A Rehahsh of 12 December 2008

Recently I posted a link to an article by William Saletan. You can view it here.

Somehow, it received the most aggressive comment anything on this blog has ever received. The comment reads,

"An Embryo Liberation Front ought to be established to unshackle those trembling, quivering persons, presently imprisoned in frosty tombs by evil-slut progenitors who won’t submit to morality. We should burst in to an Embryo Storehouse to tip trays on floors, letting us enjoy the spectacle of protoplasm bidding for freedom.

Saletan should be in a secure Centre, sat beside a man who believes he’s Napoleon, murmuring ‘I’m a pretty embryo’ as a Nurse gently strokes his hands. Those who share his beliefs would be consigned to such places if faith-driven insanity were appropriately treated as madness.

Enamoured of. Israel-loving. The Gospel of the Sovereign Grace of God."

I have no idea what Matt was implying in the last sentence other than, possibly, pointing out what he meant by "faith-driven insanity." I think that the insanity, the madness, is more likely to be found on the other end in this case. It is insanity, pure madness, to devalue human life to the point that the embryo is just a little lump of nothing! Now, I'm not one to get in blog controversies. I don't like them. But such ad hominem aggression deserves a gentle and loving response. I say this

"That may be the oddest and most aggressive comment this blog has ever encountered.

I wonder, is it insanity to protect the dignity of a human life? Is it insanity to express concern over the growing and nation-wide disdain for the human reproductive processes? Is it insanity to call out in desperation to an increasingly immoral and rudderless society that sees the embyro as little more than a lump of cells fit only for scientific testing? Is it insanity to protect human life of which yours is included? I would imagine that a person of your persuasion believes in social goodness and working for the good of society. If you continue to hold to the unfounded BELIEF that Christians and those who protect the dignity of the embryo are merely deluded and insane you will continue to see the degradation of society until the society is left in utter oppression and NO human life is considered dignified.

You have a weak position when all you can do is hurl insults from outside the walls.

The only thing worse than being blind and deluded is actually being blind and deluded while standing outside the camp accusing everyone else of being blind and deluded.

Is your life, YOUR life, worth anything? Think carefully because how you answer that question bears very much on whether your own worldview is consistent. If the embryo is nothing more than a lump of cells to be toyed with and disposed of you yourself are nothing more than a lump of cells to be toyed with and disposed of.

That you would see that truth is very close to my heart."

Anybody have anything else to say?

Loving the Whole Person (as Christ Does) with You Brethren,

R. D. Thompson

More Andrew Murray on Hebrews

Murray continues to delight me in this commentary on Hebrews. There are definitely places where his reading of the OT and NT are a little too "Reformed" for me (Replacement Theology and so on) but on the whole this commentary is a gem. This quote caught me,

"Christ seated on the throne in heaven means our being actually brought, in the supernatural power which the coming of the Holy Spirit supplies, into God's holy presence, and living there our daily life. It was because the Hebrews did not know this, because they had rested content with elementary truths about faith and conversion, and then the life in heaven after death, that they had so signally failed. Truly to know Jesus at the right hand of God would be the healing of their diseases, the restoration to the joy and strength of a life in accordance with their heavenly calling."

Great stuff.

Let Us Know, Let Us Press on to Know Christ,

R. D. Thompson

If Christ is Lord Why Are You Speeding?

This is a question that really is near and dear to my heart. If there is anything that makes me sick about Christian witness it is that Christians rarely think about seemingly insignificant things like this. I say seemingly insignificant because, really, how fast you go on the road is a dead give away to how you feel about submitting to authority and the authority of the state. What makes me further disgusted is that terms such as driving like a "grandma"are often projected onto myself and others when we obediently attempt to go the speed limit. I do say attempt because I am by no means immune to driving a bit faster than I ought; usually when I get into the car angry.

Now, I must explain why this is so dear to me. I began to come to a realization that loving Christ meant obeying all of His commands as zealously as possible (by His zeal and not my own of course) while I had a job delivering pizzas. Pizza delivery is by far one of the best jobs on the planet but there is one problem: you need to get pizzas delivered quickly. So quickly that most cops understandingly ignore everything you do between 10 and 15 MPH over the speed limit. I occasionally passed cops who were clocking me at well over 15 MPH above the posted limits without them even batting an eye. I thought at the time that it was the coolest thing ever and proceeded to blaze around town all day every day. I distinctly remember driving 75 in a 45 or pushing that 25 limit to 30 as often as possible.

I also happened to street race on a consistent basis.

I am well acquainted with the temptation to speed.

But I began to realize that defying the laws of the state was the equivalent of defying the clear statement of Paul in Romans 13:1, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." It is very straight-forward: any defiance to the laws of the state, assuming those laws don't violate human dignity or God's command to worship Him alone, amount to a defiance of Holy Scripture's teaching concerning obedience to governmental institutions.

Think about that the next time you let your lead foot weigh heavy on the pedal. The state that upholds and sets a speed limit was instituted by God. Thus the speed limit is rightly upheld by a government, however apostate, that is sanctioned and appointed by God.

Breaking the speed limit (or blatantly defying any state appointed law) amounts to breaking God's law and presents a witness to the world that we believe that God is a rebellious, lying hypocrite. If Christianity is truth for all of life this extends deep into the realm of the Christian's relation to state and demands our attention now. Even 1 MPH over the speed limit is a defiance of God sanctioned law.

Conclusion? Let us be wise on the roads and in our relation to the state!

Loving Christ with you friends,

R. D. Thompson

p.s. See my message on the sidebar entitled "Obey Authorities" for a verbal exposition of that text in Romans 13. It may be worth your time :-)

More Murray

Well...Murray is like the rest of his generation in splitting the OT and the NT just a little too sharply. However, that doesn't degrade the greatness of the next quote,

"Someone may be tempted to think that these are theological mysteries too deep for the ordinary Christian, and not needful for our Christian faith and life. And they are inclined to ask [sic], of what importance it can be to a simple believer to know all this?

My brother think not thus.

It is all important that we know the glory of Jesus.

The more the soul is filled with that glory, and worships Him in it, the more it will see with what confidence it can count upon Him to do a divine and supernatural work in us, and to lead us to an actual living fellowship with God as our Father. Oh, let us not be so selfish and mean as to be content with the hope that Jesus saves us, while we are careless of having intimate personal acquaintance with Him. If not for our sake, then for God's sake, for the sake of His infinite love and grace, let us seek to know aright this blessed Son whom the Father has given us. Let us turn away from earth, let us meditate and gaze and worship, until He, who is the outshining of the divine glory, shines into our very heart, and He, to whom the Father hath given such a place as the Creator and Upholder and Heir of all, take that place with us too, and be to us the beginning and the centre and the end of all." (Emphases mine).

That is what I have been saying to lazy Christians for three years now. We desperately need to know Jesus Christ and that knowing will not come through over-emotionalized (mind you don't misunderstand me, our emotions must be involved in our faith) sappy, contentless verbalizations about a Jesus who is someone less than God and was only interested in healing social ills. Theology is a study that all Christians must engage in and, dare I say, do engage in right now. It is not just for the scholars: it is for everyone. What is more is that everyone is a theologian but what it boils down to is whether or not you're a good theologian.

Theology linked with delight and warm faith in God through the substitutionary mediating work of Christ will lead to a deeper relationship with God. Do not skip out on growing your brain in the knowledge of God.

Let us study tirelessly friends,

R. D. Thompson