I’m Coming Out (Intro to an Evolving Creation)
Can one more voice crying out from the evangelical wilderness make a difference amidst the rising and seemingly never-ending din concerning Science “versus” Faith? I guess we’re about to find out.
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You ever start reading a book and can immediately tell that it is going to be a pivotal book in your life? It hasn’t happened often, but the few times it has, it has indeed proven to be a life-altering experience. I’m feeling that right now.
Almost exactly a year ago, I met my now dear friend Chris Martin (not the guy from Coldplay). We were sitting there at a party (where he first met his now fiancee), and he began telling me about his experiences at L’Abri, a Christian retreat/study center in Switzerland started by Francis Schaeffer. In that conversation Chris told me about a book he had read from during his study. It was a large, poorly-graphically-designed, 525-page collection of essays called Perspectives on an Evolving Creation. It piqued my interest. I immediately purchased the book and am only now getting around to reading it. This is a book I know will affect me for the rest of my life. And that brings me to my secret. It’s something about myself that I have kept hidden from the vast majority of Christians I’ve known. I’ve wondered if/when/how to reveal this to the world. And I think now is the time.
I, Paul Burkhart, am totally on board with Darwinian Evolution.
The Infinite Beauty of Beauty
A nine-month old brain child concerning Beauty and many of its components is finally done being birthed on a blog. Come see…
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In about January of this past year, I received word that seven months from then, in August, I would be giving a message at Epiphany Fellowship on the topic of Beauty, of all things. This terrified me and I immediately began listening to every lecture, reading every article, and checking out every book in the library on the topic to prepare. Then I began working on the manuscript for this message. By the time I finished, I had produced a 43-page manuscript for a 40-minute message. The message answers several questions: Why we long for Beauty? What is Beauty? What Things are Beautiful? and How do we respond to Beauty?
The message went really well, but of course, a lot was cut out of the full manuscript for the sake of time. For that reason, a couple of months ago, I started a series on my blog that went through the various sections of the manuscript in bite-sized chunks, so that others could read it. Well, yesterday, three months after the original message was given, I finished that series on my personal blog and I wanted to plug it to the readers of this site. Below, you’ll find a complete directory of the fourteen parts of the series, along with links to the full audio and original manuscript that the message was based upon. I hope this is helpful and edifying to all of you. Be sure to send feedback, as I hope to build this out even more in the future, perhaps into a book-length project. We’ll see. Enjoy.
Turning the T.U.L.I.P. On Its Side
Can the classic Five-Points of Calvinism, notorious for inspiring complacency and judgmentalism, actually cause relationships that are gracious, self-sacrificing, and long-suffering?
by Stephen Hess
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[Editor's Note: For those unfamiliar with the historical Five-Points of Calvinism (a.k.a. "TULIP"), click here for a quick guide, or here for a full article on it]
At Chapel time recently (every Tuesday and Friday at Covenant), I got the privilege to hear from Dr. Robert Petterson, a Covenant graduate and the Senior Pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Naples, FL. Out of John 13:34-35, he gave a message entitled, “Turning the Tulip on Its Side: The Sociology of Soteriology.” This was the first chapel message for the year (my first ever as a Covenant student). This message was perfectly timed for me (and I am sure, for many others). Not to mention the passage that Pastor Petterson focused on was the biblical motivation for myself and four (then five) other brothers in Christ to meet together in college weekly. To this day, despite the changes over time and the different post-college locations, these guys are still my closest brothers in Christ.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
Pastor Petterson’s main point: A soteriology of grace without a sociology of grace is illusionary.
In other words, “turning the TULIP on its side.” The biblical soteriology of Reformed theology is often captured in the acrostic TULIP. Dr. Petterson described the five truths in these ways: (1) there’s not a single molecule of my being that is not corrupted by sin, (2) God has chosen to love me unconditionally, (3) he loves me specifically, (4) his love for me is irresistible, and (5) his love will persevere to the end.
When Jesus says, “so you must love one another,” he is saying that it is not enough to have a vertical relationship with God. That same love relationship must become horizontal in the same way with others.
After such rich beautiful description of this soteriology, he went on to explain about an angry, old Dutch Calvinist that he recently counseled. This man had memorized the five points as a child in catechism classes. He would pound anyone who would listen with the doctrines of Sovereign Grace. But this man had been estranged from his daughter for over five years. His wife could barely tolerate him–they slept in separate rooms. And he kept blowing through churches that weren’t reformed enough for him–creating controversy all along the way.
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Explaining Health Care Reform & “Christian” Reflections Thereof
Can the common man understand this health care debate? Is there a particularly Christian perspective on health care? Also, a curious and unexpected memorial to Ted Kennedy. Read on.
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Okay, everyone up to speed now? So are there any uniquely Christian thoughts on this? First, of immediate concern for those Christians whose consciences are so inclined to view abortion as a fundamentally political and legislative issue (no sarcasm in that statement, by the way; it’s a totally valid way that the Holy Spirit moves in many believers); in Obama’s most recent weekly address, as he “debunks” various ideas being spread about the reform, he says: “Some are also saying that coverage for abortions would be mandated under reform. Also false. When it comes to the current ban on using tax dollars for abortions, nothing will change under reform.” So apparently (at least from what the carefully phrased political talk) it would seem that these sets of reform do not concern abortion.
So with the one health issue it seems Christians have anything to say something about out of the way (yeah, there was some sarcasm in that one), what else does the Christian have to engage with in this debate? Well, before we get quite there, two foundational things that have plagued my thinking about this:
Let’s play: “Guess Who’s Doctrinal Statement?”
Given just the “Core Doctrines” of a Church, can we evaluate its true Orthodoxy and faithfulness?
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Okay, we’re going to a play a little game I like to call “Guess Whose Doctrinal Statement.” I’ll give you the doctrinal statement of a popular American Church and you all try and think whose it is. Then we’ll reveal the answer and talk about it. Everyone ready?
Okay, here’s the doctrinal statement:
- WE BELIEVE…the entire Bible is inspired by God, without error and the authority on which we base our faith, conduct and doctrine.
- WE BELIEVE…in one God who exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to this earth as Savior of the world.
- WE BELIEVE…Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. We believe that salvation is found by placing our faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. We believe Jesus rose from the dead and is coming again.
- WE BELIEVE…water baptism is a symbol of the cleansing power of the blood of Christ and a testimony to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
- WE BELIEVE…in the regular taking of Communion as an act of remembering what the Lord Jesus did for us on the cross.
- WE BELIEVE…every believer should be in a growing relationship with Jesus by obeying God’s Word, yielding to the Holy Spirit and by being conformed to the image of Christ.
- WE BELIEVE…as children of God, we are overcomers and more than conquerors and God intends for each of us to experience the abundant life He has in store for us.
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So whose doctrinal statement do you think it is? Is it:
- a. Mars Hill Church (Mark Driscoll)
- b. Bethlehem Baptist Church (John Piper)
- c. Lakewood Church (Joel Osteen)
- d. Mars Hill Bible Church (Rob Bell)
- e. The Village Church (Matt Chandler)
- f. Westboro Baptist Church (Fred Phelps)
- g. None of the above
and the winner is . . . found here.
So what do we do with this?
Is God Done with the American Church? Perhaps Not.
Does an ever increasingly secular and post-Christian America necessarily mean a smaller and weaker Evangelical Church?
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Christianity is growing numerically around the world! With books such as The Next Christendom and Theology in the Context of World Christianity we are reminded of the work of the Holy Spirit in communions in third-world countries and even nations like China. However, we are reminded of the decline of Christianity in North America. Not only are mainline churches shrinking (as they have been since the 1960s) but even the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest of conservative Protestant denominations, will be half it’s size by 2050.
So the question facing American Christianity now is, Are we good as dead? Is there no sign of renewal, reform, and revival for American Christianity? Before any verdict is announced, I think it would be most beneficial to ponder about recent events regarding two very dissimilar conservative evangelical denominations and see if our prayers might be more motivated to prayer for a move by the Holy Spirit in American evangelicalism.
Two of the bigger stories from this summer’s plethora of synods, assemblies, and conventions have come from the biggest denomination and one of the smallest. Both the Southern Baptist Convention and the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church witnessed historic decisions and events within their assemblies in June. The evangelical empire itself saw the rise of young pastors in the SBC call for a Great Commission Resurgence and for a task force to examine how the largest denomination in America might be more efficient (and more biblical) in being intentionally missional and Great Commission-friendly.
WTFWJD? | (on Christian cursing)
"Andrew Murray" by Amy Roberts
More Christians of prominence are being “accused” of profanity from the pulpit. How do Christians navigate the increasingly clouding waters of holiness in speech?
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[NOTE: no curse words are used in this article other than some mild "profanity" used in pastor Ed Young's linked video and in one of the linked movie clips]
UPDATE 9/11/09: Patrol Magazine has just posted a great editorial on this topic that I cannot recommend highly enough.
This is a tough topic to write about. I don’t know that I can beat Jon Acuff’s article on Stuff Christians Like, or cause as much of a flurry as pastor Ed Young, but I would like to lend my thoughts to the discussion. By the way, before we start, in the interest of full disclosure: I curse. In fact, probably more than most Christians.
First and foremost: God does call us to purity. To holiness. To right living. Sin should not abound because grace is abundant. Christians are supposed to be pure in contrast to the ways the rest of the world is dark. We are called to look different than “non-Christians” in affection, thought, conduct, and speech and I have definitely failed much in this respect. Words are very powerful. They can bring communities together or tear them apart. This is what Colossians 3:8 is talking about. Paul mentions several things that can hurt others in a relational sense and his final thing is “obscene talk”. Coarse, filthy, and inappropriate statements about others can infect an entire group as much as anger, gossip, or slander, whether or not they use “bad” words. Speech is a precious gift God has given to us and it should be used to His glory and His honor. But, what in humans glorifies him the most? As broken, weak sinners, what is it that God calls us to over and over and over again?
For your life – Flee!
(Adam Papadatos Photography)
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The words of this message are as the moment a sound comes to your ears so powerful that it is as if a bomb struck, and all other sounds are silenced into a buzz; and in that moment, all you can think about is one thing, and that one thing is clear. There is a din, a clamor, a cacophony of sounds and voices vying for our ears and attention and hearts, and souls, today. But God does not yell. Although God has the most powerful voice that will ever exist, He speaks in a still small voice. Listen.
I believe God speaks in this man’s words.
“We have got to lay our lives down for the purposes of God. This is not a Sunday school picnic for the church of Jesus Christ; this is not an invitation to have continuous good times. This is a war for the souls of men.
Come out from among them. Run for your life. Because this is about your life. This is not just about an opposing viewpoint or conflicting theology; this is about your life.
John Piper on Obama & Abortion
by Reform & Revive
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This is a video by John Piper of Desiring God Ministries in Minneapolis Minnesota. This is powerful. I’m still kind of really from it. The are difficult times in which to live indeed.
Thanks go to Ryan Burns for the video.
Unlimited Limited Atonement? | (a discussion)
art by Patrick Benbow
A new articulation of an old idea: a Facebook exchange on the single most controversial tenet of traditional Calvinism.
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This was a facebook message/discussion between a few friends and me on the topic of “Limited Atonement” (the “L” in Calvinism’s acronomical existence). I’m thinking about letting this be the first of a new type of article I’m calling “Orthodoxological”. I’m thinking about trying to write some articles on some of the deepest and seemingly arbitrary and useless doctrines of the Christian faith, and showing how they do in fact necessarily lead to a greater worship of God. Let me know what you think!
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Stephen Hess on GoingToSeminary.com
by Reform & Revive
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One of our Guest Writers, Stephen Hess, recently wrote about his journey to seminary on the wonderful website, GoingToSeminary.com. Stephen is about to start his first year (of four) at Covenant Theological Seminary. Here’s the article:
“God-honoring Reluctance” – GoingToSeminary.com
We at Reform & Revive want to congratulate Stephen and wish him the best on the years to come. Hopefully we’ll see some more of him on the site.
Praying for Discipline, Standing on Grace [Praying for Prayer; Pt. II]
Previously, we covered: The Conception of a Disciple, The Miracle of Birth, and Changing the Diapers. Now the conclusion-
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Razing Cain
Mortification of the flesh which we war against is the constant goal in the process of sanctification. We must always be seeking to raze, or burn our sin to dust in the hopes that Christ will be revealed in us. As I sought to pray and to seek God in a new way, this was my chief goal. With the Liturgy of prayer before me, I had a powerful tool against the devices of the evil one.
With this in mind, I bowed before the throne of the Sovereign LORD and, with the aid of my Advocate, I spoke boldly. I began with an Invocation, asking the Lord to meet with me. I believed that He would meet with me, yet I could not assume anything; I didn’t want to.
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Praying for Discipline, Standing on Grace [Praying for Prayer; Pt. I]
In a two-part series, Austin Rickett’s explores the depths of prayer: it’s difficulty, discipline, and delight.
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The Conception of a Discipline
When I first decided to attempt a spiritual discipline, I thought that I would do something with worship. I was going to try to see God wherever I could. Maybe I would notice His handiwork in the sunset of the day. Perhaps His provision in my life would be evident in the cheeseburger I was eating at the time. Possibly God was allowing me to relax with the advent of an overcast and drizzly day, which often instills a somber mood within me.
As I set out to begin this experiment, I was joyfully hindered. It seemed as though the Lord was saying, “Find something new, you already practice this discipline quite often.” And so, I decided to take God’s advice because I hear that He’s omniscient, therefore He probably knows what He’s talking about. Without much hesitation I moved on to something new.
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Wickedness, Righteousness, & Changing Culture
“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. . . When the wicked rise, people hide themselves but when they perish, the righteous increase.” — Proverbs 28:1, 28
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Looking at the verse above, we see an interesting thing: wickedness and unity are negatively correlated. When the wicked rise, people “hide themselves.” In other words, wickedness and humanism go hand in hand. As righteousness decreases within a society, people begin to think less collectively and more in terms of self-preservation, self-exaltation, and self-esteem. Why is this? I think there is a principle within humans I’m calling “moral entropy.” The law of entropy is that “all things will move from a state of order to disorder, unless a greater force is acted upon it.” This is the state of all created things, and I would argue it is also the state of the moral state of human beings. Unless a force greater than the wickedness of humans is exerted upon them, people will move ever increasingly to further moral disarray. So what happens when this “greater force” is exerted on humans to such a point that their wickedness begins to perish? Not only does righteousness itself increase, but a righteous people characterized by unity is formed (see. the end of verse 28).
The New York Times on Mark Driscoll
At Reform & Revive, I try to offer only original content, but this was something I couldn’t pass up. A friend and fellow “Westminsterian”, Art Boulet, put a post up on his blog a few days ago containing an article about Mark Driscoll that appeared in the New York Times. I found both the article and the discussion that followed in the comments section fascinating.
Yeah, I want to be kind of a big deal
I fight with pride a lot. As I was telling a friend today: if you take a guy that is fairly smart, can put disparate concepts together, can talk well, and you make him a Christian, you get something very dangerous. He starts believing the press others say about him and begins to think he is much more mature than he actually is. This is me. My entire life people have set me apart for “something big for God.” Being able to understand and communicate even the deepest truths of God and His Word doesn’t equal maturity one bit. Seminary has certainly been showing me just how independent I try to be from God.
But nevertheless, something does resonate within me when I think about my place on the national/world stage. I feel like I’m being tailored by God for big, visible things out there in the world. I don’t know for sure what this means, and I’m fine with it not coming to pass, but I feel like I’m being prepared for a weight I could not bear apart from prior work by God.
But that’s not the point of this post. Now, like I said, I was grabbing coffee with that friend of mine – a friend who is quite visible on the national and international stage. But he’s been struggling with something recently that really struck me. He pointed out that no person ever used by God for really big things ever did it apart from great levels and displays of suffering. His problem was that he shirks from suffering while seeking comfort – the very thing that is antithetical to what he’s called to. I have a similar problem.
I’m only 22 and I feel like I haven’t suffered much. Some really dark family stuff, spiritual dark months of the soul, and severe emotional pains (loneliness and heartache, mainly), but really no classic forms of real suffering. Yet, in spite of this, God has given me a very developed theology of suffering and God’s Sovereignty within it. This terrifies me. I can not get away from this haunting sense deep in the recesses of my mind that severe trials lie ahead of me. So severe that God needs to prepare me now to survive the pains to come.
In one sense this reaffirms my desire to be well-known, influential, and in front of many people. On the other it sobers me, realizing (perhaps for the first time) what it means to “count the cost.” So perhaps all those that have been praising and building me up for big things in the future have actually been painting a target on my soul for the refining pains and trials of God.
So for those of you out there seeking renown, fame, and exposure. Know that if you really are doing it to God’s Glory, then no servant is greater than his Master, and you should expect nothing less than fulfilling in the body the sufferings of Christ, that His life might be seen through your death for your good and God’s Glory.
Evangelism is not an event: A Call to Missional Living
Recently I was able to listen to an amazing sermon by a pastor named Matt Chandler. The sermon he gave was entitled “What is Missional Living?” Let me start off by saying much thanks to him for inspiring this post. As I listened to his sermon, I thought back to the time when I first became a Christian. Not long after my conversion I began reading John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life. In it, Piper boldly issues a call to this generation to flee from the idol of the “American Dream” and to lay down our lives for the purpose of making Christ known around the world. By no fault of John Piper’s, I believe I fundamentally misunderstood just what this should look like.
In my head I had grand visions of overseas missions and preaching the Gospel in the midst of third-world poverty. I began to think of missions and evangelism as a trip or event that should be mostly left to vocational ministers or “missionaries.” (My apologies if you are cringing right now) But then I read the Bible:
II Corinthians 5:18-20 : “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.”
John 17:15-18 : “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one…As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
I Corinthians 9:22 : “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”
The first verse here transformed the way I viewed my faith and how it affects my entire life. What Paul is saying here is that God is making his appeal to others through us and that He has entrusted us with both the message and the ministry of reconciliation. Broken people though we may be, we are God’s chosen agents of reconciliation and redemption! Thus, evangelism is not at its heart an event, but rather God working through lives and relationships and our every day living to make his appeal to the lost and reconcile them to Himself. If you are a Christian, you are called by God to be a missionary wherever it is that God places you and to declare and demonstrate the Gospel to those around you. This may not come as a surprise to some, but to other it may.
Is there a call to the church to work collectively to share the Gospel through events and missions trips? Yes. But ultimately God calls us as individuals to be ambassadors for Him in every facet of our daily lives. Our entire lifestyle should be colored by a yearning desire to share the Good News about Jesus with others, both through our actions and our words. We must stop compartmentalizing our faith down to events and allow Christ to truly be Lord of every part of our lives and hearts so that He can change us in such a way that we display his beauty in both our words and deeds to those around us!
So whom has God placed in your path? What connections do you have to certain people that others don’t? Whom has God entrusted you with in terms of the message and ministry of reconciliation? What about that neighbor you wave at on the way out the door? Or the relative of yours who lives alone and doesn’t know Christ? Maybe the barista at your local Starbucks that you see every morning? Or the homeless man you walk by every day? Or maybe the classmates you study with for tests? Or perhaps it’s one of your best friends whom you’ve known for years?
We all know about these different people God has placed in our lives, so here’s my exhortation for you:
Stop thinking of evangelism and missions in terms of events or dates and times. While only some of you will be called to ministry as a vocation, if you are a follower of Christ then you are called to be a full-time minister of the Gospel. Get rid of the compartments in your mind and instead begin to think intentionally about your life, the way you live it, and all the people that you cross paths with every day. How are you displaying and sharing the Gospel to them and with them? How can you allow God to use you as an agent of redemption in their lives?
a clarification, a vision, and a call
I once heard it said that every faith in the world was an Orthopraxy, where “right practice” made you right before God, whereas Christianity was an Orthodoxy where “right doctrine/belief” did. This is incomplete. Most Protestants know right action is inadequate (Rom 2:6, Gal. 2:16), but most evangelicals are told all the time that what you intellectually assent to as you walk down an aisle is what washes your sin and depravity away into the “light of His wonderful face.” But this is not so (Mat. 7:21, Jam. 2:19). Christianity, rather, is an “Orthoontology,” where your “right state of being” is what makes you acceptable to him. Belief and practice are wholly and ultimately inadequate. It is the nature of the being from which these beliefs and practices flow from that matter.
So what on earth, does this have to do with this site and its vision and passion and focus and drive?
Everything.
Reformed Theology begins with the state of being of man (Total Depravity). It says that what needs to change is that state, and man has neither the desire nor the faculties available to him to change himself. He requires then a sovereign act of a Sovereign God to bring that change about. Reformed Theology then ends with the perseverance of that change. As both practice and surety of beliefs may wax and wane at times, the state of one’s being does not change after God has seized it.
But this has implications far beyond the theology of salvation. It means that Christians must have a passion that spills over from this change of being. It means that we must appeal to the whole man to increase their delight in God. It means this site must move from posts on the “Knowledge” of the Holy, to sweeping prose, poetry and musings. From deep theology that reveals who God is to soul-stirring poetry and meditations flowing from men and women forever impacted by their encounters with this revealed God.
These things go hand in hand. A good friend once told me, “you know? The Theologians of the world should be the ones that weep the most.” Let us weep, friends, as we see this God as He has revealed Himself and then get swept up in the beauty and the mystery that can do nothing but call out praise, adoration, and delight.
Join us for the ride. Reforming the mind, while reviving the heart.
Soli Deo Gloria
“to God alone be the Glory”
–paul
