(MN: I asked Laura [L-Boogie] to write a short piece on her take on Atonement from a Four-Pointer perspective. The following is the result of her efforts. I promised not to comment, so I’m keeping my mouth shut. I didn’t even add a graphic. )

The doctrine of election provides an answer to the question: “Why does anyone come to Christ?” Men hate the light and love the darkness. So how in the world is anyone saved?

Let’s start at the beginning. God has made his existence obvious, and has put a law on men’s hearts and has commanded them to obey, but man in his rebellion has said “No.” (Romans 1). Then Christ, God’s perfect son, came into the world. However, people’s reactions have been exactly the same. (John 1:11) But at this hinge point in history, as everyone is running away from the cross, there are those who are believing. Why? Why do some believe?Paul tells us in Ephesians 2. He tells us that we are saved because of something we received, not because of something we have done. In this, he utterly destroys our pride, placing glory on God rather than us.

Why do you respond? Not because you’re special, but because of God’s gracious gift of faith.

I don’t believe in Unlimited Atonement. If I believed in Unlimited Atonement, I would be some kind of Arminian. But this isn’t an either-or thing, and historically it hasn’t been. We have a few options here:

1. Arminian position — unlimited atonement (with various nuances): Christ’s death was not only enough to save everyone; it was designed to save everyone. The reason not everyone gets saved is because God leaves the decision up to us.

2. Dordtian Calvinist position (TULIP)— Limited atonement
a. limited in scope, which states that Christ’s death was not designed to save everyone, only the elect.
b. limited in amount. This is a minority position, but a very consistent one. It states that God poured out on Jesus the precise amount of wrath required to atone for the sins of the elect.

3. Classical Amyraldianism — also called “hypothetical universalism.” In other words, the Atonement could have provided salvation for all men, but God determined that only some would actually be saved. Those are the elect.

4. Union with Christ/ denial of the concept of a quantity. One of my Systematic Theology professors at Southern expressed this view, but he’s not the only one. Here’s how I explain it:

I fully believe and affirm that God irresistibly draws some – the elect, that no one desires salvation, and that faith is a gift of God’s grace, etc. I just deny that the atonement is a THING that has a quantitative limit.

So now the question is: what is happening in atonement itself? This is where I think both pop-unlimited (Arminian-by-default) theology and limited-atonement theology goes a little off the rails. Let’s take a look at 1 John 2:2:

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

In looking at this passage, everyone agrees there is a key word, but most people pick the wrong word! An Arminian sees it and says, “Ooh! World! What part of ‘whole world’ don’t you understand? What part of ‘not ours only’ do you not understand?” they ask, certain they have irrefutably proven their case.

But these guys are missing the point. The key word is “HE.”

The propitiation, the sacrifice, the wrath of God, the righteousness of God are found in Jesus. They will benefit you only when you are found in Jesus. Let’s look at Passover – this is exactly what’s happening in the Passover! The blood of the Lamb is shed, and then what? They don’t measure it out or argue about how much there is. They apply the blood on the doorpost – it’s an accomplished atonement that benefits when it is applied.

Jesus didn’t come to earth with a cupful, a barrelful or a whateverful of Acme A-1 Top Quality Atonement. And He doesn’t make a sales pitch that sounds anything like :Step rightup! Only one teaspoon per elect saint required for full potency!

Rather, in a very real sense the atonement IS Christ himself. And when God saves us, we are united with him in that death. He atones for our sin as we are united with him. His punishment WAS our punishment. So talking about limits on the amount strikes me as odd.

I am NOT saying that I had anything at all to do with my own salvation. The ball was NOT in my court. I brought nothing to the table. I was dead, and that doesn’t mean “mostly dead” . I was dead and God breathed new life into me because of Christ. But I find it nonsensical to discuss the atonement in terms of an amount of something. It makes about as much sense to me as saying that God’s grace has a quantitative limit just because Paul hears God saying, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

I will solemnly confess with the saints throughout history that God in his Grace chooses for salvation some vessels of honor, and prepares for destruction some vessels of wrath. So if you want to define Limited Atonement as “God has all the say and not everyone gets saved,” then you can feel free to call me a 5-pointer.

I’m just trying to nuance it a bit as most self-proclaimed four-pointers would do.

The key question for my understanding of atonement is, “Am I in Christ?” The question is not about “atonement” as a thing, a glob of something that you have transferred to you. The atonement is a person, Christ, who mediates for you when you are united with him. Otherwise you are saying, I will answer for my own sins before God.

What makes a difference is not, “Do I have this thing called atonement?” What makes a difference is, “Am I united with Christ?”

(MN: By the way folks, I should have an article by GaryV [I believe he has taken the pierced parts moniker of G Vizzle] will be presenting an article on God and Freewill. )

Pulpit Pimps | 84 Comments »

For those of you who recognize this as a take off on a portrait of John Calvin - my apologies to you and to John Calvin. But it was necessary to illustrate and to introduce a very important point about the average Christian, or at least the average practitioner of Christianity.

I am an admitted fan of the Reformation. Many of the more…uh…Arminan readers rail against the Reformation, not understanding that the framework of orthodoxy they enjoy stems directly and solely from the Reformation. You believe in salvation by grace? Thank Luther and the rest of the Reformers. You believe there is no mediator between us and God except Jesus Christ? Thank a Reformer. You believe we are saved by faith alone? Thank people like Calvin, Owen, and a host of others. You don’t believe you can benefit from the excess grace earned by some silly saint who traveled from England to Jerusalem on his knees? Thank a Reformer.

Or perhaps you really like the fact that you are encouraged to pay attention to the Bible? Yep, it’s the result of efforts by the Reformers. It’s the results of men and women willing to put their lives on the line for the Bible and the doctrines of the Bible.

Were the Reformers perfect? Can they replace God? Certainly not. But God did use them to bring the truth of Gospel back to the European continent and beyond. If it were not for them, we would all be Catholic…or Buddhist…or Hindu…Well, you get the idea.

One of the activities the Reformers engaged in was the development of numerous confessions. Of course here, when I use the term “confession” I mean a formal profession of belief and acceptance of doctrines, as before being admitted to church membership, not admitting that I did something wrong.

While many confessions came out of the Reformation period, most were very similar. The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, the Westminster Confession, the Augsburg Confession and others all attempted to codify Protestant belief, to sort of boil down into a few manageable words, the great doctrines of the Bible.

For instance, I can use a lot of words to talk about the doctrine of the Trinity. Or I can say:

In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.

With this, maybe you can understand why a lot of us see T. Dexter as a coward. Affirming the Trinity is not that hard. Fifty-five words and you have clearly and unambiguously aligned yourself with a Trinitarian viewpoint.

The Confessions give us a standard set of statements that clearly sum up what we believe. And they usually make heavy references to the Bible to support their content.

That is, unless you’re Cashflow Dollar. Then the confessions do something altogether different.

The Westminister’s confession about the Bible:

The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the word; and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the word, which are always to be observed.

The Bible, the whole counsel of God provides us with the information we need to glorify God, to explain salvation to the unsaved and to worship God in truth. It is above supposed new revelations of the Spirit or the traditions of man. Notice that the confessions glorify God. They point to the need fallen man has for God and the responsibility man has toward God.

Now, let’s take a look at one of the confessions of Cashflow Dollar.

God has a specific plan for your life. Your pathway to the “good life” is included in that plan. Discover the keys to fulfilling God’s perfect will by studying His Word and giving voice to the Scriptures.

In the name of Jesus, I declare that my mind is renewed by God’s Word, and that I know His perfect will for my life. His purpose for me includes total life prosperity.
I allow the Holy Spirit to lead me to the good life. His expected end for me does not include evil; instead, it is filled with peace. I receive God’s anointing on my life and will not abuse it. I believe I receive the manifestation of my confessions right now!
In Jesus name, Amen.

Do you see any difference between these two? For starters, the second one is focused on the confessor, not on God. It’s all about God’s plan for me and what He is going to do for me. And of course part of what He is going to do, according to the confession, is work total life prosperity (whatever that is) into my life.

The average dumb Christian has no clue about Christianity once they get past Jesus died on the cross for my sins. When the right pimp comes along they are more than willing to say:

Jesus died on the cross for my sins. Now I can confess supernatural health and I know that in order to make God look good, I have to allow Him to bless me with not only supernatural health, but wealth and property too.

And while all of this is going on, as the Christian gets stupider and stupider, our children suffer the consequences. En masse, the generations following us (”us” being the Baby Boomers) miss the meat of the Gospel. They get conned by Copeland, Dollar, J. H. Bryant, and a host of others; men and women who wouldn’t know an orthodox thought if it jumped up and bit them on their collective posteriors.

I urge you (Reformed and Arminian alike) to take a look at the great confessions. Believe me, you won’t be following after John Calvin if you do. Instead, you will be seeing the structure that was built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Pulpit Pimps | 127 Comments »

The internet is a great thing. It’s down right inspirational at times. For instance, it inspired GaryV to write a prayer for one of his organization’s conferences. Here is the prayer that Gene inspired GaryVto pray at the kick-off session of the Inclusionist Divinity Institute Organizational Trust’s (I.D.I.O.T.) annual conference, potluck dinner, and RuPaul impersonator contest.

Oh wonderful and merciful God/Godess/Divinity in transition from God to Godess through holy gender reassignment,

We humbly beseech Thee to bless us with the end of tears by removing the sting of body and eyebrow waxing.

Bless us with anger for the outrageous prices we are being charged to have Jennifer Lopez’s Grammy Award presentation gown reproduced in a men’s size XXL.

Bless us with discomfort whenever we hear the Bible, lest it penetrate our heart directly through our silicone implants.

Bless us with patience for hateful, bigoted, and sexually repressed Christians who want to keep us from legal and loving unions with the same sex. Or multiple partners. Or children under 3. Or different species.

Bless us with humility, that we might bow before any god….Allah, Vishnu, Xenu, President Obama….except the One in the Bible.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, that we may warmly embrace and openly celebrate everything deemed an abomination in Scripture while still calling ourselves followers of Christ.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community rather than by some antiquated and repulsive acceptance of a Blood sacrifice for sins. And in Your relativism, let us ignore the 1.5 million vulnerable lives we destroy each year, offering them on our own bloody altar of selfishness.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack as he assumes the office of President of the United States. And we thank You that your Messiah Obama has already repealed the oppressive ban on funding abortions overseas, along with a promise to repeal any ban on abortions in these United States (including partial birth abortions).

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style (but not his love of Scripture), President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts (as well as his moral degeneracy), and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people (along with his delicious denials of Christ’s Deity, the Atonement of the Cross, the Virgin Birth, and the Inspiration of Scripture).

Give him a quiet heart, lest he hear his own heart’s condemnation which The God of Scripture graciously sends to bring repentance and obedience to Christ. For that would truly suck, oh Amorphous And Non-Specific Deity.

AMEN.

Two questions:

1. Was this a Christian prayer?

2. Who wants to take the first shift watching GaryV to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself?

Christian Living | 24 Comments »

I got a huge swell of requests to post the transcript of the Right Reverend Bishop Gene Robinson’s prayer at the Unity event on the Sunday before the inauguration. Okay, so the swell consisted of two people. I still thought it was a good idea.

If you don’t have any background on the Right Reverend, here’s a little information:

The Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop, said he and his partner want to be among the first couples in New Hampshire to unite officially under a civil unions measure soon to be signed into law. The state is set to become the nation’s fourth to offer civil unions for gay couples after legislation approved by the Senate was sent to Gov. John Lynch, who has said he will sign it. ”I think this moves us one step closer to the American promise to all its citizens of equality under the law,” Mr. Robinson, 59, told The Associated Press. ”My partner and I look forward to taking full advantage of the new law.” Mr. Robinson and his partner, Mark Andrew, have been together for 18 years.

New York Times, April 28, 2007

In fairness, I don’t know how involved the president was in the selection of the participants or the program contents. However, as President/President-elect, he gets to take responsibility for it.

Here’s a YouTube clip of the prayer he delivered at the “We Are One” pre-game celebration. It’s not as professional as Mr. Warren’s, but you can hear it clearly.

And here’s the text of the prayer:

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

AMEN.

So, was this a Christian prayer? Should it have been offered at an inaugural activity? Run it through the same set of filters as you did with the Rick Warren prayer. Let me know what you think.

Pulpit Pimps | 57 Comments »