fundamentalism by blunt instrument
An Associated Baptist Press article discusses the question “Will ‘evangelical center’ emerge to rival waning Christian Right?” The article notices the waning political effectiveness of the so-called Christian Right. A few quotes:
“The younger generation is definitely turned off to the culture-war mentality and all the anger,” he said. “They believe it violates the Spirit of Christ.”
Do you study the Psalms? There is rich treasure here to lift your spirit in worship to God. We are studying the Psalms in our Wednesday evening service. We started this a couple of months ago. Each Sunday, I read the upcoming Psalm as our scripture reading in the AM service. I encourage our people to read ahead and think of the theme and the divisions (or outline) of the Psalm before they get there on Wednesday night.
On Wednesday’s, we begin with 15 minutes of favourites, then we launch into a guided discussion. I come away from these sessions extremely uplifted. Our people are showing good insight and I am deepening my understanding of ‘David’s hymn book’.
Tonight’s Psalm is Psalm 8.
The Bayly brothers, David and Tim, are long-time ‘on-line friends’ of mine. I have been corresponding with them for so many years I can’t remember how long its been. Though we have some theological differences (of course) and some philosophical differences, I find their courage and straight talk to be very refreshing in our mealy mouthed age.
Over the last few days, an interesting discussion has been going on in response to a post of Tim’s regarding the question: Is the PCA fundamentalist? I have had a couple of comments in the thread, but much more prominent names have also. The comments are drifting in a couple of different directions, as comments are wont to do, but I think the thread is worth reading for a number of reasons.
One of the comments comes from Rick Philips, a PCA pastor in Greenville who blogs over at a site called Reformation 21. Don’t miss his analysis of fundamentalism at about comment 35 or 36.
We had a good crowd Sunday, 47. A few regulars are becoming not so regular, so this week will mean a little looking out after wandering sheep. Sometimes this means compassion on the sick, but other times it means something more. Some wander so far, they never come back, no matter how well you work to be a good shepherd.
Here are the sermon summaries, in a brief form similar to what we will be putting up as podcasts in the near future. Note that we are now formatting the messages in the smaller 16kbps size.
The Obligation of Christian Ministry (Rm 1.14) || Audio
The obligation of Christian ministry is to all – Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise … the good, the bad, and the ugly. All Christians share this obligation.
Read the notes while you listen.
The Canon (2) || Audio
In which we discuss the evidence for the canon of the Old Testament.
Read the notes as you listen.
The Readiness for Christian Ministry (Rm 1.15) || Audio
What is necessary for readiness? A heart for others, a will submissive to the Lord’s direction, and a mind filled with the gospel.
Read the notes while you listen.
~~~
The Jews were exiled to Babylon between 605 and 586 BC. The first deportation should have served as a warning to the nation, but their continued rebellion to God resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and final exile of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar in 586.
Seventy years after the first deportation, in keeping with Jeremiah’s prophecy, the Jews began to return. This return and the subsequent rebuilding of the temple occupy Ezra 1-6. In rebuilding the temple, the Jews were enticed to cooperate with the Samaritans, descendants of the remnants of Israel and intermixed with other nations who worshipped the true God and many false gods as well. The leaders of the Jews in the first return strongly rejected this entanglement, though it cost them years in rebuilding the temple:
Ezra 4:3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”
After 20 years, the temple finally was rebuilt. Another fifty-seven years passed. Now Ezra led a second return to the land. Did he find a holy people, separate from the world?
While encouraged by the decisions of some Anglicans’ willingness to separate themselves from direct association with their compromised Canadian diocese, still their efforts likely don’t yet take them far enough. In an article in today’s Globe & Mail, more news about other congregations considering a split is offered. But there is this:
Conservative Anglicans want to separate without cutting their ties with the majority of the Anglican Church that share their traditional views, Bishop Donald Harvey, moderator of the recently formed Anglican Network in Canada, said yesterday in an interview from Newfoundland.
The largest Anglican congregation in Canada, St. John’s, in the exclusive Shaughnessy district of Vancouver, BC, voted last Wednesday to break ties with its diocese and to join with a ‘competing’ diocese, that of the Southern Cone, basically a South American parallel to the Canadian branch of the church. [I don’t pretend to understand how dioceses work or how they are organized.] This decision is full of risk for the congregation as it looks like the liberal Canadian diocese will mount a fight for the buildings and property of the congregation.
As a fundamentalist, I certainly applaud any resistance to the anti-orthodox establishment of mainline churches. The issue precipitating the split is the same-sex marriage debate, but it appears that more is at stake.
My friend, Kent Brandenburg, has two posts on culture you should read. A few days ago, I put out a call for a theology of culture. The topic is a daunting one, but I’d like to commend these two posts to you. Unbeknownst to me, Kent was planning to write on this as I was writing my own piece. I think that was providential, whatever else some might call it.
I hope you will take a look at these. The Bible has a lot to say about culture and our relationship to it.
A science script consultant tells all in “My life as an advisor to TV and film“…
In general, I’ve found that producers of comedy have less interest in adhering to the facts than those involved in dramas.
but…
Even on the dramas, however, a cherished scientific truth will sometimes have to be discarded in order to enable an essential story development, such as a normally three-week-long forensic DNA analysis that’s fictionally done in one hour for the sake of plot pacing. In truth, few will ever notice these gaffs. As one TV producer told me, the number of Ph.D. scientists watching his show accounts for no more than 0.00001% of the Nielsen rating audience.
Here is an interesting post critiquing Christianity Today’s reporting of the recent ‘dis-invitation’ of an emerging church speaker at Cedarville.
The critique comes from a blog called “From the Lighthouse“. From the Lighthouse is the blog of Lighthouse Trails Publishing. The publishing company appears to be the work primarily of a couple named Dave and Deborah Dombroski. I don’t know a lot more about these individuals than appears on their web site, but their articles seem credible and dispassionate.
Does anyone know more about this organization?
The latest audio from the GBCvic
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