Once Upon a Midnight Dreary

Thinking Baptists

2006-11-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

Frank Turk, a reformed Baptist, runs a blog here. He is one of those baptists who makes you think, and he really does not sound very different from a paedobaptist, except when he discusses baptism. He provides a good commentary on current events in the church, and often comments on other men's writings, from Douglas Wilson to the patristic fathers to Charles Spurgeon. He also sells T-shirts with "homeboy" designs on them. For example, one of his T-shirts says, "J. Gresham Machen is my homeboy."

Rushdoony on Criticism

2006-10-31T13:33:00.000-08:00

I have decided to post an excerpt from R.J. Rushdoony's "Random Thoughts" which were published in the Chalcedon Report. The entire section can be found online here.

The following letter, dated October 12, 1991, just reached me; it is better than most such letters, and it is signed, unlike most. It reads:
Dear Dr. Rushdoony:

Your editorial in the October issue of "Chalcedon" will probably go unchallenged. Dissent is unpopular and the Biblical recommendation that timely confrontation is superior to peaceful error is seldom accepted.

A couple of years ago, at a meeting in Tampa, I asked who you felt was at fault for the sad state of affairs in our nation. Your response was Leadership and laymen on a 50-50 basis. I know Paul felt a great responsibility for bringing about the maturity of the Christians in the churches he started. His Biblical letters are mainly directed toward that end. Israel's leaders in the Old Testament were held responsible for the spiritual state of the nation. I believe God still holds Leadership responsible for the state of Christianty in our nation.

I agree with you - pettiness is wrong. However, having said that, let me say, sir, that there is much wrong with church Leadership and it is hardly fair to chastise the sheep when the shepherd is derelict. Pettiness among preachers is rampant. Strife, discord, ambition, and pride often replace harmony, peace and humility. Many words are spoken and written, but you must search long and hard to find genuine self-sacrifice.

I enjoy "Chalcedon" immensely. It is a lively and truthful publication. Nevertheless, it is one thing to write or preach the truth but a far more difficult thing to live it. Leadership in the Christian community is an awesome and difficult responsibility. Those who aspire to it must realize they are to be held to a higher standard, and that the demands of ministry are a terrible inconvenience.

With all the people who have converted to Christianity in our country during the past 40 years the morals of our nation have still deteriorated, you may rail at the pettiness of people all you want, but I believe the lack of a spirit of genuine servanthood among Christian leaders is the culprit.

A.W. Tozer, a long time ago, decried the pride and arrogance that infects many leaders. He said if you don't believe it exists go and find an errant preacher and try to correct him - hard to do, probably even in your own case.

Sincerely,
A.C.
Now in the August, 1991, issue of the Chalcedon Report, I described some of the clergy as "Dumb Dogs, That Cannot Bark." Mr. A.C., must a critique go only one way? If you " enjoy Chalcedon immensely," how often have you told us so, or supported us? How many faithful pastors have you encouraged? Remember, congregations call a pastor, so they must want what they have. Do you tithe? Do you give to faithful ministries? Never before in U.S. history have people professing to believe the Bible from cover to cover, and to be born again, been as high a percentage of the population, and Christianity less influential in public affairs. Obviously, something is wrong in most pulpits and pews.

Let me make a practical suggestion. As a young man, and even into middle years, I had a practice regularly of writing a letter of gratitude to men whose lives and writings had influenced my life. I kept no record nor copy of such letters and made it clear I wanted no answer: I was simply expressing gratitude. Twenty or so years ago I was startled to find one of these men, a truly great man, at my door. His offices were in Washington, D.C., and I was here in California. We spent a few hours together, and he began by telling me that my letter was framed and in his office and a frequent source of encouragement. Here was a man who had been a counsellor to heads of state, a writer of some excellent books, and a person of considerable note, and also a strong Christian. No one had ever written to him before to express gratitude for his work. It still distresses me to think that we are so ungrateful a generation. Try writing a letter of appreciation to your parents, a former teacher, a pastor, a parishioner, anyone great or small, anyone to whom you should be grateful. I heard from one man only, but I believe the Lord has blessed me for what I did.

Rushdoony made some good points as always. I posted this here to share with others since Chalcedon's blog does not allow specific links to specific posts.

The Cool of the Morning

2006-10-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

In Vol. 12 No. 2 of the Journal of Christian Reconstruction: Symposium on the Biblical Text and Literature, 1989, R.J. Rushdoony wrote an interesting note about the language of the King James Version. He wrote:

One of the charges consistently leveled against the King James Version is that its language is archaic and obsolete. The answer is a simple one: it is intended to be. In 1611 the King James Version was as “out of date” as it is today. Compare the writings of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, King James I, and John Lyly with the King James Version and this becomes quickly apparent. The translators avoided the speech of their day for a basic English which would be simple, timeless, and beautiful, and they succeeded. Their version spoke from outside their age and tradition with elemental simplicity. Their wisdom here exceeds that of their successors. Nothing seems more ridiculous than an outdated “modern” translation…. [If] we consider our age and its requirements as normative, we can involve ourselves in absurdities….

The issue is not that the Bible should speak our every-day language, for this involves debasement, but that it should be understandable, and here, all arguments to the contrary notwithstanding, the King James speaks a language which, while sometimes difficult because the matter itself is so, is more often simple, clear-cut and beautiful. Some modern versions are very helpful, but none equal the King James in its clarity and memorable beauty (12-13).

I had never thought of it that way. The Scriptures most certainly must be understandable, for if they are not understandable, then it might as well be left untranslated. But it seems that a new version of the Bible comes out every year, and for the most part these new translations are necessary because the translations which are thirty to fifty years old are out of date. They are unintelligible to us because they are speaking the common language of their day, which has changed dramatically in the past fifty years.

In the King James Version, you do not have the opportunity for misunderstanding which you could have if they had written it in their common tongue. Instead, they sought to use a language which was clear and timeless so that their translation would not become out of date quickly.

One thing is for certain: no one is going to misunderstood what “cool” means when Genesis says that Adam was walking in the Garden in the cool of the morning.

All Hallow's Eve

2006-10-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, Halloween celebrants seem to be ignorant of the true meaning of Halloween. James Jordan wrote an interesting article here about Halloween. My family never did celebrate Halloween, but we were pretty careful to remember that it also happened to be Reformation Day. Who woulda thunk that Martin Luther put the 95 Theses up on Halloween on purpose?

History and the Netherlands

2006-10-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

The other day I was discussing the Netherlands with a friend of mine. She remarked that she was pretty sure that the Netherlands was much more different than it had been during the life of Abram Kuyper. This evening as I was reading R.J. Rushdoony's 80th Position Paper in his Roots of Reconstruction, he mentioned a story about a lady in the Netherlands. It was interesting how Rushdoony speaks of the importance of history:

Meanwhile, Christendom is suffering from a loss of memory, and the nations have an altered memory of their past. In the 1960s, I met an American veteran’s bride, a young woman whom the veteran had met soon after the end of World War II, in the Netherlands. Living in a bombed-out city through the war years, she knew nothing of her country’s history. Since I had, as a very young man, read Motley’s marvelous histories of that country, I was interested in discussing them with her. I found that she knew nothing of her motherland’s history. Because of the war, during the key years of her life, she had been without schooling. The bombed out schools and the life of deprivation had meant no schooling, and hence no past as a Hollander. She knew about as much of her country’s history as she did of Libya’s, and she frankly confessed her ignorance (p. 346).

Perhaps World War II led to the destabilization of the Dutch church, and perhaps few remember Dutch history well. Maybe that is one of the reasons why the nation is no longer a Christian bulwark.

Eternal Vigilance

2006-10-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

The Home School Legal Defense Association has notified the public that some are planning to amend the Constitution to make public schooling a federally protected "right." If such an amendment were passed, home schools would necessarily be outlawed. Do I think this amendment will pass? No, but that doesn't mean we need to be apathetic about it. Lee Duigon wrote a short post about the amendment here.

Is It Not Time?

2006-10-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

This evening as I was reading in Haggai, I was reminded of something that R.J. Rushdoony wrote in his book Tithing and Dominion. (I hesitate to quote from Rushdoony. I have learned a great deal from him, but he was not the kind of man who won friends with his comments. He was always willing to condemn sin, a characteristic which is good for a pastor, but not so good for a young man such as myself. Having said that, though, I think Rushdoony needs to be heard.) Rushdoony described an incident in which he ran a man out of his home because the man argued that one should not be legalistic about tithing and later admitted that he hardly gave any money to the church ever. Rushdoony then concludes with these remarks:

Can we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in principle, but not in practice? Can we believe in being faithful to our wives in principle but not in practice without being either liars or hypocrites? Can we declare that we are the Lord’s in principle, without the practice of tithing, and still be in His favor? I cannot believe it (R.J. Rushdoony, Tithing and Dominion, Ross House Books, p. 14).

Rushdoony’s point is well-taken. Can we say that we love God if we are unwilling to tithe a tenth of what He bestows upon us? Haggai mentions a similar thing. He condemns the Israelites who had gone back to rebuild the temple, but did not immediately rebuild it.

Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?”

Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!

You have sown much, and bring in little;

You eat, but do not have enough;

You drink, but you are not filled with drink;

You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;

And he who earns wages,

Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.” (Haggai 1:3-11)

God did not bless His covenant people because they were too stingy to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. One of the simplest ways to seek first the kingdom of God is with the tithe. You do not need to give more than the tithe, just the tithe. R.C. Sproul recently mentioned that nearly 80-96% of professing Christians do not tithe. Perhaps God has punished us as He punished His people in Haggai. Perhaps we are too stingy with what God has given us. God requires a tithe. The Christian can rejoice in giving the tithe, and he can rejoice that he need not give more. I apologize for this post being so negative, but there is a positive side too. If we were to give the tithe, then churches could sponsor schools, colleges, and hospitals which were free to the public and not just to church members. If the other 80% tithed, just think of the possibilities for building God’s kingdom. It is time to tithe.

Titanism

2006-10-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

“Titanism thus means glorifying as a virtue all attempts to do the impossible” (Roots of Reconstruction, Ross House Books, 1991, p. 329).

In his 75^th Position Paper, R.J. Rushdoony describes what he refers to as Titanism. When a man is affected by Titanism, he abdicates from his daily duties in order to attempt to accomplish the impossible. He sees visions of grandeur and neglects the simple duties in life which he is obligated to do.

Titanism seeks to take the place of God by not acting according to His will, that is, His will as revealed in the Scriptures. There are times when God “forbids us to waste our time on those who will not hear” (p. 329). The gospel is to be preached to all peoples according to God’s will. St. Paul debated in the synagogues first. But, when the Jews began to harden their hearts against the gospel by rejecting the gospel, St. Paul took the gospel to the Gentiles according to God’s will. The Jews had missed their opportunity. Jonah, on the other hand, sought to escape the will of God by refusing to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh. The gospel, then, must be preached in the manner which the Scriptures command us. Rushdoony explains: “We need to remember that while God is omnipotent, we are not. God, in His work, has no limitation of time; we do. God is able ‘to raise up children unto Abraham’ out of the stones of the field (Matt. 3:9), but we cannot regenerate a single man” (p. 329, italics mine). If men are to be saved by God, the gospel must be preached according to God’s will.

The heart of man desires to be great, and the heart of sinful man desires to be God. Rushdoony gives the example of some who were going to intercede on behalf of a famous individual for that individual’s salvation. Such men sound noble, but when they neglect to pray for their own children who are on their own “road to hell” (p. 330), they have neglected their duties to their own children. Rushdoony notes, “ These people want no simple everyday responsibilities, only titanic causes…. They are ready to indulge in pious gush about how heroic their prayer life is, but they are failures in routine responsibilities” (p. 330).

When we pray, we must pray for things according to the Scriptures. The Lord’s Prayer is a good example for a biblical prayer, althought there are a number of prayers in the Scriptures that could be emulated. What we must not do in our prayers is instruct God in what He should do. God is not some puppet whom we can manipulate with our prayers. Instead, we are the servants of God who have been bought with a price and should seek to fulfill the will of God. As Christ said, “Not My will, but Thine be done” (Matt. 26:42).

I know of some who want to take the political realm by storm. They believe that when they have the power to make public policies, all of a sudden all the injustices that have been occurring will disappear. I have many friends who want to do great things for God. But they are unwilling to do the simple things, such as homework, daily Scripture reading, Scripture memorization, and prayer. Even cleaning the dishes can be a more important thing than striving after these “great things.” They want to storm off to save the world: a seemingly noble cause until we remember that Jesus Christ alone is the Savior of the world. Our prayer should not be, “May my name be well-known for my piety,” but instead, let our prayer be, “Christ must increase, and we must decrease” (John 3:30).

School Anyone?

2006-10-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

Just to start my blog off, let me link you to a couple of interesting articles. The first two are on the same site: one about the two-paycheck family by Lee Duigon, the other an article by R.J. Rushdoony at Chalcedon's blog. Here is a good article by Gary North on why homeschooling is better than private schooling. Here is another from Gary North about the PhD glut. And here is Clyde Wilson's take on the origins of the educational nightmare.

When I have more time, perhaps I'll comment on them.

Up, Up, and Away

2006-10-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

The "blogosphere" seems to expand exponentially with every fool who decides to put his thoughts down for all to see. This fool will be writing mostly about what he is reading. In case you do not know what I read, if you stay tuned, you shall find out.

It is my goal to use this forum to develop my writing skills. Sometimes I will write essays. Sometimes I will outline books. Sometimes I will link to articles on other sites. Pretty much this blog will be like any other blog.

The only exception is that on this blog you shall read the ramblings of me. It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's just David again!