"New" Calvinism...

The topic of "New Calvinism" or the "New Calvinists" is gaining steam in the Evangelical culture. I am an ardent supporter of Calvinism and have taken to believe Calvin's teachings as my own (yes, including "limited atonement" and so-called "double-predestination") so Calvinism's growth good news. Good doctrine (as I see Calvinism is) is crucial for the Christian life, unlike guys like Rob Bell who see it as a child's toy to "jump" on and be launched into orbit, not knowing from whence you left nor to where you shall return. The growth of Calvinism is surely a positive thing.

But (i know, it was all building up to that word...)

Calvinism isn't new. I don't care about "New" Calvinism. Infact, Calvinism is older than Arminianism (i.e., we're all a bunch of free-willing agents, whom God has no (or little) sovereignty over, and God is subject to our choices and decisions and it would be wrong of him to impose himself upon us in any form). It's not like Calvinism died out for a hundred years. There's been plenty of Calvinist men & women since the "Calvinist" movement of the 18th & 19th centuries. It's just that bad and pathetic teaching has won the day for the most part in the greater evangelical church. The reason why it's "New" is because all the Calvinists, who generally were slow to embrace cultural change (since Evangelicalism went through radical changes prior to WWI & WWII) are finally catching on. They're using computers, putting up websites, blogging (like myself) and becoming savvy about how to reach the new culture for Christ. It's not that it's "New" Calvinism. It's that its "Old" Calvinism catching up with the times.

"If it's new, it must be cool. Just like the new Apple product..." I hope people don't become Calvinists because its the latest fad in Evangelicalism. I hope through wrestling with weighty (to borrow John Piper's word) doctrines, like predestination or God's sovereignty and man's free-will (or lack there of), they come to own the tenants of Calvinism because they see that it is actually what the bible teaches, not simply because it's what some hip preacher or buddy is espousing it. There would be nothing worse than to see a generation of Christians toss aside good doctrine because it "didn't work" or "got old".

So "New" Calvinism can keep it's silly moniker, but I'm much more of the pursuasion that what our culture needs isn't to get one more "new" thing. What our culture needs is solid, old, durable, "weighty", enduring, Truth (yes, with a capital T). Our culture needs old men to come and sit next to them and tell them old stories and old things about what has stood the test of time. Our culture needs old books to come and confront them since so much of the garb in Evangelical Christianity is weightless, shapeless, mushy and sappy.

So I say, bring on the "Old" Calvinism, and give it to me strong. Make my weak knees strong, and as the Old Testament says, "gird up your loins".

So, "gird up yer' loins, son, and go and drink some of that hearty draught they call Calvinism. It'll put hair on yer' chest and steel in your belly. You don't want to be walkin' around like one of those silly, flimsy boys that are runnin' 'round with their hands all limp. It'll make you a warrior."

My Savior Came in the Greatest Hour

(I wrote music to this as well, hopefully I can record and upload it)



My Savior Came in the Greatest Hour

Christ has tread the stormy gales
Spread his life on wood and nails
When the darkest hour had come
He proclaimed the battle won

My victory in him is sealed
His death and blood have brought the end
To Sin and Satan's reign and power
My Savior came in the greatest hour

I was buried deep in death
My flesh surrendered all its breath
To the pleasures of this world
But Jesus snatched me from its hold

He drew me up when he was raised
From death's dark grip to Heaven's joys
One day soon I'll rise to Christ
And look on him who is my life

So I shall live this life on earth
Fixed on him to obey his word
Forsake the comfort of this life
All to Christ who for me died

My victory in him is sealed
His death and blood have brought the end
To Sin and Satan's reign and power
My Savior came in the greatest hour

The Pursuit of Truth and the Role of Humility In It

If you aren't interested in "interpretation" of the bible, you might skip the first three paragraphs. But they also might help. Either way, hopefully this post can help.

In interpretation, the role of humility is paramount. Before any study may be commenced, humility must go before, during and after the study. This is because one may not bring their notions, positions and conclusions to the text in hopes to find them there. They must, in a sense, hold their notions beside or next to the text, in comparison to it. They must not hold them over, or under the text.

The example of a classroom of students working together to understand the meaning of the text comes to mind. The teacher assigns the class, for the remaining period, to research the meaning of a word in its given context. Each student, to the best of his ability, is to use whatever tools he has to ascertain the meaning of the text. After the students have come to their conclusions of the text, they are to compare them publicly, with the teacher functioning as the adjudicator. If one student comes closest to the intending meaning of the text, this will generally be apparent. Yet if another student seems inclined to a different interpretation and remains insistent on such an interpretation, then one may investigate the motives of this student. Is their goal to arrive at the truth of the text, or merely to have his interpretation go through?

This example may help demonstrate the necessity of approaching interpretation with utmost humility. One must not force their interpretation if it is a strain to do so. One must see Truth as the ultimate goal, not one's own interpretation or body of interpretation as the triumphing party. If their is disagreement with the meaning that is emerging between the text and the interpreter's position, then it is the utmost responsibility of the interpreter to bring their position in line with the meaning of the text and to not equivocate, suppress, or ignore the meaning, or worse yet, force an interpretation upon the text because the interpretation does not fall in line with their position.

This rule may apply in any discussion of understanding. One must restrain their judgment of a certain view until one has sufficiently understood the view. One must be humble in how they listen to another, especially those of differing views of them. One must first seek to understand. If a man passes judgment on a person before understanding what they mean and their position, then they may commit the greatest of errors in arriving at truth. This is not to say that one must restrain judgment altogether, as many today are in the habit of doing. This is a great trap. Truth, ultimate truth, is the goal of all discussions. It is not merely to "discuss" a matter or to simply "ask questions". This is foolishness and a waste of time. World leaders do not meet merely to "discuss matters" with each other and then feel good that they "discussed the matter". Their ideas have consequences and it is therefore the goal of the leader to understand their opponent (if that is the case) and then to pass judgment, whether that is declaring agreement or disagreement and then declare the ensuing consequences of agreement or disagreement. So it must also be in any discussion we have about a matter. If we disagree, we must out of necessity for Truth, pass judgment upon the other's ideas. To not pass judgment is to make a mockery of Truth. In fact, passing judgment is humility in its consummation. Humility is not the withholding of judgment as many suppose today, but it is the withholding of judgment until one may fairly make a judgment about the other's position. It is true humility because it submits to the other person that there is truth and to reject truth is dangerous and can have severe consequences for doing so. Arrogance, on the other hand, is when, after one fairly understands the other's position, refrains from offering their judgment of the other's position. This is a mockery of the other person by showing that coming to the truth of the matter is useless. You state a matter of the dignity of the other person when you refrain from passing judgment. If the person were of value, you would help them arrive at the truth by declaring your judgment on their error. But if you refrain from giving your judgment, you allow them to continue in their ignorance or foolishness while you have in your hand the tools that would bring them healing. This is the greatest arrogance and must be fought against with great vigilance. To be a doctor who has the ability to rescue a dying man and to yet refrain from doing so because you do not want to "impose yourself" upon the man is the most inhumane and arrogant moves any human ever can make.

Another significant step in humility is to hold one's ideas not simply in competition with another person, but also to, as best as possible, to learn from another person. Certainly there are occasional times when what one may glean from another is minimal, and in extreme circumstances and albeit rare, may learn nothing, but this must not restrain you from listening to the other party in an effort to actually learn from them. In nearly everything anyone is saying there is an element of truth. Nearly all lies are built on a distortion of truth, and often in an idea there may very well be an element of truth. The humble dialoguer may draw this out in the discussion and use it to help the other person arrive at the truth. If one relegates everything that the person has to say automatically to the realm of uselessness and error then the discussion itself will quickly become useless itself. Only after being exposed (and often lengthy exposure) to another's ideas may one draw conclusions about another's ideas. Though this is not always the case, since some ideas are replicated and the same error may be reproduced and spotted quickly, we must be careful of assuming that this is the case. As one reflects and gleans from what another says, they make themselves not only wiser for doing so, but also a more useful combatant in the discussion, putting himself on a much better footing for bringing the other person to the truth.

The final step in humility is to admit one's errors if they become exposed, whether another person brings them to light, or, through reason, your own conscience becomes aware of them. If one does not expose the error it will remain and often be entrenched, though forgotten, and later affect multiple lines of thought and reasoning. It will ultimately impair one's ability to arrive at the truth. Humility's goal is to arrive at the truth, and so will flee from error seeing that it is a great hinderance to arriving at truth.

This is why, as some have masked, wittingly but erroneously, by saying, for example, "there are many who have right doctrine but are arrogant, but i would rather have wrong doctrine and be humble than to be arrogant and have right doctrine." One must see this as nearly the most arrogant statement about knowledge that a person can make. It is merely the other side of arrogance of the person who actually appears arrogant and has right doctrine. As was noted, a truly humble person will flee from error. A humble person will see what danger there is in believing error and see that there is nothing more ruinous to them than to have significant erroneous thoughts. A humble person will strive to know the truth, not run from it. A humble person will love the truth, not despise it. A humble person will seek the right use of truth, not neglect it because another person has abused truth. You must be aware that you cannot be truly humble until you have rightly come to the truth. If a person has good "doctrine" or "theology" yet is not humble in their appropriation and use of it then we may conclude that they have not yet rightly come to the truth: this was the error of the Pharisees. Yet if a person has wrong doctrine but assumes this is of no harm to themselves because they refrain from judging another's position, then they are not humble either. This was the error of the Gentiles whom Paul spoke with.

To be a truly humble person you must love truth. And to be able to know the truth you must love humility.

"My Thoughts" - and Distinguished Degrees

First, a note:

Much of what I post on here is not really "My Thoughts" but more often are "Connections I Make Between Things". The occasional poem are more closely to "My Thoughts". If I were to deem things that are truly "My Thoughts", they would be those thoughts that shape and form my heart or else they are those thoughts that spill out of my heart whether I would like them to or not, and most often the latter is the case. "My Thoughts" are things reflected concerning myself, which are rarely posted, and probably for the benefit of all. Much of the other things posted here are "My thoughts" about everyone else and the connection between things outside of myself. These things are often safe, at least in some degree. But to say what are truly "My Thoughts" is dangerous, not only to myself, but also to others.

The following are more near to what "My Thoughts" are. Somewhat like a diary, but useful, I hope, to others. These are what I would consider to be "My Thoughts"


On Distinguished Degrees:

Preface: These thoughts sprang from reading J.I. Packer's book "A Quest for Godliness" which examines the Puritan's approach to life. The section I was reading was on what Puritans understood Assurance to be.


What uselessness is the most distinguished of all degrees if there is not assurance and a conviction in the heart of the love and beneficence of God? How fleeting are such things? How long will the joy last when you have obtained such an achievement? A few moments? Will you then look upon that piece of paper and then will it be the words in connection that give you a great sense of peace that you have finally arrived? Is it mere fibers and ink that gives you approval? And what then when terror and fear strikes you? Will you return to your piece of paper and look at the appellations to your name for comfort? What vanity this is.

Would you seek to increase your greatness by educating yourself beyond your peers? Observe the Cost: you must die to gain this reward, for there will always be one better than you and unless you give every moment over to striving to be the greatest then you shall fail. And you would be the greatest of fools to delight in anything less than to be the best. It is quite like a man who offers to you freely the greatest treasure of gold and jewels and you content yourself with silver coins. If greatness is your goal, die before your settle for less. But what fool you would be then, to be greater than all men, who are the vilest of creatures on the planet, whom God says are accounted as nothing in his sight, who have altogether become worthless, whom he holds over the fires of hell. A connection of letters would make you the most distinguished of worthless sinners: what a prize. And to think that this is what you would long to take assurance in. It is like the earth flinging itself in the face of the sun. It would be consumed before it even touched the face of the sun. Delighting in an insignificant among insignificants, you would then send yourself before God. He would laugh at you as though you were the speck of dust that floats across the golden floor in his chamber, blowing and tossing, while he sits solidly on his throne roaring at the folly, as a speck of dust is content with itself while heaven itself surrounds it.

Instead, give yourself over to God, who can fill the deepest voids, overflow the mines in your soul, who can satisfy the most ardent longings, who can fill your heart with the most wondrous love. No earthly achievement can bring the satisfaction of a moment of tasting the goodness that drips from the tip of the finger of God. As the Sons of Korah have rightly declared: "A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness"

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God.