Are people who are Arminian rather than Calvinist in their theology really Christians? According to leading Reformed thinker R.C. Sproul, "... barely."
Phew, I'm glad he let me through the door... barely.
Soma remind us why we should gather together
Donald Miller matter-of-factly told the blogosphere that he no longer goes to church, or at least rarely does so. In doing so he set off a whirlwind of responses. Christian bloggers began writing why Miller was justified in not "going to church" or why he was setting a terrible example for others and denying himself the full richness of Christian life. More often than not, the conversation happening across the internet exposed that many Protestant Americans struggle to articulate a meaningful theology of the Church.
Soma is clearly a community which has meditated deeply on why a body of believers should gather together regularly. Their essay is well worth reading and pondering:
If we are the church, why do we need to get together and hear a sermon? If we are the church, why do we have to get together for singing? Isn’t that stuff getting in the way of us being the church? If “real discipleship” is life-on-life, in community, and on mission, how does a worship gathering fit? It seems counterproductive. Here is the kicker: if you are serious about a scattered missional church, you have to gather your communities regularly in one place.
Gatherings reorients our worship. Our hearts respond and proclaim truth we believe and struggle to believe. We are challenged and invited to worship the one true God. In many cases, the singing, taking in communion, hearing the scriptures taught, calls us to repentance and is the first act of repentance. We return to worshiping God instead of ourselves, other gods, and idols. Worship gatherings are rhythmic celebrations reminding of who God is and what he has done.
Our worship gatherings pause our hurried lives that are filled with mission and community, and remind us clearly of who God is, what he has done, and who we are. Everything we do when we gather reminds us of the gospel, who we are because of the gospel, and our role in God’s mission. We proclaim the gospel in song, we hear the gospel in preaching, we pray for gospel understanding and repentance, and we touch and taste the image of the gospel in communion. The elements of a worship gathering remind us of the gospel.
Good, beautiful, and true
Having known salvation, can one choose to reject the gift?
The argument that those who appear to be Christians but later repudiate the faith were never really saved to begin with has always left me puzzled. The Biblical evidence against this position has always seemed clear and unequivocal. Why would the apostles so often warn against apostasy if the so-called apostates were in reality pagans who had never really been saved?
In any event, one blogger recently took a satirical look at the incongruity of this line of reasoning. It's thought-provoking:
Ezek. 18:24 But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness… thus proving that he was never righteous to begin with?
Mat. 18:21-35 When his debt had been credited back to him, it proved that the unforgiving servant’s debt had never been forgiven to begin with?
Luke 8:13 And the ones on the rock… receive [the Word]… they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away thus proving that they never received the Word, nor believed, to begin with?
John 15:5-6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away… and withers; and [are] thrown into the fire, and burned thus proving that the branches were never abiding in the vine from which they were cut off?
Rom. 11:19-22 Branches were broken off… because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith… if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off which would prove that they were never standing by faith, nor grafted into the olive tree from which they were cut?
Rom. 14:15 By what you eat, do not destroy [your brother] for whom Christ died which would prove that he was never your brother to begin with?
1 Cor. 15:1-2 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel… which you received… unless you believed in vain which would prove that 1) they were never really brothers to begin with, 2) they never actually received the Gospel, and 3) they never actually believed in vain, for they never believed to begin with.
2 Cor. 6:1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain because it would prove that you never received it to begin with.
Gal. 5:4 You are severed from Christ… you have fallen away from grace which proves that 1) you were never really joined to Christ, and 2) you never had the grace from which you fell.
1 Tim. 1:18-20 Some have made shipwreck of their faith which proves that the ship was never really floating to begin with.
1 Tim. 4:1 Some will depart from the faith thus proving that they never had a faith from which to depart.
1 Tim. 5:8 He has denied the faith which proves that he never really had a faith to deny.
1 Tim. 5:8 Worse than an unbeliever If he was never really saved to begin with, he has always been an unbeliever, which begs the question, how can an unbeliever be worse than an unbeliever?
1 Tim. 5:11 Their passions draw them away from Christ thus proving that they were never with Christ.
1 Tim. 5:12 Having abandoned their former faith which proves that they never had the faith to abandon.
2 Tim. 2:16-18 Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth thus proving that they never really received the truth from which they swerved.
2 Pet. 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome they would prove that they had never actually escaped the defilements of the world to begin with, and because they have thus always been entangled therein, they couldn’t have become ‘again’ entangled.
2 Pet. 3:17 Take care that you are not carried away from what… unbelief?
2 Pet. 3:17 Take care that you [do not] lose your own stability which would prove that you were never in a stable position to begin with.
Benjamin Zander: The transformative power of classical music
A master communicator practicing his craft, and though he says his topic is "the transformative power of classical music," he communicates so very much more.
Growing into leadership
“Great leaders don’t think less of themselves; they just think of themselves less.”
John Wesley on Freedom
“Indeed, if man were not free, he could not be accountable either for his thoughts, word, or actions. If he were not free, he would not be capable either of reward or punishment; he would be incapable either of virtue or vice, of being either morally good or bad. If he had no more freedom than the sun, the moon, or the stars, he would be no more accountable than them. On supposition that he had no more freedom than them, the stones of the earth would be as capable of reward, and as liable to punishment, as man: One would be as accountable as the other. Yea, and it would be as absurd to ascribe either virtue or vice to him as to ascribe it to the stock of a tree.”
Thomas Oden on Grace
“Grace works ahead of us to draw us toward faith, to begin its work in us. Even the first fragile intuition of conviction of sin, the first intimation of our need of God, is the work of preparing, prevening grace, which draws us gradually toward wishing to please God. Grace is working quietly at the point of our desiring, bringing us in time to despair over our own unrighteousness, challenging our perverse dispositions, so that our distorted wills cease gradually to resist the gift of God.”
Bonhoeffer on fellowship
“Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into the community you were called, the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear your cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone, even in death, and on the Last Day you will be only one member of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you…”
The greatness of mediocrity
In every arena of human creativity, one needs a multitude of failures and mediocrities. They are the condition for the emergence of that rare thing, the artistic genius. Without all the dull painters and all the mediocre art schools, there could have been no Chagall and no Picasso. Without all the appalling nine-year-old violinists screeching on their instruments at the Wednesday night school concert, there could be no Jascha Heifetz and no Vivaldi. Without a million dull English children studying their dull books, there could never have been a Virginia Woolf and a Dr Johnson.
In the same way, we need many actors like the ones I saw tonight so that we can have a few like Cate Blanchett and Ian McKellen.
There is no point resenting mediocrity. Every living tradition consists mostly of mediocrity. If you're going to resent mediocrity in art, just make sure you also remember to resent schools, education, childhood. The purist is a person without understanding. He hates the seedbed from which the things he loves will grow.