What Does it Mean to be Reformed?

In an effort to understand how churches in the same denomination (PCA) can be so different, I picked up this book. It's a collection of essays covering the 3 major strands of the American reformed church: Princeton, Dutch, and Southern Presbyterian. Each background has an introductory essay and 2 or 3 essays on crucial men in that strand and their theology.

To boil down my notes on the book to the length of a typical blogpost, I'll say that the book does a great job explaining the distinctions of the 3 backgrounds in view, but at the end I'm left with the feeling that there's a large group of people that call themselves reformed that wouldn't identify with any of the three groups. It seems there should have been some discussion over the large number of reformed Baptists, or used-to-be-Baptist reformed folks. These are the kind of folks that we most often meet in the PCA and undoubtedly have added to the uniqueness of American reformed theology and practice.

Athanasius Contra Mundo

Desiring God radio aired Piper's biographical message on Athanasius. Here are the points I appreciated the most:
- Why it's worth fighting over doctrine that Christians have disagreed about for centuries
- Loving Christ must include loving true propositions about Christ. So, doctrine is essential in loving Christ.

I hope you get time to listen to it; I recommend it.

Veteran's Day to a 5 year old

I asked my children what we remember on Veteran's Day. My 7 year old son got it right, but Grace, my 5-year old daughter had a different conception. She said, "we remember those that take care of dogs."

We have since explained to her the difference between a veteran and a veterinarian.

A Question about Helping Neighbors You Don't Know

Our friend Melene, who lives in North Carolina, asked us to pray for a family in our neighborhood that was in serious need. Melene's husband was deployed with our neighbor's husband, who arrived home yesterday and will care for his wife during a very-risky brain surgery.

We hadn't met the family until recently, and so far we've only met the children and their aunt. The aunt, by the way, lost everything in Katrina and now lives here and cares for her sister's 4 children while she tries to cope with the daily pain associated with loss of brain fluid. There are serious needs all around.

This family is Catholic and may be getting assistance from their church; we don't know. So my question is what is the proper thing for us to do?

In addition to prayer, our current plan is to take them a meal and ask if their church is providing meals and other assistance. If they need help, we want to provide it; but we don't want to be too pushy since we're strangers who happen to live near-by. Other thoughts?

The Conversion of Man is Real!

There are skeptics of conversion; they think man's nature cannot truly be changed. And there are those of us that for years have longed for loved ones to know the Lord, and to be frank, we have given up on them. How encouraging it was tonight to have at my dinner table a new friend in Christ. He was a sixth generation Mormon (RLDS) who as an young adult left that cult at great personal cost and now embraces the Biblical truth.

What's more remarkable is that his parents left that false faith, too! Even more remarkable is that my friend's father was the State leader of the Mormon (RLDS) church when he left!

The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. No matter what age or situation. Take courage, have hope, keep praying for your lost loved ones!

Outdoor Recreation

We're enjoying an unusually long Fall here in Albuquerque. To celebrate, some co-workers and I hiked 12 miles Friday in the Sandia mountains on the east side of town.


Then this morning, Eli and I, and some neighbors, went for a horseback ride a few minutes from base. You wouldn't want to do either of these activities in the summer, but it was perfect today!

Nice Quotes

Desiring God is putting message before money...all the conference lectures from this year's national conference are available for free download (here and here). The theme of the conference was Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. Joni Eareckson Tada covers the subject masterfully, and during her address remarks (and here's my paraphrase from memory), "instead of rehearsing our theology with each other, we are to live out our theology in front of others."

Also, one of the books that I have my nose in is Tim Keller's Ministries of Mercy. Sometimes it pays to read the endnotes carefully. That's where I found this great quote from the minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1892,

In the meantime [since we don't have parishes yet], our usages have taught the poor that the State and not the Church is their almoner, but it is high time that it be rescued from this neglect, and restored to its proper dignity as the most ancient and one of the most significant of ecclesiastical functions...The municipal overseer can never be a substitute for the deacon...The Church must prove herself the friend of the workingman. She can and should answer and conquer the communist by the deacon."

Reformation Day 2005

Our family watched this film (from the '50s) over the weekend. The version that came out a couple of years ago is more gripping, but this one emphasized more the importance of sola fide. Our church had a nice Reformation party on Friday, although next year we hope to incorporate some of the great ideas for children we enjoyed at Covenant OPC in Dayton, Ohio.

It's almost impossible to skip Halloween in our close-knit military neighborhood; but we joined a couple of other families tonight at a deserted Chuck E. Cheese. The children had a great time with their friends. Other blogs criticize Christians for the un-neighborliness of forgoing trick-or-treat, but in my situation I have plenty of other ways to spend time with my neighbors that don't have the baggage of Halloween.

Today I was asked about our position on Halloween. I tried to avoid pietism in my brief response; see what you think.

Our family tradition is to celebrate a different holiday on Oct 31. We celebrate Reformation Day. Today is the date, back in 1517, God used Martin Luther to begin a very important reformation in the Church. We enjoy celebrating this holiday because we can use it to teach our children about the gospel.

A Blemish on the Bright Future of Blogs

Numerous publications and even more web sites foresee blogs "spreading the gospel" to great numbers. Just a few weeks ago there was a conference on Christian Blogging, GodBlogCon with enough press coverage to get an AP article even in New Mexico's newspapers.

And maybe blogs will connect with people in ways that other forms of outreach never could. But what can be done to ensure the right gospel is getting out? The following quote was written long before the advent of computer networks, but the relevance to blogging is there nonetheless.

Tendencies, which had found no room to unfold themselves in other lands, wrought here without restraint...Every theological vagabond and peddler may drive here his bungling trade, without passport or license, and sell his false ware at pleasure. What is to come of such confusion is not now to be seen." Philip Schaff, The Principle of Protestantism, 1844

Pop Culture's Mandatory Fun

We have a "ghost sign" on our front door, despite our dislike for Halloween. If I didn't hang it up neighbors would keep dropping off bags of candy and cookies and dashing off before I can identify them. It happened twice before we decided it's un-neighborly of us to accept their goodies but not put up their silly sign. Our neighbors mean well, they just can't imagine we'd rather celebrate something else on 31 October. So that explains the mandatory fun we're now part of.

One of Kristin's friends was recently invited to two baby showers. Both were for unwed mothers. This put her in somewhat of a dilemma. Even though she didn't want to congratulate an impenitent person on fruitful fornication, if she didn't go, she'd come across as insensitive. She's glad the mother didn't abort. But does this mean an unwed mother, who has no designs of marriage, should receive the same kind of celebratory shower as the bride who waited? Well, we really have no choice. Popular culture says she does and so we concede to more mandatory fun.

Time for a Picture

Faith is a wonderful baby. And I'm pleased that the number of rude questions we receive from strangers has been very low. Kristin has received the worst one so far; someone she had never met before came up and asked her, "so how much did she cost?". This question is fine during a good conversation about adoption, but it's not a good opening question. Our skin is fairly thick anyways. For the most part, the people we've met here are very accepting and kind, especially at church and in our neighborhood.

From Pride and Prejudice to Sex in the City

Since my last post my family has gone through a birthday (#34 for me), a double ear infection (Isaiah), and strep throat (Kristin). Plus I was TDY to California for a few days.

On the trip I listened to the MARS HILL Audio report, Wandering toward the Altar: The Decline of American Courtship. It is very well done and chronicles how cultural conventions of choosing a mate have regressed from the "calling" system evidenced in Austen's novels to the dating of the post-WWII era to the "hook-ups" of today.

Besides being fascinating history, the series will be a useful teaching tool in my family for exposing the problems with dating and sketching out a better approach.

Today's Agenda

So will I ever sing praises to your name, as I perform my vows day after day" (Ps 61:8)

Secularizing the Military

Air Force Chaplains have recently been forbidden to evangelize service members of different faith groups. That, in itself, is a loss for religious liberty and evangelical witness. Now the Air Force is considering a gag order that would forbid its chaplains from evangelizing the unchurched, or those that claim no faith. The new policies were enacted due to threats of litigation from a previous Air Force Officer who says the Academy discriminates against non-evangelicals.

Also, until recently, we used to be able to offer prayers for service members upon their promotion, retirement, or other military ceremony. That has also come under fire. Public prayer is now only permitted rarely, "to add solemnity to an event." Compare that to in the past when prayer was an invocation, asking for God's favor upon the person being recognized.

Giving You An Earful

For whatever reason, while I love reading books, I can't read them fast enough to keep up with all the topics I'm interested in covering. I should probably switch to reading more articles, an idea from Barb, but I've found that there's tons of good, free audio available now a days. I try to listen more broadly than I believe; I think it's healthy to hear different views from within the pale of orthodoxy. Here are my favorite FREE audio places in no particular order:

St Anne's Pub -- down-to-earth reformed topics, mostly cultural
9 Marks Interviews -- reformed Baptist-led interviews and speeches
Covenant Seminary Audio Library -- recordings of chapel speakers, conferences, etc
White Horse Inn-- broadly-reformed topical discussions
Issues, Etc -- Confessional Lutheran broadcasts, mostly on cultural matters
I've also downloaded several great MP3s thanks to links I find in various blogs. This is a great way to spread a good message.

For audio for a fee, I especailly like,
Mars Hill Audio Journal -- first-rate cultural commentary from a Christian perspective
WordMP3 -- MP3s of sermons and lectures, mainly from reformed pastors and theologians
I usually also order the audio for the Desiring God conferences and from other ministries such as the Basement Tapes

Any other recommendations?

The Cruise of Mr. Christopher Columbus

I just read my children the book titled above about Columbus, published in 1932. I had hoped that it would be old enough to present the Christian elements of Columbus' character and mission. But no, according to this story, it was all about gold and proving that the world isn't flat.

According to Columbus' diaries recorded during his voyage, he and the crew regularly prayed, even bursting out with the Te Deum, laudamusat the sight of land! Columbus understood, to some degree, that his voyage was in obedience to the Great Commission.

Generations of school children never heard about this, but mine will. And I hope yours will, too.

Worn Out and Learning to Pray

The Psalms indicate that God won't give us more than we can handle, but He may push the envelope from time to time. Today was a envelope-pushing day.

My family has been laid low by an intense stomach virus for almost a week. Thankfully, Kristin didn't catch the virus, so she has been able to care for me and the children. We took precautions to keep the bug from spreading to our 2 month old daughter Faith, but last night she caught it. She (and Kristin) are spending tonight in the hospital regaining fluids.

As bad as it sounds, I was too tired to pray for Faith on my own this morning when things were at their worst. But I remembered the Book of Common Prayer and found that it expressed our feelings and desires superbly with supplications like these,

O Father of mercies, and God of all comforts, our only help in time of need; We flee unto you for relief. We humbly ask you to behold, visit, and comfort Faith. Give strength and skill to thy ministers of healing; bless the means of cure; and in view of how frail her life is, look upon her with the eyes of thy mercy, deliver her from bodily pain, and prolong her days here on earth, that she may live to thee, and be an instrument of thy glory. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the love of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Relying On An Intercessor

Today I took a private request from one of my subordinates to my boss. It was a "closed door" kind of meeting. I don't know what my boss thinks of me, and I didn't do a great job in addressing my team member's need. This isn't the best boss I've ever had, and there are issues he's not going to share with me. But in the end, he listened and was fair. Why bring this up here?

Consider how much better an intercessor you have on your side. If my subordinate's need was fairly heard by my boss today, although he's not the greatest and neither am I, rejoice that you have God the Father hearing your needs and His completely-trustworthy Son bringing them forward!

Our requests to God are delivered by the beloved Son to His perfect, loving, omnipotent Father. Rest assured in His intercession on your behalf!

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Heb 7:25

We're Not Scalp-Hunting

I've mentioned before what a great opportunity for ministry we have in our new neighborhood. This week that opportunity became more elusive.

Another Christian couple that we had partnered with in starting a Bible study has reportedly gotten into several quarrels with neighbors over the behavior of their children. We've been told, "if Christians behave this way, we don't want any part of Christianity", and other disappointing statements.

Part of the problem is a different understanding of "ministry" between my family and our partner. I've come to understand the importance of knowing, loving, enjoying, and serving your neighbors as the foundation for discipleship. I'm led to believe that our partners' focus could be described as "let's convert the Catholics".

We're caught in the middle of the tension. We are to love our partnering family, and not distance ourselves from them for the sake of getting to know the other families. We will try to be a peacemaker in this situation.

In the meantime, today I began a neighborhood sports league for the dads and children. I had 12 children and several parents come out for a game of touch football. We'll do this each week. My intention is to build trust with the families, to show them that I'm not just interested in spiritual-scalp-hunting; we simply want to be good neighbors. And, I hope, God will honor this desire by allowing us to disciple others when and how He sees fit.

The place to put Faith when we want a one hour nap. Guaranteed results!