The law, though it have no power to condemn us, hath power to command us. (Thomas Adams)
The Law by which God rules us is as dear to him as the Gospel by which he saves us. (William Secker)
There are but three ways to fulfil the law: either in my own person here; or to suffer forever in hell; or to believe in and receive another that may do it for me. (Walter Cradock)
The law detects, grace alone conquers sin.…
[The following is based on: Hays, J. Daniel (2001) Applying the Old Testament Law Today. Bibliotheca Sacra 158: 629: 21-35. The article is available here.]
Christians uphold some of the OT laws (such as the Ten Commandments), but violate others (including those relating to food, hygiene, and clothing). We tend to judge their validity on their apparent relevance, but this is abitrary.
How then might we proceed?
The traditional approach is to distinguish between moral, civil and ceremonial laws. …
I’ve just finished reading Emerging Churches – Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures. It is touted (by Brian MacLaren, no less) as the best guide to emerging churches around.
It’s an engagingly-written book, based on interviews with 50 EC leaders in US and UK. Although it therefore incorporates a range of opinions and experiences, the whole thing is given a measure of coherence by the thoughtful commentary of the two researchers/authors.
Gibbs & Bolger summarise the characteristics of emerging churches in their conclusion (pp235ff):-
…Emerging churches are not young adult services, Gen-X churches, churches-within-a-church, seeker churches, purpose-driven or new paradigm churches, fundamentalist churches, or even evangelical churches.
I’m sorry that Michael Pahl is taking a rest from blogging at the moment. But his blog is still worth visiting.
Particularly interesting are some of Michael’s thoughts on inerrancy. I must emphasise that he affirms inerrancy. As a kind of self-criticism, however, he notes the following:-
…The first criticism of a doctrine of inerrancy as it is often formulated is its relevance or usefulness. How helpful is a doctrinal formulation which depends on elusive concepts such as “in the original autographs” (a past-focused elusion), “when correctly interpreted” (a present-focused elusion), or “when all the facts become known” (a future-focused elusion)?
‘Humanity should accept that science has eliminated the justification for believing in cosmic purpose, and that any survival of purpose is inspired only by sentiment.’ (Peter Atkins, Oxford Chemistry Professor)
‘It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat posed by the AIDS virus, “mad cow” disease and many others, but I think that a case can be made that faith is one of the world’s great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. …
Paul writes in Romans 6:14, ‘sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.’
What does this mean?
1. Christians are not under law, in the first place, in the sense that they are no longer bound by the ceremonial law of the Old Testament. This law dealt with the Temple and its ritual and, according to the Letter to the Hebrews and other New Testament writings, has been fulfilled in Christ.…
…What a relief it was to become an atheist.
I had become worn out and frustrated by my fruitless search for God.
I had studied holy writings from three different continents. No God there.
I had tried prayer and “positive thinking” as if they were the same thing.
I had wrestled with the problems of theodicy without even knowing that the word existed.
I felt that I had sought God everywhere – in the cosmos, in my neurones, in my bank account.
Various kinds of difficulties are alleged:-
I was once asked to present a discussion paper to our Church Council on this subject. Here’s what I came up with:-
The Anglican Church, in common with most other branches of the Christian church, supports the baptism of adult believers and their children.
When a child is brought by Christian parents to be baptised, the minister welcomes the child with the words,
“God has received you by baptism into his church.”…
‘Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter controntations still to come, to savour to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back; in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. …
