What the Thunder Said...

The Assembly erected a study committee of seven “to critique the teachings of the New Perspective on Paul, Federal Vision, and other like teachings concerning the doctrine of justification and other related doctrines, as they are related to the Word of God and our subordinate standards, with a view to giving a clear statement to the presbyteries, sessions and seminaries, and report back to the 72nd GA.” Dr. William B. Barcley, Dr. L. Anthony Curto, Dr. Sydney D. Dyer, Dr. John V. Fesko, Dr. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., The Rev. Alan D. Strange, and Dr. David M. VanDrunen (Convener) were elected to this committee.

A purple theology believes that to one degree or another the Reformation is over. By that it means that the Reformation’s summons of the Church to return to the Bible (sola scriptura) and to faith as the sole means of justification (sola fide) and to grace alone as that which saves us (sola gratia) has done its job. Those are no longer the central issues... And there is always one sola many have forgotten: Is there a time for the post-Reformation folks to admit that they forgot the sola ecclesiam (the church alone)?

[upon reading I Corinthians 11:23 - 29] We have heard, my brethren, how our Lord observed His supper with His disciples, from which we learn that strangers, those who do not belong to the company of His faithful people, must not be admitted. Therefore, following that precept, in the name and by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I excommunicate all idolaters, blasphemers, and despisers of God, all heretics and those who create private sects in order to break the unity of the church, all perjurers, all who rebel against father or mother or superior, all who promote sedition or mutiny, brutal and disorderly persons, adulterers, fornicators, thieves, ravishers, greedy and graspy people, drunkards, gluttons and all those who lead a scandalous life. I warn them to abstain from this holy table, lest they defile and contaminate the holy food that our Lord Jesus Christ gives to none except those who belong to His household of faith.

Moreover, in accordance with the exhortation of St. Paul (I Corinthians 11:28) let each one examine and prove his own conscience to see whether he truly repents of his faults and grieves over them, desiring to live henceforth a holy life according to God. Above all, let him see whether he has his trust in the mercy of God and seeks his salvation, wholly in Jesus Christ and, renouncing all hatred and rancor, has high resolve and courage to live in peace and brotherly love with his neighbors.

If we have this witness in our hearts before God, never doubt that He claims us as His children, and that the Lord Jesus addresses His word to us, to invite us to His table and to give us this holy sacrament that He imparted to His disciples.

[1]This is not at all to say that many Catholics and Orthodox won't be heaven - there will be scores of them. Similarly, millions of Protestants will be told to "Depart, for I never knew you." All this is to say that Rome and Constantinople do not bear the marks of the true church according to Scripture. Back

[2]John Calvin: Writings on Pastoral Piety ed. E.A. McKee (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2001) pp. 111 - 34. Back

6) Agents of restorative justice. Those who respond in faith to the gospel are rescued from sin and idolatry and death, but they are also formed into a new community through which God is advancing His "purposes to rescue the whole world." In short, "through this creation of a Jew-plus-Gentile family the living God [declares] to the principalities and powers that their time is up, and [launches] the whole project of new creation."

Dr. Harry Schaumburg

February 24, 2006

Purity Conference

Restoring sexual Purity;

In our lives, our marriages, and in our churches

The Truth About Your Sexuality

· Philosophically: our thinking has become twisted so that we cannot think properly about sex.

· 4 Counterfeits to True Sexual Morality

· Romantic sexual Morality

· Playboy Sexual Morality (based on pleasure)

· Therapeutic Sexual Morality (sex for my psychological well- being)

· Pagan Sexual Morality (sex is a spiritual ''right'')

_____________________

· Spiritually: We are in a crisis and face a huge challenge (I Corinthians 5:1-2)

C. Swindoll - 50% of those in church are looking @ Internet porn

20% of men admit to looking @ porn...

13% of women admit to looking @ porn...

...at work

90% of 13 - 16 year olds have been looking @ Internet porn

33% of visitors to adult web sites are women

9% thought their spouse struggled, while 76% admitted to struggling themselves

_______________________

· Psychologically: We have made our personal/relational needs to be as critical as or biological needs.

The truth about our sexuality starts with an understanding of:

1. A warning to the saints

I Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 5:20 - 21; Ephesians 5:5; Hebrews 13:4

2. The security of the believer is based on the prior work of Christ

3. The cross points to the truth about our sexuality

''All things are lawful, but I will not be enslaved"

Christian living is not based on whether I have a right to do something but whether my conduct is helpful to those around me.

· We think our body belongs to us (I Corinthians 6:13b)

· We have a low view of our dignity and destiny (I Corinthians 6:14)

SO WHAT IS OUR BODY MEANT FOR?

I CORINTHIANS 10:31- THE LORD

Your body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord. And the Lord is meant for your body.

Q&A:

People can be "free of the problem" but are always vulnerable and wounded

God promised this Gospel beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 1:2 - 4

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.

I Timothy 3:16

[1] This is taken from here: From the Latin mandatum novum do vobis, the name Maundy Thursday arose. During the liturgy, the sentence from John 13.34 is often read - "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you." We gather to hear scripture read, for washing of feet, for the Eucharist and in the growing darkness as we move toward Good Friday we strip the church of its finery and prepare to wait in the garden during the Garden Watch. Back

Much Western theology, including Reformed theology, has assumed that nature provides the context for and positions grace. Reformed theology has understood the covenant of grace in the context of the covenant of works; the mercy and grace of God intervenes in a world governed by a just God; we become sons of a kind Father after being made as servants of a good Lord. Grace only makes sense if there is a prior nature, and specifically if there is a prior fallen nature.

But what if we say that grace/gift is the deepest and widest possible context? What if we say that there is no "nature" that is not always already, in its deepest reality, gift? Then nature is positioned within and contrextualized by gift and grace. God does not intervene graciously into a world that operates by strict justice; His intervention for salvation is an intervention in a world where all - literally all - is already gift. He is our Creator-Father who creates us to be brothers to His only-begotten Son through the Spirit...

...Of course, we must say that all is gift if we profess creation, but the fact that this Copernican Revolution is controversial shows how far Western theology has been from a fully creationist theology.

This is not to deny the reality of God's Lordship or His justice. By the doctrime of simplicity, God's justice and Lordship cannot be anything but His goodness and graciousness. And so another deep level is theology proper: Is God essentially Lord, and only "accidentally," at a second moment, a gracious Lord? Or is God Lord precisely in His goodness and grace?

The dialectical character of Calvin's thought is finally receiving deserved attention. His dim view of fallen humanity must be measured against his sometimes astonishing respect for created humanity. Utterly essential for Calvin - and instructive for us - is the refusal to locate the slightest weakness or defect in humanity that might make the fall and consequent need for redemption necessary from the start... Nature as nature is in no need of supplemental grace for its perfection...[4]

[1]Who is the Federal Vision? That is an incredibly difficult question to answer. Usually, it is defined as a set of pastors and theologians who spoke at the Auburn Avenue Conference for Pastors when the sesseions were entitled, "The Federal Vision." However, Dr. Leithart mentions at least one man not apart of that group - Dr. Norman Shepherd - so our definition recognizes a bit of fluidity according to his post. Here then, this group will include anyone generally suspicious to merit language. Back

[2]In this sense, even at times judgment is a grace for God's elect, in the sense that those whom He chastens, He loves, and uses the rod to bring repentance and increased sanctification. Back

[3]Here we are using "gracious" for the sake of our brothers in the FV, not in the technical sense. Even Horton sees gracious lacunas in Eden; see below, Lord and Servant, p. 128-32. Back

[4]Horton, Michael S. Lord and Servant (Louisville, KY: WJK Press, 2005) pp. 98-99. He cites Calvin, Institutes 1.5.2; 1.5.3; 1.5.8; 1.5.14; 1.14.3. Back

[5]Horton Lord and Servant p. 95. Back

D (director):This is the deal. This is what somebody told me about Christ, Mark. This is what Joseph Campbell told me about Jesus Christ. You've got pain, you've got suffering, when - and you can go to your Pure Being, or your pure being of prayer, or whatever it is, but there is always going to be the pain...

MW (Mark Wahlburg): Mmm-hmm

D: And that is what J. Campbell said, that when Christ is on the cross, what that means for him, He sees all that pain, all that human suffering and says, "Yes" to love and yes to life... and to existence

MW: Yes, if you know that and accept that, then its a lot easier to deal with all the pain...

D: Yep

MW: ...and you experience a lot more love and peace... and happiness.

D: Why?

MW: And -

D: Why is that? Is it because you're accepting the pain?

MW: Yeah, you have to know that this life is only temporary and your going to go to a better place.

D: So you don't take it [life] as seriously?

MW: Nope...

D: See, I think that -

MW: ...it is what is is and some people get it rough and some get it very hard, you know? And you can certainly work very hard and if you are in a position to do something about it, but... its not the end of the world, unless...

D: See, that; that is really what the cubes are about for Dustin, right...? [Ed: the "cubes for Dustin" is the philosophy the film is pushing]

MW: Oh, look at this... yes [Ed: what Mark is urging us to look at is the romance scene about to occur in the film]

D: They are saying the same thing in your way, right Mark? In your way?

MW: Yeeaahhh, yes. Look at this...