Paul's Passing Thoughts

“Whether Protestants know it or not (that’s you), we all either believe this directly or we function that way. We are all good theologians of the cross. Luther would be proud of all of us. It’s a family tradition… Like Luther, we delight in the ‘simplicity of faith.’ Like Luther, we believe that thinking, reasoning, etc. is a filthy whore who should ‘have dung rubbed in her face to make her ugly’…. Hope of an objective future, and life wisdom, assumes that we are able to think through those things and apply them to our lives. To the Protestant, that is an ugly whore.”     

Protestantism, which includes Baptists et al, is dumbed down by ecclesiastical design. On  April 25, 1518, Martin Luther declared war on the priesthood of believers and sanctification via his declaration of Reformed theology in Heidelberg, Germany. The 95 Thesis was a moral treatise against Rome six months prior, but the Heidelberg Disputation was the very foundation of Reformed ideology. It called on theologians to interpret all of reality from a dual perspective: the glory story or the cross story.

True theology (the cross story) would look at man as worthless and empty with eyes of faith that can only see outward to the glory of God. This made all reality good as the sum equation of God’s goodness and man’s evil. So, tragedy only reflects man’s worthlessness and his deserved plight and the glorification of God following. The glory story was anything that recognized anything IN man at all. No goodness or grace is infused into man. True theology is a purely outward look, and only looks within to find reason for repentance that then glorifies God (“deep repentance”). Luther believed that man can experience the grace of God, but cannot participate in it. That would be works salvation. Man must empty himself to be saved and remain empty till the final judgment.

Hence, any notion that man could become good through salvation was deemed heretical, and a damning false gospel. In many ways, it was predicated on the Platonist idea that all matter is evil, and that would of course include man. The first sentence of the Calvin Institutes (CI 1.1.1) is based on Luther’s dual construct, and then the rest of the Institutes build a full metaphysical statement on the foundation of that first sentence. Pretty impressive. In that sentence, Calvin states that all wisdom is derived from a knowledge of us and knowledge of God. The two opposites define each other. Both Calvin and Luther were followers of Augustine who was the undisputed first and foremost integrationist in Western culture. Plato integrated Eastern mysticism with Western science, and Augustine integrated Platonism with the Bible. A cursory observation of world history makes this plain.

Therefore, the good Luther/Calvin cross theologian heartily agrees with, “study to show thyself approved, a workman that need not be ashamed.” But in the Protestant construct that redefines sanctification (and actually rejects it totally), what does “study” mean? What does “approved” mean? And what does “workman” mean? The Reformers did not believe anybody is approved. They believed work in sanctification (the Christian life) was equivalent to works salvation. Augustine, Luther, and Calvin believed baptism replaced circumcision, and sanctification replaced the Old Testament Sabbath Rest. Working on the Sabbath would bring death, and in the same way, working in sanctification also brings death (John King: The Complete Bible Commentary Collection of John Calvin; Genesis, Ch.2 sec.3, Ch.17 sec.13. Ibid: The Harmony of the Law, Due. 5:12-15, sec. 15).

So, “study” is really a focus on what ANY Bible text says about mankind’s wretched, sinful existence as opposed to God’s holiness. When the equation is seen, a steady flow of Christ’s obedience is imputed to our account and we remain justified. These manifestations may, or may not be experienced, but if they are, it is in the realm of the subjective where even the experience cannot be somehow attributed to us. This selfless, daily bearing of the cross and dying to self will lead to joy, but we do not know if this joy is directly linked to a Christ manifestation. The gospel is objective and remains outside of us, but is experienced subjectively. Any inward focus leads to inward subjectivity and as John Piper stated it, “imperils the soul.”  See post illustration. It is merely an application of Eastern Mysticism to make sanctification by justification possible.

This is why Luther despised reason and called it a prostitute that should have “dung” rubbed in her face to “make her ugly.” Reason is the glory story. Our ability to reason has to do with an inner ability apart from God. Our “study” is limited to seeing the cross more by a greater and greater realization of our God unlikeness. Our “work” is this study and contentment in the ruin that God has sovereignly placed us in. But of course, “Contentment with godliness is great gain.” That is knowing our own place in the caste system which is sovereignly determined by birth. Supposedly, working hard at being content in our own wretched station of life is not work—it’s faith. Problem is, Luther et al considered that to be saving faith as long as it is practiced in sanctification. You do the math. There is a standard for what isn’t work in sanctification and what is work in sanctification for the purpose of remaining justified.

That is why we argue That justification must be a finished work separate from our Christian life.

But this finally brings me to my point. Whether Protestants know it or not (that’s you), we all either believe this directly or we function that way. We are all good theologians of the cross. Luther would be proud of all of us. It’s a family tradition.  Look around, that’s why few Christians know theology or doctrine. In fact, such ignorance in American church culture is a Lutheran badge of honor. Like Luther, we delight in the “simplicity of faith.” Like Luther, we believe that thinking, reasoning, etc. is a filthy whore who should “have dung rubbed in her face to make her ugly.”

Meanwhile, Christians do not know the difference between sanctification and justification, covenants, promises, prophecy, and things like “the book of life.” Why would they? If every verse in the Bible is about how wicked we are as set against God’s holiness, why would we know about those actual BIBLE WORDS. Those aren’t theological words; those are words that are in the Bible.

There is a kind of Christianity in our day that has become extinct. It presumes that if you want to have peace, you have to plan for it. They believe that plan is found in biblical wisdom. Gaining wisdom + planning + applying = peace/happiness. This is opposed to the traditional Christianity of our day that assumes the Bible is not for that purpose. The assumption is that the Bible is a tool for salvific contemplationism that results in subjective manifestations of happiness.

Hope of an objective future, and life wisdom, assumes that we are able to think through those things and apply them to our lives. To the Protestant, that is an ugly whore.

The Book of Life is a massive untapped biblical subject that is a major Segway to additional understanding. For you election buffs, you might be interested in knowing that a cursory study of the subject seems to indicate that EVERYONE born into the world is initially written in the book of life. If that is true, that has major theological implications.

One of the myths about the Reformation is that it made the printed Bible available to the masses. That’s true to a point, but along with increased availability came a distorted purpose in describing its use. This protestant tradition of keeping congregants dumbed down in our day with Lutheran epistemology is exemplified by projects like BibleMesh. These programs find their roots in the Lutheran tradition.

This is why after contemplating the counsel of many different people, I have decided to not screen comments on this blog while I realize that I need a moderator desperately. While the Potter’s House may be a different story, this blog does not seek to protect people from having to stand on their own two cranial hemispheres. People who come here challenge my readers to study new concepts for themselves. The Book of Life issue was in fact brought up by one of those visitors, a doctrine rarely heard of in the church. That’s what inspired this post.

Those who come to the Potter’s House are great thinkers, but yet, the Bible is clear that a local assembly is not an acropolis. There are some who come to PPT that offer strengths that Protestants lack by design: knowledge. It is then up to my readers to show themselves approved.

Moreover, I think the time is nearly upon us when the problem is clearly seen: anti-biblical sanctification. The formal institutionalized church is never going to deal with that because its construct was designed to serve that purpose to begin with. And I don’t think censorship on this blog is a solution by any stretch of the imagination. The solution is to come out from among them while not turning our backs on assembling and fellowshipping with other Christians. An environment where what we learn from the Scriptures is not dictated. A place where we are free to explore EVERYTHING that is in the Scriptures, not just what Luther thought we should know.

Blogs serve to fill that gap until Christians become solution oriented. Leaving church is not the issue, no longer letting control freaks dictate what church is—is the solution, and then acting on it for God’s glory.

paul