Pastoral Musings

Well spoken by a lady named Heather.

Liberals are why we homeschool.

Because Liberalism stands in direct opposition of the freedoms that our founding fathers sought to protect for all men. Because Liberalism stands in direct opposition to the value of human life and the worth of the human child that God says we should have. Because Liberalism would take my child and exploit them, abort them, distort their minds and darken their souls.

{ Liberalism is the greatest threat to America. }

Too often we think of Thanksgiving as a holiday. We think of turkey, family, and football.

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Are these the things that should come to mind when we consider Thanksgiving? I say, “no.” I also believe that Scripture would also teach us the same.

Why did the Pilgrims gather to give thanks? Hint: it wasn’t for football, and neither was it simply to gorge themselves on turkey.

They truly met to give thanks. They did so because they recognized that the source of all that they had was not simply their hard work (though they did indeed work hard and suffer much in those early years in America), but was God (cf James 1:17).

This special day of Thanksgiving was more than a holiday. It was a special day to show what was in their hearts. The gratitude that they had toward God each day of their lives was a gratitude that they felt should be shown in a special way. Thus the special day.

The Pilgrims were not perfect people but ,as Puritan and the faith-kin of Puritans, they were holy people. I believe that their holiness was related to their thankfulness.

You see, holiness and thankfulness go hand-in-hand. An ungrateful person is an unholy person, and the antidote to sinfulness in contentment and thanksgiving. The Hebrews were warned of sexual sin, and then exhorted to contentment (Hebrews 13:4-5), and the Ephesians were commanded to replace uncleanness, immorality, and vile language with the giving of thanks (Ephesians 5:1-4).

Why is this so? It is so because people who are satisfied with God are satisfied with the gifts that He gives, and they don’t go out trying to find joy outside of God.

This Thanksgiving, let us seek to cultivate a spirit of gratitude that characterizes our lives for each day of the year instead of just one.

It’s a matter of giving glory to God, and a matter of personal holiness.

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Ok, I’ll be honest.

I’m a Fundamentalist Christian.  I am also a very conservative person when  it comes to politics.

I must say that I cannot understand why Christians want to post the Ten Commandments all over the place. (They even have them posted outside of one of the buildings where I am pastor of a church.)

Do Christians not understand what legalism is?  Do they not understand that morality will not change by posting the Ten Commandments?  Do they not understand grace?

Do Christians not understand Galatians 3:10-14 , or Romans 5:20-21 ?

If Christians wish to make monuments, make them monuments of the cross of Jesus.  Better yet, preach the Gospel.  Let converted souls be our monuments.

Do they not understand that the law condemns?  Romans 3:19-28  It is Jesus who liberates!

Just musing…

 

Despite all the many other ways in which Southern Baptist churches cooperate, Southern Baptist officials have propounded the doctrine of local church autonomy as an excuse for denominational do-nothingness on clergy sex abuse. This religious rationalization rests on an island that is void of any moral ground. If Baptist churches cannot cooperate on a shared strategy to better protect children against clergy-predators, they lose moral credibility and they betray the very faith they profess.

via Associated Baptist Press – Opinion: John Jay report holds lessons for Baptists.

There is a legitimate complaint here.  Local church autonomy should certainly not be an obstacle to churches cooperating by at least having a process by which issues could be reported, investigated (with the cooperation of the local church), and at least the possibility of a database of proven offenders being provided for those interested.

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• The New John Jay Report on Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church (psychologytoday.com)
• John Jay abuse report raises two big questions.. (osvdailytake.com)
• Bill Donohue: Abuse report’s failure to note role of homosexuality ‘unacceptable’ (catholicnewsagency.com)
• Child abuse tests how the church relates to the secular world | Catherine Pepinster (guardian.co.uk)
• NH Man Found Guilty of Rape of Tina Anderson (abcnews.go.com)

Hudson, in Religion in America notes that fundamentalism had many moderates at the first.  Later, he states, there arose militant fundamentalists who sought to take over denominations, and were prepared to fight for what they held to be true.

Hudson does not seem to speak of any fundamentalist with favor, but these are certainly not highly esteemed by him.

He later goes on to state that there was not a large revival in the US as a result of fundamentalism.  On the other hand, in less secularized portions of the population, yet the holiness movement was the one that profited the most.

It is interesting to see these things, because it illustrates the tie between revivalism and fundamentalism.   Sadly, much of fundamentalism has drifted more and more into emotionally driven worship and preaching.  At the same time, there has been much neglect of the life of the mind.

Though there were many well educated fundamentalists, there are becoming less and less.  Emotionalism is becoming more prevalent, and fundamentalism more fragmented.  The fighting spirit seems to have dominated the studious heart.

Historically, though connected to revivalism, fundamentalism still held a seat in the university.  There are those who are seeking to recover the intellectual emphasis while retaining a passionate love for God.

May their tribe increase.

Related articles

• If You Wish to Speak Against Fundamentalists, Read Fundamentalists (pastoralmusings.com)
• Fundamentalism and Hate (pastoralmusings.com)
• Fundamentalist Hermeneutics (pastoralmusings.com)
• Historic Fundamentalism and Young Earth Creationism (pastoralmusings.com)
• Fundamentalism, Funeral Protests, and Koran Burnings (pastoralmusings.com)

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Historic Fundamentalism as a movement can be traced to the late nineteenth century, though it came into full bloom in the early twentieth century.

About the time of the War Between The States evangelical Christianity was the dominant religious force in the United States.  Protestant Evangelicals were greatly influenced by revivalism.  At the same time, however, there was a climate that was a fairly rigorously intellectual one.  Many, if not most, colleges had Christians as presidents, according to George Marsden.  Many of the major colleges were still Christian in name, teaching, and practice as well.

Evangelicalism began to find itself being gradually undermined however, during this time.  There was the rise of Darwinism, and the desire to accomodate the Bible to Darwinism.  There was also the Biblical criticism that was the product of German scholars; a criticism that questioned the historic validity of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life.

There was, during this time, a desire to separate theology and science into totally separate fields with neither influencing the other.

All of these things form a setting in which Evangelical Christians would begin to fight for their faith and theology.  Believing that the Bible was the Word of God, and as such is authoritative, Christians began to fight against the attacks upon their faith.

This, however, is simply preparatory ground for Historic Fundamentalism.  In the later years of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, Fundamentalism would blossom, not into simply a reaction here and there, but into a movement that would bring with it immense changes to the Christian scene in the United States.

The index for these articles can be found on RE:Fundamentals.

Related articles

• If You Wish to Speak Against Fundamentalists, Read Fundamentalists (pastoralmusings.com)
• Fundamentalism and Hate (pastoralmusings.com)

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Wouldn’t that be a good idea?
Someone obviously thought so.

Louisiana College, a small Southern Baptist college in Pineville, La., plans to open a tuition-free graduate school for ministers next August.

A foundation has promised $1 million or more a year “in perpetuity” for the Caskey School of Divinity, said Joe Aguillard, president of Louisiana College, which currently has about 1,450 students. The first $1 million check arrived Dec. 14.

Complete story here.

We’ve all undertaken home improvements but these residents in flood-stricken Mississippi have had to embark on major construction projects just to protect their houses and livelihoods.

These homes in Vicksburg are all situated along the Yazoo River, a tributary of the overflowing Mississippi River, and their owners have surrounded themselves with tons of earth and sand.

With questions over whether the main levees that protect the area from floods would hold, these farmers took no chances and have so far saved their homes and crops from destruction.

via Mississippi River flooding: Residents build homemade dams to saves houses | Mail Online.

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Christian persecution has increased exponentially under U.S. occupation. As one top Vatican official put it, Christians, “paradoxically, were more protected under the dictatorship” of Saddam Hussein.

What does one make of this—that under Saddam, who was notorious for human rights abuses, Christians were better off than they are under a democratic government sponsored by humanitarian, some would say “Christian,” America?

Like a Baghdad caliph, Saddam appears to have made use of the better educated Christians, who posed no risk to his rule, such as his close confidant Tariq Aziz. Moreover, by keeping a tight lid on the Islamists of his nation—who hated him as a secular apostate no less than the Christians—the latter benefited indirectly.

Conversely, by empowering “the people,” the U.S. has unwittingly undone Iraq’s Christian minority.

via The Silent Extermination of Iraq’s ‘Christian Dogs’ :: Middle East Forum.

 

I have been wondering for a long time how we can call this a just war.

I have been wondering for a long time how we can think that the US can bring democratic values to Iraq when the US itself is becoming more and more of a police state.

I have been wondering for a long time how professing Christians can support our having troops on the ground in Iraq.

The fact of the matter is that there is no reason for it.  The war is unjust.  The war is immoral.  The war is damaging the cause of Christ in Iraq.

No Christian can righteously support this war.

Now, before someone says that I don’t support the troops, I say that the best way to support them is to bring them home.

If you disagree, you can apologize to me later.  I’m tired of the hypocrisy in which evangelical Christians support an unjust war and think that God ordained the Republican party and the TEA party.  Many Democrats are guilty, too.

I have repented of my support for this war.  Will you?

First of all, I have no solution to the problem.

Second, the folk in D.C. simply don’t care what you and I think, anyway.

Never the less, I have a few thoughts on the issue, seeing it’s such a hot topic.

I’m rethinking things because I think my approach has not necessarily been biblical. I also have had a very interesting discussion with one who has seen the other side of the issue.

Here are my thoughts on an immigration policy that might work:

1.  Biblical truth should lead us to compassion.  How will this work out?  I’m not exactly sure, but it would at least allow folks the opportunity to emigrate from places where there are oppressive governments.  It would also allow folks who need jobs to come and work.

2.  It would allow those who are here illegally an opportunity to register for approval to stay.  It would not reward their law breaking, but it would give a period of time (perhaps six months) for them to register and do so with impunity.

3.  It would incarcerate, or deport the criminal element as the situation seems to demand.

4.  It would allow many to work.  The truth is that there are jobs many in the U.S.A. are simply not going to do.  I’ve heard of people saying that “if I don’t get $X/hour, I’m not going to work at all.”  I know businessmen who speak of workers who only want a check, and won’t work to get it.  There are indeed jobs that many of us simply won’t do.

5.  It would penalize the criminals and help those who are trying to do the right thing for their families.  My immigrant friend (who is here legally, by the way; and may even be naturalized this year) tells me that illegals are often pulled over, given a citation, and charged $1,000 for not having driver’s licenses.  They are then released, only to be stopped and ticketed again later.  He said it’s a Machiavellian game by which the government makes money.  He also complains that good, Christian people are often targeted for arrest and deportation while the violent criminals are often released to commit crimes again.

6.  It would recognize that there are good immigrants and bad ones.  Even some who are here illegally come because they want a better life for their children.

I know that this will probably draw fire from both sides of the aisle, but I must say that these are reflections from one who has heard both sides; though these reflections are incomplete and imperfect.

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