The Bible Archive

While looking at the New Testament Church I started off with a few basic assumptions (the Church consists of People, the Church’s existence is based on specific historical requirements and the Church’s leadership is divine). Flowing from these assumptions I pointed out a goal of the Church tied directly to the purpose of the sent Holy Spirit (firstly to edify the Church by teaching and comforting and secondly to convict the World of sin, righteousness and judgment).

As such, I specified seven markers which outlined the boundaries of the Church: (1) the Lord’s Supper, (2) baptizing disciples, (3) loving one another, (4) disciplining its own members, (5) pure worship practices, (6) pure moral practices and (7) preaching the Word. The question now arises: can a church (small c) count as such if it fails in any of these seven boundary markers?

Take 15 minutes. Go read this. Also read the comments. Honestly, you don’t have to participate but Jeremy does an excellent job of thinking through the issues as do his commenters.

Barack Obama has basically declared himself incompetent to make any judgments on one of the key issues of our day, and I have to say that I agree with him. The statements he’s been making show that he’s either hopelessly ignorant on some very important policy matters or deliberately contradicting himself in order to pretend to two opposing groups that he’s on both their sides. That means he probably should have a job where these issues really are above his pay grade. There are a lot of such jobs. Unfortunately for him, the job of U.S. President (not to mention U.S. Senator, Illinois State Senator, or constitutional law professor) would not be in the list.

Once upon a time, folk would stand in a circle, before an audience, and debate things. No, not Jerry Springer. I’m talking about the Old Days before TV. To establish the grounds for the debate the two folk arguing would first state what they’re arguing for (or against) and then proceed with given statements.

The point they were arguing for (or against) was called The Question. Each of the givens would be the premises which the debater would use as a starting point for his argument.

As my parents got older they started putting away the salt from the table. It wasn’t that they didn’t like the taste it’s that they realized that too much of it was not good for them. They were realizing it was coming out all the time and that their blood pressure was steadily rising. But what I don’t think they noticed is that when they put it away they would slowly, imperceptibly miss it—and even need it back in their bodies. The rise of Calvinism and Charismatic Continuism seems to be doing the same thing.

Someone, either Billy Graham or John MacArthur (can’t remember which) said that “we’ve all milked from the Plymouth Brethren Cow”. Too often people raise the banner of the Plymouth Brethren as a byword to be hissed at because of the damage that has been or is being done (ie: Aleister Crowly, Brian Mclaren, pop-Left-Behindism, etc.). Anyway, I wanted to underline the rich culture found in the Brethren Movement and the way it has benefited the corporate Body of Christ to try to regain some balance. The Brethren Movement was sort of like the Emergents, it wasn’t defined by any denomination and it spread from the ground up. But in stark contrast, the Plymouth Brethren was a Back to the Gospel movement focused on the truth of the Gospel by studying the Bible, adherence to the Lord’s Supper, and preaching the Word to as many as possible. The Movement in English speaking countries has greatly diminished although places like India have seen tremendous growth.

What I’ll do for these features is quote Wikipedia or something similar and link to some good reading, either about them or by them..

Today’s feature: F.F.Bruce. Yeah, He was one of us.

Enjoy the Christian Carnival at Thinking Christian.

Firefox is fast, plays nicely with the web, and is decent with your computer resources. The new version ( Firefox 3) is even better, offering a ton of stuff like an address bar that knows what you’re thinking (or so it seems like it sometimes). But that’s not why Firefox is probably the best browser ever: the perks are in the add-ons.

Last night at chapel, I was listening to the brother expound on the resurrection of Christ and the appearance to Mary. The preaching sparked a thought that I had had in the past (and of course, which has been discussed to death in commentaries) but I wanted to put down some views on paper. Why did Christ tell Mary not to touch Him when later on in John 20 He’s telling Thomas to touch Him?

She could see the threatening glow gathering above the flat horizon in the East. The Hammer was rising.

Everyone else in the village had hidden themselves away- just as The Boundaries stipulated. The young mother was trying, but raising two young children alone was not easy, and getting them to move without violating the writings seemed impossible. They were always in danger of transgressing, and so, often in danger of dying. Every morning’s Heatrise was one of those times.

“Come on. Come on… but don’t hurry. Don’t….,” her voice grew loud in exasperation, but she caught herself and glanced around. Little children wanted to run. It seemed a perverse joke to give them desires that would only kill them.

Patton wasn’t using the following so much as an argument but as a retelling of his own theological journey. What’s interesting about the story is that it offered several reasons of how people Know what they Know. I mean, Unconditional Election wasn’t proved point by point for Michael (at least not according to that post) but it was illustrated in a very compelling manner. Likewise, at twelve his mind was influenced by a specific interpretation by his mother, so psychologically speaking you can see where something like that would become important.

But I did want to post a counter illustration because the one Boice used (in Michael’s post) wound up being one of those stories that preachers (and professors) love to use that doesn’t prove anything. It’s an appeal to emotion by using unbalanced data and an unserviceable hypothetical.

Here’s my version based heavily on Boice’s:

The Christian Carnival is up at Brain Cramps for God. I didn’t submit anything because I was fighting Trojans.

by Tim Keller & David Powlison (HT: Justin Taylor via Jollyblogger)

One obvious genius of the internet is that it’s “viral.” Information explodes to the whole world. The old neighborhood grapevine and the postal service seem like ox-carts in a speed-of-light universe. (Do twenty-somethings even know what those antiquities once were? In the old days, people had to talk to each other or stick a stamp on an envelope.) Instantaneous transmission produces some wonderfully good things. Truth, like joy, is infectious. A great idea feeds into a million inboxes. But it also produces some disastrous evils. Lies, rumors, and disinformation travel just as far and just as fast.

Back in Junior High, I’d go to school wearing my khaki pants. Folk would snort behind open hands. Eyes would laugh. Mouths would spew names. After all, who wore khakis in the 80’s? That was the time of two tone denim jeans, of acid wash and of neon.

Stupidly enough (and probably why I got chased a lot), in my annoyance, I sometimes spoke back.

So far, I’ve assumed certain things: (1) the Church is made up of People, (2) The Church’s existence is based on historical prerequisites (3) The Church’s leadership is divine and an unmentioned 4th. I covered some entailments of these by pointing out that the Church’s purpose is linked with the work of God, the Holy Spirit, living in The Church. With such underpinnings in place one wonders what the local expression of the Universe Church might look like. I mean, is it merely Two or Three non-speaking Christians at the local bodega/grocery store? Is it maybe a married Christian couple taking a nap? There are some things, both positive and negative that demarcates the boundary lines of a local expression of The Church Universal: what are they?

I had a conversation with a buddy of mine in church in regards to the Chronology of the passion narrative: specifically when the Lord’s Supper occurred in light of John’s seemingly odd chronology (cf. John 19 where Christ’s crucifixion is said to be happening on the Day of Preparation for the Passover).