Category Archives: asides

Reformed Piety

Quote

Posted on by
Reply

Hodge“The thesis of this study is that Charles Hodge manifested the attributes associated with Calvinistic confessionalism (strong adherence to creedal religion, liturgical forms, and corporate worship) as well as characteristics of evangelical pietism (the necessity of vital religion marked by conversion, moral activism, and individual pious practices)…

The unique combination of confessionalism and pietism characterized Charles Hodge’s spiritual life from the cradle to the grave.”

Hoffecker pp. 32 – 3

Mapping Out the Zealot vs. the Tax Collector

Aside

How do we apply the fact that Jesus made room in the Twelve for both Simon the Zealot and Matthew the Tax Collector? Certainly, it must remind us that Jesus’ invitation was to a wide and deep mercy in God. Simon, who was ready to take down the institutionalized, status quo, Roman occupation is at one end of the spectrum. On the other, Matthew earned his bread and maintained a social status feeding off of the very institution Simon was seeking to destroy. Both of them need salvation found in Christ alone.

So are these political opposites, with the application being Jesus calls neo-socialists as well as fascists? Democrats and Republicans? Or does Rome function more as an icon of the passing-away-world, and not politics per se? In this case, Simon is the ascetic, jihadist, fundamentalist; Matthew the cosmopolitan, worldly promoter of any/every zeitgeist. Or is there some other taxonomy that these two disciples map on to?

Classic, Snarky, Ships Passing in the Night

Aside

David Lose: [One viewpoint is that] the passages may or may not refer to homosexuality as we know it, but they – and all of Scripture – are conditioned by the cultural and historical realities of the authors and so offer an incomplete and insufficient understanding of creation and nature and so cannot be used to prohibit homosexual practice today. Rather, one needs to read the larger biblical witness to discern God’s hopes for caring, mutually-supportive relationships, whether heterosexual or homosexual.

PastorDaddy82: Classic speaking to the word without letting the Word speak to you…

LoveAndPeace: That comment is judgmental and indicates lack of value and respect for individual interpretation by all God centered people. Maybe the Word is not speaking to the author of the comment….? That statement cuts both ways.

Me: Dear LoveAndPeace,

Please stop being so judgmental and intolerant of PastorDaddy82′s comment.

You would have more value and respect for his comment if you understood that Bible verses may or may not refer to Internet comments as we know them today, but they – and all of Scripture – are conditioned by the cultural and historical realities of the authors and so offer an incomplete and insufficient understanding of creation and nature and so cannot be used to prohibit anybody from saying anything on a blog/message board today.

Thank you in advance for not judging my comment to you, but recognizing that is in fact correct, as nature itself reveals.

source

Confessional Protestantism is going to be all that remains.

Status

Reply
blund's avatar

It is sort of like “theological darwinisim,” survival of the fittest. Confessional protestantism is going to be all that remains, uh, because everything else is going to melt away with the disappearance of cultural Christianity. The reality is that only those churches that hold themsevles accountable to a confession of faith, and so not out of obligation but out of joy, will be the only ones left standing.

(HT: Resolved)

How to Speak Truth to Power?

Aside

Michelle Obama: “He [Jesus] was out there fighting injustice and speaking truth to power every single day.” (source: ABC news)

True. But the question is, how did Jesus speak truth to power? As Spartacus, or as Julius Caesar?

Both Spartacus & Caesar “spoke” to the powers of their age. Spartacus did it as a rebel and insurgent, leading a revolt. And Caesar did it as the power, controlling and squashing those who abused authority they derived from him.

So in which way did Jesus speak to the Pharisees, the “Temple system,” and the political powers of 1st Century Judea? As Lord or Servant? And how should the followers of Jesus follow Him today?