Let Me Be the First to Say It

The days are getting longer now.

Officially, the winter solstice is tomorrow, but the sunset times (the length of day most of us care about) began to get later in the last few days.

Before we know it, the kids will be going to bed in daylight. Or at least we will be telling them to go to bed while it’s still daylight.

It does seem to me like time flies faster than ever these days. It is hard to believe my little Pinkling turns 2 today. Happy birthday, little girl.

But time flying is a good thing during the winter. It gives us hope that before long the bitter cold will break and the leaves will start to bud.

In another interesting coincidence, for the first time in a 456 years, the winter solstice coincides with a lunar eclipse. You can get up with me at about 3:00 am to see it. Of course, if I am not there right at 3:00, please start watching without me. I will be along shortly, I promise.

And hey, enjoy that extra sunshine out there today, folks.

Christmas for Dummies*

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,
and we saw His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. …
No one has seen God at any time;
the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father,
He has explained Him.

John the Apostle, John 1:14, 18

____________________________

*The title is probably trademarked somewhere. I use it here because I think it is a great series of books, or at least a great idea for a series of books that takes unfamiliar things and explain them simply.

I think we are hardpressed to find a more clear and simple explanation of Christmas than what John gave us in his gospel account.

Ironic

A man recently wrote an article suggesting that the doctrine of the Bible is important enough to separate over.

Another man writes an article disagreeing with the first man on certain things (though it is not clear the the second man even understands the point of the first man) and complaining, in part, that the first man did not cite any Scripture in support of his position.

However, the second man cites no Scripture in support of his own position. All he offers us are his own opinions. Sure he sprinkles a few references in, but in reading them, it is easy to see that they do not support the second man’s opinions. In other words, not once does he show where God says what he says.

And that, friends, is ironic.

Of course we all know that there is a reason why the second man does not cite any scriptural support for his position. It is because there is none. Not one verse of Scripture can be marshalled to support this man’s doctrine.

And in so doing, he proves the point of the first man’s article. These types of people have added to the Scripture and then demand that all who disagree with them are in error.

And that, friends, is priceless.

In fact, the second man says at least one thing that is plainly and demonstrably not true. He says concerning the first man that “In part 22 of his series he dismissed the need to expound on 2 Thess. 3.”

Yet in the part 22 that I received, here’s what the first man actually said:

These fundamentalists correctly insist that certain Scriptures do require the limitation of fellowship with professing brothers who sin (1 Cor. 5:11; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14; et al.—my present purpose is not to expound these texts). These passages must not be dismissed …

When you compare the two statements, you can easily see that either the second man either can’t read, didn’t read, didn’t understand, forgot, or lied. I won’t hazard a guess as to which is true, though some options are worse than others.

But clearly the first man did not “dismiss the need.” He in fact emphasized the need. He said these passages must not be dismissed. Now, “not” is a short word, and easy enough to miss, I suppose. But it is an important one, I would say.

Now the question is, should any one listen to anyone who cares so little about the truth? It wasn’t all that long ago that I was lambasted for calling into question this second man’s honesty and integrity.

Turns out here’s part 2 of the proof that I was right.

Point People to Jesus

Borchert comments on John 1:8 where it says, “He was not the Light but he came to testify about the Light”:

This verse has great continuing relevance for the church because of the temptation for Christian leaders to assume a status of being more than witnesses and to pretend to speak personally with the authority of the light. In such times Christian leaders need to hear the warning that they are not the light but are merely humble witnesses to the light. (Borchert, John 1-11, NAC, p. 112)

This was modeled by John the Baptist in John 3:26-30. John’s disciples complained that John’s followers were going over the Jesus. “John,” they said, “you are losing your crowd to the other Guy.”

John’s response was simple: “That’s my purpose. I did not come to gain a crowd, but to give the crowd away. I am not the bridegroom; I am only the friend. He must increase. I must decrease.”

We would all do well to remember that our job is to point people to Jesus.

Resist the temptation to become an authority. Point people to the one who is.

Pardon Me?

Apparently, according to some, the church should accept racial division in the church.

Well not exactly but one pastor writes an article that complains about the following line from the affirmations and denials of Together for the Gospel:

We deny that any church can accept racial prejudice, discrimination, or division without betraying the Gospel.

This author goes on to say,

Who can argue that the church should accept discrimination and racial prejudice, but to say that “division” betrays the Gospel is to say exactly what the New Evangelicals said in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Division over error is how the Gospel (which by the way includes the whole of Scripture, not just salvation truth) is kept pure and protected for God’s glory, yet we are led to believe that “division” betrays the Gospel. Unity at all costs is the heart throb of New-Evangelicalism.

What’s the problem?

Here’s a pastor, trying to influence people, who has painted a picture for his unsuspecting readers that simply is not true.

You see, the T4G statement cited has nothing to do with division over doctrinal error. It is about division over race. You can read it for yourself right here. And when you do, it is easy to see that this author has clearly misrepresented what the denial is all about. I wouldn’t think it would be that hard to read the 112 words that make up Article XVII (17 for those who don’t know Roman) and understand what it is talking about.

If you can’t follow it there, let me simplify it for you: Article 17 is about race, not doctrine. It affirms that any church that separates or divides on the basis of race is denying the gospel. In other words, you cannot legitimately cite Article 17 from T4G with reference to separating over doctrinal error. It is not addressing that point.

Furthermore, if you are familiar in the least with the T4G men, you know that these men all have a commitment to fighting doctrinal error and even separating over it. In fact, they do it in a way that is much more public than many fundamentalists, simply by virtue of their visibility. The author references this issue with one of these men in his article apparently fails to understand what actually happened. In fact, one of the complaints about these men is that the T4G speakers are all Calvinists and they have not invited any non-Calvinists to share pulpit fellowship at the conference. In other words, one of the complaints is that they have separated over the issue of Calvinism, at least in this conference.  Separatists complaining that others have separated from doctrines they consider to be wrong. Ironic, eh?

Now, to be clear, while I have greatly enjoyed the preaching at T4G, I think the T4G men are deficient in some of the ways they go about this doctrinal separation. I do it differently, and think they should. But to say that they don’t believe in separation over doctrinal error is simply wrong.

I don’t think this pastor is intentionally misrepresenting this. And I don’t think he is arguing for racial division in the church. I simply think he has an axe to grind, and he is reaching for anything that might help him make a point he wants to make. He doesn’t care enough to understand what the point of Article 17 is all about.

I don’t know this guy, at least to my knowledge. But doesn’t he have some friends who would read this article and point out that he has made this error? Apparently not because I first saw this article a few weeks ago, and I noticed this; now it remains unchanged. I assumed that this pastor’s friends would have pointed it out by now so it could be corrected. But apparently no one has. Today, it has been republished on another blog of questionable repute that quite frequently misrepresents people (myself included) in an attempt to bolster the blogger’s own (misguided in many cases) opinions.

Listen, there are some reasons to be concerned about some of the things this author talks about in the article. But he could have, and should have, made that point without this error.

You don’t help your point when you support it by misrepresentation of another.

Hopefully someone in this man’s circle of friends and relationships will point this out to him.

But I won’t hold my breath that any change will be made. It’s not the fundamentalist way. We have learned too well that when you say something, you stand by it no matter what. And when someone points out the weakness, you double down and say it louder.

I am sick to death of this kind of stuff. I am sure that I have been guilty of it at times, and when I find out I am, I try to go back and fix it. I have on different occasions edited my own articles here when I find out something is different than what I said. I have even removed articles for that reason.

Here’s my point: We, as preachers and teachers of the Scriptures, of all people should have a higher commitment to truth. And faithfully teaching the Scriptures is incompatible with misrepresenting what others believe.

Let’s do better than this, people. 

NB – After writing this this morning and saving it for posting, Dave Doran has written a similar article posted at SharperIron. Our articles were written independently. In fact, Dave hasn’t talked to me since I beat him 2&1 a few weeks ago.