Two Kingdom Theology and Neo-Kuyperianism

How as Christians are we to relate to the world? Here’s a link by Kevin DeYoung on two historical stances: Two Kingdom Theology and Neo-Kuyperian Theology. I personally side with Two Kingdom Theology, but would really like to have a discussion with one who leans Kuyperian 🙂

Two Kingdom Theology and Neo-Kuyperianism

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Polycarp and his King

Polycarp (70-155AD) was arrested on the charge of being a Christian — a member of a politically dangerous cult whose rapid growth needed to be stopped. Amidst an angry mob, the Roman proconsul took pity on such a gentle old man and urged Polycarp to proclaim, “Caesar is Lord”. If only Polycarp would make this declaration and offer a small pinch of incense to Caesar’s statue he would escape torture and death. To this Polycarp responded, “Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Steadfast in his stand for Christ, Polycarp refused to compromise his beliefs, and thus, was burned alive at the stake.

(Theopedia)

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The Hardcore Christian

http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/03/10/the-hardcore-christian/comment-page-1/#comment-8200

“another article by jason galloway posted in the crimson white (college newspaper here at UA). It is about the difference between Christians and ‘hardcore’ Christians..and how there shouldnt be a difference. so true, if you really get it, you’ll want to be hardcore and on fire for God rather than lukewarm.”

via http://alicianab.tumblr.com/post/523334606/the-hardcore-christian

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Atheist -> Religious Hypocrite -> Lover of Christ!

Atheist -> Religious Hypocrite -> Lover of Christ!

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How Did We Make Such An Evangelical Mess? -JMac.

http://www.gty.org/Blog/B100303

“…The most compelling question in the minds and on the lips of many pastors today is not “What’s true?” but rather “What works?” Evangelicals these days care less about theology than they do about methodology. Truth has taken a backseat to more pragmatic concerns. When a person is trying hard to customize one’s message to meet the “felt needs” of one’s audience, earnestly contending for the faith is out of the question…”

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Greg Bahnsen’s Youtube Channel!

http://www.youtube.com/user/gregbahnsen#p/u

For those who are familiar with Greg Bahnsen, here’s a link to a youtube channel that has all of his best debates and lectures on presuppositional apologetics. For those who aren’t familiar with him, I recommend that you listen to “The Great Debate” between Bahnsen and Stein (Theist vs. Athiest). If you want to see defense of the Christian faith in a Reformed light, you MUST listen to Bahnsen!

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What If All Our Web Searches Were Made Public?

http://www.charlesstone.net/blog/what-if-all-our-web-searches-were-made-public/

“Am I honoring God with the topics I search?
Are my searches innocuous or do they point to sinful desires in my soul seeking to be satisfied with pixels?
If not overtly sinful, do these searches point to holes in my soul (ie-searching other church web sites to see how well my church stacks up)?
Would I want my wife, children, elders, congregation, or friends to know where I searched?”

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Is Anything Certain? (A Gospel Tract)

Is anything certain?

How certain are you about what will happen tomorrow? Are you certain that you will just go through the day-in, day-out routine of life? Will you wake up, eat, go to class, eat, go to more class, maybe work out, eat, study, sleep, and then repeat? How certain are you of this? Of course, you would remark, every day is different: each day is filled with new surprises, challenges, and every day is different from the one before it. If so, my friend, how can you have faith in the certainty that you will live tomorrow?

Life is a vapor, my friends, and we all know that life, as precious as it is, can be taken away in an instant. We all have some experience with death – whether it’s a family member who died of a heart attack, a friend who was killed in a car accident, or even an acquaintance or classmate who was killed in a freak accident because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Life can end abruptly, it can be longer than expected, but there is one thing that we can know for sure: statistics tell us that upon birth, people have a 100% mortality rate. That’s right – you don’t know when, and I don’t know when, but there is an appointed day in the future in which our death certainly will arrive.

I am not telling you this to scare you or just for the sake of telling you. No, I am telling you this to remind you of the certainty of death, and you all have a date with death – and it could be a minute after you hear these words, an hour later, a day – or many, many years from now. But, death is certain and unavoidable.

When that day arrives, you may be ready for it, and you may not be. Regardless, you will find yourself before the judgment seat of God, and all your deeds – everything you have ever said, thought, done – will be looked at and inspected. And just like a judicial court, you will be held accountable to a law – and for God, the law he gave was the 10 commandments, and it is by that standard that you shall be judged.

The 9th commandment holds that we must not lie. Have you lied? Even once? If so, you have broken the 9th commandment, and every account of your life in which you lied will be held against you.

The 8th commandment holds that we must not steal. Have you ever stolen anything? Even the tiniest thing that seems so insignificant – it doesn’t matter about the size of the crime – it matters that the law was broken.

The 6th commandment says to not murder. I don’t think that any of us has killed anyone recently, but Jesus redefined it, saying that even if anyone has hatred or bitterness toward a brother, he commits murder in his heart.

So, from three out of the ten commandments, we all are – you, me, him, her – are self proclaimed liars, thieves, and murderers. And it does not matter if we have broken one or another, for the Bible tells us that if we fail in breaking even one point of the law, we are accountable for all of it (James 2:10).

But, maybe you think that the ten commandments don’t apply anymore because it was Old Testament law? Well, even if that were true, Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Have you honestly done even that? Have you loved God with ALL of your being? Have you treated your neighbor with unmerited, unselfish, completely sacrificial and other-centered love?

All of these breakings of the law, my friends, is what the Bible calls sin. For it is through the law that we come by the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). But, knowing this isn’t enough – just as in court, there is a penalty for breaking the law, breaking God’s perfect law requires just punishment. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) – and that includes you, me, my mom, your brother, our friends, everyone. And for sinning and breaking the law, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), not just physical death, but an eternal death, a life separated from the grace and love of God and one that suffers the holy and just wrath of God for breaking the perfect law. It is God’s law you have broken, so for breaking absolute law, you must suffer absolute punishment, and that is HELL.

Hell is not where God isn’t – hell is where only God’s wrath and justice is poured out upon you, and his mercy and love is withheld. You are not the only one who deserves the punishment – I do, we all do. It is the natural default of human beings to do evil and sin and deserve hell for all of those personal breakings of the law. For none is righteous…no one seeks after God… no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10).

Am I telling you all of this merely to make you depressed, low, and guilty for the sake of it alone? No, my friends, for just as a farmer must plow and plow into rock hard soil to make the ground suitable to plant seed for his harvest, the heart of man, because it is wicked and hardened like stone, must be plowed with the bad news before the seed of the good news can be planted to take root.

The stars are out there in the sky, shining ever so brightly – but why can’t we see them during the day? Is it because they are shining less? No, it is because of the brightness of the day. But, when darkness fills the sky, the stars appear to magnify more and more in their splendor. In the same way, the good news will shine forth more majestically in the backdrop of our darkness and knowledge of how sinful we are.

What is the good news? The good news is that God, out of love, sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, to live the perfect life that never broke any of God’s perfect law, and He was placed upon a cross to die, not just a physical death, but a spiritual one. When Christ was on that cross, God put forth all of the wrath and justice that was meant for you and me, and he placed it on Jesus, who cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”

Jesus died, was buried in a tomb, and three days later, in a fulfillment of Scripture in the Old Testament, He rose again from the dead and appeared to women and men – from the disciples to others who had only heard about Him, to prove that it was God’s plan to save and redeem mankind through the work of Jesus Christ, the only One who could have kept every law and died absolutely righteous, and the only One who could have died for all of our sins that should have been our condemnation.

Jesus commands all men to “repent and believe in the gospel,” the good news. Repentance is not merely turning away from your sins, but it is a hatred of the evil and wickedness, including the wickedness in your own flesh, and a turn to Christ in absolute desperation because you know He is mighty to save even the most wretched of us all. The Bible tells us that it is by grace we have been saved through faith, not by works, so that no man may boast (Ephesians 2:8), so it is by Christ who gives us this faith to save us because we in our own ability cannot have faith because, as Christ tells us, “You must be born again to see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3), and being born-again is by the work of God alone who gives you a new birth as his son or daughter, one in whom he has absolute love and delight. Because of Jesus, those who believe and put all of their body, soul, heart, and mind into Jesus Christ are declared righteous before God, and they will continue to be made righteous by the work of the Holy Spirit within us.

Faith is not a mere profession, praying a prayer, or a mere intellectual assent or decision. It is placing your entire trust of all you are into the hands of the faithfulness of Christ, the One who saves and who will not let any of His sheep get snatched away from Him. All whom the Father has given Him will be saved. Salvation is not a flu-shot – you do not repent just once or believe once, but you must continue to repent and believe in the power of Jesus Christ.

Just as death is a certain aspect of life, when God, by his grace, saves you and gives you the ability to continually repent of sins, cling to the love of Christ, and to continually walk the narrow road in holiness and righteousness by following Christ and learning from His Word, he who started a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6), and that, my friends, is absolutely certain.

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Alas, Fallen Asleep!

Alas, Fallen Asleep!

Awake, my soul, arise and see!
The gloomy clouds of the day past
Have been pierced by an everlasting brilliance,
Hearken, my ears, listen and hear!
The trumpet of angels resound like thunder,
The wedding bells ring a magnificent tone.
Reach out, my soul, touch and believe!
The Christ is risen, feel Him there!
The senses can feel Him all around,
His glory exists in all things forever,
Yet still my eyes, my hands, my ears –
All my senses are still ever so hardened.
Lord, break the spell of disillusion,
Break the heart of solid stone,
Let me repent and believe in Thee,
Not for me but for Thy glory alone.

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