Not So Famous…

Here’s what I’ve got on tap (no pun intended):

1. Boss’ birthday on Friday, and I hear we’re going to a cigar bar.  (Referred to as a “Lodge Meeting”.)  Should be nice to have a beer with these pretty darn cool guys.

2. Saturday is the Fair Oakstoberfest in Fair Oaks up by Sacramento.  It’s a wonderful gathering of microbreweries.  All you can taste for $20 is not a bad deal at all.  Going with a couple friends, and we should have a great time.

3. Sunday, of course, is the greatest day with my wife and I along with our friend being inducted into communicant membership of our church!  After that, we’ll have the monthly Fellowship Luncheon with the church.  I’ll get to go see my grandmother for a little while.  Then it’s back to church for the evening service where we’ll begin our annual Reformation Series.  This year, it’s the Reformation in England. 

In all, I’m looking forward to it.  Sunday is going to be awesome with being inducted into membership, the fellowship luncheon, and then the reformation series in the evening.  If you want to download mp3’s of past Reformation Series’, go to http://www.graceopcmodesto.org. 2005 was the Reformation in Scotland.  I was unable to attend in October of last year, but I’ve downloaded them and will listen to them this week.  :)

I should have several reviews of beers from this weekend posted next week.  Keep your eyes peeled.

Unity Without Verity’s quote of the JI Packer article.

Unity Without Verity is a great blog, too.  Just discovered it today, and I recommend it.  Good reading.

I have not found a more beautiful thing than the Doctrine of Election.  Spoken like a true Calvinist, I know, but since salvation is all tied up in this doctrine, I don’t have a problem with me saying this.

I came to Calvinism from being disappointed with Arminianism’s ability to answer some questions I was confused about.

1. Can we lose our salvation? - Most Christian churches (correctly) teach that you cannot lose your salvation.  However, if one chooses their salvation, couldn’t they then choose to be not saved?  There was a great theologian in Canada, and I’m blanking on his name.  He was called the Billy Graham of Canada.  He decided he needed a seminary education and (lamentably) chose Princeton as his seminary.  When he came out of there, this great champion of the faith is now one of its greatest adversaries.  Sort of a reverse Paul. What happens to this man?  He prayed the sinner’s prayer…he preached the Gospel of Grace.  And now he claims he does not believe in God…or if God does exist, he hates Him. Will this man go to heaven? If he chose to be saved, he now can choose to be unsaved.  And yet the clear teaching of Scripture shows us that our salvation depends not on man, either to effect the salvation or to keep it.  Salvation from beginning to end is of God, including the beginning thereof.

2. If we chose Him, how then can we be chosen from the foundations of the world? - If we choose God, but then find out that we were chosen from the foundation of the world, how can those two conditions exist simultaneously.  Many Christians will simply say “it’s a mystery”.  I am not satisfied with that.  When it comes to our salvation, I don’t believe there is mystery here.  Calvinism says that the two CAN coexist.  God chooses us and enables us through the giving of the Holy Spirit to accept and trust in Him. After His work, we can then accept Christ. If you say the following:

Salvation is like a doorway into heaven. On one side is written, “Come all ye who would enter”, and on the other side “Chosen from the foundation of the world.”

It sounds like you have been deceived.  Like on one side of the door, it says, “You thought you chose me…”, but on the other side you read, “…But I actually chose you.” Also, if you’ve ever heard the following from Hank Hanegraaf:

“It’s like two parallel lines that appear to meet at the end.”

I would submit that you need to study your Euclidean Geometry textbook. Furthermore, that supports my side rather then the side of the Arminians.  It looks like the lines meet, but when you get to the point at which you thought the lines met, you find out that you were deceived by your perception.  Calvinism is the only doctrine of soteriology that explains the duality of these conditions.

3. Is salvation based on works? - This is the point that usually makes Arminians very mad at me. Follow me on this, and don’t just return to your catechism, “salvation is by faith alone, and not of works, lest any man boast.”  In this case the catechism is right, but let it inform the rest of your doctrine.

Ok, so you begin as an unrepentant sinner.  At this point, if you were to die, you’d go straight to hell; do not pass go, do not collect $200. There MUST be a point after which you are no longer unsaved.  Some point at which SOMETHING happened, and POOF, you are saved. Something that separates you from the average sinner on the street. If you say that you chose to accept Jesus, then you are doing something that earns your salvation.  If you weren’t saved, you chose Him, and then you ARE saved, what separates the unsaved from the saved.  A choice they made, Armenians say.  That, to me, is a work.  You have done something that merits your salvation.  How is this possible??

Now, Calvinism would say that yes, you chose God, but not before He chose you.  HE effected the work in your heart that allowed you to choose Him.  The “I” in TULIP is Irresistable Grace.  It is Him who worketh effectually in your heart, and you cannot resist Him. You cannot earn your salvation. 

What’s more, you are dead in your transgressions.  A dead person can do nothing to effect his state of existence.  Being dead means that the Lord of Life must work to ressurect you. The Bible says the carnal (unsaved) mind is enmity with God.  It cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit.  It cannot understand the things of God…so it cannot know what to do to gain salvation!

4. Arguments against positions. - This is a complicated point, so I saved it for last.  The arguments I hear against Calvinism are primarily from people’s perspective.  What I mean by that is that the root arguments I hear are of this nature, “I don’t see how God can be a loving God and condemn people to hell without giving them a choice.”  That is not a scriptural argument.  It is an argument from philosophy, and as such means nothing!  What does Scripture say about the situation at hand?

Usually, you hear the verses where the Bible puts out a call to all men to repent of their sins and trust in the Lord. Calvinists call this the General Call of Scripture.  However, we also see a great deal of verses in Scripture about those whom the Lord has foreknown He has predestined.  How do we square this?  The Analogy of Faith rule of Scripture Interpretation from Charles Hodge says that scripture interprets other scripture.  This makes perfect sense when we remember that scripture is infallible.  Armenians would rather say “this is a mystery” than to agree with the clear teaching of scripture.  And when I point out the predestination verses, they disagree with Calvinism because they don’t understand how a loving God can send people to hell without giving them a choice.

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This started out as me reflecting on a quote from J.I. Packer in his article “Is God Unfair?” in this month’s Modern Reformation.  I believe I have gone somewhat far afield in my meanderings, but the original quote was discussing whether God indeed loves everyone the same.  The answer is “not really”.  What JI Packer said was, “If it is God’s will that none should perish, why is it that so many do?” Think about it.  If God wishes that none should perish, and God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and sovereign in all things, why is it that so many are going to hell?  Is the Lord incapable of effecting His will?  Is he stymied by limited, sinful man?  Not likely.  The Lord does not love everyone the same…God is Love…He does Love, but why is it that He does not save everyone if everyone is loved the same?

Have a problem with what I’ve stated?  Comment on it.  :)

This weekend has been too busy for me.  I’m a homebody…I like sitting around, relaxing, though I usually have some work I do on Saturdays.  Mowing the lawn…helping Kim clean…etc.

This weekend was a little harder, because Kim has had a lot of time taken up for teaching stuff.  So we had to do a lot more work than usual.  Praise God, we got it all done, I think.  :)

Anyway, I was able to watch the Eagles beat the 49ers, and I have the rest of the evening to spend with my lovely wife.  :)  YAY!  :)  I’m blessed.

The title of this post is a reference to the old-skool anti-war hit from the late 60’s, early 70’s.  I love the song because of its sound.  As usual, I never paid much attention to the lyrics.  Today, I loaded it up, and began listening, and was kind of annoyed.  I still like the sound…how can you not?  But the lyrics reveal the most asinine thoughts concerning war.

People, war is not the best option available.  I mean, two nations meeting on the battlefield is not the ideal situation.  When war happens, it means killing and destruction.  But does that mean that war is good for nothing?  If you think that’s exactly what it means, then you have an unrealistic view of mankind in general.  The problem is that war can only be avoidable if everyone wants peace.  There are always going to be groups that consider war to be the only way for their ideology to survive…or else they simply want the destruction of whomever they see as their enemies.

For example…this war on Islamo-fascism. If we do not prevent our enemies from getting something like nuclear capabilities, they WILL use it on us.  How do I know this?  Look at what they have done.  They have destroyed the Twin Towers.  They continue with their plots against us.  Their leaders tell us to watch out for another attack. They say they will not rest until we are destroyed.  According to Edwin Starr’s mega-hit from 1970, this means that we should simply lay down and die.  We should simply destroy ourselves to avoid war.  No?  So what do we suppose the anti-war people would suggest we do?  Negotiate?

The thought that we can negotiate with terrorists reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what they want.  Rush Limbaugh has put it quite clearly.  There can be no compromise with terrorists.  They want us all dead.  We can’t just give them our left arms!  We can’t just tell them we’ll not bother them.  All we can do is convert to Islam or die.  How is it possible to negotiate with someone who simply wants our death?  I suppose they think we should have negotiated with Hitler.  What terms would you offer?  Maybe only HALF the Jewish people?  Hm?  What kind of insane are you???

War…huh….yeah…what is it good for?  Securing peace…avoiding the destruction of our country and way of life…Protecting our children.  Good for something, I think.

Those in the Central Valley in California know exactly where I’m coming from on this one.  Many people around the US will say, “Uh, yeah…September 23rd…dork.”  While I cannot deny the fact that I probably am a dork, unless you’ve “enjoyed” the blasting heat of summer in the Valley, you can know nothing about what I speak!  :)

In the Valley, we usually have at least 10 days that are over 100 degrees.  This last year we had several days over 110 degrees, and it was just nasty.  Regardless of whether you think I’m a heat-wimp, I hate the summertime.

Most people get depressed in winter.  Something about the lack of intense sunlight or something tends to put everyone’s mood on the downward spiral.  On the other hand, when it begins to get cold, I get excited for no reason!  Sure, I’m more comfortable when it’s cool, but I don’t think that’s why I’m so happy when the wind picks up, when the leaves fall, and when the days get shorter.  After all, I work in a very cool environment.  Most days, my office stays around 68 degrees.  Sometimes it feels downright cold in here.  :)

No, I love “gloomy”, overcast, rainy days, and this downward trend in temperature heralds the return to my favorite weather.  It’s hard to explain how my heart sinks when I look out the window and it’s bright and sunny.  Nor can I expound the joy that wells up in my soul when I see stormclouds above.  When I drive home and it looks like it’s going to rain, I get the shivers!  It feels much like waking up on my birthday!  I feel that God has granted me a gift when I can experience these days.

Longer nights…cold wind…chilled noses…jackets…and snuggling with the woman I love.  Man, this winter is going to be awesome!

Last night, my wife and I along with our friend Gabe were interviewed by our church’s Session for membership.  Basically, what this means is that we sit down with the elders of the church, and they ask us questions about what we believe. Ultimately, this process is to weed out those who have come to the church and believe things that cannot be reconciled with the Word of God. The Bible says we are to cast out those who can cause harm to the church, and this was actually quite common in times past.

Some people Kim or I have recently talked with have indicated that they were sort of aghast that our church would actually interview potential members to ascertain their level of doctrinal understanding.  I’m not entirely sure why.  Pastor put it well last night when he said “We’re not trying to see if you’re a walking encyclopedia of theology.  We just want to make sure you don’t believe erroneously on any crucial issues of doctrine.” Now, to be sure, many Christians feel there is little that can be considered to be crucial, but this is not the case.  The clear teaching of Scripture prevails, and we are accountable for the things which the Lord has revealed to us.

It was a wonderful evening, really. First Kim and I were interviewed as a family, and then we sat while Gabe was interviewed.  The differences in our style of answering the questions was hilarious.  While I tended to be quite long-winded to ensure that I got everything out correctly, Gabe tended to more 1-word answers, and he had to be prompted by Pastor and others.  (I had to be prompted for the many things I left out as well.)

Many of you are wondering how I FEEL about having my faith examined.  Let me tell you, there can be no more wonderful thing.  When I state what I have learned about the Scriptures, and when these wonderful, learned men of God nod, or smile, or laugh with me about a joke…there is nothing like it.  To have your faith affirmed by the Pastor agreeing with you, or even just asking questions for clarification…it was just awesome.

Furthermore, to know that I am obeying the Lord by subjecting myself to the Biblical authority of the elders is a comforting feeling.  The Bible says we submit to the authorities God has placed above us AS UNTO THE LORD.  Around Modesto, we have had at least one situation where a pastor has resisted the authority of the elders which he vowed to submit to, and then has gone to start his own church.  That kind of unscriptural behavior is unfitting of a pastor, and really reveals the heart far better than thousands of sermons.

Last night we vowed before the Session to submit to the authority of the elders and to continue growing in grace as we walk with the Lord. A week from this Sunday, we will be admitted into membership.  WOOT!

Last night we went to Best Buy to look for some gifts for my sister’s birthday. Yesterday, I also bought an mp3 player on Amazon.com around mid-morning.  I figured while I was at Best Buy, I might as well swing by and see if they had my device on display so I could at least see it.  lol. This is not where my geekiness becomes a problem, but for what it’s worth, I LOVE my mp3 player.  ;)

Where it gets out of control is where I get to the counter, and the dude behind the counter is trying to sell a REALLY nice mp3 player to a REALLY not technologically-inclined woman.  She seemed really nice, and she was quite good looking, which means the geek behind the counter was trying to throw out all these technical terms, and wasn’t making a lot of sense.  He was also confusing his customer rather than impressing her with his bevvy of technological terms. At one point, this woman asked how she got the mp3’s to play on the mp3 player.  He said, “legal, or illegal?”  (GREAT thing to tell your customers by the way…dork.) They talked about a service called Rhapsody, which he was trying to sell to her, and a male friend of this woman asked the dude behind the counter what quality the Rhapsody songs were.  He said, “I assume they’re at 192Kbps.”  (A reasonable assumption, actually.)  However, his problem was saying, “I assume…”  She said, “You assume that?”  He stammered and stuttered a little while, and it was obvious he wasn’t going to answer her question very well, so I jumped in.

“192Kbps is quite common in the world of mp3 as an acceptable bitrate for encoding these music files, so it’s reasonable to assume that Rhapsody offers that as a standard encoding.” The woman wanted to know what CD Quality audio was for comparison…she asked the dude behind the counter.  He said…

“Oh, well, uh…much…uh….higher than 192…it’s…uh…bigger….more, uh….” I got annoyed again.

“Anywhere between 256Kbps and 324Kbps is true CD-quality, but most people, myself included, aren’t really going to notice the difference without VERY high quality speakers or VERY expensive noise-cancelling headphones.  The human ear can only hear a certain range of frequencies, and much higher than 192Kbps really captures a great deal of data that very few people can actually hear, so the quality decrease for 192Kbps is really quite negligible.” At this point, apparently, I have angered the Geek-in-training behind the counter.  I obviously know much more than he does, and I’m obviously far more articulate than he is.  And I’ve made him look like a moron in front of a beautiful woman.  (Who is there with a male friend, little geek wannabe!!  Woman + Man = Wannabe geek has no chance!!!)

So he begins explaining how the difference is definitely noticeable between 192Kbps and 256Kbps. (Now, he’s apparently completely abandoned the idea of selling her the Rhapsody service because he’s now arguing that she’ll not be satisfied with 192Kbps.)  He starts telling her how she can pay $15/month for the Rhapsody service to download as many songs as she wants, but if she leaves the service, she’ll lose everything she’s downloaded.  He starts talking up his illegal Russian mp3 site.  So I started explaining to her that technically, that’s illegal.

“That site he’s talking about is illegal.  You had indicated that you wanted to be legal, and if you still feel that way, I suggest you don’t listen to him so much.”  This was apparently the wrong thing to say to the poor geek-in-training.

“Yeah, well, I’m sure you download illegal mp3’s too, pal.”

“Not that it matters, but we’re not talking about me.  We’re trying to find this woman an mp3 service so she can use this over-priced device you’re selling her.”  I was getting bored though, because he was increasingly more interested in attacking my choice of mp3 player than helping the woman in front of him.

“You know, I want to say we don’t even have any of those devices, so, uh, yeah…”

I smiled at the woman and her friend and left to find out how my family was faring in the digital camera department.  It turns out that the woman helping them was very nice, and liked to smile.  Infinitely more pleasant than the butt-hurt wannabe geek I was walking away from.

So I’m not entirely sure what made me even speak when I was at the mp3 player counter.  I used to be a quiet dude in stores.  My thing was to get in, and get out as quickly as possible.  It could be that I knew we’d be stuck at Best Buy for some time yet, and I had nothing better to do than to prove to some woman that the guy desperately trying to impress her with his lack of knowledge was rather an idiot.  It’s possible that once I had thrown the gauntlet of “You Really Know Nothing” I had to stay until he had completely made a fool of himself.  Or it’s possible that I was just “in a mood”.  Whatever it was, I think I need to ungeek for awhile or something.

I must say, it WAS fun.  And my grandmother, who knows nothing of electronic devices, bitrates, and mp3 services, said afterwards, “He didn’t know much of what he was talking about, did he?” Now THAT is sad.

I’ve spent a long time talking with that friend of mine, and I asked him some of the basic questions of Christianity.  He believes, and he has asked Jesus into his heart.  He says he loves the Lord and agrees that Jesus is the only way to heaven.  He asked me how he can know he’s saved.  I told him to read his Bible, etc.  He says he WANTS to know what the Lord says about living the Christian life.  He has a Bible, but it’s a paraphrase, so I asked him if I could send him a Bible.  He said yes, and the Bible is on its way to him.

The Lord answers prayer, and thank you all for praying!

I don’t do enough of these, I don’t think.  I’ve got a few prayer requests, and I would be very appreciative if you could stop whatever it is you’re doing at the moment, and pray for some friends of mine.

1. I’ve got a friend who is having problems in his marriage.  He’s facing some difficult situations, and I would ask that you pray that he would have the mind of God about what he needs to do, and how he needs to behave toward his wife.  He’s been through a lot already, and he’s gone through some things this weekend.  I think he’s got a good attitude and perspective on the whole thing, but who knows what could happen tomorrow, and I’d like his whole situation bathed in prayer so that if he’s hit with something unexpected, he’ll consider who God wants him to be and will react accordingly.

2. A very close friend of mine has some difficult decisions she needs to make.  I don’t really need to go into detail here except to say she ultimately knows what the Lord expects of her, but she doesn’t know if she can follow through.  I love this person dearly, as she is essentially family to me.  Also, she needs to become part of a church…Please pray that she gets up and starts going on Sundays, or any other day she can.  Her new job might interfere with it, but I would ask that she get involved to whatever level is possible.

3. This is my last prayer request, but it is no less important for that.  I have another friend who has been asking questions about the Lord.  My completely inadequate responses to him have provoked more questions, which is awesome.  I would ask you to pray that the Lord would reveal Himself unto my friend.  That he would get involved in a church….and that he would read his Bible.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for your awesome power…I thank you for being God, and not a God afar off, but a God near to my heart.  Lord God, I am not worthy to come before your throne, I know…you have made me worthy, though my sins are numerous.  Please, Lord, forgive me of my unwillingness to read Your Word as often as I should, and my lack of prayer when I should more often be on my knees.  Thank You for loving me when You had no reason to do so…when I had displayed no holiness or worthiness.  Father God thank you for sending your Son to die on the cross for the sins of the elect.  Thank You for being You, Father.  Father, I ask that Your will be done in these matters.  I ask that you would regenerate the heart of my friend’s wife.  Please change her heart of stone into a heart of flesh.  Bring about that change in her heart that she could never bring about.  And Father, give my friend the strength he needs to face each day.  I pray that you would bring those of us who care for him around him for support and comfort.  Help us remind him to pray and to pray with him.  Help us to have the words of comfort that are from Your Word.  Father, I pray for my friend facing a difficult situation…she needs your help, and yet she does not turn to your Word enough.  None of us do, of course, but I ask that You would draw her to a church…that You would draw her near to Your body, my Savior.  And finally Father, I pray for my seeking friend.  I know that You must soften his heart for him to hear the Truth in Your Word, and I ask that you do so.  None of us know whom it is You will call, but Father out of my friendship for him, and because I don’t want to see anyone perish, I ask that You would reveal Yourself to him in Your Word.  I pray that you would bring about in him a desire to read your Word and to go to church.  I pray that you would regenerate him that he might be a new creation.

I thank you Father for what you have done in these situations and what You will do.  In your holy, awesome, and powerful name, I pray.  Amen.