Author: fundyreformed

Vern Poythress on the Christocentricity of Scripture

~ fundyreformed ~ 6 Comments

Dr. Vern Poythress of Westminster Seminary is an ardent advocate of Redemptive Historical interpretation. He recently contributed History of Salvation notes for the forthcoming ESV Study Bible. Crossway just released his article, Overview of the Bible: Survey of the History of Salvation, included at the front of the ESV Study Bible. I’d encourage everyone to read that brief article (3 1/2 pdf pages). Succinctly yet powerfully, Poythress covers the whole gamut of how the Bible works together as a whole in recording the History of Salvation, and highlighting the glory of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

The ESV Study Bible blog, points out a recent interview of Vern Poythress at the Beginning with Moses blog. I’ve read the first two parts, but the third is due on Monday. The questions and answers there are also worth your time. I especially like how Poythress concludes the second interview post:

It is not fashionable nowadays, but I confess that I do believe that every passage, and even every word, of the OT reflects Christ.

I’d encourage you to check out what Poythress says in connection with this claim. The whole of Scripture really is Christo-centric. Poythress’ notes are one of the main reasons I’m so excited about the new ESV Study Bible, by the way. In treating the Bible academically, we run the risk of forgetting that it is a living Book. We need to think when we read it, yes. But we also need to listen to the Holy Spirit. We can easily miss the forest for the trees, and Vern’s Salvation History notes will remind us of the major themes of Scripture as we battle over the meaning of each individual passage therein.

One last note: Poythress has many articles and even book available online for free at the website he jointly shares with his friend John Frame. Check out www.frame-poythress.org for some great, freely available, Christ-centered resources.

Hillary Supporters, John McCain and Sarah Palin

~ fundyreformed ~ 2 Comments

I’m no great political mind, but I wanted to share a few thoughts, or rather observations.

Like most, it seems a little hard to believe that Hillary supporters are supporting John McCain in large numbers. Both Clinton and McCain do have quite a bit more experience than Obama, and they are much more widely known. Still it seems like the media have created this story out of thin air.

Or have they? In my own neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota (known for being quite independent minded), I have driven past a car  which proudly displays Hillary and McCain bumper stickers side by side. I’d put up a picture, but then people could suspect I staged it (and I don’t feel energized enough to go hunt down that car again, with camera in hand). Perhaps it is a married couple dividing up their political support, but I doubt it. It may be evidence of the existence of at least one Hillary supporting McCain backer.

On another topic, somewhat related, I have to laud John McCain for the political move of the year in picking Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be his running mate. No other pick could have so thoroughly stolen the limelight from Obama as did this one. Then again, it wasn’t an 11th hour, last minute choice, either. She survived a long vetting process and was one of McCain’s top picks all along.

I don’t know whether she will be enough to keep some Hillary supporters interested enough in McCain’s campaign to overlook many of the issues where he is radically opposed to Hillary’s stance. But I know firsthand that her selection has energized some of the more conservative among the McCain’s party. I spoke with someone at my church yesterday who claimed he was 95% sure he was not going to vote for McCain until the Palin pick. Now he’s pretty sure he will. A close family member (a conservative female), who is not a political nut or anything, called my wife with all kinds of excitement over Sarah Palin.  

Conservatives love that she is a thorough going social conservative. She hunts, opposes abortion — proven clearly by her choice to raise a Down Syndrome baby — and is economically sound. But why I am most happy with her, is that she is not afraid to do what’s right when needed. She has taken on the Republican establishment in Alaska. She has a reformer’s spirit, and is not afraid to make her own choices. That is what endeared me to Mike Huckabee all along, and its why I’m not overly skeptical of McCain. I disagree with how some of his legislation panned out (the campaing finance reform bill which silences grassroots groups like the NRA but has loopholes for wealthy donors and other organizations, for instance), but I agree with the main motivation behind it. I think we need a proven leader who thinks for himself yet listens to others. One who is willing to work in a bipartisan way to serve America first. McCain has proven himself to be that kind of leader. Obama’s voting record and political stances betray the fact that he is not.

I'm Famous

~ fundyreformed ~ 8 Comments

I guess I’m famous. Anyone being interviewed is right?

Shaun Tabbat, who also attends Bethlehem Baptist, recently interviewed me. I’ve just recently met Shaun and discovered we have many similar interests. I think you’ll enjoy this little interview. If I can get away with it, I might borrow his concept and start interviewing some of my favorite bloggers (er, Biblio-Bloggers, that is).

Now it’s off to the Minnesota State Fair for the day….

Fundamentalists and Music

~ fundyreformed ~ 4 Comments

Will Dudding (the Reforming Baptist) has a great post on music. He challenges fundamentalists regarding their stance on music. I don’t agree 100% with everything he says, but his post is definitely worth a read if you are interested in reforming fundamentalism. I am happy for any who are reforming and growing in relation to the word, whether they are fundamentalist still or not. Will’s posts are always a blessing and often challenging. Here’s an excerpt.

What I see is that we have constructed a culture in fundamentalism that is an extreme opposite of the ever-developing worldly culture within new evangelicalism. It’s an atmosphere of “us vs. them”. We wear suits and ties, they don’t; we use classical style music, they don’t; we use a King James Bible, they use everything else but a KJV; we make our women wear dresses, they don’t care what their women wear; and so on and so forth…

Let me make something clear from the beginning: I am no fan of the modern gimmicks and fads that the weak, luke-warm broader evangelical church has to offer! They must turn to all their new methods (or waves, as Rick Warren puts it) to cover up their inadequate, watered-down gospel which has made them irrelevant in the true sense of the word. On that same note, I am no more a fan of the man-made, manufactured traditions and taboos of fundamentalism that so many feel that they have to defend in order to stay holy and separate from worldliness. Just as the Pharisees were clean on the outside, they neglected the weightier things of the law and we tend to do the same thing….

Music has been another component in the Christian sub-culture of Fundamentalism. You can take the most un-scriptural, theologically bankrupt song and sing it with a piano, organ and an opera singer and the song automatically passes fundamentalist standards.

The post is entitled “Music -Style, Emotion, Instruments and Associations“. Be sure to read the whole thing.