Repeatable Post

From: A Woman's Body and Fatherlessness

"We have been told, over and over again, that abortion is all about "a woman's right to choose." The pro-life comeback has been -- correct as far as it goes -- that this leaves the child's right to life (and therefore the child's right to choose) out of the equation. This is a valid argument, and a powerful one. But the child's choices are all potential and future, and at the time when abortion is being contemplated, the child is in drastic need for someone who knows God to make choices on his behalf."

. . .

"What are fathers for? The biblical answer goes far beyond the answer provided by Darwin. Fathers are more than inseminating carbon units. God has established and ordered the world in a certain way. God commanded Adam, and all fathers after him, to provide and to protect (Gen. 2:15). That is what fathers are for. Provide for and protect whom? The answer is their wives and children. Unprotected children are fatherless children. Unwanted children are fatherless children. Aborted children are therefore the final word in fatherlessness."

. . .

"But fathers have been excluded, by law, by peer pressure, and by their own selfishness. It has been done by law in that the pattern established by Roe v. Wade has made everyone think that a decision to abort is to be made by a woman "and her doctor." Fathers are removed from the decision by law."

Lord's Day Exhortation, January 16, 2011

One of the traps we fall into is that of defending ourselves both coming and going. We tell others that “all we ask” is that if someone has a problem with what we are doing, that they simply come to us with it. Talk to me, we say, and not about me. And there is nothing objectionable about this—it is right and biblical. That’s why we say it.

But when we complain about those who do not heed this most biblical advice, we sometimes neglect (since it is to our advantage to neglect) how we may not be as easy to approach as we like to think. There are all kinds of ways to make someone wish they had never tried to talk to you about whatever it was—soured friendships, three-act dramas, counter-charges that effectively change the subject, and more.

You get more of what you subsidize and less of what you penalize. If you say with your words that you really wish that people would come to you directly, but if anybody ever actually does it, you really make them pay, then you need to realize that these subsidies and penalties are administered more potently through actions than through words.

The closer you get to someone, the truer this is. You don’t get into enormous tangles with someone you walked by on the street. This is the sort of thing that happens between husband and wife, between parents and children, between good friends. We all want to hear smooth words, and critical input from those close to us can be pretty rough—which is why we react. But we all need to ask the Spirit to deal with our souls in all things, whether rough or smooth.

~ Douglas Wilson

Time and Obedience, Keeping . . .

The text:

"Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God" (Rev. 3:2). "Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing" (Phil. 3:16).

Summary of the Text

Our first text is taken from the admonition given to the church at Sardis, and it is a pretty stern rebuke. The church there had a reputation for being alive, but was dead (v. 1). It became apparent in the next verse that they were not completely dead (v. 2), but the remaining life there was about to die. There were just a few embers in what had been a roaring fire, and those needed to be blown back int a blaze. "Strengthen the things that remain" means that they needed to get back to first principles, they needed to go back to the word they had first received (v. 3). In the words of the admonition to the church at Ephesus, they needed to return to their first love.

The second text assumes that those reading the exhortation have been faithful, and the call is not to repentance. At the same time, there is no sense of "having arrived." Paul does not consider himself as having "apprehended" but he continues to press on toward the goal (v. 13). The mark that he strives for is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (v. 14). Anyone who is mature should think the same way, which shosws us that maturity is not complacency (v.15). Let us continue to do what got us here (v. 16). Let us live up to what we have already attained.

If we have wandered off the path, let us return to it. If we have stayed on the path, by the grace of God, let us keep on.

Time and Obedience:

In this world, time is not an automatic friend. We have just passed one of our culture's milestones for time, going from the year 2009 to the year 2010. This is good . . . or it is not. Time deepens wisdom, but it also hardens folly. Time is given so that we might have time to repent, but it is also given so that we might be without excuse. time allows the grain to ripen, and it allows the weeds to grow. Time allows the meat to roast in the oven, and is also what causes it to burn.

Keep the Gospel:

God is triune, and reveals Himself to us as triune. The principle way He chose to do this is through the Incarnation of Jesus. In other words, the doctrine of the Trinity was made necessary by God's complete identification with us - which seems counterintuitive.  . . . It is a given that the infinite God cannot be comprehended by finite minds. That much even unbelievers can know. But our glory is that this infinite God who cannot be comprehended took on human flesh forever, and has assumed a dwelling place among us. The relationship we have with Emmanuel, God with us, is not a relationship with a figure of speech. This is gospel; this is what God has done - a perfect man, living a perfect life on our behalf, and then offering up that life in blood sacrifice, so that we might be put right on the basis of His resurrection from the dead. Put right? Put right with what? With everything . . . put right with ourselves, put right with the creation, put right with our neighbor, and put right with our God.

Keeping the Gospel Fresh:

This gospel, in its experienced reality, is transformative. It changes things, and, as it happens, it often changes things that didn't want to be changed. Over time, one of two things will happen. The first is that we persevere in staying on the path, just as we ought to have done. If this is the case, then we need to be encouraged to "keep on keeping on," as we used to say. The other option is that we slide back into the ways of death, as the saints at Sardis did, all while keeping relics of the gospel around. We revert to the sin while keeping this very fine catechism. As time progresses, that catechism becomes a large pebble in our shoe, one that makes us walk funny. The way we deal with this is that we objectify the truth, putting it "out there," giving credence to it "in its place." Thinking that we have created a safe house for the truth to live in, we are actually killing it. The truth is meant to be lived, and if it isn't lived it isn't our truth. The truth is meant to be loved, and if it isn't loved it isn't our truth. Now truth is objective, but we must not objectify it. That is what Paul is talking about when he says that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Paul is not hostile to letters - he wrote "the letter kills" with letters. His words are objectively true, and by this we mean that they are not made true by our applause, and they are not falsified when we withhold our applause. But we objectify truth when we say, "Yeah, uh huh, I heard that before." or "I knew that once." For those in this position, they must either come to their first love, or they must return to it.

Keeping it Simple:

This year our congregation will be 35 years old. During that time, children born in the first years have grown up, married, and are bringing up children of their own in this same congregation. Things we knew and learned have been successfully passed on - let us continue to live up to what we have already attained. Some have joined the conversation part way, and feel like they are always catching up. Some other things we have drifted away from, and so let us return to the basic things, the simple things - love God and hate sin. Love His Word, despise the world, and learn to love the world. A fitting conclusion is provided by a couple songs - the old gospel song Sweet Jesus says, "Everybody talking about heaven ain't goin' there." And as the song Denomination Blues puts it, "Ya gotta have Jesus, and that's all."

     ~Douglas Wilson

     Christ Church, January 3, 2010

     (Available online soon.)

Christ Church Grace and Peace (12/8/09)

"At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16: 11)

"While evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:13-15).

Paul has just finished saying that those who desire to live a godly life will draw the ire of those who do not share that desire. He goes on to say that evil men and charlatans are in a downward spiral, going from bad to worse. The process by which this happens is the process of lying and being lied to. Ungodliness, like godliness, is organic and grows. The moral condition of man is not static. On that basis, Paul urges Timothy to continue in what he has learned and believed. Both godliness and ungodliness are resources that compound with interest. We grow up into salvation, or we grow down into damnation. Timothy is reminded that he was given a good start, and that he had been acquainted with the Scriptures from childhood, the sacred writings that are able to make a young man wise in the matters concerning salvation. But this "head start" is not treated as a supplement to faith -- salvation is still through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. The issue is that the the human heart is so averse to grace, and so prone to develop workarounds to grace (some of them in the name of grace) that it is always wise to begin instructing children in the ways of grace early.

Cordially in Christ,

Douglas Wilson

"You will not find the warrior, the poet, the philosopher or the Christian by staring in his eyes as if he were your mistress: better fight beside him, read with him, argue with him, pray with him" C.S. Lewis


Christ Church, Moscow, Idaho