Churchy Thoughts on a Sick Day

Here I am sitting at home with a terrible cold. My head hurts, my sinuses are clogged, my nose is running and I'm coughing and sneezing. I'm about to the point where I start praying for the Lord to either cure me or kill me! Well, not really. But if you've ever had a bad cold, you know the feeling, I'm sure. Having this cold gives me time to think about things, though, and I guess that's a good side effect of the malady. That, and I get to eat chicken noodle soup.

Today I've been thinking about "churchy" things, which is normal for me, but given extra time I tend to think more deeply. I am a Southern Baptist. I've only been a Southern Baptist for a little over a year. Before joining a local SBC congregation I spent many years as an independent Baptist pastor and over the years ventured into (and out of) the charismatic movement, the emergent movement, the Christian Reconstructionist movement, the political justice movement, etc. I blame all these excursions on a lack of faith in the sufficiency of Christ and His work and the sufficiency of the Word of God. I started out well enough. The Gospel was sufficient, it was the power of God for salvation to everyone who believed. I remember preaching the Gospel as a young minister and being overwhelmed by the heart response of individuals whom God regenerated and justified through the "foolishness of preaching."

Now, as a Southern Baptist layman (although I still maintain my independent Baptist ministerial credentials), I have become aware that all these additions to the faith - charismata, emergent philosophy, legalism, politics, etc. - are just as present in the SBC as they are in any other institutional denomination. Pheh! Add to this mix the fact that 14% of all Southern Baptist ministers are Freemasons (18% of deacons) and I'm facing the reality that perhaps I haven't yet found a spiritual home.

So, what to do? The local church where I am a member is so large that I could drop dead right now and no one would ever know any difference. I've never had a pastoral visit, never had a call. That's how megachurches work. The pastor is very political, even campaigning and fundraising for candidates. I've thought about checking out other local SBC congregations in hopes that I might find a place to fit in. But it is a painstaking endeavor to ascertain whether the pastor is a member of an occultic group, to find out whether apolitical folks like me will be welcomed, to wait and see if someone's going to come along with an extra-biblical revelation, or if religious pluralism is embraced.

I really just want that old-school evangelicalism. Preach the Gospel, fellowship with each other as believers, trust in the sufficiency of Christ and His Word, evangelize the lost, help the less fortunate, sing the hymns. "Coolness" is not the objective. "Relevance" isn't, either. Trusting in God to draw men to Christ as the Word is taught and preached without cultural additions, that's what I'm looking for. I've even given some thought to pioneering a new independent congregation which would glory in "the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Cor 11:3). Who knows? What I do know is that the older I get the more I want the authentic faith, the real deal, without the bells and whistles of postmodern American Cultural Religion. I'm ready to be settled into that simple yet radical organism - the unpretentious, uncool, non-political, non-pluralistic, non-extrarevelatory, non-entertainment-centered, Gospel preaching, soul-winning, joy-filled, Word-based, Christ-centered, family of God - the New Testament Church.

OK. Now for another dose of Alka Seltzer Plus and a glass of orange juice.

Don't Get Distracted!

"Only the gospel, through the power of the Spirit, can effect real change in society - since it transforms sinners from the inside out. After all, there are no Christian countries, only Christian individuals. Hence, our commission is to proclaim that gospel faithfully in whatever context God puts us. When we allow ourselves to get distracted by politics, we inevitably neglect our responsibility to preach the gospel."

~ John MacArthur, Right Thinking in a World Gone Wrong

Is Secret Christian Work "Illegal"?

I highly recommend the VOM pamphlet Is secret Christian work "illegal"?.

A Call for Integrity and Consistency

Over the past several days I have observed an interesting phenomenon. When it comes to the Baptist group arrested in Haiti there has been a loud cry from two strange bedfellows. Both anti-Christian zealots and some high-profile leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention and SBC churches have been beating the drum of imprisonment for the missionaries. One wonders at this bizarre alliance.

Now, many of us are waiting to see if these SBC leaders will exhibit any consistency in their actions (we already know that the anti-Christian zealots will). I for one call upon them to be consistent in their actions and opinions. Whenever a missionary is arrested for smuggling Bibles into an atheist nation, I expect these leaders to call for the penalty of law to be extracted immediately, even before the evidence is heard, just as they did with the Baptists in Haiti. Whenever relief workers are taken prisoner in Islamic countries, I expect these SBC voices to call for their execution at once. Why wouldn't they? Shouldn't these missionaries and relief workers know better? Isn't the law to be obeyed regardless of the level of corruption of the powers that be? Consistency, anyone?

Many are waiting to see if the SBC leaders will act with integrity and consistency in these matters. If they do not, it will lead to some very serious questions. Why did these leaders call for the Haitian missions team to be thrust into prison even before the charges were leveled or the evidence was heard? Why did they single out this particular group for persecution? If the law in power in a land is always to be obeyed, will these leaders consistently blog their convictions and publicly call for the imprisonment or execution of all "illegal" missionaries and aid workers without distinction? And if the law in power is not always to be obeyed, who gets to choose which corrupt officials are right and which are not? Which Baptist missionaries are to be supported and which are to be sacrificed to the god of public relations?

As Christians we also have a very important question to ask ourselves. In the face of inconsistency, obvious but unexplainable bias, and covert syncretism with the world system, do we continue to support these leaders who have publicly called for persecution of their own brothers and sisters in Christ before the evidence was even heard? Should we not call upon them to repent for their collusion with the world and their desire to appease public opinion over their desire to first know the truth before calling for persecution of Christian brethren?

I personally have a great desire to stand with leaders of integrity who refuse to kneel at the altar of public opinion but will stand with their brothers and sisters in Christ even when doing so is unpopular. Those who publicly condemn their brothers and sisters in Christ for the sake of public opinion would do the same thing to me or you or anyone else. Some people are just expendable, it seems. We either need to find out which people are the cute kittens of public opinion and hang out with them or we need to find out which leaders will stand tall and firm in the face of public and denominational pressure and who will demand to know the truth before they make public pronouncements against their own brethren. These are the men and women I admire and want to stand with.

One Thing

I have asked one thing from the LORD;
it is what I desire:
to dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
gazing on the beauty of the LORD
and seeking [Him] in His temple.

Psalm 27:4 HCSB

The Selling Out of the Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission

The members of the Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission group were naïve. No doubt about it. They went into a corrupt nation after a disaster of biblical proportions with the intention of rescuing children who were either orphans or had been abandoned by their families and left to die. They went in with information provided to them by sources which they trusted and acted in good faith that the information they were given was correct. They also went in thinking that they were supported by their brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the great naïveté of our time. In times past, the Church and her leaders would have insisted that all the facts come out first before they condemned their own and called out for their own members to be thrown into prison. That simply isn't true anymore. Southern Baptist leaders have lined up to beat the drum of imprisonment along with the Voodoo priests in Haiti, corrupt politicians, and the antichristian media in the USA and abroad. Without knowing all the facts, good Christian folks have demanded that these missionaries be thrown into prison by evil forces in a pagan country. This is where the real naïveté is exposed. No Christian missionary or group should ever again assume that they have the support of their brothers and sisters in Christ. In these days of syncretism and strong delusion, the institutional church and her leaders have proven over and over that they are far more willing to believe the media, support the leaders of false religions, and kowtow to the rag-tag political strong men of foreign governments instead of acting with integrity toward their own people. They have shown that they are more than willing to throw any brother or sister under the bus in order to maintain the syncretism of the church and the world system.

The cry of the institutional clergy is, "Well, they should have known better!" Indeed. But for many who are following a divine call to help relieve suffering in the midst of disaster or to proclaim the Gospel of Christ, the assumption is that their Church has their back and will support them as authentic information becomes available. Well, now they do know better. Many of the SBC's leaders and pastors have shown the world that they are more than willing to believe what the Voodoo priests and corrupt politicians in Haiti tell them to believe. They are more than willing to persecute their own members and allow orphans to starve (or worse) in order to bow the knee to the world system. Now we all know better. The naïveté is melting away as missionaries sit in a Haitian jail, sold out by their own people.

If there was any legitimacy to this situation, the "authorities" would have stopped the rescue group at the Dominican border and had them wait while they straightened the situation out, in full public view, while the information was sorted through and verified. If it was then determined that these children were merely turned out by uncaring parents, then the Haitian government could return them and the misunderstanding would be cleared up. If the Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission members are guilty of intentionally and knowingly kidnapping children from parents who love them, then these people need to pay for their crime. Such a serious accusation should come with some evidence before people start shouting for their imprisonment, though. It would be nice to know the truth, no? Instead, the rescuers were quickly thrown into jail - finding the truth apparently is unnecessary. Since the earthquake we have seen many, many instances of Haitian children - particularly orphans - being moved around and helped by people from the US and abroad. No problem until now. Now, suddenly, the evil one has found a way to hurt the children of God (and the orphans of Haiti) in the midst of their attempts to do the work of God. And the adversary has found many voices in Christian leadership who are rushing to mimic his chant: No need to know the truth! Just put them in prison!

Knowing what we know now about the attitudes and inclinations of many Christian leaders, perhaps it is finally time for a major reformation within the SBC (and other denominations) which leads to believers honoring God more than man, and an elevation of integrity and Scriptural-correctness over fear of the media.

These External Peculiarities

"It is our duty, while rendering punctilious obedience to all the commands of God, to regard the forms and ceremonies of religion as of far less importance than its moral truths and precepts... Because we differ from other professors of religion in our faith and practice respecting the externals of religion, we are under a constant temptation to make too much account of these external peculiarities. Against this temptation we should ever struggle. If we magnify ceremony unduly, we abandon our principles, and cease to fulfill the mission to which the Head of the church has assigned us."

John L. Dagg

Here Dagg was expressing the Baptist view of ministers of God such as George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Davies and Edward Payson. Dagg regarded these men as Godly ministers even while he thought they were in error concerning baptism. Now it seems Baptists even in the same denomination cannot but rain down anathemas upon each other over the smallest of differences. Pity.

The Charismatic Call?

"To me it is often over the sense of call that many a practical or theological cessationist becomes most unstuck and will sound inconsistent in their theology. I’m not sure that it is possible for anyone to be successful in the long haul in ministry without a clear conviction that God has chosen them specifically to lead in his house."

Adrian Warnock

My question would be: Is the calling to ministry in the same class as a Spiritual gift? My own calling preceded any exposure to the charismata by many years. I whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Warnock when he says, "I’m not sure that it is possible for anyone to be successful in the long haul in ministry without a clear conviction that God has chosen them specifically to lead in his house." But I would disagree with the assumption that acknowledging a calling must somehow be inconsistent with a belief in the cessation of the apostolic signs gifts. What do you think?

Three Impossiblities in John Six

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."

He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." (John 6:37-40, 44, 65 NIV).

There are three impossibilities which the Lord speaks of in these verses.

The first impossibility is that it is absolutely impossible for any person to come to Jesus unless he has been drawn and enabled to do so by the Father. Since the fall of the human race in Adam, all men are born dead spiritually. Paul says it like this: "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins." (Eph 2:1). As a person who worked in a funeral home for six years, I can tell you that dead men make no choices. They do not decide which tie to wear to their funeral. Lazarus made no decision to come to life. Jesus called him to life first, then he began to move and breathe and choose. Until a man is called and regenerated, he will delight in death and joy in rebellion against his Creator. But when the Father draws us, we awake out of death and breathe deep the breath of God.

The second impossibility is that is it impossible for someone who is drawn by the Father not to come to Christ. "All that the Father gives me will come to me." It is impossible for the Father's gift to the Son to not be given to Him. Or, to put it positively, every elect person will come to Christ; every gift of the Father will be given to Christ and will be joyfully received by Him. In saying this, we are not talking about the Arminian idea of prevenient grace wherein all people are given an opportunity to decide to be saved or not. No, we are talking about a real and efficacious calling and gift. The Father's gift to the Son is not a package that may be empty depending on the decision of the gift. No, "All that the Father gives me will come to me." As Dr. Sam Storms has stated so succinctly, "There is no escaping the clear and unequivocal language of our Lord Jesus Christ: no one can come unless drawn by the Father; but if one is drawn by the Father, he will come." (Chosen For Life, p. 93). These first two impossibilities strike at the heart of the pride of man. They take away our supposed abilities and goodness and cast us fully on the grace of God alone.

The third impossibility that Jesus adds to the first two is that for those who have been efficaciously called and have come to Christ, it is impossible for them to ever be lost. "I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day." The life that Jesus Christ gives us is eternal life. Life that can be lost is not eternal, but temporary. Listen to how Paul speaks of this. "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." (Eph 2:4-7). And also in Romans 8. "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. ... For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (vs. 29-30, 38). Jude addresses his letter to "those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ." (v. 2). We have been called, we have been loved, and we will be kept. It is impossible for it to be otherwise.

A People's History of Christianity by Diana Butler Bass

Diana Butler Bass does a fine job of writing a history of Christianity in the vein of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Instead of focusing on what Butler Bass calls "Big-C Christianity: Christ, Constantine, Christendom, Calvin, and Christian America," she unfolds the history of the faith through the stories of the little people and the grassroots movements. This provides for a fascinating and extremely refreshing understanding of our past and an illumination of the effects it has had upon our present and possibly our future.

This is the other side of Christian history, or as Paul Harvey might have said, the rest of the story. There are great lessons and cautionary tales herein concerning what it means to radically follow Jesus Christ, especially in the face of opposition from the powers that be, both pagan and hierarchical. Butler Bass provides a cool drink of water for many of us who have found that power, prosperity and aggression are not necessarily signs of God's grace and favor, in other words, those who oppose the current captivity of the church by American Cultural Religion and the exportation of that demonic malformation to the rest of our planet.

A People's History is a salve for the hurting. Well written, innovative, redemptive, open and honest; the story of God's people rather than the hierarchy's Towers of Babel. I particularly appreciate how Butler Bass tells our story from the perspective of Jesus, ethics and devotion rather than from the perspective of power, dogma and conquest.

"More than anything else," says Butler Bass, "Christianity is a love song." That is so evident in her lyrical look at the story. Our story. The story of the "Generative Christians" who live a faith that births new possibilities of God's love into the world; transformative rather than hierarchical, formative instead of triumphant, gracious rather than merely victorious. This is a book that has found a permanent place on my bookshelf from whence it shall be often retrieved. I highly recommend it to everyone, and particularly to those who follow Christ. The story is still being unfolded!

No Greater Indictment

"The Christian church is far more than the mother of the faithful. She is called to be mother of cities. And where shall the root of these new cities be planted? Wherever the Word and sacrament are. If God grants a genuine reformation, it will be one like that which was granted in the sixteenth century, and the most obvious common feature it will share with that earlier reformation will be that it challenges the rulers of this age. No greater indictment of the contemporary church than this can be found: the secular state is operating on all cylinders, and yet for the most part, the Christian pulpit remains a safe place to be."

~ Douglas Wilson
Heaven Misplaced: Christ's Kingdom on Earth, p. 118-119

Calvin on God's Superabundant Liberality

"Nature would certainly be satisfied with water to drink; and therefore the addition of wine is owing to God’s superabundant liberality... It is permissible to use wine not only for necessity, but also to make us merry."

~ John Calvin, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 104:15


"We are nowhere forbidden to laugh, or to be satisfied with food, or to annex new possessions to those already enjoyed by ourselves or our ancestors, or to be delighted with music, or to drink wine"

~ John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, III, XIX, 9

On Sausage

"Sausage is God's proof that the new covenant whips the old covenant like a wicked horse."

~ R.C. Sproul, Jr.

Justification by N.T. Wright

Bishop N. T. Wright has written a response to Dr. John Piper's book The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright. The first thing which surprised me about Wright's book is how readable it is. I was drawn in and had traversed over 100 pages before I realized that I was almost halfway through the book. It is always a plus when the reading of a book on such an important aspect of theology as justification turns out to be less of a punishment and more of a reward.

While many of Piper's original problems with Wright and the NPP are reaffirmed herein by Wright, nevertheless the bishop also points out many of Piper's inconsistencies. This is not surprising considering Piper's non-engagement with the eschatological or covenantal aspects of the doctrine of justification in his book.

Wright tends to pit Luther against Calvin throughout the book, especially in relation to the Law, and comes down himself on the side of Calvin (although I'm not sure that Calvin would recognize many of the twists and turns that have found their way into the new perspective.)

As I stated above, many of the problems that old perspectivists have with the NPP have been restated and reaffired in Justification with more explanation from Wright. This, of course, doesn't give any relief to the traditionalists. Wright insists on a paradigm wherein we are saved by grace through faith, but judged by the law (p. 75). In other words, getting in is easy, staying in is hard. On page 77 Wright compares "present grace-given membership" with the requirements of "future salvation." Of course, this grates against the idea of a present and eternal salvation by grace alone by means of a forensic and imputed righteousness, which is the main pillar of the old perspective.

Wright is right, in my opinion, that justification is much more than simple imputation. He says, "Eschatology: the new world has been inaugurated! Covenant: God's promises to Abraham had been fulfilled! Lawcourt: Jesus had been vindicated - and so all those who belonged to Jesus were vindicated as well! And these, for Paul, were not three, but one. Welcome to Paul's doctrine of justification, rooted in the single scriptural narrative as he read it, reaching out to the waiting world." While I personally may have some trouble with some of Wright's ideas (i.e., final justification "on the basis of the entire life a person has led"), I can hardly disagree with his three-pronged comprehensive view of justification as including eschatology, covenant, and lawcourt. I think that those who come to this discussion from a Covenant Theology background will find that they can hear much more of what Wright is saying (without necessarily agreeing with it all), while those who embrace Dispensationalism or New Covenant Theology (which is, I think, where Piper is coming from) will find Wright almost incomprehensible. Also, those readers who favor a narrative understanding of Scripture will see much truth is what Wright is trying to get across.

Justification should never be "less than" forensic and imputed, but it can and should be much more. It should encompass covenant, lawcourt and eschatology, too.

Bart Ehrman's Jesus, Interrupted

Bart Ehrman's new book, Jesus, Interrupted, is interesting, but not compelling. Much of what he has written has been hashed and re-hashed in recent years. For those who come to this book presupposing the Bible to be an error-filled product of some ofttimes disingenuous writers this will simply be more grist for the mill. For those whose presuppositions require an inspired Word, Ehrman is easily dismissed.

As I read through Jesus, Interrupted I was continually reminded of Marcus Borg. But there is a world of difference between Ehrman and Borg. Ehrman comes across as dry and secular, whereas Borg, in spite of his divergent views on the inspiration of the Scriptures, gives the reader an alternative spirituality which still includes (or at least allows) God, and even Jesus Christ, as legitimate objects of our faith. I have always enjoyed reading Marcus Borg, even when I disagreed with him. I simply can't say the same for Bart Ehrman.

Sam Storms: Three Grounds of Assurance

The first and preeminent ground for assurance of salvation is the inescapable logic of John 3:16. Christ died for sinners. All who believe in Christ's death have eternal life. I have believed in Christ. Therefore, I have eternal life. We can have assurance we are saved because we know God's word is true concerning the saving work of Christ and the eternal destiny of those who embrace it by faith.

Second, according to Romans 8:16 (and other texts), the Holy Spirit awakens our hearts with the inner, subjective, intuitive confirmation and confidence that indeed we are God's children.

Third, the reality of the root is born out by the fruit. Loyalty, love, and obedience bear witness to the reality of one's profession. Where there is no fruit, there may be no root. See John 8:31; Heb. 3:14; 1 John 2:3-4,19.

Dr. Sam Storms

Assurance: Westminster vs. John Calvin

"This infallible assurance does not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be partaker of it: yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto. And therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance; so far is it from inclining men to looseness." (Westminster Confession of Faith, XVIII, 3).

"We shall now have a full definition of faith, if we say that it is a firm and sure knowledge of the divine favor toward us, founded on the truth of a free promise in Christ, and revealed to our minds, and sealed on our hearts, by the Holy Spirit." (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.2.7)

"The whole, then, comes to this: As soon as the minutest particle of faith is instilled into our minds, we begin to behold the face of God placid, serene, and propitious; far off, indeed, but still so distinctly as to assure us that there is no delusion in it. In proportion to the progress we afterwards make, (and the progress ought to be uninterrupted,) we obtain a nearer and surer view, the very continuance making it more familiar to us. Thus we see that a mind illumined with the knowledge of God is at first involved in much ignorance, - ignorance, however, which is gradually removed. Still this partial ignorance or obscure discernment does not prevent that clear knowledge of the divine favor which holds the first and principal part in faith. For as one shut up in a prison, where from a narrow opening he receives the rays of the sun indirectly and in a manner divided, though deprived of a full view of the sun, has no doubt of the source from which the light comes, and is benefited by it; so believers, while bound with the fetters of an earthly body, though surrounded on all sides with much obscurity, are so far illumined by any slender light which beams upon them and displays the divine mercy as to feel secure." (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.2.19)

"Hence, those whom God has adopted as sons, he is said to have elected, not in themselves, but in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:4); because he could love them only in him, and only as being previously made partakers with him, honor them with the inheritance of his kingdom. But if we are elected in him, we cannot find the certainty of our election in ourselves; and not even in God the Father, if we look at him apart from the Son. Christ, then, is the mirror in which we ought, and in which, without deception, we may contemplate our election. For since it is into his body that the Father has decreed to ingraft those whom from eternity he wished to be his, that he may regard as sons all whom he acknowledges to be his members, if we are in communion with Christ, we have proof sufficiently clear and strong that we are written in the Book of Life. Moreover, he admitted us to sure communion with himself, when, by the preaching of the gospel, he declared that he was given us by the Father, to be ours with all his blessings (Rom. 8:32). We are said to be clothed with him, to be one with him, that we may live, because he himself lives. The doctrine is often repeated, 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,' (John 3:16). He who believes in him is said to have passed from death unto life (John 5:24). He, I say, was our witness, that all by whom he is received in faith will be regarded by our heavenly Father as sons. ... He would have us to rest satisfied with his promises, and not to inquire elsewhere..." (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.24.5)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life." (Jesus, John 6:47 ESV).

Christ is Knocking at the Door

"The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from a Christian community may actually mean the exclusion of Christ; in the poor brother Christ is knocking at the door."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Life Together, p. 38

That Little Point

"If I profess, with the loudest voice and clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battle fields besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."

Martin Luther

Spectacular Sins: A Review

Spectacular Sins by John Piper

This book helped me to understand once and for all that I am not a supralapsarian, but rather an infralapsarian. According to Piper's understanding of the Ordo Salutis (the order of the divine decrees), God required sin in order to bring about the plan of salvation. Original sin is simply the outworking of the divine decree - as are our continuing spectacular sins. I found this idea very uncomfortable biblically and theologically. It comes perilously close to making God the author of sin (He is at the very least the requirer of sin in Piper's supralapsarian scheme). If you are a decided supralapsarian, then this book will be right up your alley. However, if you are an infralapsarian (or a sublapsarian), you will find Piper's conclusions a bit gut-wrenching.

Overall, I found the book an easy and fascinating read. This would be great fodder for small group or Sunday School discussion.