Morning Coffee with Gomarus

I’m back from a couple of weeks vacation, but I will likely not resume posting on a regular basis.  Any posting in the near future will be sporadic.

My interest in blogging has waned and other matters are more pressing right now.  I will leave the blog up in case earlier posts are of interest to visitors. 

 Jim

A Texas pastor, sued after exercising church discipline, has been handed a victory by the Texas Supreme Court.  The lawsuit was brought by a church member who refused to repent following a divorce and remarriage.

“According to the lawsuit, Peggy Penley was a member of Crossland Community Bible Church in Fort Worth when she had a relationship with another man and desired to divorce her husband. In accordance with the church’s disciplinary process, Crossland Community Pastor Buddy Westbrook eventually sent a letter to church members, informing them of Penley’s unrepentant attitude and disassociating the congregation from Penley. She sued the church, the elders, and Pastor Westbrook, claiming the pastor violated confidentiality statutes.”

Read the entire article from One News Now.

According to the attorney representing Crossland Community Bible Church, “This is a great victory for pastors all across Texas and all across the nation.” 

He goes on to say, “This is a very strong opinion saying that pastors who are engaging in Matthew 18 church disciplinary process are protected by the Constitution from lawsuits from people who don’t like how that goes down.”

Sadly, what we find in so many churches today, even ”evangelical” churches, is a cafeteria style approach to the Bible — take what you like and pass on the rest.  We are very good at “designing” our own preferred concept of Christianity.  The following is an excerpt from a timely article by Steve Cornell at Christian Worldview Network:

“I can’t accept a God who sends people to hell.” “I can’t believe in a God who requires the death of his son for me to be forgiven.”  “I can’t accept a God who. . .”  These are common protests against Christianity.  Strangely, however, many who make them continue to attend Christian churches.  Admittedly, these Churches tend to embrace mutated forms of Christianity which cater to the sensitivities of those who prefer to play God than to worship the true God.  They accommodate those who prefer to stand in judgment over the bible and to ignore or change scriptures they find intolerable.

Usually, these people want pastors who only teach about God’s love and mercy. They want a God who fits their comfort-zone and adjusts to their crowded schedules. They don’t want a God who places demands on them or makes them feel guilty. And they don’t want a God who judges people (unless it’s the really bad people they read about in the newspapers).

Read the whole article HERE.

The Invictus by W. E. Henley, is most recognizable from its last lines: “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”  Henley was a militant humanist who hated the Christian faith.  The word invictus means unconquered in Latin, and the author’s intention in the poem was to shake his fist in defiance at the very thought of a sovereign God ruling over him.

The Invictus by W. E. Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstances,
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeonings of chance,
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears,
Looms but the horror of the shade.
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

Around 1900 a young lady that had been greatly enamored with Henley and his humanism got soundly converted to Christ. She wrote a response to Henley’s blasphemy, and set forth the correct attitude of a child of God toward the sovereignty of God. Here is her poem:

 Conquered by Dorothea Day

Out of the light that dazzles me,
Bright as the sun from pole to pole,
I thank the God I know to be,
For Christ - the Conqueror of my soul.

Since His the sway of circumstance,
I would not wince nor cry aloud.
Under the rule which men call chance,
My head, with joy, is humbly bowed.

Beyond this place of sin and tears,
That Life with Him and His the Aid,
That, spite the menace of the years,
Keeps, and will keep me unafraid.

I have no fear though straight the gate:
He cleared from punishment the scroll.
Christ is the Master of my fate!
Christ is the Captain of my soul!

Found in a message by John Reisinger

I decided to mess around with other Blog schemes available at WordPress.  This is a little cleaner. even though I lose one of the sidebars, I may try it for a while.

This new offering is edited by Leland Ryken and Philip Graham Ryken — available in September. The following is extracted from promotional material HERE: 

The ESV Literary Study Bible approaches the Bible as literature and shows how the application of literary tools of analysis helps tremendously in reading and understanding the Bible. Readers are introduced to the literary features of each book of the Bible and to each section within each book.

“Any piece of writing needs to be assimilated and interpreted in terms of the kind of writing that it is,” write the coeditors. “The Bible is a literary book in which theology and history are usually embodied in literary forms. Those forms include genres, the expression of human experience in concrete form, stylistic and rhetorical techniques, and artistry. . . . [The use of these forms] has been inspired by God and [they] need to be granted an importance in keeping with that inspiration.”

The Literary Study Bible is two Bibles in one. It is a reader’s Bible by virtue of its format, designed to facilitate reading through the Bible. An important feature of that format is the division of the biblical text into units of a length that invites devotional reading day by day, each unit preceded by helpful tips for reading the passage that follows. The Literary Study Bible is also a study Bible. The commentary that appears before each passage contains tips, not only for reading, but also for analysis. Furthermore, the format and commentary make this Bible ideal for use in group Bible studies. Study leaders can use the commentary to help organize their thoughts about a passage and formulate a series of discussion questions.

Download a 16-page brochure (1.3MB PDF) with sample pages from The Literary Study Bible.

Alvin Plantinga, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, is not only the most influential Christian philosopher alive today, but also one of the most respected philosophers of religion from any persuasion. He recently reviewed Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion for Christianity Today. (as noted by Justin Taylor)

As Platinga reports, “The God Delusion is an extended diatribe against religion in general and belief in God in particular.”

He goes on to say: “Now despite the fact that this book is mainly philosophy, Dawkins is not a philosopher (he’s a biologist).  Even taking this into account, however, much of the philosophy he purveys is at best jejune.  You might say that some of his forays into philosophy are at best sophomoric, but that would be unfair to sophomores; the fact is (grade inflation aside), many of his arguments would receive a failing grade in a sophomore philosophy class. This, combined with the arrogant, smarter-than-thou tone of the book, can be annoying.  I shall put irritation aside, however and do my best to take Dawkins’ main argument seriously.”

Plantinga’s entire review is worth a read, and may be found HERE.  BTW, I had to look up jejune. It means lacking significance or showing a lack of maturity.

World Net Daily carried an article with the above title in yesterday’s edition:

The Oscar-winning director of Titanic has apparently produced a documentary suggesting Jesus wasn’t resurrected, was married to Mary Magdalene, and had a son.

The film produced by James Cameron, entitled “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” claims that the discovery of 10 stone coffins in a Jerusalem suburb in 1980 is actually the family crypt of Jesus of Nazareth.  [Note: what they found were actually ossuaries, not coffins.]

The 90-minute film will be shown on the Discovery Channel, airing March 4 at 9:00 pm ET.  The film makes the case that Jesus had a son named Judah with Mary Magdalene.   The corresponding book is entitled The Jesus Family Tomb, co-authored by the film director Simcha Jacobovici, with the forward by Cameron.  Harper Collins is promoting it’s release as I write.

Read the World Net article HERE.  It was discussed last Friday at the TIME magazine blog HERE.

Is this for real??  James White responds in two posts, HERE and HERE, with some additional background.

——————

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.  (1 Corinthians 15:13-14, NASB).

Some scholars see infallibility as a less restrictive term than “inerrancy” in discussing the reliability of the Bible.  For example Stephen Davis has suggested “The Bible is inerrant if and only if it makes no false or misleading statements on any topic whatsoever. The Bible is infallible if and only if it makes no false or misleading statements on any matter of faith and practice.”{1}  Thus Davis argues that infallibility does not necessitate a doctrine of inerrancy. In this sense, infallibility is seen as a nuanced and less-restrictive view of the Bible’s reliability.  This view that the Bible can be infallible without having to be free of error is also found in Philip Comfort’s The Origin of the Bible.{2}

However, others see it the other way around, i.e. infallibility is the stronger term and specifically implies inerrancy. For example, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy in article XI says, “We deny that it is possible for the Bible to be at the same time infallible and errant in its assertions. Infallibility and inerrancy may be distinguished, but not separated.”{3}  This then is contrary to Davis’ view above.
 
Further, in article XII, the Chicago Statement says, “We deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science.”

Adding to the potential confusion is the layman’s tendency to use the terms interchangeably.  So, I suspect you will find the terms used synonymously in many cases; but those who cannot subscribe to inerrancy may use the term infallible in a less restrictive sense, as Davis above.

1. Stephen T Davis, The Debate about the Bible: Inerrancy versus Infallibility (Westminster Press, 1977) p. 23.
2. Philip Comfort (ed.), The Origin of the Bible (Tyndale House, 1992) p. 39.
3. The text of the Chicago Statement may be found here.

I picked up this info from Darrin Brooker’s blog, Running Well, and thought it worth passing on: 

The Works of Jonathan Edwards are now available online here; fully searchable.  If you register, you are given your own “workspace” which allows you to save works of interest in folders as you work through Edwards. It also gives you an edited view as well as a manuscript view; a digital view how it was written by Edwards in the original. What a great resource!

Happy New Year!  And what better way to start it off than a quote or two from Mr. Spurgeon: 

It is no novelty, then, that I am preaching; no new doctrine.  I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines that are called by nickname Calvinism, but which are truly and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus.  By this truth I make my pilgrimage into the past, and as I go, I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr, standing up to shake hands with me . . .  Taking these things to be the standard of my faith, I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren; I behold multitudes who confess the same as I do, and acknowledge that this is the religion of God’s own church. (Spurgeon’s Sovereign Grace Sermons, Still Waters Revival Books, p. 170)

I do not ask whether you believe Calvinism. It is possible that you do not.  But I believe you will before you enter heaven.  I am persuaded that as God may have washed your hearts, He will wash your brains before you enter heaven. (Sermons, Vol. 1, p. 92)

P.S. Additional time commitments beginning this new year will reduce the time I have for blogging.  But I hope to keep it up, albeit with fewer postings per week. 

I am trying out a new look for my blog — with sidebars on the left and right.  So, pardon the re-construction. 

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
   his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
   ”therefore I will hope in him.”  (Lam. 3:22-24)

God is good and faithful, in spite of all my failings.

I’ll be back in a few days.