Posted on 01/27/2008 7:56:14 PM PST by Manfred the Wonder Dawg
January 25, 2008
ESV Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
In recent days I have spent time in Lima and Sullana Peru and Mexico City and I have discovered that people by nature are the same. Man has a heart that is inclined to selfishness and idolatry. Sin abounds in the remotest parts of the land because the heart is desperately wicked. Thousands bow before statues of Mary and pray to her hoping for answers. I have seen these people stare hopelessly at Mary icons, Jesus icons, and a host of dead saints who will do nothing for them. I have talked with people who pray to the pope and say that they love him. I talked with one lady who said that she knew that Jesus was the Savior, but she loved the pope. Thousands bow before Santa Muerte (holy death angel) in hopes that she will do whatever they ask her. I have seen people bring money, burning cigarettes, beer, whiskey, chocolate, plants, and flowers to Santa Muerte in hopes of her answers. I have seen these people bowing on their knees on the concrete in the middle of public places to worship their idol. Millions of people come into the Basilica in Mexico City and pay their money, confess their sins, and stare hopelessly at relics in hope that their sins will be pardoned. In America countless thousands are chained to baseball games, football games, material possessions, and whatever else their heart of idols can produce to worship.
My heart has broken in these last weeks because the God of heaven is not honored as he ought to be honored. People worship the things that are created rather than worshiping the Creator. God has been gracious to all mankind and yet mankind has hardened their hearts against a loving God. God brings the rain on the just and unjust. God brings the beautiful sunrises and sunsets upon the just and unjust. God gives good gifts unto all and above all things he has given his Son that those who would believe in him would be saved. However, man has taken the good things of God and perverted them unto idols and turned their attention away from God. I get a feel for Jesus as he overlooked Jerusalem or Paul as he beseeched for God to save Israel. When you accept the reality of the truth of the glory of God is breaks your heart that people would turn away from the great and awesome God of heaven to serve lesser things. Moses was outraged by the golden calf, the prophets passionately preached against idolatry, Jesus was angered that the temple was changed in an idolatrous business, and Paul preached to the idolaters of Mars Hill by telling them of the unknown God.
I arrived back at home wondering how I should respond to all the idolatry that I have beheld in these last three weeks. I wondered how our church here in the states should respond to all of the idolatry in the world. What are the options? First, I suppose we could sit around and hope that people chose to get their life together and stop being idolaters. However, I do not know how that could ever happen apart from them hearing the truth. Second, I suppose we could spend a lifetime studying cultural issues and customs in hope that we could somehow learn to relate to the people of other countries. However, the bible is quite clear that all men are the same. Men are dead in sin, shaped in iniquity, and by nature are the enemies of God. Thirdly, we could pay other people or other agencies to go and do a work for us while we remain comfortably in the states. However, there is no way to insure that there will be doctrinal accuracy or integrity. If we only pay other people to take the gospel we will miss out on all of the benefits of being obedient to the mission of God. Lastly, we could seek where God would have us to do a lasting work and then invest our lives there for the glory of God. The gospel has the power to raise the dead in any culture and we must be willing to take the gospel wherever God would have us take it. It is for sure that our church cannot go to every country and reach every people group, so we must determine where God would have us work and seek to be obedient wherever that is.
It seems that some doors are opening in the Spanish speaking countries below us and perhaps God is beginning to reveal where we are to work. There are some options for work to be partnered with in Peru and there could be a couple of options in Mexico. The need is greater than I can express upon this paper for a biblical gospel to be proclaimed in Peru and Mexico. Oh, that God would glorify his great name in Peru and Mexico by using a small little church in a town that does not exist to proclaim his great gospel amongst a people who desperately need the truth.
I give thanks to the LORD for allowing me the privilege of going to these countries and broadening my horizons. The things that I have seen will be forever engraved upon my heart. I will long remember the pastors that I spent time with in Peru and I will never forget Adolfo who translated for me in Mexico. I will relish the time that I spent with Paul Washer and the others. When I think of church I will forever remember being on top of that mountain in Sullana at that church which had no electricity and no roof. I am convinced that heaven was looking down on that little church on top of that mountain and very few people on earth even know that it exist. Oh, God I pray that the things of this world will continue to grow dim and that God’s people will be caught up in his glorious presence.
Because of the truth: Pastor: J. Randall Easter II Timothy 2:19 "Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases."(Ps. 115:3) "He predestined us according to the good pleasure of His will."(Eph. 1:5) Those who have been saved have been saved for His glory and they are being made holy for this is the will of God. Are you being made holy? Spurgeon says, "If your religion does not make you holy it will damn you to hell."
And as it is.
It's not all that hard to do the meth work to underestand the relatiosip between time and space as depicted by Newton (and others ) and developed by Einstein. (Whose birthday was 3/14)
And it's good to do the work so as not to be swept away by people throwing around words like "Dimension" in impressive but vague ways.
PLEASE think about what it means to say "Time is a measure of existence" in comparison with my child's garden of Aristotle above. I think the concept of time is meaningless unless there is some change going on. And I mean "meaningless". If you do a thought experiment of a time without stuff changing, and look at words like "Before", "after", and "during", and ask yourself, "WHAT?": "Before what, After what, During what?" what do the words mean without something that was once like THIS and now is like THAT?
If you want to say, "Well, they must mean SOMETHING," hold your own feet to the fire.
It's not a useless exercise, I think.
What I call "pothead metaphysics" (revealing maybe a little more about my past than I'd care to) gets all excited about notions of time and dimension and Rod Serling and such. But a little cold hard thought goes a long way to take away the "Gee whiz!" and to clarify one's thinking.
It's been more than 25 years, But I think Max Born's "Einstein's Theory of Relativity" is as good a place to start as any. The first chapters are easily understood, believe me, or I wouldn't have understood them.
“And the celestial spheres were therefore by “necessity” deemed perfect spheres and any deviations were “illusions” created by the Evil One in order to “deceive” us into believing the science.”
I believe they were alleged to be made of crystal too!
Kol: None whatsoever.
Why, because it may offend the sensibilities of some reilgious hierarchy? Allowing those in obvious error to determine what you can and cannot do makes no sense. South America is a perfect example with the ridiculous levels "Marian Veneration" has risen to. It is a Christian's duty to preach The Gospel.
When exactly did "the Church" make a dogmatic declaration of what the canon of Scripture was?
The Muratonian Fragment from 170 AD does not include the Shepherd of Hermes or the Epistle of Barnabas as Scripture, but does indicate they are worthy of being read.
“When exactly did “the Church” make a dogmatic declaration of what the canon of Scripture was?”
In the East I don’t believe it was ever done as a truly dogmatic matter. Certainly no Ecumenical Council ever decided such a thing. Local councils decided what would be used for local or regional churches. My memory is that Trent did define the canon for The Church in the West, but I could be wrong on that.
WF, at least in the East, the tender sensitivities of the hierarchy of The Church will not be hurt by some bible thumper in a cheap suit. Centuries under Mohammedanism or decades crushed under the heel of atheistic communism have given them a sense of perspective sadly lacking in the West.
“Allowing those in obvious error to determine what you can and cannot do makes no sense.”
I agree. That's why the statutes outlawing proselytizing by heretics are so popular in the East.
“South America is a perfect example with the ridiculous levels “Marian Veneration” has risen to.”
I wouldn't know about that. Has it risen to “ridiculous levels” there?
“It is a Christian's duty to preach The Gospel.”
It is? Which Christians?
I think this is because the Scriptures were widely recognized from the beginning. It was only when large movements developed that written declarations of what comprised Scripture were made. For example, confronted with a growing gnosticism St. Athansius made a written declaration of what the canon was as the bishop in Alexandria.
Another example is the Muratonian Fragment which dates back to 170 AD. It follows the Marcion movement.
Sometimes in the rush to take credit for something we fail to recognize how seriously Christians of the Apostolic Era and the century immediately following considered these matters. They knew who the Apostles were and they knew who traveled with them. They were pretty quick to discredit writings of "recent appearance", "questionable authorship" or that were not "God Breathed".
Thankfully we have not had to endure that.
WF: “Allowing those in obvious error to determine what you can and cannot do makes no sense.”
K: I agree. That's why the statutes outlawing proselytizing by heretics are so popular in the East.
What a shame. If an Evangelist were to come and you are convinced they are in error, rather than having a "Mars Hill" moment and correcting the evangelist you would have the power of the State stop him. It does not evidence a great confidence.
WF: “It is a Christian's duty to preach The Gospel.”
K: It is? Which Christians?
Any and all.
“It does not evidence a great confidence.”
We can agree, I am sure, that it does evidence great power, though; right?
“Any and all.”
Says who? :)
“They knew who the Apostles were and they knew who traveled with them. They were pretty quick to discredit writings of “recent appearance”, “questionable authorship” or that were not “God Breathed”.”
As a general proposition, I think you are right, but its important to remember writings like Barnabus, The Shepherd and the Clementine Letters just as it is important to recognize why, say, The Shepherd was rejected ultimately as compared to why the Gospel of Thomas or that of Judas were rejected or how Hebrews and Revelations came to be part of what we have as the canon of the NT today.
Thank you. It is rare we agree on something. :-)
it is important to recognize why, say, The Shepherd was rejected ultimately as compared to why the Gospel of Thomas or that of Judas were rejected or how Hebrews and Revelations came to be part of what we have as the canon of the NT today.
Absolutely.
It does evidence power, but has it stopped the missionaries from evangelizing?
Says who? :)
Scripture.
He used "theology." He first introduced a slight alteration in theology which, once it was accepted, he managed to increase more and more to the degree that Christianity became completely unrecognizable...Did you ever try to pinpoint what is the principal characteristic of Western [Protestant] theology? Well, its principal characteristic is that it considers God as the real cause of all evil."
Why did you add that bracket, Kosta? Here is the sentence that follows:
"What is evil? Is it not the estrangement from God Who is Life?1 Is it not death? What does Western theology teach about death? All Roman Catholics and most Protestants consider death as a punishment from God." [emphasis mine]
Whatever Kalomiros had to say about Protestants, he said the same or worse about Roman Catholics. All Roman Catholics??? Where I come from, that quantifier has a precise, logical meaning. In fact, he was attacking Western Christianity in general, not just Protestants*. Kalomiros had some great things to say--taken straight from the Fathers--about the fire of God's unconditional love, so it's a shame that he turned his address into a broad, over-generalized screed against the entire West because that made it almost unpalatable.
Incidentally, I had found Kalomiros' River of Fire on the same site where I found C.S. Lewis' Introduction to +Athanasius. One of life's little coincidences, I suppose...
I think this goes back to the point that MD keeps making about trying to understand where we're all coming from and being precise** about what it is we're arguing for or against so that we really understand our similarities and differences before launching into invectives. These threads on the Religion Forum tend to turn into one giant and prolonged game of "Gotcha!" and this same "game" is played over and over and over, with no progress in sight. I am guilty of the same, and so I ask anyone who happens to read this for forgiveness for my own lack of charity and patience.
* The term "Protestant" is itself often used vaguely and imprecisely, especially on this thread. "Protestant" is not a religion (except perhaps for those who make an idol of their rejection of Rome's claims); it is simply the name for Western Christians who are not in communion with Rome.
** On a side note, MD, this is why I insisted a while back that--in this sense--precision is necessary for accuracy.
Thanks for the discussion on time, MD. To make your thought experiment a little more concrete, suppose that everything in the universe just “stopped” for a million years, and then started up again. How would we know? In fact, how do we know that doesn’t happen periodically? The important question, which you asked, is: Does it even make sense to talk about “time” with no change or motion? Only in an abstract philosophical construct, which may or may not be useful in describing the world around us.
“It does evidence power, but has it stopped the missionaries from evangelizing?”
In the context of Orthodox countries, no, not totally...but we are making progress! :)
“Scripture.”
Really? Where?
Kalomiros, like Fr. Romanides of eternal memory, reflect a particularly “in your face” sort of Orthodoxy that irenicists and ecumenists especially find off putting. That said, they argue nothing which is not generally held in Orthodoxy. Their theology is, as you have observed with Prof. Kalomiros, patristic and as such theological contrasts of greater, as with Protestants, or lesser, as with Latins, degrees are drawn. That's really no big deal and doesn't call for the sort of commentary you find disturbing. What that commentary does do, and no one in the modern era does it better than Fr. John or Prof. Kalomiros, is demonstrate the truly profound difference between an Orthodox phronema or mindset and that of all the Western churches and ecclesial groups. For the Western Christian, a reading of the writings of those men will lead one to the interesting notion that Anglicanism and possibly Lutheranism are actually closer in mindset to Orthodoxy than Roman Catholicism. Certainly observation of the course of converts from those three to Orthodoxy seems to bear this out which is fascinating in and of itself since the theology of Rome and the theology of Orthodoxy are virtually identical, certainly far more so than that of Orthodoxy with those of Anglicanism and Lutheranism. Maybe this is a demonstration of how ecclesiology can drive phronema and how even a seemingly tiny theological difference can have major ecclesiological consequences.
Personally, I think your finding The River of Fire next to Lewis’ magnificent introduction to “On the Incarnation” is a coincidence of the “delicious” kind. :)
Why "the Church" as if questioning that the Church existed? Ridiculous.
The Church made a dogmatic declaration of the canon at the Third Council of Carthage, at the very end of the 4th century. Until that time, the canon varied from church to church, as can be seen from the various private canons (from Bible Research)
| Athanasius (b. 296) |
Origen (b. 185) |
Irenaeus (b. 130) |
Marcion* (b. 85) |
| Matthew | Matthew | Matthew | |
| Mark | Mark | Mark | |
| Luke | Luke | Luke | Luke |
| John | John | John | |
| Acts | Acts | Acts | |
| Romans | |||
| 1 Corinthians | 1 Corinthians | 1 Corinthians | 1 Corinthians |
| 2 Corinthians | 2 Corinthians | 2 Corinthians | 2 Corinthians |
| Galatians | Galatians | Galatians | Galatians |
| Ephesians | Ephesians | Ephesians | Ephesians |
| Philippians | Philippians | Philippians | Philippians |
| Colossians | Colossians | Colossians | Colossians |
| 1 Thessalonians | 1 Thessalonians | 1 Thessalonians | 1 Thessalonians |
| 2 Thessalonians | 2 Thessalonians | 2 Thessalonians | 2 Thessalonians |
| 1 Timothy | 1 Timothy | 1 Timothy | |
| 2 Timothy | 2 Timothy | 2 Timothy | |
| Titus | Titus | Titus | |
| Philemon | Philemon | Philemon | Philemon |
| Hebrews | Hebrews | Hebrews | |
| James | James | James | |
| 1 Peter | 1 Peter | 1 Peter | |
| 2 Peter | 2 Peter | 2 Peter | |
| 1 John | 1 John | 1 John | |
| 2 John | 2 John | 2 John | |
| 3 John | 3 John | 3 John | |
| Jude | Jude | Jude | |
| Revelation** | Revelation | Revelation |
Italic type indicates that the writer either does not mention the book or expressed some doubt about the status of the book.
The Muratonian Fragment from 170 AD does not include the Shepherd of Hermes or the Epistle of Barnabas as Scripture, but does indicate they are worthy of being read.
That's right. Many variations, showing individual interpretations and no unity. Hardly the work of the Holy Spirit!
Because the RCC has made great strides in returning to its patristic roots since Dr. Kalomiros' 1970's address. The same cannot be said of the Protestant part of Western Christianity. What he wrote then still applies to various Protetsant sects.
The 3rd Council of Carthage was a local, North African council and thus could not proclaim anything dogmatically for the One Church. As you know, Revelations wasn't included in the East until the 9th century.
Show me where it says that in the Great Commission. It is the duty of the disciples, and their direct successors, not of laity.
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