Monthly Archives: May 2013

Heaven Is Open!

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Albert Barnes

“There is room!” What a glorious declaration is this in regard to the gospel! There yet is room. Millions have been saved, but there yet is room. Millions have been invited, and have come, and have gone to heaven, but heaven is not yet full. There is a banquet there which no number can exhaust; there are fountains which no number can drink dry; there are harps there which other hands may strike; and there are seats there which others may occupy. Heaven is not full, and there yet is room. The Sunday school teacher may say to his class, there yet is room; the parent may say to his children, there yet is room; the minister of the gospel may go and say to the wide world, there yet is room. The mercy of God is not exhausted; the blood of the atonement has not lost its efficacy; heaven is not full. What a sad message it “would” be if we were compelled to go and say, “There is no more room – heaven is full – not another one can be saved. No matter what their prayers, or tears, or sighs, they cannot be saved. Every place is filled; every seat is occupied.” But, thanks be to God, this is not the message which we are to bear; and if there yet is room, come, sinners, young and old, and enter into heaven. Fill up that room, that heaven may be full of the happy and the blessed. If any part of the universe is to be vacant, O let it be the dark world of woe! – Albert Barnes (via Clay Gentry on Facebook)

A new tool for tour leaders

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Check out THIS book!

Ferrell Jenkins's avatarFerrell's Travel Blog

Near the end of January when I received my copy of The Satellite Bible Atlas, I decided that I would secure a copy for each member of my April tour group. Arrangements were made to have the books delivered to my tour operator in Jerusalem so that they would be available for use by the group at the beginning of the tour.

Ideally, it would be good for tour groups to meet together for classes prior to the tour. I have never been able to do this because my groups have come from many states, and sometimes a foreign country.

The first morning of touring I had the driver stop on the kurkar ridge along the Mediterranean Sea a few miles north of Netanya while we handed out the “surprise” books and explained them to the tour members. I asked them to turn to the maps that showed the…

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A HYMN FOR TODAY – As With Gladness Men of Old

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A HYMN FOR TODAY 

As with gladness men of old 
Did the guiding star behold, 
As with joy they hailed its light, 
Leading onward, beaming bright, 
So, most glorious Lord, may we 
Evermore be led to Thee. 

Holy Jesus, every day 
Keep us in the narrow way; 
And when earthly things are past, 
Bring our ransomed souls at last 
Where they need no star to guide, 
Where no clouds Thy glory hide. 

In the heavenly country bright 
Need they no created light; 
Thou its light, its joy, its crown, 
Thou its sun which goes not down; 
There forever may we sing 
Alleluias to our King! 

7.7.7.7.7.7 – William C. Dix, 1860

Tune: GLENCOE – Wayne S. Walker, 1994

#693 in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, 2012

Does “Abba” mean “Daddy”?

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Ferrell Jenkins's avatarFerrell's Travel Blog

You have heard it many times. Many of the things a preacher reads or hears sound good. So, he repeats it the next time he is speaking on a related topic. Then the members of the congregation begin to repeat it to their friends.

Child holding hand of adult.

But, is it true that Abba means something like daddy or papa?

In a series of posts beginning with the word FactChecker, Glenn T. Stanton  tracks down the origin of this idea to the German Lutheran New Testament scholar Joachim Jeremias in 1971. He also shows that several other reputable scholar responded in a scholarly way to the claim.

One of the sources he cites is a 1988 article by James Barr:

But in any case it was not a childish expression comparable with ‘Daddy’: it was a more solemn, responsible, adult address to a Father.

Ministers should read Stanton’s blog (here)…

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Rob Bell and Andrew Wilson – Radio Forum on Homosexuality and Christianity

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Rob Bell and Andrew Wilson – Radio Forum on Homosexuality and Christianity

Affirming the World – the standard about this particular issue seems to be “it doesn’t make any sense to me” – therefore I am at liberty to dismiss what Scripture says. This is a clinic on dodging a question you can’t answer.

50 Rules For Dads of Daughters

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50 Rules For Dads of Daughters

This is a wonderful blog – regretting how many of these “rules” I broke, it’s still worth reading and posting.

A HYMN FOR TODAY – Daysong

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A HYMN FOR TODAY

Daysong

The sands of time are sinking;
The dawn of heaven breaks;
The summer morn I’ve sighed for,
The fair, sweet morn awakes.

Green pastures are before me,
Which yet I have not seen.
Bright skies will soon be o’er me,
Where darkest clouds have been.

No night is there, no sorrow,
No death and no decay,
No yesterday, no morrow,
But one eternal day.

7.6.7.6 – Various authors

Tune: Lasst uns Alle New

Gesangbuch Ander Teil, 1632
arr. Matthew L. Harber, 2011

#670 in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, 2012

“Daysong” is another “composite” hymn, demonstrating that properly-metered lyrics can be matched to many tunes written in that same meter. This allows worship leaders to “mix and match,” creating “new hymns” from verses of different hymns but with the same themes.  Setting them to different or unfamiliar tunes can revive older tunes and “freshen” verses worshipers might be tempted to sing by “rote” due to their familiarity.

The hymns from which this “composite” is constructed are “The Sands of Time” by Anne Ross Cousin, 1857 (#710); “In Heavenly Love Abiding” by Anna L. Waring, 1850 (#667 & 668); and “There Is a Habitation” by Love H. Jameson, 1882 (#749) – all hymns which have stood the test of time due to strong, Biblical lyrics, written in proper metrical form.

De-theologizing God

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De-theologizing God

What We Talk About When We Talk About God

ARTICLE BY MICHAEL KRUGER  MAY 2013
belltalkaboutgod93.jpg

Rob Bell, What We Talk About When We Talk About God (New York: HarperOne, 2013), 240 pp., $16.00
“Detheologizing” Christianity
For those who have read Rob Bell’s other books (such as Love Wins andVelvet Elvis), the tone, disposition, and content of this new book will sound all too familiar.  InWhat We Talk About When We Talk About God, Bell continues his campaign to reshape and repackage Christianity for this postmodern generation, and to rescue it from those he thinks are holding it back (traditional Christians).
In this way, Bell positions himself as an apologist of sorts. Our world views the Christian God as irrelevant and outdated (like an Oldsmobile), and Bell’s mission is to give Him an extreme makeover. Bell takes the God who seems like a grumpy, judgmental old man in a polyester suit who is pointing his finger at you while simultaneously thumping the Bible, and changes him into a hip, urban young guy with skinny jeans and horn-rimmed glasses who invites you to have a latte with him and ponder the mysteries of the universe.
Bell’s book, therefore, functions a lot like the Apple vs. Microsoft commercial that was popular a number of years ago. Microsoft was represented by an out of shape, poorly dressed geek, while Apple was represented by a thin, hip, well-dressed urbanite. In effect, Bell is arguing that God is not like Microsoft. He is more like Apple. God is relevant. He can keep up with the times.
Unfortunately, being an apologist for the faith does not always lead one to uphold the faith.  Indeed, there is a long history of folks who have sought to defend Christianity from critical attacks by simply changing the problematic portions of the faith. In other words, apologetics is not always about defending what we believe, but is sometimes about modifying what we believe.  Apologetics is sometimes about giving Christianity an extreme makeover.
In this regard, one thinks of scholars like Rudolph Bultmann. Despite the negative press Bultmann has received, it should be noted that Bultmann regarded himself as a committed Christian and a defender of the faith. Bultmann recognized that in this modern, enlightened age, people could no longer believe in supernatural events. So, in order to rescue Christianity from its imminent demise, Bultmann stripped all the supernatural elements out of the faith (see his book, New Testament and Mythology). In short, he “demythologized” the Bible. Bultmann wanted to convince people that God wasn’t an Oldsmobile. God could keep up with the times.
Of course, Bell’s method of defending Christianity is not by stripping it of its supernatural elements (that was the issue in Bultmann’s day). On the contrary, Bell is quite keen to remind the reader of the supernatural–God is everywhere, busy at work, in us and in our world.   Instead, Bell’s makeover method is to change Christianity into a broad “spirituality.”  His book downplays (and in some instances, simply ignores) many of the key doctrines that make Christianity distinctive. He simply turns Christianity into vague, general, theism. Whereas Bultmann demythologized the faith, Bell has detheologized the faith.
Bell’s makeover motif is evident from the very opening chapter, entitled “Hum.” He complains that there are many “conventional categories” of belief that are harmful to the church. His examples include the belief that women shouldn’t be pastors, the belief that “everybody that is gay is going to hell,” and the belief that non-Christians will endure “untold suffering” after the second coming of Christ (p.6-7). These are the types of beliefs (though not all) that Christianity must rid itself of, if it is to avoid going the way of the Oldsmobile.
In chapter two, entitled “Open,” Bell offers modified form of the teleological argument. He goes into great detail about the order and the complexity of the universe in an effort to show the skeptic that you can’t rule out the existence of God–the universe is too marvelous, too complex, to be sure there is no divine. I think this chapter will be effective with the non-Christian, and is probably the best (and most interesting ) chapter in the book.
In chapter three, entitled “Both,” Bell returns more directly to his makeover motif. The overall point of this chapter is that the language we use to describe God is inherently and unavoidably vague–God is beyond words. And if God is beyond our ability to explain, then we cannot really be certain in our beliefs about God. Bell laments those fundamentalist types who process God in either/or categories. “There are limits to our certainty because God, it’s repeated again and again, is spirit.  And spirit has no shape or form” (p. 88).
It is clear that Bell is using this chapter to set the stage for his makeover. If words about God are unclear, and we can never really be certain about anything, then we should not feel bound by certain limitations about God. This allows Bell to scold those “fundamentalist” types who are all too certain about their theology, and it allows him to suggest that we should think of God differently. In particular, Bell hones in on the issue of God’s gender. He argues that masculine language in the Bible about God is just the product of primitive cultures that couldn’t help but think of their “god” as male (p.88-89).
In chapter four, entitled “With,” Bell focuses on the immanence of God and how he is always near and present with us. This would be fine if Bell stuck to biblical categories about the way that God is present. But, instead he “detheologizes” the Christian view of God’s immanence and makes it more like New Age, Gnostic spiritualism. God’s presence is described in language like “creative energy,” a “life force,” and an “unending divine vitality” (p. 106). This divine energy creates a oneness to the universe: “When we talk about God, we’re talking about the straightforward affirmation that everything has a singular, common source and is infinitely, endlessly, deeply connected” (p.118).  This sounds more like “the Force” from Star Wars, than the God of the Bible.
In chapter five, entitled “For,” Bell says that he wants to recover the “fundamental Christian message that God is for us” (128). That is certainly a commendable goal, but Bell once again “detheologizes” what this concept actually means according to Scripture. Entirely missing in this chapter–indeed entirely missing in the whole book–is any meaningful discussion of the cross and atonement. Absent is discussion about our sin, God’s wrath on our sin, and how Christ’s death on the cross paid that penalty. Absent is the clarification that without the cross, God is definitely not for us and that his wrath remains on us. Sure, Bell talks about Jesus and the incarnation. But, the mission of Jesus is reshaped so that its purpose is “giving us a picture of God who is not distant or detached or indifferent to our pain…but instead is present among us in Jesus to teach us and help us and suffer with us” (p. 131).
In the final two chapters, Bell continues to talk about key Christian themes such as Jesus, repentance, confession, forgiveness, and so on. But, incredibly, he empties each of these terms of their biblical meaning and simply replaces them with a meaning that fits with postmodern spirituality. His “detheologizing” of Christianity is complete.
In the end, my overall concern about this volume is a simple one: it is not Christian. Bell’s makeover of Christianity has changed it into something entirely different. It is not Christianity at all, it is modern liberalism. It is the same liberalism that Machen fought in the 1920’s and the same liberalism prevalent in far too many churches today. It is the liberalism that teaches that God exists and that Jesus is the source of our happiness and our fulfillment, but all of this comes apart from any real mention of sin, judgment, and the cross. It is the liberalism that says we can know nothing for sure, except of course, that those “fundamentalists” are wrong. It is the liberalism that appeals to the Bible from time to time, but then simply ignores large portions of it.
Bell’s book, therefore, is really just spiritualism with a Christian veneer. It’s a book that would fit quite well on Oprah’s list of favorite books. What is Rob Bell talking about when he is talking about God? Not the God of Christianity.
Dr. Michael Kruger is President and Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. You can read more of Dr. Kruger’s writings here.

Bob Dylan, Doc Watson and the White Pilgrim, or Restoration History Shows Up in Unexpected Places

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Restoration History in Odd Places – from McGarvey Ice

mac's avatareScriptorium

These liner notes, available here, give the gist of it.   Nice articles are available here and here. I can’t find Dylan’s version on YouTube; no matter though as Doc Watson below, either one…pick one…can’t likely be improved upon. 🙂

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A HYMN FOR TODAY – We Praise Thee, O God, Our Redeemer

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A HYMN FOR TODAY

We praise Thee, O God, our Redeemer, Creator;
In grateful devotion our tribute we bring.
We lay it before Thee; we kneel and adore Thee.
We bless Thy holy name; glad praises we sing.

We worship Thee, God of our fathers; we bless Thee.
Through life’s storm and tempest our Guide hast Thou been.
When perils o’ertake us, Thou wilt not forsake us,
And with Thy help, O LORD, life’s battles we win.

With voices united our praises we offer,
And gladly our songs of true worship we raise.
Thy strong arm will guide us; our God is before us.
To Thee, our great Redeemer, ever be praise.

12.11.12.11 – Julia C. Cory, 1902

Tune: KREMSER – Valerius’ Collection, 1626
arr. Edward Kremser, 1877

#139 in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, 2012

WE PRAISE THEE, O GOD, OUR REDEEMER directs praise to God as our Redeemer. It also blesses Him as Creator, Guide, and Helper. (Isaiah 44:24; 47:4)