“In the United States culture has transformed Christ, as well as all other religions found within these shores. In every aspect of the religious life, American faith has met American culture” and American culture has triumphed.” -Alan Wolfe (HT to Glenn Lucke) [Continue reading]

UPDATE: One of the watchbloggers has finally gone after Luther and the LCMS Lutherans. I can’t think of a more deserving group of people. Thankfully, someone is courageous enough to expose Luther for the false teacher that he was.

Our story begins with the following quote from Dr. John Piper: [Continue reading]

My mother passed away this morning at 2:10 a.m. I will be off blog for several days. Comments may not be moderated. Thanks for your prayers and patience.

I prayed this prayer for my mom dozens of times the last few hours:

Christian Soul, depart and go to God. Lord, receive this, your child, made in your image, purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ, baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Receive her, your own daughter, who has trusted you in life and now trusts you in death. In Jesus name, receive her into the Kingdom of Light with all the saints and angels to welcome her. Amen

A long overdue piece, but I don’t want to be seen as a flagwaver for this controversy. Forgive any annoying tone in this piece. I’ve sat on my credobaptist beliefs through a rising tide of paedobaptism among my blog friends.

No one out there is coming to the Internet Monk to work through the issue of paedo or credo baptism. If you want the Baptist position stated by a reformation Christian, then go to the Desiring God library and read good papers like this one that detail the differences in the two positions. If you want the best reformed Baptist expositions, then listen to Al Martin, read Fred Malone , Sam Waldron, G.R. Beasley-Murray or Wayne Grudem. Professors Stander and Louw go through the early church documents and make the historical case, something I have neither the information nor the credibility to attempt.

I’ve actually been operating under a bit of a vow to not bring this subject up. The BHT is overrun with infant baptizers of every variety. The Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and, of course, the Lutherans will lay aside their differences and beat me up together. I don’t like to provoke their ire, because they are a nasty group that doesn’t know how to fight fair, and they use bad language. [Continue reading]

A friend is pastor of a large SBC church I’m familiar with, and a faction in the church is trying to end his ministry because, according to this group, Calvinists are the sum of all evil. Several friends have written and called for my views, so this post is a generic reply to them all.

My criticisms of the “truly Reformed” watchbloggers do not lessen my respect for the Founder’s Movement men I have known and their approach to ministry.

Larry,

Thanks so much for calling and updating me on the situation at church. I have to admit that all of this sounds very strange to me, but then these are strange times we are living in. Southern Baptists know less and less about who they are or what their churches are all about. Southern Baptists have become the absolute masters of generic evangelicalism, which really means they know less and less about who they are, what they believe or why they are Baptists at all. Pastor Dale is paying the price for that ignorance, though in the end, no matter what happens, the disease that afflicts the larger denomination and its individual churches far outweighs whatever momentary pastoral brouhaha has our attention. [Continue reading]

Internet Monk Radio Podcast 5. Mostly about promoting and provoking spontaneous learning. About 20 Minutes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The text for a sermon I heard this morning was I Corinthians 10:23ff.

1 Corinthians 10:23 – 11:1 23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience- 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks? 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

This a text that every missional Christian needs to wrestle with. It opens up the entire discussion of personal liberty in view of the consciences of those who may be offended at some exercise of that liberty. With the SBC’s recent Resolution on Alcohol still being discussed- and likely to cause more controversy in the future- it would be good to get a good hold on exactly what Paul is talking about. [Continue reading]

Read Two Books. Eugene Peterson, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, an absolutely wonderful book, and John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. The writing of Gordon Macdonald is also good in this area.

What I mean are leaders, so excuse the sexist language, but I’m wanting to get at something the Bible talks about a lot using Psalm 118:8 and similar verses: It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. Evangelicals are trusting more and more in men, what they can do, what they say and where they are leading. [Continue reading]