Bethlehem Baptist on Baptism: an Update

The recommendation by the elders of Bethlehem concerning proposed changes to policy on Baptism and Church Membership, has been put on hold. The original recommendation proposed that changes to the constitution be voted on at the annual business meeting in December. The church announced recently that the elders are (for now, I presume) withdrawing that recommendation.

Info on the original proposal is still available at DesiringGod.org or at the church’s website. There was by no means unanimous support, although many were enthusiastic concerning this.

For now, Bethlehem has asked for prayer for the elders as they continue to consider this issue.


∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

In case you were wondering…

Maybe you have begun to notice my blog. And the thought occurs to you, “Why are most of this guy’s posts made in the wee hours of the morning? Is he completely obsessed or something? Or does he just not have a life?”

Let me clarify! I work the graveyard shift providing customer service for a medical device company. So in between calls, at 3 in the morning, I can catch up on the blogworld, and post to my blog.

So, if you have been waiting for me to reply to your comment, know that I might just be sleeping! I will hopefully respond in due time.

Thanks!


∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

An Every Word Book?

James Spurgeon posted an excellent treatment of Matt. 4:4 at his blog, The Texas Baptist Underground.

I encourage you to check it out (if you do you’ll notice a few tidbits of my own in a reply), and read all his articles this week on the topic of KJV-onlyism. I believe he is planning on posting more.

If you think that James is only out to convert fundamentalists out there, know that he has another great blog, devoted primarily to Biblical expositions with edification in mind.


∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

My Thoughts on Ezekiel 9:4-5

Ezekiel 9:4-5 (ESV)

And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.

Let me refresh you a little on the context. Ezekiel is having a vision of the extreme wickedness of Judah’s evil actions. Chapter 8 concludes with “Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold they put the branch to their nose. Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.” Chapter 9 is a vision of the fulfillment of God’s promise. He sends six angels and a man clothed in linen to the city (in the vision) and instructs the man to mark everyone who sighs and groans over the abominations, and the angels to kill everyone else.

What struck me about this passage is what it did not say. God does not say mark everyone who did not do the abominations, but rather everyone who sighed and moaned over them. This struck me as a clear teaching on the internal nature of holiness. Holiness is not mere external conformity. There may have been people who were forced by peer pressure, family pressure, or anything else to not partake of the actual abominations, but whose hearts yearned after the abominations! They lusted in wanting to join the pagan celebrations, but resisted out of duty or a greater desire to fit in to their group, but not out of the greater desire to please God. They had no broken heart over the evil that was being done. And therefore, they were not deemed holy.

Lord, grant me a heart that is broken-hearted over sin in myself and in others. A heart that yearns for you above any fleshly temptations to sin!

May God bless this reflection to you all.


∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

Why pray the "sinner's prayer"?

I wrote the following as a comment to a post by Jason Janz over at Sharper Iron. The post  provided excerpts from an hour and a half long  interview of Mark Dever (available from that post) that Jason conducted. I commented on the brief excerpt below. What follows that quote is my original comments (posted back before their site crashed and lost many of their old posts).

JJ: And if they did, then you would or wouldn’t lead them in a prayer per se?

MD: What do you mean if they “did it?”

JJ: If they said “I believe.”

MD: Well, wonderful. Let’s watch. We’ll see….

I listened to much of this interview a few weeks back. Mark Dever is very interesting to listen to! This interchange, though, stuck out the most to me. Dever’s “What do you mean if they ‘did it’?” is simply amazing. He seems to come from a tradition that is not inundated with the “1,2,3 pray after me” menatlity, like most of fundamentalism is.

I see a big question raised by Jason’s question, “And if they did, then you would or wouldn’t lead them in a prayer per se?”: what would the prayer do? If they said “I believe” or if they, presumably, responded favorably to an “invitation” (a modern notion, with its roots in Charles Finney, a rank arminian, openly heretical on the doctrine of the atonement), or were convicted by a sermon and were directed to trust in Jesus and then had faith, what would praying for salvation or praying to be saved do? If all who genuinely believe are saved, as John 3:16, Acts 16:31, and etc. teach, then why does anybody need to pray for salvation?

Is there any example of any evangelist or of Christ himself ever directing someone to ask for salvation or to pray anything like a “sinner’s prayer”? The “sinner’s prayer” so often cited was a story Jesus told, and certainly someone praying the kind of prayer the publican prayed manifested genuine faith. That is why I believe that sometimes people will naturally pray some kind of prayer, as an expression of faith. Much like someone might stand and say “I believe”. But what happened first, the prayer or the belief?

Rom. 10:14 would clearly say the belief. It is important to see that Rom. 10:14 comes right on the heels of vs. 13 and provides much to help us in interpreting vs. 13. It seems to force us to see “saved” as referring to ultimate salvation. For all who believingly pray on the Lord/worship the Lord (trace the phrase “call on the Lord” in the Old Testament or New Testament and see how it is used of worship often, and often describes those who are saints. 1 Cor. 1:2–the saints are those who continually are calling on the Lord.) will be ultimately saved at the resurrection/judgment. I think it is clear that “saved” in Romans 10 refers to glorification. And I believe this is substantiated by vs. 14 saying how can they call if they have not believed (first)? Vs. 10 gives the correct order in time concerning justification, while the order given in vs. 9 is paralleling the quote of Moses discussed in vs. 5-8. I believe vs. 11 is more correctly translated by the ESV’s “put to shame” rather than the KJV’s “ashamed” (the KJV has something similar for the translation of the same greek word in 1 Pet. 2:6). Vs. 11 really is not paralleling the english idea of shame in the sense of “everyone who believes will not be ashamed of the gospel, but will eventually confess Christ before men”. But rather is saying “everyone who believes in the cornerstone will not be destroyed by the coming flood of judgment, they will not be put to shame by the judgment coming”.

Think about it. When someone is praying the “sinner’s prayer” they may have already believed, but really are still unsure that mere simple faith in Christ will be enough to save them, so they add the prayer in hopes that this will really work. So then, are we really making our converts two-fold more the child of hell by giving them assurance based on a prayer (a work that they did)? If they have believed, they should be encouraged that belief alone is all that is needed since we have such a wonderful Savior. They may want to pray a prayer of thanks for God’s already having saved them, as they are already united to Jesus Christ by faith. They should further be encouraged to live for Jesus, and warned that their faith will be proven genuine by their fruits. Then they should be baptized and added to the fellowship of believers, their local church.


∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7