Life is Busy

Just a quick note on some things that are happening.

I'm still corresponding with Marijke, who has asked some questions about the Bible and related things. She agrees now that at least the ark would have been feasible (I showed her some statistics on it and some arguments) and I've introduced some geological reasons why the Bible and the Flood may indeed be true! She has a very sarcastic personality so it's hard to tell how much of an impact it makes, mostly I'm being there, trying to support through hard times and she seems really appreciative that someone would take the time to both speak to her, and pray for her (which she says has never happened before). I've given a gospel presentation but she still believes that a "god or goddess" would not condemn their children but would forgive them. It does all go back to a view of the depravity of man and how much of a terrible thing any kind of sin is in the sight of a thrice holy God. Hopefully I can keep pounding away and I'm praying for the Spirit to work in her life to convince and convert, for it is obvious that I can do nothing. It's a good reminder that I need to just keep going back to the Scriptures.

I haven't heard from J.J. real recently, but the last time I heard from her she was doing fine, apparently reading her Bible though not completely caught up and she had asked for more of Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotionals. She was thankful that I was helping "keep her accountable." Though if that's the case, I'm doing a horrible job of it.

I've been working with my siblings on memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism, they are up to question 18 now (I'm generally trying to have them do one a day), though Kady hasn't been able to quite keep up. It's a chore sometimes to make sure everyone is on track and realizes what I'm going to test them on. And though I've stopped asking them all questions every night and have been going around, asking each a question in turn, it still takes a while. After they get the first 25 down well, then I'll move on and quiz them on the next 25, or that is how I am planning on doing it. Every day I take the supporting scriptures for the answer they are learning and read them, as well as explaining what the question and answer mean.

Personally, I'm attempting to memorize the Larger Catechism (since the shorter said it was for those of weaker capacity) but it's not just twice as long, I think it's about four times as long. I took two a day for a while but I'm slowing down and doing only one a day. I'm beginning to think that I may be one of those of the weaker capacity! I'm up to question 35 and shall be doing 36 tomorrow. I'm very appreciative of the exactness of the language they use and how every phrase certainly has a meaning to the whole answer. I'm kind of intimidated by some of the answers on the Ten Commandments however, because some of them are a long list of words (sins forbidden for example) and I'm not sure how I'm ever going to remember the order. And I'm already stumbling on some of the earlier ones I went through. It may take a while (approximately another five months) but I hope to eventually finish it. It's hard though because some of the questions are similar to the Shorter Catechism but not quite, so I'm almost learning two different versions, and on top of that, the one in my book and the one I printed out are slightly different in that the one I printed out (to carry in my shirt pocket) takes "promiseth" and turns it to "promises." I'd rather learn the old one I think. And then I'm not very good at memorizing I think, so I have to sit there for a while, which takes time from reading and studying ;)

I also just wrote a long e-mail to a young lady that I've had several classes with though I never really spoke much to except through e-mail. A Christian who attended Countryside Baptist and I believe I mentioned before. A very modest and nice young lady who definitely was different from the average college student. The e-mail converstations have been almost strictly about church and school and I found out that she was one of the Mennonite Brethren and she mentioned (I didn't) that apparently they were Armenian and she just recently said that they of course did believe that men didn't save themselves, but they have the power to choose (Mennonites come from Anabaptist roots apparently) so I posed some questions for her, wrote a little bit (haha) on freedom. Well, I'll include the main part of it I guess. I really did try to keep it down to a minimum at this point. I'm not going to force the issue so it's up to her to continue the discussion but if her past conduct is any indication then I think she will, because she truly does seem to be seeking to know and to love God and I've been surprised by some of the stands she took, which do not seem to be as a general rule, a part of what I would imagine to be her background.

And then I've sent a few e-mails (very long ones) back and forth with the Pastor of the Reformed (Southern) Baptist church here. When he spoke of the second commandment and how we make God out to be what he is not sometimes by only focusing on certain attributes, I sent him an e-mail and said something along the lines of isn't that what hymns do sometimes? They always focus on God's love and grace, but his Jesus Christ as a "friend" etc. and are irreverent to him (and I briefly mentioned some of what I had studied about the name of Jesus). He agreed with much of what I was saying and I don't know if I had any impact at all, but Sunday he spoke in the morning (about taking the Lord's name in vain" and mentioned how often we use the name Jesus irreverently and while he wasn't going to make a legalistic thing out of it, we should at least reverence him in our hearts and properly he is called the Christ, that is his title (which was almost exactly what I had said, I'm not going to be legalistic or say it should be any certain way, but the Lord Jesus does have titles that are properly ascribed to him). Then in the morning service he spoke on Colossians 3:16 which speaks of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. I had had a long discussion with him through e-mail on this and had said that while I didn't think that many people would be convicted of exlusive Psalmody, that I was saddened that there wasn't at least a third of Psalms sung. And I mentioned a lot of other things. Well, the pastor said Sunday, when he got to this part, that he felt it was indicative of "blended" worship, including the hymns of men, but he said also "but look, it does say to sing the Psalms and it is clear that this is the book of Psalms. Where are they in our singing today? We need to be doing this." He also said that many of the hymns in the Baptist Hymnal were not reverant of God but were very irreverent and wrong. It was more than I had hoped for and I was so very thankful for this! I don't know if my discussions had any influence at all or if it would have taken place had I not been brought to speak to him on this matter but I am thankful it did! He had borrowed my Psalter and I am very hopeful that we'll begin singing some of the Psalms soon. Since next Sunday he'll be speaking on the fourth commandment, the Sabbath, I am also writing him on that subject and sharing some quotes. I am very grateful that he takes time to listen to me and to write me back with his own views and learnings. I hope I don't "overstay" that welcome though, because I do tend to write a lot, though I try to keep it down to a minimum.

So that, in addition to my own reading and studies, is what keeps me busy. Each of these e-mails requires a bit of study to prepare because I don't want to be saying something without support. In addition to that, I WANT to do some blog posts. I'll try to keep it regularly updated ;)




Here is part of the e-mail I sent to the Mennonite girl:

Let me start out by asking what it means to have freedom of the will? For example, I would think that every Christian would say God is a free agent, meaning that he can do as he pleases. But this freedom is confined to his nature. We say that God is infinitely free, yet does God sin? Such a thought is abhorrent, God CANNOT sin because sinning is not a part of his nature.

A woman who is always benevolent and is kindly, will act according to her character. If a small child appears shivering on her doorstep, she has "freedom" so to speak, to take that child, feed it, and make it warm etc. She COULD have left it out in the cold, but her character wouldn't allow it.

One more example, think of a man who is a miser and always hoards money. When a certain situation comes up, he has the "freedom" to either give away his money or to keep it for himself. It's a pretty good bet that, according to his character, he will hoard it like he always has. People do act according to their character or nature, thus their free will often can be predicted.

I'll get in to more detail (Lord willing) but what I am in full support of is called Augustinianism by some, not because Augustine was the first to come up with the doctrine, but because he was one of the early church fathers who stood by that position and expounded upon it when it came under attack, I am very confident that it is the same doctrine that Paul the Apostle speaks of as well. It boils down to what you believe in the depravity of man. Armenians (as a general rule) hold that man's will did not fall. My questions for you (again, should you be willing to continue this discussion, it's up to you) would be:

What do you believe of the fall, and do men inherit a corrupt nature from Adam? Assuredly we are all guilty, since we all sinned in Adam (Rom 5:12, 19).

What is the nature of this corruption? I believe that men are born with a sin nature (Eph 2:4,5) and that this nature means that they are dead in sin and unable to do any good (Rom 3:11, 5:14). We were by nature "Children of wrath" and act according to that nature. A book for example is unable to keep itself in the air, it falls downward according to its nature. It is only when God's hand pulls the sinner up that the book can come up, otherwise it acts according to its nature.

Another question, what does "dead" mean? (Rom 4:17, 5:15, Eph 2:1-5)
In fact, I'd urge you to read through Ephesians 2:1-10 very carefully and note how salvation by grace through faith is stressed, and the ordering of the Greek makes it clear that even faith is included in this "gift" (verse 8).
He quickens those who are by nature children of wrath, why do they need to be quickened (Which Webster defines as "Made alive; revived; vivified; reinvigorated.")? Because they are dead is the apparent answer. Even when we were dead, he quickened us (verse 5). And it's not a result of works lest any man should boast.

Here is a final question led from the former:
Since you believe that men have the right to choose or reject Christ, why do some reject or choose him? Are the ones who choose him better than those who do not? Are they more spiritual? Some have said that it is because the Spirit "woos" people and certain people listen to this wooing and others do not. But that still doesn't correct the problem because this would mean that some are more in tune with the wooing than others.

Finally, I'd ask you to consider Jesus' words in 6:63-65, the Spirit gives life, and no man can come to Him unless the Father draws him (back up in verse 44). Also note that it was because of these sayings (that Jesus said no man could come to Him unless the Father draws him) that his disciples (not necessarily the twelve) were grumbling and He said "do you take offense at this?" It is offensive to men, but our doctrine cannot be founded upon what we think or feel is or is not, but what the Bible teaches.

I think perhaps I went further into the subject than I'd intended to at first. I really do hope that it's not a subject you'd shy from or think I'm attacking you upon. I sincerely hope that each of us can grow through a discussion and I'd like to hear your thoughts to these questions I've posed and I'm certainly willing to answer a question you'd like to pose to myself or explain something which I may have not made clear, or to go into more detail (because I've barely begun I admit).