R. J. Neuhaus writing in the most recent issue of First Things recounts a conversation he had with a certain archbishop of the Church of England and asked him if he would define the mission of the Church of England. Neuhaus writes, "After some hesitation, he opined, 'I suppose it might be to keep alive the Christian alternative for people who are interested in that sort of thing.'"

At last a new "Vision Statement" for our church.

A Conversation I Had With My 5 Year Old Today

"Hey Michael, what are you making there?"
"A hiccupmatizer."
"A what?"
"A hiccupmatizer, it gives people the hiccups."

This last weekend at our first called meeting of the Iowa Presbytery, we voted on two overtures to ammend the BCO. The two overtures are the creation of the PPLN, a group that I'm largely in agreement with and actually glad to see at work in the PCA.

The first overture dealt with "good faith" subscription and BCO 21-4. I didn't have a problem voting for this one since it pretty much matches my own thoughts on subscription (apart from the desire to see a new Confession altogether).

The second overture dealt with presbytery appeal to GA for "original jurisdiction" of particular cases. This relates to BCO 34-1. I'm still not convinced that this is the best way to handle a current problem within our denomination. At the moment, I'm inclined to think that this overture may create more problems for us in the long run. Those were my thoughts anyway when I voted against it.

I'll have time to mull this all over since they both passed and we'll see them again this summer at GA. This should make for some interesting floor debates anyhow...

Now think of the following use of language: I send someone shopping. I give him a slip marked 'five red apples'. He takes the slip to the shopkeeper, who opens the drawer marked 'apples', then he looks up the word 'red' in a table and finds a colour sample opposite it; then he says the series of cardinal numbers--I assume that he knows them by heart--up to the word 'five' and for each number he takes an apple of the same colour as the sample out of the drawer.--It is in this and simlar ways that one operates with words--"But how does he know where and how he is to look up the word 'red' and what he is to do with the word 'five'?" ---Well, I assume that he 'acts' as I have described. Explanations come to an end somewhere.--But what is the meaning of the word 'five'? --No such thing was in question here, only how the word 'five' is used. PI 1

I simply love this stuff...

April 11, 2002 -- Diaper Independence Day!

Russ blogged some great comments about the structure of the Larger Catechism. He makes the point that "The first part (Q. 1-90) is introduced as "What man ought to believe concerning God, and the second part (Q. 91-196) is introduced "Having seen what the scriptures principally teach us to believe concerning God, it follows to consider what they require as the duty of man."

Sort of a Gospel-Law structure don't you think! :-0

My family and I had a nice weekend. I was asked to preach at a new PCA church plant in Sioux Center, IA. We stayed at a motel in La Mars, IA, the "Ice Cream Capitol of the world!" (Side note -- I simply love small-town pretension. I grew up in Central City, NE which claimed to be the "Pump-Irrigation Capitol of the Word" -- Saaaalute!)

Sioux Center is the home of Dort College and home to a Dutch-American population that supports about 10 Reformed Churches! The Dutch-American culture is something that I find a bit mystifying. I often describe myself as "Reformed," but I feel worlds away from its Dutch-American expression. It's an odd feeling. Sort of like finding yourself in a David Lynch film or something.

As a church planter, not having a perminant facility can be one of those nagging problems that simply won't go away (until, I guess, you actually are in a building and then the building becomes that nagging problem that simply won't go away). Anyway, in January we knew that the temporary place we now rent was not going to be available for us on March 31st. So that left us with the problem of finding somewhere else to meet on Easter Sunday. We have met in other places but usually for things like Christmas Eve where the crowd would be smaller. Easter would require a larger place this time. Well as it turned out last January, I was going home one evening after watching a film and happened to drive by a newly built funeral home. A sly smirk formed across my face and I thought, "What the heck." So I called the next day and not only did the funeral director tell us we could use their sanctuary (which holds about 120), but he would have it all set up for us with sound, chairs, organ, and nursery --- and here's the kicker --- all for free! So this last Sunday we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord in, of all places, a funeral home. Believe me, the irony was not lost on anyone.

Cornelius Van Til on the Primacy of the Intellect (pg. 34-36):

It is sometimes argued that unless one assert the primacy of the intellect one may justly follow any or every sort of emotion. But this would be true only on the non-Christian concept of the nature of man. Only on the non-Christian concept of man are the emotions inherently unruly. On the Christian concept of man the emotions or affections are not inherently unruly; they have become unruly only because of sin. But when sin has entered into the mind of man, the intellect is as unruly as are the affections. In that case the whole man refuses to subject itself to the rule of God. Again, when a saved sinner learns to control his passions the reason is not primarily that he has understood the meaning of the primacy of the intellect as a psychological truth, but the primary reason is that in the whole of his being he is born of God. . . .

It follows from what has been stated that the idea of the primacy of the intellect as it is based upon non-Christian foundations cannot be maintained without the denial of the doctrines of God as transcendent, of creation, the fall and of the various doctrines implied in the work of redemption. And any measure of concession to this doctrine tends to tone down these several teachings of Scripture. At best there is a serious impoverishment and toning down of the glorious covenant conception of the Reformed Confessions. It is the glory of this conception that man is by nature, as made in the image of God, ready and willing to serve his God with all the strength of every aspect of his being. It is therefore also the glory of that covenant concept that the redeemed man, renewed in the image of God through Christ, and on the basis of the work of Christ, has all his powers renewed so that , in principle the disturbance that came through sin has been removed. As renewed in all the aspects of his being it is the glory of the Christian that he may seek to cultivate all his gifts without exception. He may cultivate his emotions as well as his intellect or his will. Not one aspect of his being is more acceptable in the sight of God than are the others. The whole man is acceptable and the whole man may dedicate himself to God. The Christian ideal even for the hereafter is not abstract contemplation, it is obedient contemplation; it is contemplation of God by the creature who would do nothing rather than fulfill the behest of his Creator. As it is contemplation of one whose affections are set upon that object as the object of its utmost desires. If there be economical subordination there can be none in the realm of being. God is not some abstract impersonal intellectual principle, but the living God, the God in whom we may suppose therefore all the originals of those aspects of our being that we find in ourselves. Thus our God will be pleased with a strong intellect, a strong will, and strong emotions, and be pleased with all equally well because they are parts of his image-bearer. He will be pleased and equally pleased with them all because they are all renewed through Christ who is the express image of his substance.

I would only add that man is essentially communal as well. As such there will be within the body those to whom strengths and weaknesses create an environment of mutual dependence for the strengthening and fitting of a whole or complete man in Christ. Van Til opens up some amazing vistas for doing theology here. I find this quote helpful as well in terms of pastoral care for the people of God. We in Reformed circles typically privilege those with "intellectual" gifts. Such myopia can cripple our abilities to see the whole range of gifts God has given his church. In terms of inter-church relations, it can prevent us from appreciating what amazing things God is doing in other congregations as well.

As you can see the titles "TR" and "BR" function as caricatures and are used by many in the PCA as either a pejorative or a badge of distinction. It's a sad excuse for a failed catholicity even within our own denomination. That being said however, here's a Jeff Foxworthyesque list I received several years ago. All in good humor. (Where do you fit in?) :-)

You know you're a TR if . . .

1. You first quote the Confession and then say, "Oh yeah, the Bible says this somewhere too."
2. You refuse to vote for Jesus as time magazine's "Person of the Year" because you don't want an image of Christ on the front cover.
3. You secretly believe that you have to believe in election to be saved.
4. You think Puritans are really, really, really, really, REALLY cool.
5. While not being a theonomist, you completely understand them.
6. While officially affirming the priesthood of all believers, the only people you really trust to interpret Scripture are Calvin and yourself, and you only trust yourself on Thursdays before noon.
7. For you, Baptist and stupid are the same word.
8. A "Reformed Baptist" and a "square circle" are equally as difficult for you to imagine.
9. You wonder what the Holy Spirit was up to between the times of Paul and Calvin.
10. You think women belong in the home and not in any pulpit, much less a staff position in large churches.
11. At some point in your life you honestly believed that the only people who are saved are you and your buddy who thinks just like you, and then you kind of have to wonder about him because he DOES think just like you.
12. You think any church that has more than 200 people is probably apostate.
13. You are personally repulsed by Campus Crusade for Christ.
14. It is harder for you to keep the Sabbath than it is to fill out your taxes.
15. You keep telling yourself that Willow Creek has to be a really bad dream.
16. You've considered stoning someone.
17. You've seriously thought about lighting up a cigarette in church.
18. You think "that Pope as the Antichrist thing" should never have been taken out of the Confession.
19. Saying a blessing before the first round of drinks doesn't seem strange to you at all.
20. Instead of being concerned for Amy Grant when she went secular, you actually considered for the first time that she might be a Christian. Only for a second, though.
21. Your favorite Bible is your "Authorized Bahnsen Version."
22. You're convinced everyone in your Presbytery is secretly a 33rd degree Mason.
23. You know the Apocrypha doesn't belong in the canon, but you wonder sometimes whether we should add Van Til’s "The Defense of the Faith."
24. You pray daily for God to release His judgment on para-church ministries.
25. You think no true evangelism has been done without at least 3 lengthy quotes from the Confession.
26. You've thought that if you were a dispensationalist, you would think the clearest proof of us being near the end is ECT.
27. You can't figure out why God didn't take Van Til like he did Enoch.
28. For you, tobacco is its own major food group.
29. You like Sproul Jr. a whole lot better than his father.
30. You think John Gerstner was an Arminian who knows better now.
31. You think the "Concerned Presbyterians" are way too moderate.
32. The only reason you haven't condemned Covenant Seminary is because you went there and you don't want to invalidate your entire theological education.
33. You have no idea what personality type you are which explains why you are a TR.

You might be a BR Pastor if....

1. You changed the name of your church from "Knox Reformed Presbyterian" to "Grace Community Fellowship".
2. You've ever seriously considered going to Pensacola or Toronto to bring back the fire.
3. You think that what the church needs is another revival, not another reformation
4. You use the phrase "semper reformandum" when someone objects that your practice isn't confessional
5. You think the phrase "no creed but Jesus" has an appealing ring to it
6. You've ever done an "infant dedication" service
7. You own more than one book by C. Peter Wagner, David Wilkerson, James Dobson, or Gary Smalley
8. You don't own anything by Charles Hodge, Archibald Alexander or B.B. Warfield
9. You think it's a good thing that many of your members don't know the Church is Presbyterian
10. The words "relevant", "contemporary", and "cutting edge" cause you to salivate excessively
11. You don't trust anyone who doesn't have exceptions to the Confession
12. You consider it to be in bad taste to ask theological questions of a candidate on the floor of Presbytery
13. You've ever cut a service short because it was Superbowl Sunday
14. You constantly use the word "just" while praying, as in "we just want to really thank you"
15. You switched to overheads so people would have their hands free to "just really worship God"
16. You have no idea what the Regulative Principle is, but strongly suspect it is another form of legalism
17. You believe an endorsement from J.I. Packer on the back of a book
18. You believe that the greatest work on Apologetics ever written was "More than a Carpenter"
19. Any discussion of Reformed theology you are involved in will inevitably include the phrase "dead orthodoxy".
20. You wish there was some way of incorporating an altar call into your service.
21. You have a "worship team".
22. You believe that Republican and Christian are synonyms.
23. You spend more time working on the liturgical drama than the sermon.
24. The most common logo on your casual clothing is "PK."
25. You nod your head and say mmmm... when someone says "doctrine divides".
26. You get really bummed that your conversion story isn't more exciting during the open-mike time of sharing.
27. You could sell your copy of the Confession in "like new" condition.
28. You think that the PCUSA went Liberal because people just really stopped loving Jesus.

This weekend I was in Atlanta to take part in the PCA Nominating Committee Meeting for this years General Assembly. This was my first year on the committee and it was somewhat interesting. At one point you could almost see the lines in the sand between the "TR's" and the "BR's" over the a particular nomination (and that's all I'm going to say about it). For the most part it went pretty smoothly.

Afterwards I spent the evening with my friend Jeremy Jones, RUF minister at Emory University. He and his wife took me out to a very nice dinner and afterwards we went to their place to watch the movie Rushmore. What a funny movie.

On Sunday I went with Jeremy to worship at Intown Community Church (PCA). The liturgy was well organized, good music and pastor Scott Sherman had a great message. Communion was with wine (actually port!) and it was nice to see Scott and his assistant (Shane Wheeler) wearing clarical collars. In a day and age when certain circles of influence tell you that you have to have a certain kind of music or a certain "style" of worship, it's nice to see a church numbering nearly 1,000 members breaking out of this stereotype.

Today is the birthday of Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964). Words (my words anyway) simply fall short when trying to describe her profound brilliance. Her faith allowed her to see (and to show us) the world broken by sin and redeemed by God's grace like few ever have. She once wrote:

For I am no disbeliever in spiritual purpose and no vague believer. I see from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. This means that for me the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption by Christ and that what I see in the world I see in its relation to that. I don't think that this is a position that can be taken halfway or one that is particularly easy in these times to make transparent in fiction.

Perhaps some of you might have a favorite work or quote to share?