When a man wanders into certain beds, he does not find peace there. In the sixties, that time of sexual infantalism, we were frequently urged to make love, not war. The assumption was that lovemaking was a peaceful activity, regardless of who you were in the hay with. But James tells us where war comes from -- warring desires.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. -- James 4:1-4
Sexual revolutions must necessarily end in blood. And to consider the truth of this we do not need to look off in the distance at all the trouble caused by Helen of Troy. James tell us that men war and fight because of lust. On whom they make war may vary, but the result is the same. The sexual laxity of our nation, to take an example close to home, has resulted to date in 38 million abortions. Considered from another angle, that means 38 million orgasms, 38 million temporarily satisfied men, 38 million good times in the sack that ended badly for the inconvenient by-product. In short, millions of men thought that someone else's life was a reasonable price to pay for the pleasure of getting off.
Friendship with the world is. . . contempt for God. And when we show contempt for God, we soon discover that he is not the frail deity many have assumed Him to be. It is not as though He does not know how to respond when we show contempt for Him. The God of the Bible, as one writer put it aptly, is not a buttercup. When we set ourselves against Him in enmity, He responds in judgment:
Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of the were, as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and rose up to play.' We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. I Cor. 10:6-8
The stories of the Bible are given to us so that might we might take warning. The God of the Bible judges the sin of fornication both within history and at the end of history. He visits a man with sexual diseases, conflict, guilt, turmoil, lack of peace and satisfaction, a miserable family, and death. At the culmination of history, He closes the gates of everlasting life in the face of those who did not repent of their fornications.
In short, we have to say that God does not take a 'boys will be boys' approach.
-- Douglas Wilson, Fidelity, pgs. 47,48
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Being built up in the faith requires knowing what it is
I Timothy 4:15-16 --Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that everyone will see your progress. Be conscientious about how you live and what you teach. Persevere in this, because by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.
Christians, if they are to be an alternative to postmodern relativism, need to confess their faith, in word and deed. This means knowing what that faith is.
Christians in every church body might begin by returning to their own doctrinal heritage. Lutherans, Calvinists, and other historical churches have formal written confessions of what they believe. . . Other denominations have less strictly defined doctrinal positions, but they still have their confessions of faith and their Bible-based heritage, which they should reclaim. In doing so, they might regain their vitality and testify to a core of Biblical truth that will stand as a blazing witness to the relevatistic culture. Biblical churches with doctrinal integrity will have a stronger witness than muddled, easy-to-please-everyone congregations that do not stand for anything in particular.
Emphasizing doctrine will highlight the doctrinal differences between the various Christian traditions, but this need not mean destructive religious warfare. The various traditions need to be recovered before they can be either appreciated or challenged. Once they are reestablished, debates about which theologies are most in accord with Scripture could resume, because theology would be taken seriously again. Vibrant theological debate would invigorate the church. The ecumenical method of unity -- extinguishing all characteristic beliefs -- has failed.
-- Gene Edward Veith, Postmodern Times, p. 220
2 Timothy 4:1-5 -- I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 4:2 Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction. 4:3 For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. 4:4 And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths. 4:5 You, however, be self-controlled in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelist’s work, fulfill your ministry.
Christians, if they are to be an alternative to postmodern relativism, need to confess their faith, in word and deed. This means knowing what that faith is.
Christians in every church body might begin by returning to their own doctrinal heritage. Lutherans, Calvinists, and other historical churches have formal written confessions of what they believe. . . Other denominations have less strictly defined doctrinal positions, but they still have their confessions of faith and their Bible-based heritage, which they should reclaim. In doing so, they might regain their vitality and testify to a core of Biblical truth that will stand as a blazing witness to the relevatistic culture. Biblical churches with doctrinal integrity will have a stronger witness than muddled, easy-to-please-everyone congregations that do not stand for anything in particular.
Emphasizing doctrine will highlight the doctrinal differences between the various Christian traditions, but this need not mean destructive religious warfare. The various traditions need to be recovered before they can be either appreciated or challenged. Once they are reestablished, debates about which theologies are most in accord with Scripture could resume, because theology would be taken seriously again. Vibrant theological debate would invigorate the church. The ecumenical method of unity -- extinguishing all characteristic beliefs -- has failed.
-- Gene Edward Veith, Postmodern Times, p. 220
2 Timothy 4:1-5 -- I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 4:2 Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction. 4:3 For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. 4:4 And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths. 4:5 You, however, be self-controlled in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelist’s work, fulfill your ministry.
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