New Blog Address

I am making the switch to WORDPRESS. They have prettier templates and cool features!!
I'm not finished with it but here's the address:

www.inlightofeternity.wordpress.com

I think you can link to my FaithMarks as well. can't remember the website - I think www.faithmarks.wordpress.com


See you there!

Calvinism is cool....

I know I know, enough on Calvinism. Honestly, this blog is more for me to collect thoughts and articles and express myself more than anything else. So anyway, I thought this was an interesting read from a self-proclaimed non-Calvinist.

Internet Monk

Is God Who I Think He Is?

Taken from "What's So Great about the Doctrines of Grace?" by Richard Phillips. It's an excellent first book to learn about the beauty and wonder of the reformed doctrines we love.

Have you ever heard someone declare, (or said it yourself): "I'd never believe in a God who..." You fill in the blank. I'd never believe in a God who decrees death and tsunamis. I'd never believe in a God who chooses some but not others. I'd never believe in a God who doesn't let me choose Him of my own free will. God isn't like that. God couldn't be like that. God wouldn't do that...

The first question we need to ask is this: are Christians to believe what seems right about God according to our wisdom, or are we to humbly accept the plain teaching of God’s Word? Arminians inform us what is ‘thinkable’ about God and what God ‘would’ and ‘would not’ do. . . . Does Paul say, ‘Well, if you don’t think that’s right or good, then God will be happy to conform to your opinion?’ Is that what we would like? If we know the truth about ourselves and the worthiness of our opinions, we will not want that. Neither does the eternal, holy, exalted Creator God have the slightest intention of conforming to our expectations and demands.

-Richard Phillips-

The more I study Scripture, the more I realize how truly far from truth I am when I form my own thoughts about God. For instance, what's fair is fair right? And God is fair, so He must treat us all fairly, right? True, God is fair - in the purest and most absolute sense of the word. It is we humans who have a distorted view of what is fair and right. Fair is not all things being equal, being treated equal, getting our equal share in life. In fact, if God was fair like that, we would be hurled into the eternal abyss right now. If we all get what we deserved, we would all die in our sins. But God, ... don't you love that? BUT GOD.... In His Wisdom, Justice and Grace catapulted the most incredible cosmic Plan - and blew our notion of fairness right out the limited realm of human understanding. He saved me. He saved ME. He SAVED me. Undeservedly, kindly, sacrificially, beautifully saved me. Thank God He didn't treat me with my sense of fairness.

And that is just one aspect of God that we are woefully incapable of wrapping our puny brains around. Only through faith, through the divine revelation of the Holy Spirit can we even come close to comprehending and appreciating God. Shape my vision of You, Lord!

Grace in Adversity

This article is an excerpt from the "Adversity" chapter of a book called, "When Grace Comes Home" by Terry Johnson. What a difference from the 'Why God?' responses we generally express when something tragic or adverse happen in our lives. We ask "Why God?" because we know that God is in control, He has all power, He is a good God hating evil - but then we limit Him because we falsely hold a belief that somehow God could not stop the tragedy.

I've always believed that God MUST have a reason but stopped there. I realize that I fail to trust Him and rest in His Sovereignty. This article challenges us to consider not only the fact that God is All-Powerful and Sovereign, but that we can fully trust and rest in His Good and Wise Purposes for us who believe and love Him.

If you have time, read this excerpt.

When Grace Comes Home

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How to Help a Grieving Friend - the Pipers

This is from the Pipers' blog.

How to Help Your Grieving Friend

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Reverent Handling of Scripture

Consider these quotes from the introduction to Ryle's Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of John.

We live in a day of abounding vagueness and indistinctness on doctrinal subjects in religion.

I hold not only that the Bible contains the Word of God, but that every jot of it was written, or brought together, by Divine inspiration, and is the Word of God.

I must be allowed to add, that in interpreting Scripture, I "call no man master or father." I abhor the idea of wresting and warping God's Word in order to make it support party views.

I am content to remember that all inspiration is a miraculous operation of the Holy Ghost, and, like every operation of the Holy Ghost, must needs be mysterious.

I believe that the whole Bible, as it came originally from the hands of the inspired writers, was verbally perfect and without flaw. I believe that the inspired writers were infallibly guided by the Holy Ghost, both in their selection of matter and their choice of words. I believe that even now, when we cannot explain alleged difficulties in Holy Scripture, the wisest course is to blame the interpreter and not the text, to suspect our own ignorance to be in fault, and not any defect in God's Word.

I believe that the want of our age is not more "free" handling of the Bible, but more "reverent" handling, more humility, more patient study, and more prayer.

AMEN brother!

Thoughts on John 1

I've started re-reading the gospel of John and paying special attention to it from a fresh new perspective. I am noticing things in it that I've never seen before and want to show how clearly the doctrines of grace are spread through out this book.

The first few verses that really caught my eye were v: 11-13

It says that the Lord Jesus, "came to His own", He is God the Creator from whom all things "came into being" and He came in the flesh among His creation. However, "those who were His own did not receive Him". His own, mankind and the nation of Israel, did not recognize Him nor did they receive Him as Messiah as a whole.

"But as many as received Him", those who did "believe in His name" were given "the right to become children of God". Some DID believe in Him - notice the word 'many' which will come later in Mark's gospel rendition - "He came to give His life as a ransom for many." (Mk 10:45) These 'many' have believed and received Him.

Notice also that those who became the children of God, were not born:
1) "of blood" - not through family, nor of physical inheritance, not because the parents were believers, not because they belonged to the chosen people of God

2) "nor of the will of the flesh" - not because of anything in us that desired Him nor because we wanted to believe in Him, for "those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh" (Rom 8:5) and "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom 8:8)

3) "nor of the will of man" - can it be more clear that it's not due to the 'free will' of man, that man has anything within his will that would freely and completely choose Him? Without God's intervention, our wills are incapable of choosing Him.

BUT OF GOD:
Man cannot and will not believe in God without a work of the Holy Spirit in his heart. Belief in Him, receiving Him, becoming a child of God - all are bestowed by God, by His grace alone and not because of anything found in man.

Praise Him for His marvelous grace!

Theology

We need to be reminded that studying theology is not about obtaining vast amounts of intellectual knowledge in order to puff oneself up. We don't study theology because we love it (we do!) or because we are captivated by it (we are) and because it's thrilling (it is) to study it. I love this quote by Sinclair B. Ferguson:

"The goal of theology is the worship of God. The posture of theology is on one's knees. The mode of theology is repentance."

What's the Big Deal?

I know you might be wondering: "What's the big deal about so-called Calvinism? About the doctrines of grace? I believe it to be true - I agree with most points. What is so different or so compelling about it that you border on fanaticism?"

I've been wanting to write something to share this but can't seem to find the words, nor the time. However, I found an article by Piper that reflects my feelings about how these doctrines have changed my life. How they have transformed the way I view God, view salvation, view my sinfulness, view my place in this world. It changed the way I worship, the way I pray, the way I view circumstances and events. It changed the way I thank Him, the way I don't thank me, the way I study and look and feel about the Scriptures. My heart is burning within me, I want to talk to you about Him but sometimes don't know how - because I want to burst with the wonderful knowledge of it all. It's too wonderful for me!

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2002/1519_Ten_Effects_of_Believing_in_the_Five_Points_of_Calvinism/


In fact, nothing is more important to me than knowing God. The One, True God of the Bible. I have grown up with a misdirected, watered-down version of the gospel - which in some cases is not the gospel at all. Ask me about it. Let's chat. I am not eloquent in my explanation but can assure you that what we've traditionally considered right is not worthy of Him. I'm not undermining what you believe or think. I'm not judging your passion for Him or your love of Christ. Surely you love Him. I'm writing about ME and what I've experienced.

Modern-day, American Christianity has turned into a pop-culture, trendy, feel-good, self-serving, money-venture reminiscent of the group of thieves in front of God's Holy temple. It's produced Christians who are secure in self-convinced assurance, man-made quips and a God who is 'safe'. Perhaps you think I'm exaggerating? For years, I've wondered: if the Holy Spirit is as powerful and life-changing as the Bible claims, wouldn't the Christian, as the temple of this Holy Spirit, be completely transformed? What is all this wishy-washiness in my life? Why the dryness? Why the laziness? Why the weakness? Why the disinterest?

We are sinners. The more I learn about God and His Word, the more I tremble before Him. How inadequate, how unable, how truly lost I am without Him!! I can NOT dig myself out of some of the deep pits I've dug, how much less can I dig myself out of my spiritual bottomless pit! You know that picture of the sinner who God wants to save, the picture of God holding out the ticket, the life-jacket, the hand that saves and Julie, reaching up in order to take it, accepting it, asking and willing to receive it? That's the picture we have of a sinner being saved and our responsibility to reach out our hand and take it. Well, that's giving us too much credit.

The true picture is more like this: I am completely dead in my sins. I was born dead. In fact, I'm so dead that I stink. I have absolutely no power in me to even reach out. To even call out to Jesus, Lord save me! As one person said it, I'm more like the man "at the bottom of the ocean in the Marianas trench, more than thirty-five thousand feet deep. The weight of the water on top of him is six tons for every square inch. He has been there for a thousand years and the sharks have eaten his heart. In other words, the man is dead and is totally unable to ask any lifeguard to save him. If he is to be saved, a miracle must occur. He must be brought back to life and to the surface, and then he can ask the guard to rescue him."

I'm rotting in the grave and then it's the Lord Jesus, who calls out, "Julie, come forth!" Am I alive the moment I take the first step? The moment I put one foot in front of the other? No, I'm alive when He breathes life in me, when the Holy Spirit infuses His power that gives me the strength to even put one ounce of energy into that dead corpse.

Can I tell you something? The gospel that is proclaimed - as sincere as it may be - and even as much as God still produces true believers, of that I have no doubt, - the proclaimed gospel nowadays is somewhat 'goatish'. What I mean by that is that the gospel as many know it has produced 'goats' instead of true 'sheep'. I'm grieved to consider that there will be many who believe they are saved and at the last day will say, "Lord, Lord." But the Lord will say, "I never knew you." I believe there are many, who are psychologically convinced they are saved, have some form of behavioral modification, moral improvements and even have inner moments of peace, joy, happiness, love etc. They have 'tasted' the heavenly gift and have been made a partaker of the Holy Spirit and the blessings He produces - yet, they are not truly saved. Be aware that it is not 'fruit' when you stop smoking, drinking, cursing and watching horror movies. These are all things that can be mustered up even in an unregenerate life. I have more to say on this, not to leave you hanging but this deserves a post all on its own. Let us examine ourselves. Do we truly believe? What do we truly believe? Who do we truly believe in? What evidence is there that shows that we truly believe? It's a frightening and humbling exercise. Let me tell you.

It's such a big deal. It's an all-encompassing deal. Let's talk about it. Blog about it. Email about it. Whatever it takes to hash it out so that we look at God as the Sovereign, Sufficient, Supreme God that He truly is. He is the Big Deal.

Bible Ribbon Markers

Link to allthingsbookish.com or my blog: http://allthingsbookish.blogspot.com/ to see FaithMarks.