fundamentalism by blunt instrument
As an observer of the wild world of Christendom such as it is in North America, it is all too easy to be outraged. Many things done and said in the name of Christ are outright travesties. It is easy to be outraged about them.
As a blogger, outrage is a constant temptation.
Sunday was a wintry day. Attendance down a bit. For us, winter means temps around freezing, but usually very little snow if any. Also, for us, winter only lasts for about two weeks. Spring should be here in mid February.
Two prayer emphases in this message: 1. What it means to constantly pray for others. 2. What I must do to bring about the answers to my own prayers.
I wrote about women and the workplace yesterday. The subject of male/female relations and the Bible have long been an interest to me. It is a critical battleground today. Tim Bayly offers a post that deals mostly with the meaning of Eph 5.21ff, although it is ostensibly about politics. How many times have you heard or used the term ‘mutual submission’? Do you realize how unbiblical the notion is? Here’s a key comment, but read the whole thing. And don’t miss the comment of my online friend, Bill Mouser (10:43 time mark).
Those who hate authority, and specifically the authority of father-rule ordered by our Creator, make much of the “submit to one another” command, trying to use it to trump or confuse or hide or obfuscate the “wives submit to your husbands” command immediately following it.
Read the whole thing… [a little blogging lingo there!]
Regards
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
A lot of ‘young fundamentalists’ repeat the mantra that fundamentalism is a ‘subset’ of evangelicalism. This same notion is perpetrated in a PBS interview I read today.
In the article, John Green, a senior fellow at the PEW Forum on Religion and professor of political science at the University of Akron, is interviewed about ‘young evangelicals’ and politics. Green repeats the revisionist notion that fundamentalists really are evangelicals.
Another science site I follow is The Scientist, “Magazine of the Life Sciences”. The site bills itself as a magazine for life science professionals. Many of the articles are waaaay over my head. However, I occasionally find useful information or sermon illustrations here. And it only takes a few minutes a week to scan the headlines for news of interest from the RSS feed.
A couple of articles recently highlighted a phenomenon many have observed in various ways over the years. It is the ratio of women to men involved in the science field. In an article entitled, “Fixing the Leaky Pipeline“, Phoebe Leboy asks the question, “Why aren’t there many women in the top spots in academia?” Another article, a blog by Ivan Oransky, asks, “Do women blog about science?“
One of my life-long interests is space exploration. I wrote papers on it in junior and senior high school. I avidly followed the news of space exploration as a teenager. I remember lying in bed at kids camp, listening to the radio broadcast of “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” The day was July 20, 1969 and I was 12 years old. The sounds of that crackly radio and the silence in my cabin at camp come back to me whenever I think about it.
One of the best ways I’ve found to feed my interest in space exploration is to subscribe to the NASA website with BlogLines. You can tap into it here. I don’t read every article in its entirety, but I scan all the headlines and read a good many of them. (There are often excellent sermon illustrations to be found as well.)
This week, something new came back to us from space.
It is a blessing to be back home again. Our people exhibited the grace of God in their thoughtful cards and letters to us concerning our recent sorrows. It is wonderful to be on the receiving end of this ministry because it is evidence that our own ministry among these dear folks has not been in vain. God is working in their midst, and I feel privileged to be God’s agent in bringing about some of that work – especially in those who have been converted and discipled almost exclusively through our ministry. I tell you, there is no greater thrill than this! 3 Jn 4.
Now for the sermon summaries…
I do not publish all comments made to this blog. There is a weird blogging philosophy out there that seems to think that such practices are out of keeping with the spirit of blogging. That philosophy is nuts. This is my blog, I intend for it to present my point of view on various topics. I will not publish comments that don’t reasonably address the topic I am discussing or are off topic.
Further, I won’t publish even on-topic comments that use profanity of any kind. There is such a thing as ‘Christian profanity’. It uses weasel words in place of the world’s more salty ones and calls it slang. It is just profanity and needs to be repented of. Calling it slang is lying to yourself and before God. It is unbecoming of a Christian testimony.
Clear enough?
Regards
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
“I have discovered this — and I have almost made a pledge and a vow on this subject — if ever I remotely mention anything medical, I notice a new interest at once! You see what I mean. That is human. That is the man. That is personal. And service in the spirit must never be like that. So let the congregation take this to heart. Congregations often spoil preachers; they encourage them to do certain wrong things. If the preacher starts speaking to their flesh they will respond, and they will show an interest which they were not showing in his doctrine, and the temptation to him is to give them more of the flesh, and to talk more and more about himself, and to display himself, and they will like it. They will smile, and they will enjoy it, and they will say, ‘It’s wonderful, and we have had a great time!’ And in the meantime Christ has been forgotten, and the spiritual message has not been emphasized, and has not been stressed. That is not serving God in the spirit. It is almost the exact opposite.”[1]
In my preparation for tomorrow’s message I came across this comment in Lloyd-Jones’ message on Rm 1.9, message # 16 in his first volume on Romans. The whole message is well worth your reading and meditation.
On this subject, the flesh is so prevalent in our lives that we are hardly aware of our own difficulties with it. May God grant discernment and more devotion to the Lord in our personal lives.
Regards
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
[1] D. M. Lloyd-Jones, Romans: The Gospel of God, pp. 211-212.
The latest audio from the GBCvic
Comments