A Thrill Of Hope

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope - the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”

— from the Christmas carol O Holy Night

The flip side of Christmas is the acknowledgement of sin and error. The great darkness that had lain on the world from the time of Eden was undone by the birth of God’s Son, who is the radiance of the God’s glory. Remove the awareness of sin and Christmas is no more than the bland sentiment of “be nice to one another”. But in the fertile soil of Christ’s grace and truth, “be nice to one another” is transformed into:

“Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains He shall break, for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease. ”

— O Holy Night

Christ-like love has a freeing effect on the recipient and seeks not surface niceness, but a true breaking of the bondage that constrains us and our neighbor.

When It's Just Me, Myself, and I

“Solitude enables you to make contact with yourself.”

— A.G. Sertillanges

How much time do you spend in solitude? Not merely being by yourself, but in a condition where your mind is engaged in thinking its own thoughts, not reacting to the thoughts of others? Watching TV, reading, listening to podcasts, etc., may be done while alone, but it’s not the same as solitude because your mind is engaged with stuff coming from the minds of other people. Solitude is a conversation with yourself that allows you to recoup from the digital sensory assault of modern life and attempt to make sense of the world and your place in it.

Sertillanges, quoted above from his book The Intellectual Life, goes on to say that solitude is “a necessity if you want to realize yourself - not to repeat like a parrot a few acquired formulas, but to be the prophet of the God within you who speaks a unique language to each man.” We each need solitude so that we can know ourselves enough to bring something of our true selves to others and not merely repeat what we’ve heard elsewhere.

Our technological age has made solitude something that has to be carved out from the incessant connectivity of cyberspace and carefully cultivated and guarded. You are there inside yourself somewhere, turn off the other voices and see what you have to say.

The Theogineer's Philosophy of Ministry

The following statements summarize the approach to ministry taken at Theogineer.

The Word of God and The Gospel of Jesus Christ

• The Word of God is the formative element of the People of God

• The message of the Word of God is the Gospel of Jesus Christ

• The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the basis for understanding all of reality and the answer to human existence

• The power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is manifested in the world through local congregtions

• The transforming work of the Gospel of Christ is exhibited through interpersonal relationships

The Role of the Theogineer

• God requires that a Theogineer be found faithful

• The Theogineer is to be faithful to the Word of God by striving to proclaim it accurately and passionately

• The Theogineer is to be faithful to the congregation by being an example of godliness and integrity

• The Theogineer is to be faithful to the calling of the congregation by fulfilling the responsibilities given

What God Wants

This is a true story, but the names have been changed to protect identity.

“I guess God just didn’t want them,” she said. My head snapped around. I was participating in a church community group and Julie had been talking about how her parents had both died unregenerate. “And you can’t argue with God,” she finished. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. But this is the practical outworking of the so-called Doctrines of Grace that the church she attends is steeped in. Julie fully understood the consequences of Unconditional Election – if you’re on the secret list, you go to heaven; if not, well then God obviously didn’t want you. Or at least he didn’t want you in heaven with him, but rather he wanted you in Hell providing ECTT - Eternally Conscious Tormented Testimony to his Sovereign justice (although Total Depravity kind of undermines justice, but that’s another discussion).

I glanced over to her husband, Deric, the leader of the group. I thought he might provide some gentle correction, in the way Calvinists do, and bypass this uncomfortable truth of Calvinism. Perhaps he would point out how it’s all Adam’s fault, not God’s. He put his hand on her shoulder and said, “But you were always a faithful witness to them.” Another double-take on my part. Perhaps he didn’t fully understand Unconditional Election or its corollary tenet, Total Inability. If Julie’s mom and dad were born into this world with ZERO ability to respond to God except negatively, and never could unless first regenerated, then they were doomed from all eternity unless they were one of the elect. No degree of witness faithfulness would have had any effect on them. I expect he understood this intellectually, but holistically, the Doctrines of Grace require more than a spoonful of sugar to go down.

What a heart-breaking experience to feel like you wanted salvation for your parents more than God wanted it for them.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

Why I'm not a Calvinist...

I recently submitted an article to www.Soteriology101.com entitled “Why I’m Not A Calvinist, Even Though I Should Be”. In it I give three reasons why I do not find Calvinism to be a coherent theological system, even though I had been immersed in biblical and doctrinal study from the Reformed Theology perspective. The article was accepted and published in three parts. A pdf of the entire article can be found below.

Dilbert Beware

Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert cartoon series, recently authored a book entitled Loserthink: How Untrained Brains Are Ruining America. I was listening to an interview with Adams on The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish podcast (#70) in which Adams makes the following comment regarding those who purport to write non-fiction books:

People who are writing non-fiction believe they’re telling you what is objectively true in the world, but we don’t have that capability. We all have this illusion that the version of the world we’re seeing is “the one” and that if anyone’s got a different version they must be wrong. It’s sort of the most common illusion that we all have. So if you sit down and say “I’m going to write about reality” - you don’t have that capability! It’s not something you could do, no matter how hard you try, because all you have is a filter on reality. Now, we still label that as non-fiction because somebody is not trying to write fiction… but most of what we regard as fact is some kind of sheltered truth.

I’m confused. If no one has the ability to relay objective truth about reality and the best we can do is have our own filtered reality, then why should I trust Scott Adam’s filtered version of reality over my own? How has he managed to rise above the “most common illusion we all have”?

This is a version of what is called The Elephant And The Blind Men fallacy. You’ve probably heard this story before. A group of four blind men happen upon an elephant. The first blind man touches the elephant’s tail and says “It’s a rope”. The second touches one of the legs and says “No, it’s a tree”. The third touches the side of the elephant and says, “ No, it’s a wall”. The last blind man handles the elephant’s ear and says, “You’re all wrong, it’s a sail.” This story is meant to illustrate that no one can truly know reality and we each only have our limited perspective on the truth. However, it’s the fifth character in the story we need to consider - the Enlightened Observer.

If the group of blind men represents the limited capacity of humanity to know reality, the elephant representing reality, then how is it that the Enlightened Observer can see the entire elephant? How has the one using the story to illustrate humanity’s limitations risen above these same limitations? Many times this story is used in the context of demonstrating that religions only give a portion of the reality about divinity and none of them accurately give “the way things really are”. But to recognize this, the Enlightened Observer somehow has gained a perspective that is larger than everyone else’s perspective which enables him or her to see reality for what it is. Rather a presumptuous claim, isn’t it?

I haven’t read Adam’s non-fiction book, Loserthink, but if I do, I’ll be on the lookout for why he believes he knows the reality he claims none of us can really know.

Facing The Long Dark

There’s a scene in The Lord Of The Rings where the Fellowship enters the mines of Moria. There have been hints and intimations that an evil would be encountered in those shadowed recesses beneath the mountain. Yet, to complete their endeavor, the band of travelers must pass through the long dark of Moria. An evil is encountered and hope is dimmed, for a season.

There are many long darks in this life, many encounters with the evil of a broken world, many reasons for hope to be dimmed. But we must persevere, we must walk in the long dark, until we pass through and hope is restored.

Walk on, good Pilgrim, follow the glimmer of light provided you though all around is midnight.

The Church of England Publishes Guidance For Gender Transition Services

I was tipped off to this event by a headline on The Federalist website and decided to check it out for myself.  I found the article on the Church of England’s website.  The guidance document, officially titled “Pastoral Guidance for use in conjunction with the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith in the context of gender transition”, has been approved by the House of Bishops and is the official outcome of a motion adopted at the Church’s General Synod in 2017.

 The guidelines were developed in consultation with three Church of England ministers who, according to the article, have a “personal interest in this matter”.  A brief Google search revealed the nature of the personal interest involved.  The Reverends Tina Beardsley, Sarah Jones, and Rachal Mann are trans women who said, “Collectively, we have sought to ensure that these new Pastoral Guidance notes provide a rich and generous space for trans people to locate their lives in the existing liturgy for the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith.”  And here is where it gets interesting (for me at least).

 The liturgy for the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith is a service that provides a way for those baptized as infants to reaffirm the commitments made in their baptism.  The core of the liturgy, called The Decision, is where the candidates seeking to affirm their faith are asked the following questions and give the appropriate answers.

 Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God?

I reject them.

 Do you renounce the deceit and corruption of evil?

I renounce them.

 Do you repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour?

I repent of them.

 Do you turn to Christ as Saviour?

I turn to Christ.

 Do you submit to Christ as Lord?

I submit to Christ.

 Do you come to Christ, the way, the truth and the life?

I come to Christ.

 In this liturgy, the candidate pledges to conform his or her life to Christ as Lord, Savior, the way, the truth and the life.  The focus is on Jesus Christ.  However, the reasoning behind the inclusion of Gender Transition as a sufficient reason to invocate an Affirmation of Baptismal Faith is not focused on Jesus Christ.  Instead, the focus is on the candidate’s transition, not on conforming to the will of Jesus Christ.

 Here are some examples of what I mean…

 “…the House of Bishops commends the rite of Affirmation of Baptismal Faith as a central feature of any service to recognize liturgically a person’s gender.”

 “The minister should be guided by the wishes of the candidate regarding the way in which past experiences may be mentioned or reflected upon…”

 “In the journey of a trans person this liturgy will probably constitute a watershed in their Christian discipleship.”

 “For a trans person to be addressed liturgically by the minister for the first time by their chosen name may be a powerful moment in the service.”

 The key phrase is “to recognize liturgically a person’s gender”, which is to say to use the official power of the Church of England to solemnize the mental and emotional confusion of the trans person.  One can only hope that God truly answers the prayers offered in the liturgy on behalf of the candidates.

 God of mercy and love,

in baptism you welcome the sinner

and restore the dead to life.

You create a clean heart in those who repent,

and give your Holy Spirit to those who ask.

Grant that these your servants may grow

into the fullness of the stature of Christ.

Equip them with the gifts of your Holy Spirit, [like repentance]

and fill them with faith in Jesus Christ

and with love for all your people,

in the service of your kingdom.  Amen.