Rahab and Faith/Works

I was reading the story of Rahab again on Sunday morning. As I looked up other references in the scriptures that talk about Rahab, I saw an interesting connection. In the same way as Abraham, Rahab is actually used as a model for faith and as a model for works of righteousness. I never noticed that before. Her act of hiding the Israelite spies is recorded in Hebrews 11 (traditional faith chapter) and James 2 (Faith without works is dead chapter).

Conclusion: God gave us two noteworthy models of working in faith, a man and a woman. The woman was a prostitute, the man a pagan. God revealed himself to both of them (Abraham by speaking to him in Ur and Rahab by guiding the spies to her door). Both examples were quite passive in this initial meeting. Then they both did something to show that they trusted in the promises that God made to them.

Publicly Joining Zion

I officially joined Zion Church PCA today. I am now a functioning, publicly recognized church member in Lincoln, Nebraska. Its a good feeling. As long as I am in Lincoln, I have a duty to serve this church to the best of my ability. It is a covenant I am making regardless of how much the church serves me. Even though serving this church (or any) will be difficult in some ways, I am rather pleased to be a part of Zion. There are several aspects of Zion church that I find particularly helpful:

1. Liturgy- Good ole' fashioned "lets confess together" liturgy. It is worshipful to the Father for us to confess what we know to be true about Him and about ourselves, and it is encouraging and nourishing for the body to speak truth.

2. Order of Worship- Zion has a unique order of worship that I find very helpful. There is a good mixture of hymns and spiritual songs with both contemporary and older instrumentation and melody. We prepare to confess our sins together, then kneel and confess our personal sins to God, then hear the assurance of pardon from the atoning work of Christ. We are instructed by the word. We celebrate communion together and are free to enjoy singing or listening to music while waiting for everyone to receive the bread and cup. Since we have already confessed our sins, we are free to joyfully take part in the sacrament with the community of the redeemed.

3. Weekly communion- Not a scriptural command, but it has been helpful to me and I think it is a good practice for any church.

4. Approachable leadership- It has been an honor to get to know some of the elders and pastors and Zion. They seem to be interested in getting to know me. This is a huge encouragement for someone who is thinking seriously about ministry work. I love to have relationships with people who can give godly, pastoral advice to an inexperienced youth such as myself.

5. Families- There are kids running everywhere. There are parents holding their children. It is a beautiful picture of the way that God has chosen to work in our community. People are fulfilling the cultural mandate.

And I am a part of that. I pledged to be. These are the the vows that I took:

1. Do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving his displeasure, and without hope, except through his sovereign mercy?
2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and savior of sinners, and do you receive and trust him alone for salvation as he is offered in the gospel?
3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes a follower of Christ?
4. Do you promise to support the church in it's worship and work to the best of your ability?
5. Do you submit yourself to the government and discipline of the church, and promise to strive for its purity and peace?

I answered these in the affirmative. If you are not currently a member of a church, I challenge you to think seriously about it. It is a way for you to express your commitment to the growing Kingdom of Jesus. We are all called to serve.

joining the church

I will be publicly joining Zion church this Sunday morning. Everyone is welcome to come and celebrate my becoming part of the visible Church in Lincoln Nebraska. I'm actually transferring my membership from 2nd Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Yazoo City, Mississippi. This decision has been a long time coming, but I feel that it is the right one. It feels good to be part of the local body again. Hope to see you there.

More substantial posts are in the works. Stay tuned.

Catch up post

I know that I haven't posted in a while and I am sure that you are all on the edge of your seats hoping for more thoughts on Baptism. For now I have none. I have done precious little reading on the topic in the last couple of weeks. School and personal demands have been primary. But I thought that I might give a summary of some of my thoughts as of late, ranging from serious to silly...

Should we preach systematics? I have been contemplating recently whether or not pastors, when they preach, should refer to a systematic theology approach of understanding a text. Should we bring all that we know about a given topic to a text that seems to exemplify it, or should we preach primarily within that text, drawing out themes of redemption that are present while leaving other aspects for later sermons. This is not a yes/no question, but an important one.

Why can't men wear purses? I mean, seriously. I am a pocket person, meaning I always have lots of stuff in my pockets or otherwise connected to my person. It would be a lot easier if I had a purse to carry that stuff in. Why is this not socially acceptable? Some people might suggest a "man-purse" but that is just not the same.

Living for Christ? What does it mean to "live for Christ." It is a phrase that gets thrown around in Christian circles a lot. I just don't really know what it means. I could look up any number of definitions for this phrase and could probably supply a fairly theologically correct one myself. But it doesn't mean anything if it is not experiential. I guess I just don't feel like I really "live for Christ" most of the time.

The importance of voice and melody. For the last few years my musical interests have been in the indie-rock/indie-folk vein. This music is still amazing and I continue to fall in love with bands like this. But these bands often downplay the importance of powerful vocals and melodies. I feel like I may be moving away from this and more toward vocally driven music.

How old is the earth? 6-day Creationism vs. Old earth is still a hot topic. Being in geology this semester has stimulated my interest in the topic. I have a fairly massive post about this that I am working on. It should be out soon, provided I have the guts to publish it.

Revelation. I have been reading through the book of John's revelation again. It is such a fascinating book. Reading it again has been very good for me. It is so symbolic, I don't know how anyone could have anything other than a preterist reading of it. Seriously.

Those thoughts have been pretty much in constant rotation in my mind lately.

Thoughts on Baptism, Part one

I am going to attempt several posts this semester concerning my thoughts on paedo/believer's baptism. This has been a mystery for me for a long time as I will explain below. However, I am starting to feel the need to come down on this issue for several reasons. Because I hope to be joining Zion Church soon, I would like to be cultivating a theology of baptism that will show me how I will appreciate the sacrament. When a baby is baptized at Zion, I need to have a category for how I deal with it. Is it good? Is it acceptable? Is it praiseworthy? Is it done out of tradition or real biblical thought? Another reason for studying this issue is that I hope to attend seminary after school. This decision may or may not have an effect on my choice of seminary, but it definitely will affect how I relate with ideas and people within seminary.

I grew up in the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) in Mississippi. I witnessed many infant baptisms as I was growing up and did not question its validity until around middle school. I found out that my parents were of a believer's baptist position and that they only went to a PCA church because of the strong teaching. Then I realized that I hadn't been baptized as a child. I was baptized when I was 12 years old--I was sprinkled in that Presbyterian church as a believer. I befriended my pastors and struggled with the concept of baptism throughout high school. I was pretty much sold on the idea of believer's baptism when I finished high school and started college so I looked for Baptist churches in the area. Eventually, I had to come back to the PCA for the same reason my parents had joined years ago. I begin to question baptism again after my freshman year in college because of the influence of teaching and friends. And here I am uncertain again.

So I have picked up some reading that will guide me through this topic. I had some material for this previously, and I have a couple of books on order from Amazon. This may be slow processing because I don't have very much time to read. But I hope to get through these books by the end of the semester:

The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism (Gregg Strawbridge). This came recommended to me by one of the elders in my Church.

Christian Baptism (John Murray). This is a short work but I hope to use Murray to really get an intellectual mindset for infant baptism. He is a very pithy and heady writer.

Believer's Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ (Thomas Schreiner & Shawn Wright). I chose this because it seems to be a definitive work on the covenantal aspect of believer's baptism. It is endorsed by the likes of Wayne Grudem and Bruce Ware.

I am also finishing a little essay by Bryan Chapell called A Pastoral Overview of Infant Baptism. As the name would imply, his concerns are largely pastoral and not exegetical, but I am using this as a guide to the key passages on baptism, especially in the Old Testament. Befor e I begin my analysis, here is a presupposition and a disclaimer:

Assumption: Covenant theology is largely true. I concede that there is more continuity between the old and new covenants than discontinuity. There is a flow of redemption that needs to be understood. So, any study of theological issues in the NT need to be understood in the context of the OT. I may find that there is some discontinuity in the area of baptism...especially that it is not the sign of the new covenant. But I must first admit that there is a connection between old and new.

Disclaimer: My study will not focus as much on historical example. I find history to be inconclusive when it comes to this issue. As far back as I can see, there has been disagreement about baptism. Even if one side could lay claim to precedence, it could not precede by much, and there are other historical factors that could be at work.

As I begin this study, I need to be very careful about man's opinion. I don't want to be swayed into either camp because I don't want to offend or hurt people. I have great respect for my parents and the people in my church in Sioux City. I also have respect for my friends and teachers in Lincoln. This is hard, but I want my arguments to be biblically grounded in truth, not what is most convenient for me. Any reading recommendations and solid advice are welcome.

I love working at LJS

Most of what I do at the Lincoln Journal Star is business over the phone. Usually, it follows a formula: The customer calls, I take their classified ad, I get payment from them, repeat. Occasionally, I get some really interesting calls.

This is a synopsis of one conversation I had with a lady today:

ME: "Journal Star Classifieds, this is Gray"

LADY: "Hello, my name is ______ and I have received a REVELATION. "

ME: "Ummm... ok"

LADY: "I have received a revelation from the Lord. He told me that every child in the Lincoln Public Schools needs to say the Lord's prayer at 8:00 on Halloween. This is what the Lord said, Children need to know the Lord's prayer and he wants them to say it on Halloween. If this happens, then we can prevent all of the "Woes" spoken of in the book of Revelation. You see, I believe that I am the INCARNATE EVE. In the garden, It was not Adam who was tempted. It was Eve who was tempted, and...."

ME: (Interrupting) "Umm...Ma'am. I'm sorry but did you want to place a Classified Ad."

LADY: (hesitating) Well, how much would it cost me to put this in the paper.

ME: Well, that depends. When did you want this to run.

LADY: It needs to go in tomorrow. We need to get it in there. Children only have 3 weeks to learn the Lord's prayer before halloween. (Then launches back into the prophecy again.)

ME: Well, for an announcement like this, we have to run it on our regular rates. One day will be $28.96. Would you like to place the Ad?

LADY: I will need to consult Gen____ (some name that started with a "G" or a "J"...it sounded to me like it was some kind of spirit guide or angel). I will find out if she wants to run it and call you back.

ME: Ok, thanks, bye.

Times have changed since Isaiah and Jeremiah were prophets. Now prophecy works through mass communication...and it operates on a budget.

Toplady and Wesley

The other day I was perusing monergism, as I am wont to do. I came across a published article written by Augustus Toplady entitled "A letter to the Rev. John Wesley." This article is a seething letter describing Toplady's outrage at John Wesley for secretly printing a pamphlet. Additionally, Wesley misquotes Toplady which enraged him even more. Look at this section:

Though you are neither mentioned, nor alluded to, throughout the whole book, yet it could hardly be imagined that a treatise apparently tending to lay the axe to the root of those pernicious doctrines which, for more than thirty years past, you have endeavoured to palm on your credulous followers, with all the sophistry of a jesuit, and the dictatorial authority of a pope, should long pass without some censure from the hand of a restless Arminian, who has so eagerly endeavoured to distinguish himself as the bellwether of his deluded thousands.

Bam! The letter never relents either. Apparently, Wesley never replied because Toplady wrote another published letter to him 9 months later saying that he had not responded or apologized. Two pastors that were under Wesley did respond, however. But Toplady makes fun of their underdeveloped writing skills instead of dealing with their arguments.

I find this whole situation to be really funny, kinda sad, and without the slightest guise of charity. I didn't find it necessary to read Toplady's other articles on monergism-- Arminianism: The Golden Idol of Free Will and Arminianism: The Road to Rome