http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/08/17/clark-h-pinnock-1937-2010/

I’ve had a few random clashes over the past few years with Open Theists.  I pray that Clark Pinnock (who from many accounts was a really nice guy) was internally inconsistent with what he wrote and published.

Justin Taylor’s biography of him over at B2W mentions the following:

He then went on to teach at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1969-1974), Regent College in Vancouver (1974-1977), and McMaster Divinity School in Ontario (1977-2002). It was during his years at TEDS that he made the shift from Calvinism to Arminianism, as he was unable to reconcile the warning passages in Hebrews with his belief in “eternal security.” His move toward Arminianism, and then on to open theism, was one that “logic required” and “Scripture permitted.”

I’ve found that outside of a reformed paedobaptist position, the warning passages alwaystrip people up (hence the two articles I wrote on the warning passages located here andhere).   I wish Dr. Pinnock had come to the same conclusions about them that I did. But that’s a discussion for another time.

Russell Moore also relates some interesting facts about Pinnock here:

http://www.russellmoore.com/2010/08/17/why-conservative-evangelicals-should-thank-god-for-clark-pinnock/

In my home library, I have Pinnock’s monograph on the infallibility of scripture and have read it a few times.

I don’t really have too much to add that hasn’t been said.  I often internally think “thank God for the folks who did teach solid theology” and in the earlier part of his career, Pinnock was one of those people.  On the flip side, I also think internally “thank God for the heretics, as God uses them to help the church come to better clarity on the doctrines of the faith.”  If Boyd, Pinnock, Hasker and others hadn’t promoted the doctrine of openness, it may have taken me a bit longer to dig into theology proper as I had to do in defense of the God of scripture.  Isaiah 40-49 (thank you Bruce Ware!) is one of the greatest passages of scripture because of the high view of God that it presents.  I’ve been blessed and blessed again to go through this passage.

Whatever one thinks of Clark Pinnock at this point, pray for his wife and family’s comfort during this time.

Read it and let it soak in for a bit.  I’ll be commenting on it over the next few days.

[3] But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. [4] Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. [5] For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. [6] Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. [7] Therefore do not become partners with them; [8] for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light [9] (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), [10] and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. [11] Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. [12] For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. [13] But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, [14] for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” [15] Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, [16] making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. [17] Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [18] And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19] addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, [20] giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [21] submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:3-21 ESV)

So you’re at a church that doesn’t teach anything overtly heretical, but the sermons are rather ‘light’ in doctrinal content. The preacher may be content with giving you practical (supposedly) sermons week to week which seem to be ‘how to’ more than anything else. All well and fine. We do need to know ‘how to’ from time to time. But you find yourself a bit ‘critical’ of the sermon week to week – “not enough meat!” So you supplement your church’s sermons with podcasts from people you consider ‘meatier’ – MacArthur, Sproul, Piper, or any number of lesser known but solid biblical and exegetical pastors.

There’s an old saying – if the cook doesn’t eat here, why should you ?

Maybe that’s a bit too strong. Maybe your church is more like this: Not adequately consistent on biblical teaching. The equivalent of eating steak one day, McFood Product 3-4 days out of the week, a McFood Product Apple Pie one day and then one day it’s potluck.

Since we’re running with food illustrations, let me add one more.

My wife and I recently started (maybe over the past 6-8 months) moving the bulk of our diet to being more organic. So we eat at Silver Diner (because they’ve switched over to organic) and Chipoltle as our primary food places if/when we eat outside. The occasional Chic-Fil-A comes in every once in a while (emergency food – but at least we know they serve real chicken) and Arby’s (my wife used to work there, so she knows how the food is prepped – at least the beef).

Since the new food choices have come into play, several things have happened.

1. We’re finding out that processed and non-fresh foods (i.e. canned fruit cocktail versus fresh fruit that you chop up or that is prepared the same day) don’t retain their flavor or their nutritional value. For example, at an event my wife and I went to, my wife (who loves fruit) didn’t finish the fruit cocktail she got (it was one of the healthier choices). She said it didn’t taste like anything. In the past, she used to be able to devour canned fruit cocktail all day….but now…not so much. Fresh fruit tastes better and as you spend extended time around fresh, canned begins to lose its’ appeal.

2. We’re finding ourselves having more energy to do more things. Healthier diet and lifestyle = more energy. The old food choices we used to do (rushing around with little time to cook) tended to ‘fill’ us up, but it left us feeling sluggish and tired afterward. As we’ve learned in researching some restaurants, some of it is because most or ALL of the nutritional value of some foods was pretty much NON-EXISTENT. So your body was working harder to draw nutrients out of something that didn’t have nutrients in it to begin with. Therefore, you’re left tired. Related to that is the additional fact that some of the food which DID have some nutritional value was also high in fat and sodium. So now, the remainder of your body’s energy is spent converting stuff to BAD fat and the sodium content is sapping your body of fluids, dehydrating you. So your body has to work harder to process less and you end up with less energy, altered moods, physiological issues, chemical imbalance, etc… This affects your thinking and communication skills as well. When we switched to organic choices (and added some harder work/regular exercise to the mix), things started to change gradually. At the end of last school year, I did the school yearbook, kept up with the school website and a plethora of changes, did two performances 3 days before the end of the school year and a few dozen other things that normally, I would’ve been completely burnt out to do. I’m not saying I wasn’t tired at the end But compared to last year, I’ve found myself recovering quicker.

3. Overshare time (wife cringing as I type this) !!! We’ve found ourselves more apt to get rid of…stuff. This has also helped with losing weight (since we’re not holding onto stuff in our intestines for extended periods of time) and digestion (good food digests easier).

These three points have great theological significance. Churches that are light on their treatment of theological topics and issues often find their members working harder (whether it be to work themselves into a shout and live off of the emotional high for the next week, or thinking that the various programs and outreaches they get involved in are the equivalent of growth and being spiritual) with diminishing returns (because now they have to involve themselves in ‘more’ over time just to feel like they are ‘doing the Lord’s work’ or ‘serving Him’ or ‘worshipping Him in Spirit and in Truth’).

No real spiritual nutritional value. Just empty spiritual calories to fill you up. ‘How-to’ sermons divorced from their theological and biblical foundations, become morality lessons. Morality lessons don’t transform your way of thinking and they don’t save people. And you can only live off a cliché or morality lesson…until real trials strike.

Good spiritual food (in the form of consistent sound doctrine and good teaching) is like eating steak, organic chicken, fresh vegetables and such….every day. Good food on a regular basis helps your body grow stronger and keeps you free of most diseases. Likewise, good spiritual food will keep you free of most of the pitfalls that some believers constantly face and struggle with (i.e. “Am I good enough now to merit God’s favor beyond Him just saving me ?”). But the key is this: you have to be in the atmosphere consistently. That means you don’t simply live off of podcasts, tapes, CDs and DVDs, but you have people alongside of you who believe the same things, encouraging and strengthening you to move forward. You have a shepherd who consistently teaches and preaches these things every week. Your church consciously is modeled after this line of thought.

As other members of your community are being transformed by the preaching on Sunday and teaching throughout the week, they, in turn, pass that on to you as you interact with them. And as you find yourself being transformed, you pass that back to them. This ‘mutual edification’ gives you the spiritual strength necessary to endure all sorts of trials as they come.

Your view of God changes in a sounder atmosphere. God goes from being a benevolent grandfather up in heaven looking down at you and smiling and waiting to give you all sorts of gifts (because He’s nice and loving) to being the Almighty Creator of the universe, before whom, you deserve nothing but wrath and death, but who instead chooses to give you love, blessings and salvation. Realizing your condition makes God appear as He should – much bigger, much more awesome and then it hits you…. His love for you doesn’t depend on your performance. He didn’t save you because of something you did or would do. He didn’t “see the best in you” and then save you based on that.

It’s easy to think of yourself as being ‘worthy’ of a certain kind of love and knowing that your mate or another human being loves you because you’re you. There’s even a song out about it now (The Best In Me by Marvin Sapp). But knowing that God loves you when the best of ‘you’ is filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) and coming to realize that it doesn’t depend on you at all…well…that’s humility-producing.

It also produces a different kind of sanctification. You’ll find yourself more apt to self-examination (per 2 Cor. 13 and all of 1 John) and find yourself jettisoning as much ‘waste’ in your life that weighs you down from running toward the goal of Christlikeness.

Now I hear, on regular basis, people say things like “well, maybe some people are built up by things from this style of preaching versus that ‘theological’ stuff.” That, to me, falls in line with thinking that “ Well, maybe some people are built up by eating unhealthy food versus all that ‘organic stuff’.”

Objectively speaking, there’s only one meaning to the text of scripture. It cannot mean one thing and the exact opposite of that one thing at the same time. Objectively speaking, only ‘real spiritual food’ brings real spiritual growth. In other words, if what gets taught is false doctrine, no matter how the person feels about it, they are not being built up in the faith. They may be built up in habit, tradition, feeling, thinking and experiencing, but these things are not the Christian faith as taught in scripture.

In food analogy terms: one cannot say that McDonalds builds up people in a healthy fashion and that real beef from one cow builds up people just as well. Both statements are mutually exclusive (if you know how McDonalds’ meat gets mushed together from several different animals in varying shades of health). One is good for you and provides more nutrients for your body.  One is not and provides little nutrients for your body, gives you unwanted antibiotics, possible disease contamination (because those cows aren’t in the healthiest of shape and they eat a lot of filler).  Both taste differently.  So although both might fill you up, don’t mistake being full for being healthy. Both are having different effects on your body over the long haul.

I’ve encountered people who, after eating so much fast food for so many years, really don’t have a taste for real food. They have a taste for food…but not healthy food. And like children, over time, they must be weaned off of the bad food in order to develop a taste for the good.

A few ramblings of a man determined to nudge folks on to better ‘food choices’. I already know that some people will be moderately offended by it because they know that their church has good food. I teach middle school kids who think that McDonalds’ is good food too. But I’ve also been humble enough to sit and watch Super-Size Me and follow up on that with personal research. I also realize that middle school kids don’t necessarily have the maturity and capacity to think at the level of ‘what is this doing to my body over long periods of time’ because they’ve been trained up (by culture, society, media and parents) to have everything ‘now’ and focus on ‘now’. Likewise, there are many believers who have been trained up to not think critically and use their minds to the glory of God (Deut. 6:5).

The thing with good food, though…even if your palate has been trained to love fast food, you can be weaned off of it and moved over to real food. You can grow teeth that will bite into and rend steak. You can develop a taste for fresh fruit so that canned longer appeals to you. It takes time, work and the same way you would reprogram your muscles with daily workouts to grow stronger, you’d need to reprogram your appetite with good foods.

All that said…move somewhere with fresh, real, healthy, nutritious food. Nothing scripture says that you should remain at a place that is malnourishing you. You have friends at these places ? Instead of staying for their benefit, why not bring them with you to your new place of eating ?

If you missed part 1 (What’s Good Preaching ?), click this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E1AMXCHv9E

Evangel falls into the third category. His music is anything but shallow. Hailing from Maryland via NYC, and a member of the group ChristCentric, he’s no stranger to the Christian Hip Hop community. The group put out several solid projects over the past decade -The Mind of Christ (2001), Reformation (2003), City of God (2006), Didactic Music Vol. 1 (2009) as well as his first solo project, Expository Journey (2008).Those not familiar with him already should also look up his guest spots on Timothy Brindle’s album Killing Sin album, shai linne’s Solus Christus Project, Voice’s Not Guilty: The Process of the Pardon and The Crucible and the newly-released Lampmode Project The Church: Called and Collected. His first album, Expository Journey, served as a bit of a “Pilgrims’ Progress”, detailing the process of God calling, convicting, regenerating and saving him along the course of the album. It’s more than ‘good listening’ and I highly recommend picking it up (I probably need to do a ‘back review’ on that one).

Thematically, Elation is probably the best ‘concept’ album I’ve heard because the topic is very narrowly focused (Matthew 5:3-16). Any believer serious about the message of the beatitudes will enjoy this album and feel as thought they are being led through a systematic bible study on the topic. Every song serves as an exposition of each portion of the passage until the listener comes away not only entertained, but more importantly edified.

Musically, the project is solid and some tracks will definitely be played and replayed and replayed. The production has a distinctive east coast flavor with a
lot of ‘old school’isms, which I love. It took a few tracks a bit of time to grow on me (mainly because of the hooks), others will grab you the first time
you listen to the CD and stick with you for hours after you’ve hit the ‘stop’ button on your CD player or MP3 player.

Pound for pound, Evangel remains (as shai linne has called him) “the tightest emcee you never heard of”. Clever punchlines, ridiculously complex lyricism and insane rhyme-schemes all make this album beyond ‘worth picking up’. I believe this one could easily become a ‘silent classic’, gradually working its’ way into people’s listening rotation over time and being something that people listen to repeatedly without even realizing it. A word of caution: if you’re looking for something to treat like a secular CD and constantly ‘bump’, you might be disappointed. For the brothers of Christcentric, their albums are deliberately intended to be didactic – teach and entertain at the same time. While artistry and musicality are important, their primary focus has always been content over entertainment. As such, when serious material comes up, the tone of tracks tend to reflect the nature of the topic being discussed.

The title track, Elation Foundation, serves as the intro the album. It comes at you out of left field (up tempo and you are probably NOT expecting it) and leaves you wondering what to expect until Evangel drops the first few bars. It serves as an intro not just to album, but also illustrates the state of a newly converted believer. God begins the work of sanctification in a person who has walked in darkness for so long that it takes their eyes a bit of time to adjust to the light of Christian living. A visual representation of this is described in the song as a man getting on an elevator in the basement and gradually being elevated to different floors in the building (each represented by a different track). Skit #1, Mr. Smiley Face featuring “The Elevator Man” (more on him and the skits later) serves as an explanation of the album in a humorous fashion.

Bankruptcy Department begins the trek into the album with Michael Armstrong on lead vocals for the hook. The track musically is what you’d expect for a song designed to provoke mental images of sorrow for one’s sin, mirroring the first beatitude “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). I love Savings and Moans. The hook is memorable, biblical and does exactly what Evangel intended – teaches the text of scripture and gets it ‘stuck’  inside of your head for the purpose of further meditation long after you’ve stopped listening. Soul Beneficiary Division is a straight boom-boom-bap track. It serves as a call for believers to both believe the words of Jesus and to walk in humility in light of it (Matthew 5:5).

Mercy Mutual is another of my favorite tracks on the album. Building on “Blessed are merciful, for they will receive mercy”, Evangel goes straight to the text of scripture and draws from the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35) and presents it in lyrical form along with the implications of it in verse 3 of the song, even relating the last bar back to the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6. One of the standout tracks on the album, though the production could have used some more layering. Food Court was one of those tracks where the hook took a while to grow on me. Other than that, there’s nothing wrong with this track. In contradiction to my expectations, the crowd at the release party was very into the song and hollered the chorus very effusively. Evangel engages in crazy wordplay here and the result is a song that any believer who hungers after righteousness and daily fights against their sin can use for meditation.

Jewel graces Pure in Heart with her angelic vocals. Yes, all of those voices are hers (come on folks – anyone who’s seen Ray or has listened to ANY song by Michael Jackson from Off the Wall forward knows you can layer and multi-track your own voice). From a musicians’ standpoint, this is the best that I’ve heard her and the arrangement of her voice on the this track is perfect. Another of the stand-out tracks on the album both for content and production.

Rejoice is another one of Evangel’s outstanding tracks on this album because of the content. He shows out with different rhyme-scheme patterns in this one and does so effortlessly. Shalom Factory has a tight beat, great lyricism….but I didn’t care too much for the hook. It sounds a bit ‘mechanical’ (straight on the beat) and a better choice of words could’ve been put together for it. Even with that, it still grows on you after a few listens. Maybe apologist will do a remix with the same beat, different background and a better hook. Maybe. Other than that, I’m being hit with a straight east coast, golden age of hip hop feel with this track…and I’m loving it.

HR department is on the album at a great place. Good beat, good lyricism, good hook and it picks up well from where Shalom Factory left off. The rest of Christcentric joins him on this song, with Israel Felix on verse 2 and Apologist with verse 3. Israel has always been beastly as a lyricist and does not disappoint on this track. Honestly, I think this is one of the best verses I’ve ever heard from him (and I’ve yet to hear a wack verse from him). Apologist gives us a Christian history lesson, pointing us back to other saints who’ve endured suffering and persecution over the centuries without turning from the faith as examples to us to keep pressing toward the kingdom. His verse serves as a good reminder of why all believers need to be familiar with church history in the first place.  Musically, this sounds like a ‘classic’ Christcentric track (anyone familiar with their discography knows what I mean by this).

Hilltop Housing slows the pace of the album back down as Evangel gets serious with a call for the church to be holy in its’ worship and it’s lifestyle – as individuals and collectively. Nothing is off limits – homosexual choir leaders, pastors conferences being the highest rated in pornography, excommunication and restoration for repentant saints and working for our employers as we would if Christ was our employer. I’ll definitely say that is one of the most powerful tracks on the album and really ‘sits with you’ if you take the time to consider exactly what’s being said.

The skits (Mr. Smiley Face, Still the Elevator Man and Elation Summation) show up at the right times throughout the album, prepping us for the next section of the album as we go. Brother Redeemed (Derek Pulliam) is known for normally being a serious dude (listen to his tone on Elation Summation or the clips of him on Bmorr’s “Wake Up” off of his Self-Denial album). You see a completely different and hilarious side of him as “The Elevator Guy” on this album, and it helps to provide the listener with some needed ‘breaks’ in the topic, lest you end up feeling melancholy for the entire thing.

I’m sorry, I missed a track, didn’t I ? Every good hip hop CD needs a cypha.

Quincy ‘Q-DOG’ Jones makes a return to Christcentric with a hot opening verse to Immigration Services. I don’t know about you, but I miss hearing this brothers’ voice spittin’ verses. Israel and Apologist follow close behind. Ackdavis, Azriel and New Jeruse hit the next three verses with 16 ill bars a piece, followed by up and coming emcees C-LOS and B-doe. B-doe not only has a project coming out (Please Listen, release date TBA), but he’s also grabbed a few guest spots on B-morr’s albums as well as on the Plumbline Collective’s Semper Reformanda Vol. 1. Now THAT is a line up.

Oh yeah, Evangel spits a verse on here too. And it’s 32 bars. And it’s SICK.

That pretty much summarizes my trek through the project after a few dozen listens. I’d caution folks not to simply toss it aside based off of superficial reviews. The words of John Owen (paraphrased) come to mind when I think of this project – if you come in looking mainly or only for entertainment, you might as well leave after the first track. This one’s designed to edify and build up and long after the music stops, you’ll be left considering each track and driven back to scripture to meditate on these great truths.

Production – 3/5

Lyricism, Artistry and Wordplay – 4/5

Concept Cohesiveness – 5/5

Content – 5/5

Total: 8.5/10

It’s about Christ and the Church.

Christ is the Head, the Church is His Body.

The Head, or husbands, representing Christ, are called to pursue their bride, the Church; sacrificing for her, dying to personal desires, providing, teaching, cultivating, feeding, loving them all the days of their lives.

And the bride (the “Church” or the “Body” of Christ) are called to submit themselves to the loving care of Christ, the Head, Who condescended from eternity to time, from timeless and heavenly things to a decaying temporal existence on Earth, in order to receive the full penalty of her sins on Himself.

Marriage, instituted by the Creator of life, exists to illuminate that Gospel, which is the Greatest Story Ever Told.

It doesn’t exist for selfishness, jealousy, control, lust, or to nurse insecurities. And it certainly doesn’t exist to be torn apart. After all, Christ didn’t live perfectly & die sacrificially for a bride only to abandon her; and the Church, His Body, didn’t experience a larger-than-life love story of redemption in order to leave her only true Love.

It’s about Christ and the Church.

Well, it appears one trap married folks (especially ones who are amped to obey Ephesians 5 as best as their abilities will allow) can fall into is to get into the rut of following the words of this admonition without the spirit of it. Some people, whether deliberately and out of frustration about imperfections that persist, or unintentionally, will grit their teeth and daily force themselves into the submission and sacrifice the Gospel story recounts. Yet they’ll forget the love that is the true motive behind the Gospel. It’s love with the Gospel of Christ in view that should compel a husband to care for his wife and a wife to respect her husband.

Well, one of the comments in the Facebook discussion I first referenced expressed this idea of rooting one’s marital sacrificing & submitting in a motive of true love so well that I want to quote it. It refers to the “re-enactment” mentioned in the title of this blog article:

[T]he most beautiful aspect of that re-enactment is the [reality] and joy of mystic union and sweet communion established and granted by the grace of God!

I was stupefied by this remark! Here was my reply to the writer of that comment; a person I’ll call “Q”:

[T]hat was encouraging, Q. [I]t would be terrible if for some the quote “the purpose of marriage is gospel re-enactment” invited robotic behavior or joyless striving and a lack of grace for the spouse when in reality sanctification takes a lifetime. [D]id you ever go through a stage where it felt like a burden, and how did you get out?

Thankfully, Q was gracious enough to reply. And his reply was the motivation for today’s blog post:

[M]any marriages struggle in those ways mine has as well…there are many reasons for this but mainly because people forget WHY they got married in the first place, they have ceased to see their spouse as the “apple of their eye” they only see their sins/faults and not their beauty and grace they forget the … love of God toward themselves.

Most Christian marriages in this rut are also in the same rut with God. Because they forgot that their salvation was based upon the unmerited grace, abounding lovingkindness and compassion of God and that we were called into “fellowship” – a shared life/communion. God first loved us by giving of Himself and His Son to us and thus we love Him. Marriages only display the gospel when they live out the love of God in this way. We must first love our spouse – not because of anything they have done but because they are our beloved chosen one who we chose to covenant with until we die…if we love on the basis of (their) merit or solely on the basis of law then our marriages will lack grace and will lead to “robotic behavior and joyless striving”

marriage is lived out in covenant communion – not merely covenant obligation. the purpose of marriage as salvation is fellowship (see 1 John 1:4). Marriage is about fellowship…”I am my beloveds and he is mine” (Song of Sol 2:16)…this is what the marriage supper of the Lamb is going to be all about, this is why Jesus rejects those who he “never knew”….eternity will be about fellowship with our God and Christ – “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.”

gospel re-enactment in marriage as I see it, is about fellowship…fellowship displays itself in proper devotio[n], love that gives, sacrifices, obeys, cherishes, honors, remains faithful, keeps the law of love and thus the whole law…

And marriage is a lifetime of learning this as you said, sanctification…the beauty of not just going through life together but growing through life together

[S]orry for the dissertation – its par for the course for us seminary guys….hope that’s helpful.

So for all you married and soon-to-be-married folk out there, I hope this discourse was helpful. Q really provided excellent perspective to such a critical subject.

Selah!

“Men” is the operative term here.

I especially love those who have known since, like, elementary school, that they wanted to grow up to be husbands and fathers. (These guys do exist, believe me; I went to the wedding of one just a few months ago). Such dudes wanted to build a family, a legacy, and now realize how much of a contribution that is to God’s Kingdom & even earthly society.

These are true men. They’re not boys, selfishly living for themselves, having standards for future spouses they themselves can’t meet, expecting physical perfection they themselves don’t have, attempting to satisfy their sexual desires with as many women as possible, reproducing yet refusing to share at least 50% of the responsibility for raising kids, and rejoicing in their ability to do what even roaches do: have sex. No, I’m talking about Family Men. Not “Playas” (see definition number three). Not “Pimps.” Family Men. Real Men.

I think it’s important to note the fate of “Playas” versus Family Men. Playas get to have the fun (and consequences) of a lust-pursuing life while they’re young. But they end up old, unattractive, and despised by all the women & offspring they neglected. They also die alone. Family Men on the other hand live lives full of the responsibility (and utter fulfillment) needed to be successful husbands and fathers. But when they get old, they’re greatly loved and have a legacy to leave behind. They have one woman they’ve spent decades loving, loads of children who remember their active presence from bike-riding to lesson-teaching, and a whole community that benefited from their example. And they die surrounded by generations who are elated that they ever graced this planet with their presence.

Bit ups to all the Family Men.

This vid is for you:

\”Domesticated\” by Ruslan featuring Blame One & Braille

Spurgeon wrote:

The highest moral character must be sedulously maintained. Many are disqualified for office in the church who are well enough as simple members. I hold very stern opinions with regard to Christian men who have fallen into gross sin; I rejoice that may be truly converted, and may be with mingled hope and caution received into the church; but I question, gravely question whether a man who has grossly sinned should be very readily restored to the pulpit. As John Angell James remarks, “When a preacher of righteousness has stood in the way of sinners, he should never again open his lips in the great congregation until his repentance is as notorious as his sin.” Let those who have been shorn by the sons of Ammon tarry at Jericho till their beards be grown; this has often been used as a taunt to beardless boys to whom it is evidently inapplicable, it is an accurate enough metaphor for dishonoured and characterless men, let their age be what it may. Alas! the beard of reputation once shorn is hard to grow again. Open immorality, in most cases, however deep the repentance, is a fatal sign that ministerial graces were never in the man’s character.

While I can quickly assent to agreement with every sentence Spurgeon wrote, I get a little fuzzy around the last sentence, even though he put the qualifier of ‘most’ on there.   A few preachers believe there is no restoration to ministry after the fall of a pastor, specifically for sexual sin (because of the nature of the sin and the damage it does to the witness of the gospel).  Others believe that there is a time, after watching one’s life again consistently (measuring consistency in years, not simply months) where an ex minister can indeed be restored.

Thoughts ?

I have a few more, but I’ll post them in a few more days.

Please don’t tune me out just yet.

I admit: I myself would question reading an article with such a ridiculous title since it is biblical scripture that we should follow concerning how to share Jesus. Not an unbelievers opinion! But give me a minute to explain.

There’s an excellent book I’m just about finished reading by a college student named Kevin Roose called “The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University.” I recommend this work to everyone! A friend who normally recommends excellent books suggested I read it but I initially had reservations since I thought it was simply going to bash Liberty University (a school I have mixed feelings about anyway) and/or cause Christians to question things that are simply misunderstood or taken out of context. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It is an amazing, balanced, refreshing book. It’s about a guy who is NOT a conservative Christian transferring for a semester from Brown University (which is what I call “limp-noodle liberal”) to Liberty to blend in and see what life is like among folks who are his generational peers but who are very different than he is ideologically. Please go to the bookstore and get it as soon as you can.

So back to my point … a few minutes ago I sauntered over to YouTube and came across a live streaming interview of Kevin where he answered a lot of valuable questions and listeners were able to enter the chat room and interact with him by making inquiries that were read to Kevin by the host.

There are a couple of spoilers in the interview, but I highly recommend that you jump to the 21:40 minute mark and listen to about 23:32. In this section, Kevin recounts his experience going with a group of Liberty students down to Daytona Beach during Spring Break to evangelize! Yes, I’m serious. Anyway, one of the people watching this interview asked what he thought, as an unbeliever, about the method of evangelism the LU students used. And he had an interesting reply I think is worthy of contemplation.

Again, I don’t think Christians should use anything but the Bible to determine how we should share Christ. Nevertheless, I believe a valid question after listening to this interview is “how much of Kevin’s advice CAN actually be found in scripture?”

Maybe this can revolutionize how we share the Faith.

Enjoy by clicking here.

Your thoughts are solicited.