What does one do when one's work schedule is flexible?
One watches YouTube videos, one plays video games, and one reads.
I suppose I want to discuss the third.
And I suppose I'll talk about being Presbyterian later. This blog is by, to, through, from, and for me, after all.
My wife wanted me to pray with her and do "devotional" things. Now, understand. I don't like praying before I eat. I see it as a waste of time. Nor do I enjoy the emphasis in American Evangelicalism to stress daily Bible reading and prayer without teaching a theology of a "means of grace", let alone, teaching folk how one should pray in the first place and how one should read said Bible.
It's worse because part of wants to say that early Christians would make terrible evangelicals, since, well, they didn't have Bibles.
Though I suppose they had creeds to think about.
Nevertheless, I decided it was my husbandly duty to be "spiritual", religion even. So what are we doing? We're going through Starr Meade's book for junior high and high school kids on the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
One paragraph a day, a few verses, with a question from the catechism for the week. It's easy, requires no preparation, my wife is learning the Faith, and I'm getting ready for Presbytery. After I read the paragraph we do the Lord's Prayer and go back to daily life. I get to feel like I'm being a decent husband while we all learn.
I suppose that is self-righteous huh?
To complement Starr Meade, I'm reading Thomas Watson's Body of Divinity (which is free on Kindle). It's the first part of a trilogy he made as a commentary on the Westminster Shorter Catechism. He's easier to read than Owen and I like learning systematic theology as it was, say, 350 years ago.
I also realized that I should add substance to the conversations. Plus, I wanna be able to say that I read a Puritan work so I can seem holy and knowledgeable.
Pathetic I know.
On top of the two above books, I've decide to pursue the subject of Biblical theology, which can be summed up as "the science of seeing how God saved his people in the olden days". My church loves redemptive history. I feel weak in this area. So, I figured I'd catch up with two books.
The first book is Meredith Kline's Kingdom Prologue, which is a commentary on Genesis 1-11 with an eye towards God's work of advancing His kingdom through Abraham's Seed/seed. It's a controversial work in some circles, but it seems to affirm and strengthen convictions I already hold, convictions that would take too long to explain in a blog post.
The second book is Geerhardus Vos' Biblical Theology. It is a book with essays about the history of revelation and redemption in the Bible, with a strong focus towards the Old Testament.
I suppose I should mention one thing I've learned huh?
I've found that I can no longer say "Jesus died for the sins of world" as a Gospel presentation. If I were to "share" my "faith" with another human being, I'd want to go from creation through Israel to Christ. Jesus doesn't make sense without the Old Testament. At best, Christianity is a series of philosophical assertions that can be universalized if there is no history behind it.
At worst it's a dumb idea.
I suppose I should state now that I'm not the biggest fan of tracts or "sharing my testimony", considering I find the first to be dishonest and the second to be too subjective.
Anyway.
I'm supposed to finish Images of the Spirit and St. Augustine's The City of God (especially in these wild times) but, eh, I got sidetracked.
I did finish reading my pastor's presentation at Presbytery regarding the tripartite division of the Law. It was the size of a small book. I felt proud of myself.
How did you get this far?
Having a Maundy Thursday,
-SJG
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
On Being Presbyterian, Pt. I
I noticed something once when I was showering, which is where I notice all things. What I noticed, is, that people meet me not knowing my history. Or worse, they get to know me, not knowing my history.
And when they meet me, I repeat the staled old lines "I am a seminary student studying to be a Presbyterian minister." The person who is not a Christian, could care less. I just tell them that we like to drink and this leaves them satisfied. It leaves me satisfied to, as if I have an in. I feel "cool".
To the Christian, however, I am an enigma. "A Presbyterian?" They think to themselves. "What is that?"
Well, excuse this discursion. I want to talk about myself more than usual. For the next few weeks.
It started many years ago when I saw Mark Driscoll on a large television yelling at me. Well, not at me, but in my direction, certainly. The youth pastor I served under was a committed Driscollian. He wanted people to commit to his vision of the Christian life. I never could, of course. I'm far too insecure and bookish for that.
Though this Driscoll always went on about being a Calvinist, as inconsistent as he was. "What is Calvinism?" I thought to myself. I didn't like that whole thing about election. It made seem God seem mean, capricious.
At the same time, however, I was rather dissatisfied at how the Baptist megachurch I was a part of was run. "Surely this is not how it was done for hundreds of years" I thought.
Being the historian I would like to be, I decided to go to the source.
I read Calvin.
Specifically, I plowed through most of Calvin's 4th Book of his Institutes, which is his treatise on the Church.
Calvin was not a Baptist. He wasn't a Roman Catholic either, but he was in dialogue with the past. He was measured, for the most part. He cited the Scriptures, he argued with St. Augustine and cited St. Jerome and Cyprian.
I loved it.
Finally, a Christianity that was historical.
The tragedy in all this is that I had become paedobaptist in a Baptist church.
At this point I want to make a comment and leave things in suspense. Living in the downtown area of KCMO, there are a few big churches that people attend. You can attend the large Acts 29 Baptist church, IHOP (International House of Pentecostal Loonies, or Prayer), or small storefront churches that are not affiliated with any denomination.
There's also the largest United Methodist church in the country.
All of that to say, American Christendom is not Protestant, at least historically. It's Anabaptist, but they call themselves Protestant.
But eh, I'll leave that for later.
Surrounded by beards,
-SJG
And when they meet me, I repeat the staled old lines "I am a seminary student studying to be a Presbyterian minister." The person who is not a Christian, could care less. I just tell them that we like to drink and this leaves them satisfied. It leaves me satisfied to, as if I have an in. I feel "cool".
To the Christian, however, I am an enigma. "A Presbyterian?" They think to themselves. "What is that?"
Well, excuse this discursion. I want to talk about myself more than usual. For the next few weeks.
It started many years ago when I saw Mark Driscoll on a large television yelling at me. Well, not at me, but in my direction, certainly. The youth pastor I served under was a committed Driscollian. He wanted people to commit to his vision of the Christian life. I never could, of course. I'm far too insecure and bookish for that.
Though this Driscoll always went on about being a Calvinist, as inconsistent as he was. "What is Calvinism?" I thought to myself. I didn't like that whole thing about election. It made seem God seem mean, capricious.
At the same time, however, I was rather dissatisfied at how the Baptist megachurch I was a part of was run. "Surely this is not how it was done for hundreds of years" I thought.
Being the historian I would like to be, I decided to go to the source.
I read Calvin.
Specifically, I plowed through most of Calvin's 4th Book of his Institutes, which is his treatise on the Church.
Calvin was not a Baptist. He wasn't a Roman Catholic either, but he was in dialogue with the past. He was measured, for the most part. He cited the Scriptures, he argued with St. Augustine and cited St. Jerome and Cyprian.
I loved it.
Finally, a Christianity that was historical.
The tragedy in all this is that I had become paedobaptist in a Baptist church.
At this point I want to make a comment and leave things in suspense. Living in the downtown area of KCMO, there are a few big churches that people attend. You can attend the large Acts 29 Baptist church, IHOP (International House of Pentecostal Loonies, or Prayer), or small storefront churches that are not affiliated with any denomination.
There's also the largest United Methodist church in the country.
All of that to say, American Christendom is not Protestant, at least historically. It's Anabaptist, but they call themselves Protestant.
But eh, I'll leave that for later.
Surrounded by beards,
-SJG
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Why Evangelicalism, Comrade?
I've wanted to write about how I decided to deem myself Presbyterian, but that would take a bit long. Though, there is something I've always wanted to bother my evangelical friends about.
Why do you follow the latest fads?
Some evangelical friends of mine like listening to modern worship music. Others are entranced by ways of doing church that contradict how the Church has done ministry for thousands of years. I can only put it down for two reasons.
1) Ignorance.
2) Sentiment.
On the first, ignorance. When I speak of liturgical worship, the Sacraments, and connectional confessionalism, I seem strange. People read the Bible for devotional purposes but miss that there are basic themes for structuring a church there, for worship. That's fine. We're all ignorant.
Though the second, sentiment, is what gets under my jaw. Never mind that most modern worship music cannot compare to a Psalm or a well written hymn. Never mind the fact that contemporary methods of ministry lead to no knowledge of Scripture, at best, or abuse at worst. Never mind that the non denominational churches are fun by divine fiat equivalent to the reign of Charles I.
So this is where it gets more confusing for me.
My friends, who objectively agree that my version of church is better, or at least a type of valid, still go to these churches. My friends, who hate what evangelicalism has done to them and to their friends, still support their ministries because, well, where else can you go?
It's almost Stockholm Syndrome.
I will say this. It is very strange going to a church or being part of a Christian organization where I am not going against the grain on most things. Though, I do wish we had a more liturgical bent, but what can you do?
Hopped on caffeine,
-SJG
Why do you follow the latest fads?
Some evangelical friends of mine like listening to modern worship music. Others are entranced by ways of doing church that contradict how the Church has done ministry for thousands of years. I can only put it down for two reasons.
1) Ignorance.
2) Sentiment.
On the first, ignorance. When I speak of liturgical worship, the Sacraments, and connectional confessionalism, I seem strange. People read the Bible for devotional purposes but miss that there are basic themes for structuring a church there, for worship. That's fine. We're all ignorant.
Though the second, sentiment, is what gets under my jaw. Never mind that most modern worship music cannot compare to a Psalm or a well written hymn. Never mind the fact that contemporary methods of ministry lead to no knowledge of Scripture, at best, or abuse at worst. Never mind that the non denominational churches are fun by divine fiat equivalent to the reign of Charles I.
So this is where it gets more confusing for me.
My friends, who objectively agree that my version of church is better, or at least a type of valid, still go to these churches. My friends, who hate what evangelicalism has done to them and to their friends, still support their ministries because, well, where else can you go?
It's almost Stockholm Syndrome.
I will say this. It is very strange going to a church or being part of a Christian organization where I am not going against the grain on most things. Though, I do wish we had a more liturgical bent, but what can you do?
Hopped on caffeine,
-SJG
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