Cultural commentary: what, why and how?

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It is all to easy for Christians either to ignore contemporary culture, or to demonise it as ‘bad’ without even trying to understand it.

Trevin Wax says that ‘examining a cultural artifact is not a statement on the spiritual state of an artist; neither is it a blanket endorsement or condemnation of a product.’  Rather, ‘cultural commentaries are an exercise in cultural literacy, what Kevin Vanhoozer describes as “discerning the meaning of cultural texts and trends in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”’…

Assurance to be desired

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Although one can have faith without assurance, belief without confidence, nevertheless assurance of salvation is much to be desired.  It provides comfort and strength in challenging times.  So writes J.C. Ryle:-

1. Assurance will help a man to bear poverty and loss. It will teach him to say, “I know that I have in heaven a better and more enduring substance. Silver and gold have I none, but grace and glory are mine, and these can never make themselves wings and flee away.

…

The case of the rotting fisherman

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Richard Bauckham offers vivid demonstration of how reliable eyewitness testimony can be.  I was particularly drawn to this pair of accounts relating to the same incident, because it took place in my home county of Norfolk, England.

In June, 1901 a local newspaper carried the following report:

STRANGE TRAGEDY AT WINTERTON - Body Found in the Sandhills
Late on Tuesday, a gruesome find was made on the sandhills at Winterton, a large fishing village eight miles north of Yarmouth.
…

Do I make myself clear?

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Clarity in oral communication comes naturally to some gifted communicators.  The rest of us need to work at it.  The following is based on this post by Andy Naselli, which is itself based on Millar & Campbell’s book (details at the bottom):-

  1. Less is more. . . . Say less, and people will remember more.
  2. It’s all about the ‘big idea’. . . . It’s easier to catch a ball than a handful of sand.
  3. Use simple, ordinary words .
…

Train a child

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1. Train them in the way they should go, and not in the way they would.

2. Train up your child with all tenderness, affection and patience.

3. Train up your children with an abiding persuation on your mind that much depends on you. “Beware of that miserable delusion into which some have fallen – that parents can do nothing for their children, that you must leave them alone, wait for grace, and sit still … The devil rejoices to see such reasoning.”…

Shall we dance?

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The Shakers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries put forth a number of arguments in defence of dance in worship:

1.  It is a gift of the Holy Spirit and is not to be neglected.

2.  It is in accordance with the OT precedent.

3.  It is a ‘natural impulse of joy’ suitable for the last days in which we live.

4.  Jere 31:13 foretold that this form of worship would be restored to the people of God when the eschaton came.…

Evangelism: alive or dead?

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Earlier in 2015, Trevin Wax posted a series of six questions about evangelism.  These were themselves adapted from teaching by Mike Lee.

1. The Compassion Question: Do we care that people are dying without faith in Jesus Christ?

2. The Culture Question: Do we understand why people reject the gospel?

3. The Content Question: Do we know what the good news is that we’re sharing?

4. The Confidence Question: Do we believe that God really saves sinners?…

“This man receives sinners!”

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Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came
to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and
teachers of religious law murmur, saying, “This man
receives sinners, and eats with them!”  Luke 15:1-2

The beings whom Jesus sought out,
and drew around Him, were . . . .
  the burdened,
  the bowed down,
  the disconsolate,
  the poor,
  the friendless,
  the helpless,
  the ignorant,
  the weary.

He loved to lavish upon such the fullness of His
benevolent heart, and to exert upon such the skill
of His wonder working power.…

The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ

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“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!” Galatians 6:14

In the cross we see . . .
the rights of divine justice maintained,
the designs of divine mercy revealed;
sin appearing exceedingly sinful;
the law magnified and honoured, and
the law-breaker pardoned and delivered!

At the cross, God and sinners meet — and a reconciliation takes place.…

2 + 2 = 5?

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William Jennings Bryan is reported to have said: “I believe the whale swallowed Jonah because the Bible said it, and if the Bible said that Jonah swallowed the whale I would have believed it simply because the Bible said so.”

Much more recently Peter LaRuffa, who is on the staff of Grace Fellowship Church, Northern Kentucky, said:-

If, somewhere within the Bible, I were to find a passage that said 2+2=5, I would believe it, accept it as true and then do my best to work it out and understand it.
…