The End of Time (in Toledo of all places!)

How Long O' Lord: Three Views on the end of days

March 14-15, 2008

The schedule of speakers is out for the Toledo Reformed Theological Conference and it looks pretty interesting with a focus on examining the three major schools of eschatological thought.

The TRTC rarely has the star power of other conferences. Especially in the last couple of years you are not going to see Sproul or MacArthur here. Steve Camp as always will be there, as will stalwart Don Kistler. The other speakers are not household names.

Dr. Thomas Ice, from Liberty, will be (no surprise since he is from Liberty University!) representing the pre-millennial camp. Dr. Kenneth Gentry will be the advocate for post-millennialism. Dr. Richard Gaffin of Westminster Theological Seminary will speak on behalf of amillennialism. All three are rock solid scholars with great credentials. They may not be as recognizable as the speakers at Together for the Gospel, and the talks likely will not be as rousing, but the teaching should be great. Eschatology is a weak area for me, so I am very much looking forward to the TRTC in March (cleverly scheduled to not coincide with T4G!) Too bad they didn't move the Philadelphia Conference in Grand Rapids so it didn't overlap T4G, a decision which might cost them a lot of attenders.

Covenant Children Today

There is a new book out from Reformed Baptist Academic Press, and it looks like a solid addition to the defense of credobaptism, baptism of believers alone, from a Reformed persepctive. The title is Covenant Children Today, written by Alan Conner. I am not familiar with Alan, but he seems very well versed in the topic and quite serious about his scholarship and exegesis. He was recently interviewed on The Narrow Mind with Gene Cook Jr., and the interview itself was quite informative without even reading the book.

Sometimes we avoid talking about baptism because it is such a divider among Reformed folks. Better perhaps to focus on the Five Points and let everything else slide. But there of course are a few problems with that. First, the fact that our paedobaptist brethren assume that Reformed Baptists are not "TR", Truly Reformed. Secondly, the doctrine of whether to baptize infants or just believers impacts the very nature of the visible church body, and as such is too important to let slide. Certainly we should embrace (and attend!) events like Together for the Gospel, where we focus on the big issues of our faith and celebrate our common roots in Christ, but that doesn't mean we should ignore

There is a great deal of sentimentality among the normally sober minded Reformed regarding infant baptism, and why not? They are our children, little lives in our care and who wants to think of them being not part of the elect of God? It is easy to assume that babies of believers are automatically believers. It is also wrong. It is, like Pastor Gene says, so very obvious in Scripture that baptism is, under the New Covenant administration, an ordinance reserved, just like the Lord’s Supper, strictly for believers. Not for infants who quite frankly we have no idea based on their parentage if they are elect. Merely having elect parents is no guarantee of being elect, any more than being the child of non-elect parents precludes an possibility of being elect.

The issue of who is to be baptized in the church is one that is decided not by skills of debate (Gene Cook lost handily to Paul Manata and James White beat down Bill Shisko, so that was a draw) but rather on the plain teaching of the Word of God. That Word demonstrates openly that only those who are believers in Christ should enter the waters of baptism. We are not saved by baptism, so we ought to reserve that ordinance of the church for those who have expressed faith in Him.

The Speech

Mitt Romney delivered "The Speech" today, designed to deflect and soothe, to reassure evangelical voters that they could trust a mormon candidate. As expected he mostly glossed over specifics about mormonism and focused on broad themes of religious tolerance and his independence from Salt Lake when it comes to decision making.

I doubt this speech will do much to assuage evangelical doubts about Romney's mormonism. He certainly was not going to speak about the temple ceremony, or exaltation or really any of the distinctives that make mormonism a heresy and cause sych unease among people. Certainly one should not expect a President to be a theologian, but Romney's hesitancy to speak about what should be THE driving force behind his ideology in other than the vaguest terms should give one pause.

One comment that gave me pause was this one:

I believe that every faith I have encountered draws its adherents closer to God.

Really? Buddhism draws people closer to God? Islam draws people closer to God? The problem is that when a mormon speaks of God, when a Muslim speaks of God, they are not speaking of the God of the Bible, the God of Christianity, the true God. They speak of manmade idols, man's pride and creativity molded into a false image to be worshipped. Allah is no more the God of the Bible than the created being, the exalted man worshipped by mormons.

Romney and Christians who support him are willing to blur the lines of truth, replacing the absolute truths of the Biblical Gospel with a pragmatic embrace of "shared moral values". Romney may be the right man to be President, but his faith sets him apart from Christians. I would rather Romney had directly answered the myriad of issues that surround his faith, put his cards on the table and said "this is what we believe, and if my believing this causes you to not vote for me, so be it." Unfortunately that sort of honesty is a rare commodity among politicians of all stripes.

(Dr. Mohler addressed Mitt Romney's speech today on The Albert Mohler Radio Program)

Victoria Lynn at six weeks

Tori turns six weeks old today and is suddenly very interactive. She was smiling in response to my voice and in a pretty decent mood. Enjoy!

Here comes "The Speech"

The AP reports that Mitt Romney is going to the long awaited speech addressing mormonism...

The decision, made after months of debate at his Boston headquarters over whether to make a public address about his religion, comes as the former Massachusetts governor's bid is threatened in Iowa by underdog Mike Huckabee, a one-time Southern Baptist minister who has rallied influential Christian conservatives to erase Romney's months-long lead and turn the race into a dead-heat.

Romney will deliver a speech called "Faith in America" at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, on Thursday.

"This speech is an opportunity for Governor Romney to share his views on religious liberty, the grand tradition religious tolerance has played in the progress of our nation and how the governor's own faith would inform his presidency if he were elected," Kevin Madden, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement. "Governor Romney understands that faith is an important issue to many Americans, and he personally feels this moment is the right moment for him to share his views with the nation."

I wonder if he had to run it by Salt Lake and have them approve the message? I doubt anything substantive or specific will be addressed, more likely I expect Romney to give a bunch of vague platitudes about religious tolerance and shared values. Don't expect to hear anything about the temple ceremony or the mormon doctrine of exaltation. Should be interesting tho'...

Guns versus machetes

In what is in every way a tragic death, Washington Redskins player Sean Taylor was recently murdered in his home. Taylor was something of a miscreant, while being supremely talented, but seemed to be turning his life around and maturing as a player and a person. On November 26th, Taylor's home was broken into, and armed only with a machete Taylor was shot in the leg by the intruder, severing his femoral artery and leading to his death. Taylor was 24 years old, a world class athlete, a new father, fabulously wealthy and now he is dead for no apparent reason.

That brings us to my team, the Cleveland Browns (a suprising playoff contender...). I check the Cleveland Plain Dealer on a regular basis for news on the Browns as well as the Indians. While reading a column of news blurbs on the Browns, I came across a jaw-droppingly ignorant statement attributed to Browns coach Romeo Crennel. Now Crennel is no stranger to ignorant statements and actions (i.e. taking a timeout to decide to challenge a play, challenging and losing that challenge and thus burning two timeouts on one play). But this crosses a line into ignorance that is amazing even for Crennel:

In the context of Taylor's murder, Crennel said he reminds his players they must be aware of their surroundings. He said he doesn't know if any of them have guns and "if they do have guns, I've told them to turn them in."

Think about that. Taylor's house had been broken into eight days earlier. When an intruder breaks in again, Taylor, his girlfriend and their 18 month old daughter were at the mercy of this intruder. Taylor was attempting to defend his life, his family and his home with a machete. If Taylor had a firearm and knew how to properly use it, perhaps he still would have died, but there is a good chance that he could have defended himself and his family. The idea that American citizens should be encouraged to "turn in their guns" as a reaction to the death of a co-worker who was unable to defend himself precisely because he was not armed with a gun is the height on insanity. The surroundings that Crennel advises his players to be aware of, in the case of Taylor, was his own home. Taylor was not out at a club waving a gun around. He was in his own home, and was trying to confront a burglar armed with a gun with only a machete? That is the fate that Crennel would like his players relegated to?

Rather than heed Crennel, I would hope that his players all seek professional training in the safe and responsible ownership and use of firearms and seek to arm themselves with the hope that they never need use them, but that is called upon to do so they find themselves able to.

Building Bridges Conference

The audio files for the Building Bridges Conference are slowly being added to the Lifeway page here. They have been, so far that I have listened, gracious on both sides

One of the most interesting things I heard was the intro report by Ed Stetzer in which he pointed out that there is a strong trend towards Calvinism among recent SBC seminary graduates. The graph above is mind boggling. Only 10% of all SBC pastors identify themselves as five point Calvinists, but almost 30% of recent graduates (since 1999) identify themselves as five pointers, and the more recent the grad, the higher the percentage. More data and the research methodology can be found here, but some other interesting factoids:

• Calvinists tend to pastor churches with a lower weekly attendance (Is it because Calvinists run into more opposition in being called to larger churches, or is it because Calvinists have higher standards for who is a member and who is baptized? The why is not answered)
• Calvinist pastors report sharing the Gospel with others outside of church services at a slightly higher rate than their non-Calvinist counterparts.
• While the churches are smaller, Calvinist pastored churches has a baptism rate similar to non-Calvinist pastored churches.

What does all of that data mean? That despite the strawmen used to falsely portray and attack Reformed Baptists, most of those who are both Calvinist and Southern Baptist take very seriously not just theology but also evangelism.

I listened to part of David Dockery's talk, and he was pretty funny. One of his jokes was a Jeff Foxworthy-esque one about those unsure of whether or not they are a Calvinist (paraphrasing here...)

If you have a son named John, whether named after Calvin, Knox, Edwards or Piper, you might be a Calvinist.

If you think the axis of error runs through Pelagius, Arminius and Finney, you might be a Calvinist.

If you think that a psalter is not the thing sitting next to the pepper shaker, you might be a Calvinist

If you didn’t laugh at any of these jokes, you might be a Calvinist!

One of the most encouraging things about the whole conference was not that minds were changed or that any new material was presented, but that the issue of Calvinism was spoken about by both proponents and opponents in a Biblically sound, Christ honoring way and that the recognition was there that theological discussion in the SBC is a positive thing, and the goal is not to convert the world to Calvinism but to win the world for Christ. If we can have more frank, honest, peaceful discussion it will only further the cause of the Great Commission and strengthen the SBC for the future. Those who seek to run Calvinists out of the SBC threaten the future of the Convention. Those who embrace theirs brothers in spite of difference of doctrine are the ones who truly see the future of the SBC.

What is best in life?

Founders Ministries Blog: Building Bridges Conference audio files

Building bridges conference

As part of the effort to address is the growing rift in the Southern Baptist Convention between Calvinists and, for lack of a better term, Arminians several SBC leaders are engaged in a conference designed to open, frankly and lovingly discuss these issues that divide us. Prayer would be in order. The audio files should be out soon online...

Fiddling while Rome burns...

The AP reports that our illustrious governor Jennifer Granholm made a point of adding "transgendered individuals" to the lengthy list of protected minorities/special interest groups...

LANSING, Mich. - Gov. Jennifer Granholm has issued an order that bars discrimination against state workers based on their "gender identity or expression," which protects the rights of those who behave, dress or identify as members of the opposite sex.

The order, which Granholm signed Wednesday, adds gender identity to a list of other prohibited grounds for discrimination that includes religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, height, weight, marital status, politics, disability or genetic information.

Of course our economy is in the tank, a huge set of new taxes are taking effect and we are bleeding jobs like a sieve, but at least we are watching out for deviants while the rest of the people in the state struggle to get by. Thanks Guv!

So this is how it felt to be an Ohio State fan all those years..

=

The unmovable object

Here is your task Mr. Defensive End. Get to the quarterback.

There is only one problem, there is a fellow in the way who objects to your presence in the backfield. He is 6' 7" and weighs north of 310 lbs. He has been flagged exactly zero times for penalties this season, unheard of from a left tackle. As far as I know, he has not surrendered a single sack. He bulldozes DEs on run plays. So good luck with that.

Jake Long may just be the best player in college football but gets very little ink. That has changed of late, but if the Wolverines lose to Ohio State (which I think they will) this weekend, he will likely be forgotten in the halls of Wolverine greats. That is a shame because he might just be one of the, if not the, greatest linemen in Michigan history. There is a lot more than a Big Ten championship on the line this weekend.

GO BLUE!