History

Do You Use Thomas Jefferson’s Scissors?

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Thomas Jefferson

Photo taken at Dreamland Wax Museum in Boston

Legend has that Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States of America, would use scissors to cut out portions of the Bible that he didn’t like. I’m not sure he literally did so, but almost no one believes he held to orthodox Christian theology. According to this article on The Jefferson Foundation website, he certainly made himself a judge over how much of Scripture we should believe.

Yes, I wrote an article on this topic only last Friday. But l didn’t get to really address the underlying problem with the attitude that we can determine which parts of Scripture to embrace and which parts to reject.

Humans have elevated themselves over the Word of God since the beginning of creation. Look again at Satan’s tactic in seducing Eve:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. ~~Genesis 3:1-7 (ESV)

“C’mon, Eve, God didn’t really say that! Oh He did? Well, surely you know He just wanted to keep you down! You can stand up to His oppression.  As a matter of fact, eating this delectable fruit (doesn’t it look yummy?) will make you as intelligent as He is. I mean, you can already outwit Him just by ignoring His ridiculous little command.”

Pride always assures us that we know better than to believe that the Bible is actually God’s Word. When something in its pages doesn’t square with our theology, we play with the original language, decide it’s no longer applicable or we ignore it altogether. Like Thomas Jefferson and Eve, we declare our ability to decide what parts of Scripture to believe and what parts to cut out.

Such pride exalts self over God.

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Princes And Horses That Evangelicals Trust

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Trump

Photo taken at Dreamland Wax Museum in Boston, MA

I definitely appreciate my right to vote. Furthermore, as a Christian I believe my vote must reflect a commitment to both the sanctity of life and Biblical sexuality. My convictions require that I vote for candidates that uphold Biblical values. In the last presidential election, I couldn’t vote for either candidate without violating my conscience, but I was very relieved by the outcome.

What if a Democrat wins the presidency in 2020? To be honest, my flesh feels fearful at the prospect. I could list several reasons for my fears, but doing so would not reflect a conviction I hold that goes even deeper than Continue reading →

Saturday Sampler: March 30 — April 6

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rose-sampler-silk

Reacting to the growing sentiment among evangelicals that same sex attraction, unless one physically acts on it, is morally neutral, R. Scott Clark writes It Was Not So From The Beginning: Nature And Grace Teach Us That SSA Is Sin in the Abounding Grace Radio blog. As our culture pressures us to compromise with its redefinition of sexual morality, articles like this one keep us grounded in Biblical truth.

Leonardo De Chirico, in his monthly article for The Vatican Files, presents a fascinating and vitally important discussion. 160. Is the Nicene Faith the Basis for Ecumenism? clarifies the importance of doctrine as we determine whether or not to pursue unity with someone.

Don’t miss How to Repent of Slander in a Digital Age by Dr. Jay Sklar of Covenant Theological Seminary. If you use any form of social media, this post is for you!

As our culture tries to redefine marriage, Christians must remember that Marriage Isn’t About Children, Because Marriage Isn’t About Us. John Ellis explains this truth in his post for adayinhiscourt.

Core Christianity features Cameron Cole’s concerning article, Four Things Youth Workers Would Tell Parents About Teenagers, Social Media, and Technology. It’s not the easiest piece to read, but those of you who have kids really need to understand what your sons and daughters do with their smart phones.

If you haven’t seen the movie Unplanned yet, take a moment to consider Pastor Gabriel Hughes’ thoughts in A Pastor’s Review of Unplanned: Uncertain of its Own Message, which he posts in The Midwestern Baptist. His review underscores the necessity of using discernment before jumping on the latest evangelical bandwagon.

Julie Ganschow of Biblical Counseling for Women finds that not all those billing themselves as Biblical counselors actually counsel Biblically. Wolves Among Sheep equips us to make distinctions between man-centered counseling and God-centered counseling. Ladies,  please don’t ignore these distinctions!

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Saturday Sampler: March 24 — March 30

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Tulip Sampler

Each Sunday, Phil Johnson features a devotional or sermon excerpt by Charles Spurgeon on the Pyromaniacs blog. This week’s quotation tells us How to meet the evils of this age. It always amazes me that things Spurgeon wrote over 100 years ago apply so accurately to 21st Century evangelicals.

Do you know The Early Symptoms of Spiritual Danger? Writing for the Ligonier blog, Sinclair Ferguson discusses apostasy, using a passage in Hebrews 6 to explores how someone becomes an apostate.

In Christians and Coming Out Redux, John Ellis of adayinhiscourt uses personal experience to illustrate the world’s wholesale rejection of Christian values. If you have any doubt that non-Christians lack tolerance for Bible-believing Christians, I urge you to consider this article.

For years, I’ve wondered how progressives would respond when the Muslims they supported refused to support LBGTQIA concerns. Stephen McAlpine sees this unraveling of causes beginning, and writes about it in Secularism’s (Misplaced) Confidence. Maybe I’m not so crazy after all.

Michelle Lesley encourages us, using Scripture as authority, not to be Frightened by Freedom.

I appreciate the candor of Andrea Burke in The One Life Dream That Makes a Girl Blush, featured in For The Church. The post takes me back to my days as a single woman and the guilt I felt for wanting to be married.

Drawing from 1 Samuel 4:1-11, Elizabeth Prata of The End Time shows us that “The more things change, the more they stay the same” rings true. This Old Testament episode should sober us as we consider how we approach life.

It’s a Christian’s greatest fear.  And Mike Ratliff addresses that fear with his article in Possessing the Treasure entitled What is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? If you genuinely love the Lord, you’ll find this short Bible Study wonderfully reassuring.

Let’s have a second one from Elizabeth Prata, shall we? “God Told Me:” About those whispers to the heart evaluates claims that God speaks to people personally. It distresses me that we still need instruction on this matter. Be sure to watch the videos by Gabe Hughes and Mike Abendroth that Elizabeth includes in her post.

SharaC, the purveyor of Into the Foolishness of God, challenges the popular notion that the Bible is muddy and therefore difficult to understand by writing Deconstructing Faith. While I disagree with her comments about doubt, her overall argument for the clarity of God’s Word makes this article essential reading. I wish more bloggers would stand this resolutely against efforts to dilute the Word!

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St. Patrick’s Breastplate

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John and I listen to a variety of Christian podcasts and watch several Christian YouTube channels. I particularly enjoy Bruce Gore for his church history lectures. Bruce Gore isn’t a big Christian celebrity; he merely videotapes Adult Sunday School classes and classes he teaches in a Christian school. He’s informative and often amusing.

Last weekend, John and I watched Gore’s Sunday School class on St. Patrick. I’d heard and read about Patrick from other sources, so most of the information served as a refresher for me. He did add depth to the familiar narrative, most particularly in showing God’s hand in giving Patrick love and compassion for the very people who kidnapped and enslaved him.

But rather than focus solely on Patrick’s missionary work in Ireland, Gore wonderfully brought out Patrick’s love for Christ. As a matter of fact, Patrick clung to Christ as his breastplate Who shielded him.

But I was surprised when Gore said that Patrick wrote a hymn about Christ, which is sometimes referred to as The Breastplate of St. Patrick. When Gore mentioned that his church occasionally sings this hymn, I looked it up on YouTube. I love the way Patrick honored Christ in the lyrics. And what better hymn to post today?

 

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It’s Not About John Calvin

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Blue Twirl Flip BorderChristians outside the Reformed tradition frequently accuse those of us who embrace Reformed Theology of following John Calvin rather than worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ.  Perhaps our willingness to accept the Calvinist label,  contrasted with their general unawareness that they follow the teachings of Jacobus Arminius, causes them to make this mistake.  And very few will call themselves Arminians.

Most often, Arminians simply don’t know how much of their theology derives from teachings that Arminius began. Yet accusing Arminians of following Jacobus Arminius instead of following their understanding of Scripture would be absolutely unfair, as well as showing an ignorance of church history. Just as Calvin’s approach to doctrine didn’t reach full development until the Synod of Dort, so the Five Articles of Remonstrance weren’t drafted until the year after Arminius died.

I disagree with the Five Articles of Remonstrance based on my understanding of the Bible, in much the same way that Christians in the Arminian camp disagree with the Five Points of Calvinism that the Synod of Dort developed in response to the Five Articles. Although I pretty much subscribed to Arminian thought (without knowing I was an Arminian) for over three decades, my Continue reading →

Saturday Sampler: December 9 — December 15

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Snowmen Sampler

So often, Leslie A writes things in Growing 4 Life that make me want to jump out of my wheelchair, do a happy dance and shout “YES!” at the top of my lungs. To see a blog post that gives me such a giddy reaction, read Is There More Than One Way to Interpret Scripture?

Speaking of posts that resonate with me, go over to Possessing the Treasure and read The Believer’s Supreme Act of Spiritual Worship by Mike Ratliff. He accurately diagnosis major problems among evangelicals and prescribes the remedy.

Elizabeth Prata also has me ready to do a happy dance because of her essay, Another good reason to develop discernment, which appears in The End Time. It’s incredibly refreshing when a well-known discernment blogger writes an article like this! But my poor wheelchair is beginning to look awfully empty!

One of the reasons I love living near Boston is its rich literary history. Several years ago, John took me to Longfellow’s house in Cambridge to celebrate my birthday. So I appreciate Barry York’s A Lesson Learned in Longfellow’s Home in Gentle Reformation. I don’t know if Longfellow truly knew Christ,  but the poem still has tremendous power.

The lady who blogs at Biblical Beginnings writes Movie Review — Polycarp. After reading her review, I got my husband to pull this movie up on Amazon Prime. Except for the hokey lighting behind Polycarp’s  head during one of his prayers, it’s an excellent film. And as we see persecution approach Christians in the United States, this movie offers wonderful encouragement.

Having a range of personal struggles and sorrow over the death of my former prayer partner, I appreciate Jessica Jenkins’ When Christmas Doesn’t Feel Merry in Biblical Woman this week. If you’re hurting, please make time to read this piece.

Allen Nelson IV, writing for Things Above Us, shows us How Not to Be a Heretic this Christmas as we contemplate the Incarnation. Don’t miss this short but comprehensive look at five common errors in understanding Christ as 100% God and 100% Man.

Do you need 5 Reasons To Read The Bible When You Feel Absolutely Nothing? Then Stephen Altrogge’s blog post in The Blazing Center is perfect for you!

 

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