Capitalism is Next to Godliness
Originally published July 7, 2014
The overall wellbeing of the world matters to God. He is not indifferent to injustice whether among the lost or the saved. He allows it to rain and shine on both. God does not disdain His creation though fallen.
Christ told the following parable:
Luke 10:30 – Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Notice that Jesus doesn’t make an issue of whether or not the victim was a Christian or not. God is concerned with what happens in the world. Certainly, salvation is of the paramount concern, but not to the exclusion of every other reality. Jesus called that “compassion.” I argue that the closer people are to a truly biblical worldview, the better off they are overall. And, no circumstance good or bad has the market cornered on leading people to Christ. The gospel is not benefited by the world being in misery.
The fact is, man was born free, capable, and responsible. He was born to work, accomplish, and overcome. If he was a fish, these are the waters that he swims in. God is not indifferent to the state of humanity in North Korea versus America, and Christians should be concerned likewise. Politics are important. Consider the following:
Proverbs 31:11 – The heart of her husband hath trusted in her, And spoil he lacketh not. 12 She hath done him good, and not evil, All days of her life. 13 She hath sought wool and flax, And with delight she worketh [with] her hands. 14 She hath been as ships of the merchant, From afar she bringeth in her bread. 15 Yea, she riseth while yet night, And giveth food to her household, And a portion to her damsels. 16 She hath considered a field, and taketh it, From the fruit of her hands she hath planted a vineyard. 17 She hath girded with might her loins, And doth strengthen her arms. 18 She hath perceived when her merchandise [is] good, Her lamp is not extinguished in the night. 19 Her hands she hath sent forth on a spindle, And her hands have held a distaff. 20 Her hand she hath spread forth to the poor, Yea, her hands she sent forth to the needy. 21 She is not afraid of her household from snow, For all her household are clothed [with] scarlet. 22 Ornamental coverings she hath made for herself, Silk and purple [are] her clothing. 23 Known in the gates is her husband, In his sitting with elders of the land. 24 Linen garments she hath made, and selleth, And a girdle she hath given to the merchant. 25 Strength and honour [are] her clothing, And she rejoiceth at a latter day. 26 Her mouth she hath opened in wisdom, And the law of kindness [is] on her tongue. 27 She [is] watching the ways of her household, And bread of sloth she eateth not. 28 Her sons have risen up, and pronounce her happy, Her husband, and he praiseth her, 29 `Many [are] the daughters who have done worthily, Thou hast gone up above them all.’ 30 The grace [is] false, and the beauty [is] vain, A woman fearing Jehovah, she may boast herself. 31 Give ye to her of the fruit of her hands, And her works do praise her in the gates! (YLT).
In these verses, a free market is assumed; earned self-esteem is assumed, the ability of all to do good is assumed, and truthful/rightful recognition is assumed.
And the folly of worm theology is also assumed.
paul
The Ramblings of a Dictionary Nerd
Originally published August 4, 2013
Our son, Philip, called me a Word Nerd the other day. I love words and increasing my collection and understanding of them is enjoyable. There is an orange paperback Handy College Dictionary fourth edition lying next to my laptop, and I use the Merriam-Webster online dictionary daily to find the best word and the most complete meaning of a word to use when I write. I write assessments, goals, objectives, case notes, and reports for my job. On occasion, I write an article for my husband’s blog, and I am attempting to write a novella. (I forbid anyone to read it for it is my creative way to download, and to keep an old mind working as sharply as possible.) When I had extra time last week, I tracked down the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious; an interesting little research sidebar. So, you think I have gone off the deep end? Perhaps, but I will go out with a rich vocabulary.
Confusing and/or impressing people with fancy or impressive words is not the intent of wanting a strong vocabulary. The point to developing and using a strong vocabulary is to be able to choose words with greater precision. It makes communication simpler, not the opposite as some think. Studying words also helps me in my study of the Word.
Take for example the word grip. Out of curiosity, I used the online dictionary to give me wonderful meanings of that commonly used word. I played tennis back in the day and was always being instructed on how to improve my grip. Everyone who played the game with me always assured me that if I strengthened my grip, my ability to control the ball would improve. There are idioms which use the word grip such as: get a grip, come to grips, and lose your grip, in the grip of something. I have lost count of the times I have been told to “Get a grip.”
A firm, tenacious hold to gain or maintain control or mastery was one rendition I preferred. Immediately, I cross-referenced the word tenacious and by doing so, the meaning of the word grip was expanded. Tenacious: not easily pulled apart, persistent, determined, unfaltering, unrelenting. Grip means to take hold with a determined, unfaltering hold in order to gain or maintain control/mastery of a situation, person, or thing. With more investigation, I learned that grip and tenacious had both positive and negative connotations. Grip also has the softer meanings to embrace, clasp, cling, or cradle, and tenacious can mean bull-headed, unregenerate, and stiff-necked. So, an expanded rendition of grip can be a firm, tenacious hold, or a bull-headed clinging to a person, situation, or thing in order to gain or maintain control or mastery.
Why do we grip people, situations, or things so tightly? Is it an attempt to gain or maintain control? Is it fear that something less or inferior will replace what is being held onto so tightly, or even worse, lost forever? Is it a reluctance to say good-bye to the past and a resistance to embrace the future? Is it for security or an emotional safety net? If my questions were on a checklist, I would be checking yes to all of the above.
Gripping the past, hanging on tenaciously to it, does it change the present? Can it affect the future? Yes. It keeps daily growth and spiritual transformation from happening, affects present and future relationships with family, friends, and even casual acquaintances, and hinders new and deeper experiences from being enjoyed. It can be a raw form of rejection.
Even holding onto the good things of the past too tightly can affect personal growth and positive change. How many times have we heard the phrase, “We’ve always done it this way,” because someone at the church or in the family doesn’t want to experience change?
We are told in God’s Word to hold and to also let go. The Apostle Paul tells us to hold onto right thinking and strong doctrine, to hold on to what is good with the promised result of deeper sanctification. I did a quick, not exhaustive, word search of cling, and hold. It was interesting to me that in some of the references I read for the word hold, it was in regard to supporting something. Now, doesn’t that give a perspective on how we can grip someone or something? Rather than hanging on in order to gain or maintain control, we can tenaciously support that person, or organization. Support…do I feel another itch to look up a commonly used word and see what new perspective I can get?
Just like the circuitous storyline in the children’s book If You Give a Mouse A Cookie : When I now hear the word grip, my mind will flash back to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary; and when I go to the online dictionary I will get curious and will look up words. Hmmmmm… And if I look up words I will want to read their definitions. I will even look up the word definition and discover that it’s a statement of the meaning of a word, exemplification, elucidation, clarification, rendering, vignette…….
Ok, Susan, “Get a grip.”
Cross Conference Website Full of In-Your-Face Spiritual Caste
Originally published December 12, 2013
I have written much on the whole power of the keys thing that New Calvinists advocate. Basically, it’s the idea that truth comes down from God to the elders, and then the elders disseminate the truth to the unenlightened masses. We call this “orthodoxy.” A good example of orthodoxy is the Westminster Confession authored by, and don’t miss this, “the Westminster Divines.” Did I say, “Divines”? Yes I did.
Prior to the Reformation, it was the philosopher king’s parable or noble lie: mythology. By the way, “orthodoxy” is a word that is born from, and is part and parcel with the marriage of church and state. The etymology of “orthodoxy” has always been associated with eras when “truth” was owned by the state. Using that word as a synonym for “truth” in our day is an epistemological sleight of hand. The word is used to subtly assimilate the idea of spiritual caste into the minds of people who are not paying close attention to words in an open society.
The power of the keys gig also includes the authority of elders to decide who is saved and who isn’t. When you get kicked out of a New Calvinist church, they honestly believe that they have removed your name from the Book of Life. After being removed from the Book of Life by the Clearcreek elders, and other Calvinistic elders that I have never heard of threatening to do the same, I wondered where they get this stuff, so I perused my trusty copy of the Calvin Institutes and found this notion in 4.1.21,22.
Regarding CROSS, the official website of the upcoming Cross conference where the future leaders of the church are going to be fed this stuff, everywhere you poke that site, this kind of caste mentality comes oozing out. Consider the following:
The Great Commission was given to a community. Western readers have tended to read the Great Commission passages (especially Luke 24 and Matthew 28) in light of the autonomous individual. We [tend to] interpret the commissioning scenes as tasks assigned to individual Christians. But a proper focus on the corporate dimension of these accounts helps us understand the commissionings in light of the identity Jesus bestows upon a community. Jesus does not send a Christian to the nations, but a church.
Being interpreted: all faith based ministries not under the authority of “the church” have no mandate from Christ. Also, the constant referring to Western thinking this and Western thinking that among New Calvinists is very, very creepy if you know where it is coming from. This is in contrast to medieval Reformed thinking that, in Martin Luther’s words, “settles all disputes by sentence of death.”
And a PPT friend sent the next example. Remember when Jesus talked about the vine and the branches in John 15? Do you remember anything about elders being in that conversation? Well, note the following screen shot from the conclusion of a John Piper video:
Listen folks, we can’t let these guys feed this stuff to our youth without putting up some kind of a fuss. These are future leaders coming to a church near you. These are young people who will leave that conference and take these ideas into hundreds of local churches. I interviewed a media guy today who will hopefully be videotaping our dialogue with the young people at the conference. After it sank in, he commented, “Sooooo, you are going right into the belly of the beast.”
Well, somebody needs to. Come and join us.
paul
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