Corporate Election and Baseball

I finally got an opportunity to listen to Dr. White and Dr. Brown's most recent debate. Very good and both of their parts. Naturally I think that Dr. Brown did much better, but I also agreed with his exegesis (as well as his style of exegesis) and I'm sure that played a big part of that. What frustrated me was the caricatures that White kept putting forth.

One of the interesting ones was the "impersonal nebulous group". He claims that if one chooses a group it is impersonal, and that group lacks real world definition.

Now I really like baseball. The crack of the bat, the sound of the parks, the smell of the grass, the feel of the ball in your hand, the drama of the pitcher and batter; it's great. Additionally, I am a Yankee fan. My father grew up in Staten Island, and I fell in love with baseball watching with my father. So I love the Yankees.

Now here's a question: is this not a corporate election? My selection of the Yankees is a corporate one, not an individual one. It is also not impersonal, because I care a great deal about Petite, Jeter, Posada, etc... Indeed, I still loved Petite when he went down to Texas, but my affection for him as a ball player is greater when he is wearing those pinstripes. And it is not like the Yankees is a nebulous group. Sure, some members come, some members go, but the group is a tangible existing thing in of itself. Finally, White criticized Dr. Brown's corporate view in Ephesians because of the use of personal pronouns. Yet most fans I know refer to their team using such terms. "We swept Chicago." "We're going to the World Series." "Well, we'll do better next year." I'm sorry, but Dr. White has simply not thought out this criticism at all.

It is like I have always said about Dr. White: he is an excellent apologist because he has a thorough understanding of his position, but he is a terrible polemicist because he never seems to comprehend what he is arguing against.

Change to comment moderation

I've always tried to keep commenting as free on here as possible because I want to encourage conversation. For that reason, I haven't moderated the first 10 days after a post, and I only moderate after that so that I can see if a person leaves a comment on my dashboard.

However, lately I've been getting viral comments with links to inappropriate sites (I don't believe I need to say more). It has happened three times now, and that is simply intolerable. For that reason, I've changed the comment moderation to always being on to protect the site from such things. I do apologize since you guys have always been quite civil in your comments here.

Thank you for understanding.

Ephesians 2:13; A Devotional

But now, in Christ Jesus, you, being once distant¹, have become² close³ by Christ's blood.

It is important to remember that Paul's primary concern in the book of Ephesians is dealing with the Gentile believers in relation to the Jews. Often we become so concerned with this verse or that verse that we forget Paul's greater discussion.

The big question when considering this verse is "what were we far away from"? The answer is in the last verse: we were far away from God and His covenant people. The language is verse 12 is not merely talking about separation from God, but also separation from Israel. To Paul, these are two sides of the same coin. To be separate from God's people is to be separate from God's promises, and thus from God Himself.

But the turning point is Christ. Through Christ, we, the Gentiles, have been made citizens of God's people. To am not talking about replacement theology here, where the Church has replaced Israel. I mean that we have become part of Israel through the blood of Jesus Christ. The redemption that was wrought through Christ's atonement has given us access to the promises of Abraham.

Remember that we do not have a right to salvation. We have not merited it, nor do we have some claim to it by birthright. Indeed, as Gentiles, we don't even have the same claims that the ancient Jews had. Do not take it for granted.

It is a gift! A great gift: undeserved and unasked for, yet here! We need to be focused in life on the gratitude we have to Jesus for what He has done for us. Think that out this week, and relish the joy of being close to God.

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Translation notes
(To be completed later)
1

2

3

An Outline of the FACTS of Arminianism vs. The TULIP of Calvinism

One of the most frustrating aspects of the Arminian and Calvinist debate is the amount of misunderstanding that goes on about the two positions. We have found that caricatures of both sides seem to be more common than honest descriptions. SEA (The Society of Evangelical Arminians) has been devoted to bring clarity as to what defines the Arminian position and promoting the position while remaining respectful to those that disagree.

We have just set up a new primary link that gives a detailed comparison between the Arminian and Calvinist sides. You will find it under An Outline of the FACTS of Arminianism and the TULIP of Calvinism

This outline is intended to be both an introduction to the debate for those who are new to it, a correction to those who have a misunderstanding of one side or the other, and as a resource for those trying to explain it to others (there are lots of internal links for this purpose). We present the two sides using two acronym: TULIP for Calvinism, and FACTS for Arminianism (after all, we prefer facts to flowers ;-D) . Though individual opinions may differ from the outline at times, we believe that it fairly describes the general stances of either side.

For those interested, there will be a full right up for the FACTS acronym coming in the summer.

Ephesians 2:11-12; A Devotional

Therefore, remember that at one point,¹ you -- the Gentiles in terms of flesh, the ones called "foreskin"² by those called "the circumcised", a handmade thing of flesh -- that at that time,¹ you were separate from Christ, ostracized³ from the people of Israel, and aliens in terms of the covenants of promise: having no hope and being without God⁴ in the world.

Sometimes we forget that we were the Gentiles. We were those cut off from the promises of God; aliens from the covenants made with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. It is only in the blood of Jesus Christ that we are brought near to God.

This is part of God's whole project: To redeem all of humanity through Israel. But the first stage of that was redeeming Israel, and the rest of us were set aside until Israel was ready for the Messiah to come.

We must always remember that we do not have a right to salvation and we most certainly do not deserve it. Salvation is a gift granted to us who were outside and separate from the things of God. That God had made a holy people, and then He drew us in by the powerful life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Let us sing praises to our God and Saviour, Christ Jesus!

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Translation notes

1 The parenthesis here is marked out by the use of these two synonyms: 'pote' and 'keiros'. 'Pote' derives from 'pou' (meaning 'where') and 'te' (meaning essentially 'and', but usually acts as a kind of modifier), meaning "at one time" or "once upon a time", referring to a past state or a past event. It does not seem to refer to the past in general though. 'Keiros' means 'time', though it is distinct from the word 'chronos'. 'Chronos' refers to time in general but 'keiros' refers to a specific moment in time, which would make it simular to 'moment' or 'period' or 'instant'.

In this case, 'keiros' refers back to 'pote', bringing the reader back to the beginning of the sentence, giving the passage the feel that the parenthesis interrupted Paul thought to the point that he had to start his thought again. I emphasize this synonymia by repeating the subject 'you'.

2 I found it interesting that the term used here 'akrobustia' doesn't mean 'uncircumcised', as it is commonly translated, but 'foreskin'. Quite frankly, I think this makes the term more insulting, and probably represents a mocking name that the Jews used for the Gentiles. I think translating it as 'uncircumcised' makes the whole passage seem clunkier, and is unnecessarily creates a rhetorical parallel between the two terms.

3 'Apellotriomenoi' literally means "to make another/differnent" or simply 'to alienate'. I felt that ostracize as an appropriate term.

4 'Atheoi' is actually one word, meaning "without God".

A Divine Moment

What kind of faith is Christianity? Is it experiential? Many of thought so. Is it intellectual? Again, many have considered it so. The answer is of course neither and both. Christianity is primarily relational. We understand God in how we relate to Him, and the church is functional only in terms of is communal unity.

Relationships have their experiential nature. I'm writing this today because this evening I had one of those truly defining experiential moments. I've had others, but I thought this one was worth sharing, especially considering how theological it was.

I've been reading a book called Truth Is Stranger Than It Used To Be (which I highly recommend) and in it, it was discussing the necessary aspect of complaint in Christian worship. This is something that I've felt strongly about for some time, but this sparked me to think about it with some depth. I pondered (remember, this is meant to be as close to my train of thought as possible with words):

God is God. Because of this, He is the Lord and Master of all of the cosmos and over all of creation. As such, we have no right to come before Him and complain to Him about how He is doing things.

However, because we are now in covenantal relationship with Him, which was cut through Christ, we now have an invitation to go before the throne and complain. Indeed, God requests that He does, and it is important that we do so honestly. David was honest before God; Job was honest before God; We should be honest before God, and should not hold back in case we offend His majesty.

Marriage is a covenant. When I am upset with my wife, I tell her my feelings. I am open before her, and tell her precisely what bothers me about what she did and how it affects me. I do so because I trust her not to throw it back in my face, and because ultimately my desire is reconciliation with her. This can only happen is I openly and honestly express my perspective and reaction to what she has done. With that comes correction and restitution.

With God, to not be honest and to hold back is not to trust His response, and to prefer obedience to proper relationship. Being open doesn't mean that you believe that what you are saying is correct, but that you recognize that this is the perspective that you have, and it needs to be dealt with, and that the only way to deal with it is to go to the source, submit it, and trust that He will value your honesty and reconcile with you. It is a supreme trust.

And how good of a God He is that He is faithful to that trust! That if we come to him complaining, He'll listen and come and reconcile. He may speak from a whirlwind, or He may speak in a still small voice, but He'll come.

God loves me. He really loves me. That love is not simply an emotion, but it motivates action. He pursues me. Yes He reigns, but He really cares about me.

God, You're love is real, and true...

At this point, my thoughts really stopped being words. It was more a group of concepts sort of ramming into each, and interacting with each other: blending and merging, sort of like a conceptual kaleidoscope. I had a similar experience once contemplating the Trinity. It is like the ideas almost become pure, leaving their verbal symbols. It sounds chaotic, but when this happens my thinking is actually clearer.

The first time this conceptual kaleidoscope happened the concept of the Trinity was simply made plain to me. In this case, God's love was just before me. I could see it; feel it. All of it's parts and depths were there. It began to feel like God was holding me in His arms: not in a literal way, but definitely in a tangible way. I don't think I can describe it better than that. It was just me and Dad: and it was good. VERY GOOD. I would've been content to just stay there if Esther didn't tell me that it was dinnertime (she actually could tell something was happening with me).

I don't know if I can say much more than this. It was what it was, and I will hold it in my heart. I pray that you all may have a similar experience.

Ephesians 2:10; A Devotional

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared for us to do.

The beautiful thing about this verse is how close one feels with God when thinking that He has shaped us with His own hands. Many times we wonder why God would love us so much. Well, for much of the same reason why I still have some art projects I made in 6th grade. It isn't the quality of the piece, it is its relationship with me. Likewise, it is our relationship with God that causes God to love us so.

But it is also important to remember the context. Overall Paul is comparing faith to works, where faith is the means of salvation instead of what humans would expect: works. So why does Paul take the time to celebrate good works in this verse? After all, that is precisely what he is doing.

The reason is simple. He is describing works as the goal instead of the means. Faith is the means of salvation; works are the goal. We are saved and reborn so we can do the good works of God. This recalls Genesis 1:27-28, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." When we were created, we were, in part, delegated authority here on earth to subdue it and take care of it. We were to be God's vassals; His representatives here on the Earth to keep it beautiful.

It is therefore not surprising that even now, when He restores us to righteousness and cleanliness, He also restores us to purpose. We are called to live out His decrees, and put things in order here. So we are created for good works, and recreated for good works. But we are not recreated by good works, and that is his point.