Back to school, back to books, back to burritos. Yum!

I read a paper this morning that was recommended by Philip. It was about Justification and there were a few quotes in there that I really enjoyed and wanted to share.

Dr. Rod Rosenbladt

'If the reformers were correct in interpreting what Paul was getting at in the epistle to the Romans, one hundred percent of our salvation is due to his graciousness, and zero percent is due to anything in us. The Reformation answer to the question, "Don't I contribute anything to my salvation?" is, "Yes...Your sin!" The value then of saving faith is only a value in virtue of the object grasped. Faith has no virtue; it connects us to the one who is virtuous.'

As opposed to the Arminian view which does indeed treat faith as a work, whether they claim that or not.


'The old sermon illustration is worth remembering: If a person happens to be drowning and someone throws out a life-ring and pulls the person, it is bizarre for the rescued party to say, "Did you see how I grasped that ring? Why just look a these hands!"'

I've heard that illustration used before! Even though every analogy breaks down (id est we are dead in sins and not just drowning) it was funny because I have heard people say "all you have to do is grab the lifeline" making that faith, the work of grabbing it.



"And so the Reformation affirmation is that we are saved on account of Christ through faith, and it is not that we are saved on account of faith through Christ."

A very good distincion to make.



'A friend of mine was walking down the streets of Minneapolis one day and was confronted by an evangelical brother who was very anxious to know whether he was saved and asked just that. "Brother, are you saved?" Hal rolled his eyes back and said, "Yes." That didn't satisfy this brother so he said, "Well when were you saved?" Hal said, "About two thousand years ago, about a twenty minutes' walk from downtown Jerusalem."'

Yes, Jesus Christ accomplished His work on the cross, it doesn't need to be finished by you or me. In discussing the issue of salvation with a young lady recently, who was a staunch Arminian (even as watered down as they are today) and I told her that in her view, they had to redefine what certain words meant, such as redemption for example. To redeem someone is to have purchased them, not put a bunch of money into a trust fund that anyone can draw out of, the only thing required of you is to use the ATM card that is given to everyone, yet not everyone uses it sadly...... NO! Christ purchased for Himself His own peculiar people, His work is finished, it is done. In that sense, everyone who now believes was indeed saved two thousand years ago, in fact, their believing is proof that Christ had purchased them or else they should not have believed at all!


Other quotes......

I was reading some of Spurgeon last night and the entire sermon was very, very good, about the Christian's witness in the world. I want to quote the entire sermon but that would take too long for me to type and too long for you to read, though I'd encourage anyone who can to read it. It's called "Speak For Yourself. A Challenge!" "He is of age; ask him : he shall speak for himself" - John ix.21

"I have known even some who profess to be disciples of Christ hold back very suspiciously, and leave others to champion the Master's cause when it has come to a hard push. In a conversation you expected to hear that old gentleman speak up bravely for the truth of the gospel, but he did not. You knew he was a member of a Christian church, yet he very cautiously held his tongue for a long time, and then quietly said something about not casting pearls before sine. Probably he had not got any pearls, or possibly he was a swine himself. How else could you account for such awful cowardice? But one has known in youthful adrou what it is to be compelled to come out so defiantly as to risk the charge of presumption, because everybody else seemed to be deserting the doctrine it was his duty to defend. It is lamentable how many seem afraid of being compromised themselves.......


"Whenever a man is placed in such a condition that he finds himself deserted in the battle for Christ by those who ought to be at his back, then let him disdain retreat and say right gallantly "I am of age: I will speak for myself. In the name of God I will bear my witness."


On the outset it is well to cultivate a general habit of openheartedness and boldness. We have no need to intrude and push ourselves into people's way and so become a nuisance and a bore to them. Far from it; but let us walk through the world as those who have nothing to conceal, conscious of the integrity of our own motives and the righteousness of our heart before God; not needing to wear armour and sleep in it like the knights of old, knowing rather that truth unarmed is the best apparel. Let us show that we have nothing to cloak or cover, nothing to disguise or keep dark - that the gospel has wrought in us such an honesty and frankness of spirit that no blab can make us blush, no foe can cause us fear. Let us tell what we believe as true, because we can vouch for its verity. Let us choke those who cavil at these things, no so much by our combats as by our character. Let us prove to them that we have a solid reason for our simple protest; that we have actually received the grace in which we earnestly believe. Out words will have weight when they see that the fruit of our piety accords with the flower of our profession. There is great power in this manner of answering the adversary."


These were convicting for me because so often, I am the "old man" who remains silent. I am the one who sits before class secluded and reading (studying), when admittedly I could be getting to know the students around me, and inviting them to church or to discuss Jesus Christ. I need more boldness to do so! I feel like the description given to Paul by those who didn't like him.

"His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account." - 2Co 10:10

I can be bold in writing, yet face to face I'm not as bold. I do desire to be a better witness, to reach out to people more. FB, I was thinking today that you don't have to worry about your not being able to take the class you wanted. Perhaps God has placed you in the Augustine class because someone there needs to hear the Gospel. I am encouraged by your desire to be a greater witness to be a better one myself.

Today, I only had one class, which went well. It was the Physics course and I'd heard bad things about the teacher (but most students seem to hate every teacher) and I was thankful, he seemed rather good to me. He was older, slight, balding, and seemed to be breathless all the time. I got rather breathless myself, my heart pounding just by hearing him talk. I don't know why but I felt dreadfully nervous in the classroom. I spent most of the day running errands around town, fixing up various things, preparing other things, reading a little, getting ahead on assignments, checking the webpages (which reminds me, I need to print out some class notes tonight) etc. It wasn't a terribly busy day and I felt like I got a lot of loose ends tied up. I keep seeing old classmates on campus, the same group of us keeps going up, many others have disappeared but the ones whom I especially noticed before, have continued, which is encouraging, though they all seem much smarter than I am :D

I also stopped in on Steve, an old classmate of last semester, we helped each other out in the Java class last semester, giving tips on how to code and helping each other to debug problems. He was doing well. I also set up a time with the office to take a CLEP test for Freshman Composition this next Monday. I hope that they have the test on a computer (so I can type it out) but I'm fairly confident I can write as well as a freshman, so I'm not worried!