Paul's Passing Thoughts

I have been sent another article written by the poetic Scott Bennett who authors Moving Bus Meditations blog. This is the second, very annoying post of his that has been sent to me that I am compelled to respond to. The other one propagated progressive imputation. What’s that? I will explain because it’s a prerequisite to understanding my annoyance with his most recent post:

In salvation; the once saved always saved variety, the righteousness of God the Father is imputed to us when we believe that His Son paid the penalty for our sins. So, justification is not progressive. Our salvation does not grow. It’s a finished work. We grow as new creatures in Christ, but we are no more saved or less saved than when God declared us righteous. Our sanctification is not powered by justification—it’s powered by regeneration; ie, the new birth and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who is our counselor and helper.

Bennett is hardcore Reformed, or an authentic Calvinist. They believe that our justification was also dependent on Christ’s perfect life when He came the first time. He died for our sins on the cross, what they call His “passive obedience,” and He also lived a perfect life as a substitute for our obedience in sanctification, what they call His “active obedience.” They believe this is necessary because John Calvin did not believe justification is a finished work. He believed that the perfect standard of the law must be maintained during our life in order for God’s declaration concerning us to be true. If the law is not obeyed for us perfectly while we are alive, His declaration would be “legal fiction.” So, because Calvin believed that sanctification is the progressive part of our salvation until glorification, and the standard is perfect obedience to the law, Jesus had to therefore live a perfect life for our life as part of the atonement. Unfortunately, and also indicative of our day, I have lost most Christians by now, so let me simplify it for you: Jesus obeys for us. In fact, if you make any effort to obey, you are trying to help Jesus finish your salvation; therefore, you are no different than a Roman Catholic.

“But, but, Jesus obeys for us? How in the world does that happen?!” I’m glad you asked. This was the subject of Bennett’s post. Hardcore authentic followers of the murdering mystic despot John Calvin believe the Bible is a “gospel narrative,” or “story.” As we meditate on the narrative, and see how Jesus obeyed the commands that we are unable to obey to maintain the true legal story that is not fiction, what we “see” is imputed to us. Hence, we experience the obedience and love of Jesus, but it’s not really us doing it. Obeying biblical commands “in our own efforts” is paramount to works salvation. Reformed leaders call this: “the imperative command is grounded in the indicative event.”

“But, but, how do we know when we are obeying “in our own efforts” instead of Jesus  obeying for us?” Again, I’m glad you asked. Any obedience done out of duty, or without joy, or with effort as opposed to a “mere natural flow” is obedience done in “our own effort.” It’s not learn and practice—it’s meditate and experience. Experience is not always part and parcel with who we are. We can experience something that doesn’t define our being; eg, Hitler experienced good things, but that doesn’t mean he was a good person. Our experience is a manifestation in the realm in which we exist, but it is not really us who is responsible for the manifestation.

This is the Segway to his latest post (A Political Post: Are We Following the Wrong Story?). A few more basics to understanding how this supposedly “works”: the “gospel” (or the works of Christ) is the summation of all reality. True reality is only realized by meditating on the gospel narrative. Simply meditating on the gospel story via the Bible shows us a deeper and deeper vision of Christ’s holiness as “set against a deeper and deeper knowledge of our own total depravity.” This results in a “revisiting of the gospel afresh” which results in a “manifestation of love.” Or, now speaking directly to Bennett’s post, the following occurs as a “mere natural flow”:

…. a family spends a Saturday serving warm soup to the homeless.

…. a boy pours out his piggy bank to count the coins he’s collected for his favorite charity.

…. a sweet 77-year-old sings hymns to her dying husband in the night.

….a pastor stands up on a Wednesday night—telling five faithful families one more time about a carpenter who came to earth as Prophet, Priest and King.

Because this doctrine is supposedly lived out through the heavenly realm on earth, it sees worldly affairs as petty. Therefore, Bennett sets the above examples against supposed worldly concerns:

While the nation holds its breath for the outcome of November 6….

While the nation is frozen, paralyzed in its preoccupation over who will occupy the White House….

While America spars dividedly over which party’s brand of change is better….

While bitter political arguments pervade the social networks….

While political prophecies of hope or despair dominate the headlines….

You know, the kind of stuff Abraham Lincoln got tangled up in when he was president. A pity he didn’t spend more time in gospel contemplationism. And I am sure Bennett would think it unspiritual for the Negro population of that time to be concerned for those things regardless of the fact that their relatives were being lynched at will. But oh well—God’s will—right?

Aside from the naive arrogance of it all, Bennett’s doctrine doesn’t manifest his musings. He is a rabid follower of leaders who have a litany of unresolved conflict with many Christians, and are guilty of criminal acts against others, both in the present, and those who hatched this mystic doctrine 500 years ago. While Bennett’s motif is popular among the neo-Calvinists of our day, their more visible leaders work behind the scenes through several organizations to once again get in bed with the government. They lust for a return to Calvin’s Geneva that was a totalitarian state bar none. Missing from Bennett’s fluffy motif are the screams of those burning at the stake and the heads of disobedient children falling into a basket.

He is a hypocrite extraordinaire.

paul