Tag: Religion

Minnesota Religious Bloggers

~ fundyreformed ~ 4 Comments

Desiring God’s blog, with 21,000+ subscribers may be the most popular Minnesota religious blog. Tony Jones’ emergent blog is showcased on belief.net. But in an article on Minnesota religious blogging published today at MinnPost.com, it is yours truly who heads the list of Minnesota religious bloggers!

Since blogging is inherently narcissistic, I guess no one is surprised that I’m tooting my own horn right now! 😉

Seriously, the article is an interesting read, and MinnPost.com looks like an interesting mix between online journalism, blogging and a traditional newspaper format. A couple of my local blogging buddies also make honorable mention: Jamsco at The Responsible Puppet, and Shaun at Bible Geek Gone Wild.

The article does bring up a good point. Talking about faith has been enhanced through the online media. Many who are in oppressive religious groups or who are just hesitant to make their questioning or religious seeking known, find the internet very helpful in evaluating their religious beliefs. The world wide web both equips and propels one to find out what they believe and why. The one thing you can count on with respect to the web is that your opinion will be challenged — from all sides. Personally, I think that is a good thing, as Biblical Christianity can stand on its own two feet, and a well-grounded faith is a strong faith.

So all my loyal blog readers will have to go over and read the article. Be sure to leave a comment too, and say how awesome my blog is!

“Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World” edited by C.J. Mahaney

~ Bob Hayton

Authors: C.J. Mahaney (editor), and others
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 191
Publisher: Crossway
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 1433502801
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Any book entitled Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World promises not to be your average book on the shelf of today’s Christian bookstore. The subject of worldliness, or love for the values of this fallen world, is not a popular theme.

The contributors of this book, start off by asking if 1 John 2:15 [“Do not love the world or anything in the world”], is really in most Christian’s Bibles. All of us are guilty of worldliness. But how do we go about avoiding this sin? C.J. Mahaney explains:

Some people try to define worldliness as living outside a specific set of rules or conservative standards. If you listen to music with a certain beat, dress in fashionable clothes, watch movies with a certain rating…surely you must be worldly.

Others, irritated and repulsed by rules that seem arbitrary, react to definitions of worldliness, assuming it’s impossible to define. Or they think legalism will inevitably be the result, so we shouldn’t even try.

…Both views are wrong. For by focusing exclusively on externals or dismissing the importance of externals, we’ve missed the point…. the real location of worldliness is internal. It resides in our hearts. (29)

The book goes on to try to navigate between these two extremes and call today’s church to a healthy carefulness about how we interact with the world at large. With chapters on movies, music, money and modesty, the book aims to guide believers as they think critically about the myriad of choices facing us in today’s culture.

As one who came out of a very strict fundamentalist background, this book especially interested me. I was encouraged to see contemporary evangelical Christians warning about the social dangers that abound. And I noted that the book did not offer a list of rules which I should follow more closely than Scripture. Instead the authors were careful to encourage discernment and teach general guiding principles.

To some the book will seem quite strict. Think “radical”, instead. The authors aim to glorify God in everything they do. That will come across as totally radical, and will require a unique focus on the temptations and opportunities that surround us.

While the discussion on media (movies) and music was quite good, the chapter on money and modesty wasn’t quite as captivating for me. I’d heard a lot of Mahaney’s stuff on modesty before, so maybe that’s why. But any lull in those chapters was more than made up by Mahaney’s opening chapter and the closing one by Jeff Purswell.

That final chapter focused on how to love the world. We are to love God’s creation and the people He has made. We are placed within His world and called to serve for its good. Perhaps since externals were over emphasized in my fundamentalist roots, this chapter on healthy interaction with the world resonated with me so well. In any case, Purswell paints a glorious picture of God’s covenant dealings with all the earth.

Moving from God’s overarching redemption plan, he elevates our mundane day-to-day duties as part of that plan. He closes his section on work with this appeal:

So don’t just “go to work” and “do your job”–see your job as a way to imitate God, serve God, and love others. This doesn’t mean work will never be difficult or frustrating or tedious; the curse ensures that it will be at times. But God’s creational purposes and Christ’s redeeming work infuse our work with meaning, and promise God-glorifying fruit as a result. (158)

Purswell calls us to enjoy, engage and evangelize the world. “We receive God’s earthly gifts, pursue God’s purposes in earthly life, and work for the salvation of people made in God’s image. All of life lived for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31)”.

The final chapter exposes the tension once again. While we are to be in the world and working for its good, we are also not to love what it loves and prize what it prizes. Once again, the book stresses two bents which typify Christians:

Some have strictly spiritual preoccupations. For them the present is of little consequence, pleasures are perilous, spirituality means self-denial…

Others relish life in this world. Their delight in God’s temporal gifts is unrestrained, their enjoyment of their physical existence untempered, their hope in earthly endeavors absolute…. (168-169)

The answer finally is the cross of Christ. The cross tells us who we are, interprets the world we live in, transforms our view of people and gives our lives purpose. Finding our place in God’s story of redemption is the ultimate cure for a love of this world’s desires.

This book has the potential to transform your view of the Christian life. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Crossway Books. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

This book is available for purchase at the following sites: Amazon.com or direct from Crossway.

Remembering the Mayflower: Happy Thanksgiving

~ fundyreformed

I thought I’d wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving today. And I want to remind us all to remember that first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, 1621.

Last year I provided my family line which goes back to John Alden on the Mayflower. If you’re interested, I scanned some articles from a really old World Book Encyclopedia set I have (1925) which gives an interesting look at the Pilgrims. Alden is, you will remember, famous for his stealing of Captain Miles Standish’s would be bride, Priscilla Mullins (known as “The Mayflower of Plymouth”). “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” was her famous line.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, another descendant of John and Priscilla memorialized this event in a somewhat embellished poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish. You can read that poem in its entirety here compliments of Google Books.

For now, if you have some time, scan through the brief articles here (all pdfs) and remember the first Thanksgiving.

John Piper on the Most Important Issues In the 2008 Election

~ fundyreformed ~ 3 Comments

As the election approaches, John Piper shares some gospel-centered thoughts on how a Christian should think about politics and this vote. Please watch this video! A related clip with additional perspective from Pastor Piper is available here.

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more about “The Most Important Issues In the 2008…“, posted with vodpod

Why Do We Say "Legalism"

~ fundyreformed ~ 20 Comments

A friend of mine just posted an interesting list of definitions by John Piper on a variety of topics. He linked to the online sermon or article from which the definition was taken, and gave a summary of the definition.

One of those definitions was legalism. Let me give Piper’s definition here.

(1) Treating biblical standards of conduct as regulations to be kept by our own power in order to earn God’s favor. . . .(2): The erecting of specific requirements of conduct beyond the teaching of Scripture and making adherence to them the means by which a person is qualified for full participation in the local family of God, the church; This is where unbiblical exclusivism arises.

I think this is an excellent definition, but of course not everyone will be happy with it. Someone commented on the original post about this definition, taking issue with it. As I typed an answer to it, I thought maybe my answer could serve as a post here. His basic objection was to the first part of Piper’s answer. Why shouldn’t people treat biblical standards of conduct as personal regulations? Why is it that such actions are construed as legalism or as “earning favor with God”?

Here then is my answer, minus a few introductory statements:

Chris…. you bring up some valid points. But look at Piper’s definition a little more closely: “Treating biblical standards of conduct as regulations to be kept by our own power in order to earn God’s favor.” Piper has many personal rules of conduct that he keeps out of a desire to please God. He does so from love for God, not a sense of rigorous duty. What’s important I think is “by our own power” . For years I was in a system that taught us to “just do it” . If we were really serious about God we would keep these rules and regulations, most of which went way beyond what was spelled out in Scripture. It was hard to toe the line, and we were encouraged to have character and resolve. Yes we were told to depend on the spirit, but the emphasis was on personal effort.

In keeping those rules we felt that we were truly obeying God. And when we saw others who didn’t keep those same rules, part of us, deep inside, thought we were better than them. We felt we were in a sense earning status with God. Our group was more serious about God then other groups. Why? Because we did this, and that. The emphasis was on us. And we didn’t truly have a perspective of God’s grace and a genuine love for all the brothers and sisters we have in Christ.

This is what Piper is arguing against. And while I often bristled against the term “legalism” too. After I came out of the system and thought more objectively, I realized that legalism really did fit. The focus was externals. Not that those aren’t important, but the very nature of the environment we were in promoted the idea of making sure we look good to others by keeping the community’s rules. Since we judged each other on externals so much, and since externals were harped on in the pulpit so often, it became natural to think this way. We were all, to one degree or another, earning favor and status with God. Yes the Gospel was preached but it was presented as a thing to accept mentally and assent to once, and after that you pay God back, in a sense, by keeping His rules. It was not really presented as something you can live by.

What is missing is that in our own strength we are sure to fall. The rules are hard. And when that was acknowledged we were encouraged to vow to do better, to clench our teeth and determine not to give up, to go forward and recommit ourselves to God during the public invitation. To seek accountability and force ourselves to do it. Often manipulative, human-oriented schemes were used to try to belittle those who didn’t persevere. It was a method to try to encourage them to keep on keeping on. In all of this a focus on Christ was lost. The Gospel is all about the fact we can’t keep God’s rules. We need help. And we have a glorious Savior. From the love He’s given me, and in light of the glorious grace of God giving me what I do not deserve, I can have a Spirit-wrought desire to please Him. With that motivation, the rules of what I do or don’t do, are not burdensome. They don’t even really matter. What matters is my love for Jesus and desire to please Him. If I fall, I know I have an advocate, and I am saddened since I displease Him. And I’m again amazed that He picks me up and helps me keep going.

I hope you can see how this “legalism” can be harmful. It can take our focus off of Christ and onto ourselves. And the 2nd kind of legalism points us to our neighbors. We assess whether they are qualified for me to even consider them part of our church. This is doubly harmful because the standards we’re measuring them by are not even entirely Biblical. They are more often a particular application of a Biblical principle.

I hope this helps explain where we are coming from. Terms like this are inflammatory I know. There’s not much we can do about that. But if you see where our objection is to this kind of thing, maybe it helps you understand why we label it “legalism” and why we are against it.

I’d encourage you to check out C.J. Mahaney’s book The Cross-Centered Life, it has an excellent chapter on legalism.

Blessings,

Bob Hayton