Chapter Eight: The King Will Desire Your Beauty
By pitchford | June 29, 2009
We have now seen just what the true message of Christianity is, and how it applies to every person under heaven, regardless of circumstances or background. We have seen that this gospel-message demands a response, and have made clear the high cost of following Jesus, and the priceless reward that it will bring. But we must still touch upon another matter, which is equally misunderstood in American Christianity today; and that is, just what it means to be a Christian, what we are saved to and for; in a word, exactly what is the purpose of all that we have been speaking of. Is the ultimate goal of God’s plan of salvation simply to give me a “get out of hell free card”? Is the reason for evangelism and missions just to get as many individuals as possible into heaven? Now, these things are not at all bad – it is good, unimaginably good, to be delivered from hell, and there is great rejoicing in heaven over every individual soul that is converted1 – but still, there is a greater, unifying purpose to the whole plan that does not end with individual destinies alone. And in order truly to understand Christianity, we must understand this overarching goal. In the next chapters, that is what we will be discussing.
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Book Review: The Prayer of the Lord, by R. C. Sproul
By pitchford | June 25, 2009
Throughout much of Church history, the Lord’s Prayer (together with the Decalogue and the Apostle’s Creed) has been one of the most foundational elements used in instructing new believers and children in what it means to be a Christian. But unfortunately, while it is frequently recited by rote today, it is not so commonly used as a guideline to teach Christians just what it means to pray, how we should approach God, what we should speak to him about, and so on. Even books on the topic of prayer itself, in the modern church, rarely employ the Lord’s Prayer, given to his disciples for the specific purpose of teaching them how to pray, as a foundational shaping paradigm. The Prayer of the Lord, by R. C. Sproul, is a very refreshing exception to this trend, and in a crystal clear and surprisingly simple way shows modern disciples of the Lord, in his own words, just what it means to pray. Read the rest of this entry »
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Chapter Seven: Choose This Day
By pitchford | June 22, 2009
Thus far in my message to you, I have tried to do two things: first, show you exactly what Christianity is, and second, show how it applies to you personally, no matter who you may be. Now, I intend to show you that this message, with its necessary personal application, cannot be ignored or shelved indefinitely: it demands a response, and the time for that response is now. I repeat the words of the prophet Elijah, when on Mount Carmel he put the truth of his God to the proof against the opposing religions of his day: “If the Lord [Christ] is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him”1. So today, I am proclaiming, “If Christ is the Lord, submit to him and embrace his gospel; but if whatever other religion or philosophy you embrace is true, then follow it.” In either case, a decision must be made. “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”2.
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Book Review: The Road from Eden, by John Barber
By pitchford | June 17, 2009
What precisely did God mean when he told Adam to fill the earth, subdue it, have dominion over it, and to cultivate and keep the Garden? What significance does that command retain after the Fall? What meaning does it have for Christians living on the earth today, after the resurrection of Christ? In a word, what exactly is the “Dominion Mandate” or (“Cultural Mandate”) and how is the Church to obey it? The question is nuanced and complex; but John Barber’s landmark study in Christianity and culture, The Road from Eden, is well adapted to make sense of the “culture wars,” not just of today, but of the past two thousand years, by uncovering the real issues, placing the development of questions and perspectives squarely within the broad flow of Church history, and supporting a particular opinion from a trinitarian framework of theology. For all serious students of the relationship between the Church and culture, whether sympathetic to Barber’s perspective or not, this masterly study requires careful interaction and genuine consideration. Read the rest of this entry »
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Chapter Six: To the Christian (Part Two)
By pitchford | June 15, 2009
If there is one thing that the preceding overview of contemporary western Christianity has made clear, it is that there is surprisingly little true Christianity left in the midst of a thousand different false gospels and counterfeit Christian movements and denominations across the religious landscape. But this fact should not discourage anyone seeking a true Christianity to follow or a certain gospel to trust. Yes, the gospel has been twisted, perverted, denied, and misrepresented, but it has not been overcome, nor will it ever be overcome, but will finally triumph over every scheme of the enemy, and bring all of God’s children home to glory. That is the unshakeable conviction compelling me to write, and it is the foundational truth I want to drive home to you before I even address you, and keep ever before you as I speak.
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New Book Now Available
By pitchford | June 11, 2009
Greetings, all.
My new allegorical fantasy, Fair Semblances, is now available for purchase. As always, electronic copies may be downloaded for free.
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Book Review: The Fracture of Faith, by Douglas Vickers
By pitchford | June 11, 2009
The Fracture of Faith, by Douglas Vickers, is a book written in response to the manner in which “the testimony of the church has been tarnished by the devaluation of its doctrine and the uncertainty that clouds its statement of the gospel” (from the preface). It is therefore, by immediate admission, a book concerned with critiquing contemporary Christianity, a goal which it does in fact incisively accomplish at certain key points along the way. But the way in which it does this is just by laying out in a very compelling manner the doctrinal foundations and ethical implications of the gospel, and superimposing the modern teaching and practice of the church upon this carefully formulated paradigm. The end result is a product that is helpful on a variety of fronts – its contributions to ethical theory and Christian apologetics no less than its critique of contemporary confusion within the Western church. Read the rest of this entry »
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Chapter Five: To the Christian (Part One)
By pitchford | June 8, 2009
I have spent the last two chapters speaking to non-Christians of all sorts, and telling them what the basic message of true Christianity has to say to them in particular. In these next two chapters, I will shift my focus to American Christendom, and show why the truth of the gospel matters for professing Christians, and what it has to say to them. So if you call yourself a Christian, whether Catholic or Protestant, liberal or conservative, fundamentalist, evangelical, or emergent, these chapters are for you. The truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which I laid out in chapter two, has something profound and important to say to you. That message of Christ and him crucified matters immensely. It is not just one part of what you claim to be as a Christian, it is your very life and breath, it is what defines you, it is your heritage from eternity past and your destiny into eternity future, it holds forth everything you need for this life and the life which is to come. But if you are a Christian in name only, then that which should bring eternal joy and glory will bring only eternal destruction and an unimaginable multiplication of wrath on the day of judgment. It would be better to be an outspoken pagan than an impostor and hypocrite in the house of God.
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Book Review: The Law Is Not of Faith, edited by Bryan D. Estelle, J. V. Fesko, and David Van Drunen
By pitchford | June 3, 2009
In recent Reformed treatments of Covenant Theology, there have been several trajectories tending to emphasize ever more strongly the continuity between the Abrahamic, Sinaitic, and New covenants as different administrations of the Covenant of Grace, and correspondingly, to de-emphasize any discontinuities that may exist, particularly when it comes to the works-principle so evident in the giving of the Law, and in Paul’s treatment of the Mosaic administration. Examples include John Murray’s “monocovenantalism,” the New Perspective on Paul, and the Federal Vision, but the impact is wider than these examples might suggest, even to the extent that any suggestion within Reformed circles that Sinai entailed, in some sense, a republication of the Covenant of Works, is often met with stiff resistance and charges of Lutheran or (worse yet!) Dispensational influences. But does this widespread reaction against the teaching of republication have roots in historic Reformed thought? And more importantly, can it find support in the whole tenor of the Pentateuch and in the prophets and apostles who later interpreted it? According to the authors of The Law Is Not of Faith, the answer to that question is a resounding “No!”; and in support of that contention, they have mounted a redoubtable defense. This is stimulating, well-researched and exegetically-formidable writing, and at the same time it is very pertinent to many of the most hotly contended issues in Reformed theology today. I earnestly recommend it. Read the rest of this entry »
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Chapter Four: To the Non-Christian (Part Two)
By pitchford | June 1, 2009
In the previous chapter, I spent some time speaking to non-Christians with definite religious convictions, whether convinced atheists or adherents to other world religions. In this chapter, I would extend my audience, and speak to those of you who are agnostic in some sense. Perhaps you are blithely agnostic – you have given little thought to the whole matter of religion, you don’t know for sure what to think of spirituality and the afterlife, but your agnosticism is not an uncertainty born of deep thought and bitter striving of spirit. It surrounds you like the atmosphere, it is as natural as the air you breathe, you are frankly so busy with the affairs of this life that you have no time even to consider seriously whether you are an atheist, an agnostic, or anything else. Or maybe you genuinely are agnostic; you have struggled and striven with the weighty things of eternity, but to no avail, and with no blessed end of the peace of certain conviction for your souls. Perhaps you are downcast and depressed, or cynical and bitter. Perhaps you are seeking for something to believe in, something great enough to satisfy your empty heart. But in any case, no matter what your particular situation may be, you do not have definite, settled convictions on the topic of religion. It is to you that I now speak. God grant that you may find the certainty which you lack in the blessed truth of Christianity!
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