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Pass the band-aids, I’ve got gangrene - 16 March 2010 |
Stanislav Mishin makes some pretty pessimistic observations about the current and likely future condition of England.
I haven’t checked the facts, but I’m suspicious about the claim that “one in 8 stores has closed down.” And it’s not true that the government has “forcably nationalized all major banks on the island.” Just some bits of some of them. So far. But that aside, the prediction of short-term national decline is probably fairly accurate.
But he’s dead wrong about the solution. Our hope does not lie “in small parties … like the English Defense League.” Pass the band-aids, I’ve got gangrene.
Bizarrely, Mishin is simultaneously too pessimistic and too optimistic. Too pessimistic if he thinks that the present decline is terminal, and too optimistic if he thinks that mere politics can do anything to halt the slide.
The only hope for this nation – like any other nation – is the gospel of Christ. Any nation that refuses to worship the LORD of Hosts will, sooner or later, be brought down to the dust by the God who said, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 2:12).
So hear the word of the LORD:
3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his breath departs he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God. (Psalm 146:3-5)
And:
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. (Proverbs 14:34)
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Current affairs, Minister's Blog
Cartoon sex for kids - 15 March 2010 |
A few days ago we saw another sign of our nation’s growing hostility to the gospel – further confirmation of the timeliness of the forthcoming Emmanuel Evangelical Church Family Conference, this coming Saturday, 20 March (at which, incidentally, spaces are still available).
According to Christian Voice, “The Daily Mail has reported that a class of seven and eight-year-olds were made to watch a cartoon showing a cartoon couple chasing each other around a bed and having sex.”
One mother commented, “The cartoon was very graphic. My daughter was frightened and children have unfortunately been copying what they have seen.” The video is available on YouTube, but you’ll need to have an account to view it as it has been flagged as containing material regarded as “inappropriate” for some users.
Further information from the Christian Voice website.
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Church music, Minister's Blog
Real science, real faith - 15 March 2010 |
The nationwide Passion for Life mission is getting closer, and evangelistic events are being organised all over the country. Information about the regional events is linked from the main website.
And if you or anyone you know lives in the Eastbourne area and would be interested in hearing about the interface between science and the Christian faith, then you might want to let them know about this.
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog
Incarnation, not condescension - 14 March 2010 |
Some highlights from a sermon on Mark 2, preached by Steve Hayhow at Emmanuel this morning:
On Jesus getting his hands (sinlessly) dirty in a messed-up world: “Jesus comes down and sits on the floor, in the dirt, and eats with sinners.”
On being friends with non-Christians: “If someone has a problem with you being friends with non-Christians, they have the problem.”
On Jesus’ commitment to people rather than programmes: “Jesus is not the CEO of the world; he’s our elder brother … Jesus didn’t sit down with his twelve board members and say, ‘Right, let’s review our strategy.’”
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog
Unsurprising - 12 March 2010 |
Tom Weinandy’s Does God Change? is wonderful. Truly wonderful. Yet I was surprised by one comment on Ignatius of Antioch’s defence of the full humanity and deity of Christ against the Docetists. Weinandy finds it “surprising that at such an early date one finds the full divinity and full humanity predicated of the one person of Christ almost in Chalcedonian rigor” (Weinandy, Change, p. xxiii).
Really? Why should this be surprising? Doesn’t the Bible itself teach clearly the full deity and full humanity of Christ? Granted that there is in Ignatius “a lack of [the] theological argumentation” (p. xxiii) one finds in later treatments, why should we be surprised to find an early Christian affirming bluntly what the Bible says plainly?
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog, Theology
Baked noodles - 12 March 2010 |
These are the questions for week 18 of the Guided Reading Course. We’re looking this week at the introduction and the first half of chapter 1 of Thomas G. Weinandy, Does God Change? The Word’s becoming in the incarnation (Still River: St Bede’s, 1985).
As the Oracle might say, this one will really bake your noodle. Eat slowly, and chew carefully.
Introduction
1. God is “present as the wholly other” (p. xx). What does Weinandy mean by this?
2. What three questions are raised by John’s statement that “the word became flesh” (John 1:14, p. xxi)?
3. Why did Docetists feel themselves forced to deny the real humanity of Christ? How did Docetists view God’s relationship to the world? (p. xxii)
4. Weinandy believes that “it is indeed surprising that at such an early date one finds the full divinity and full humanity predicated of the one person of Christ almost in Chalcedonian rigor” (p. xxiii). Do you agree?
5. What were the different forms of Monarchianism? Why were the adherents of these positions trying to preserve? (pp. xxiii-xxiv)
6. What problems with Modalistic Monarchianism does Weinandy highlight? (pp. xxv-xxvi)
7. What principle, shared by Tertullian and Origen, expressed the relationship between the Father, on the one hand, and the Son and the Spirit, on the other? What were the consequences of this view? (pp. xxvi-xxvii)
8. What did Origen have in common with the Docetists? (p. xxviii)
9. How did Origen explain the incarnation while preserving divine impassibility? Why doesn’t his view work? (pp. xxx-xxxi)
Chapter 1
10. What question did Arius ask about the Logos? What two presuppositions lay behind his answer? What was his answer? (pp. 4-5)
11. From where did Arius derive his notion of divine transcendence? Why was this important in shaping his view of the Logos? (pp. 5-6)
12. How did Arius understand begetting and creating? Why did he take this view? What implications did this have for his view of the nature of the Son? (pp. 6-9)
13. What two questions did the church need to answer in order to meet “the challenge of Arius”? (p. 10)
14. What did the Council of Nicea (325) say in response to these questions? What further questions did their response raise? Did Nicea address adequately these further questions? (pp. 11-12)
15. How did Athanasius address the questions left unanswered by Nicea? (p. 16)
16. What criticism did the semi-Arians level at Athanasius? How did Athanasius respond? (pp. 15-16)
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Guided Reading Course, Minister's Blog
Diagrams of Jesus - 12 March 2010 |
We’ve reached the topic of the incarnation in the Guided Reading Course, and after letting ourselves in gently last time with a few chapters of Calvin’s Institutes, we’re going to sink our teeth into something really meaty in the shape of Tom Weinandy, Does God Change?
Here’s an extra challenge as we work our way through this one. You can’t draw a diagram representing the orthodox doctrine of the incarnation, just as you can’t draw an orthodox diagram of the Trinity. However, you can draw a diagram of most of the heretical versions. If you’re feeling brave, have a go as we make our way through Weinandy in the next few weeks.
And if you’re feeling really brave, try to work out why it’s impossible to draw these diagrams.
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Guided Reading Course, Minister's Blog
Diversity without division, unity without confusion - 11 March 2010 |
These are the questions for week 17 of the Guided Reading Course. We’ll focus on Calvin, Institutes, II.xii-xiv, and refer occasionally to Berkhof, Systematic Theology, pp. 321-330.
Calvin, Institutes, II.xii-xiv
II.xii
1. Why, according to Calvin, did our Mediator need to be true God and true man? (II.xii.1-3)
2. In Calvin’s view, would the incarnation have been necessary if man had not sinned? Why or why not? (II.xii.1-2, 4) Do you agree?
3. What does Calvin think of question 2, above? Why? (II.xii.5)
II.xiii
4. What evidence does Calvin adduce to prove Christ’s true humanity? (II.xiii.1)
5. What objection does Calvin address in II.xiii.4? How does he respond?
II.xiv
6. What misunderstanding of Christ’s human and divine natures does Calvin address in II.xiv.1? How does he correct this erroneous view? What analogy does he offer?
7. What does Calvin mean by “the communicating of properties” (II.xiv.1)? How do the scriptural texts cited in II.xiv.2 fit with this doctrine? How does Calvin’s view differ from the Lutheran doctrine (cf. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 324ff.)?
8. What, in Calvin’s view, is demonstrated by the texts cited in II.xiv.3? Do you agree?
9. What were the errors of Nestorius and Eutyches? How does Calvin reply? (II.xiv.4)
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Guided Reading Course, Minister's Blog
The failure of the United Nations - 7 March 2010 |
The United Nations was set up in the aftermath of the World War II “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind” (Preamble to the UN Charter, 1945).
Approximately 16 million people died in World War I, and between 50 and 70 million in World War II. It’s easy to see why the UN was thought necessary.
But between 1945 and 2000, approximately 40 millon more people died in war. That’s around 2000 people per day. The UN has evidently failed in its aim, despite the billions of pounds that have been spent in pursuit of its objectives.
Fortunately, the Bible not only tells us why the UN (and every other human attempt to promote unity without acknowledging the living God) has failed, but also explains where a true and lasting solution to human conflict may be found. In a nutshell, here it is.
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog
Turn it upside-down - 7 March 2010 |
Some highlights from The hospitality of God, a sermon on Mark 2 preached on 7 March at Emmanuel by Steve Hayhow.
The more trouble you’re in, the bigger mess you’re in, the more likely it is you’re being drawn to Jesus.
The gospel is basically hospitality. It’s the hospitality of God.
Everyone with a problem comes to Jesus’ house.
The Kingdom of God is the upside-down kingdom.
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog