A Good Friday Reading from Psalm 22:
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
Yet thou art holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In thee our fathers trusted; they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. To thee they cried, and were saved; in thee they trusted, and were not disappointed....
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; thou dost lay me in the dust of death.
Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.
But thou, O Lord, be not far off! O thou my help, hasten to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion, my afflicted soul from the horns of the wild oxen!
I will tell of thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee: You who fear the Lord, praise him! all you sons of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and he has not hid his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
From thee comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live for ever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
Yea, to him shall all the proud of the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and he who cannot keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, that he has wrought it.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
Yet thou art holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In thee our fathers trusted; they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. To thee they cried, and were saved; in thee they trusted, and were not disappointed....
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; thou dost lay me in the dust of death.
Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.
But thou, O Lord, be not far off! O thou my help, hasten to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion, my afflicted soul from the horns of the wild oxen!
I will tell of thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee: You who fear the Lord, praise him! all you sons of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and he has not hid his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.
From thee comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live for ever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
Yea, to him shall all the proud of the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and he who cannot keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, that he has wrought it.
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A Holy Saturday Reading from Jonah 2:
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,
"I called to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and thou didst hear my voice. For thou didst cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood was round about me; all thy waves and thy billows passed over me.
Then I said, ‘I am cast out from thy presence; how shall I again look upon thy holy temple?’ The waters closed in over me, the deep was round about me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me for ever; yet thou didst bring up my life from the Pit, O Lord my God.
When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to thee, into thy holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their true loyalty. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to thee; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”
And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,
"I called to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and thou didst hear my voice. For thou didst cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood was round about me; all thy waves and thy billows passed over me.
Then I said, ‘I am cast out from thy presence; how shall I again look upon thy holy temple?’ The waters closed in over me, the deep was round about me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me for ever; yet thou didst bring up my life from the Pit, O Lord my God.
When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to thee, into thy holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their true loyalty. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to thee; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”
And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
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Strasbourg Liturgy (by Bucer and Calvin) Infant Post-Baptismal Prayer:
Almighty God, heavenly Father, we give you eternal praise and thanks, that you have granted and bestowed upon this child your fellowship, that you have born him again to yourself through holy baptism, that he has been incorporated into your beloved son, our only savior, and is now your child and heir…
Almighty God, heavenly Father, we give you eternal praise and thanks, that you have granted and bestowed upon this child your fellowship, that you have born him again to yourself through holy baptism, that he has been incorporated into your beloved son, our only savior, and is now your child and heir…
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Among the Reformed doctrinal distinctives, those of covenant, church, children, and sacraments are equally if not more important than those of election, total inability, predestination, and providence.
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Type 1 vs. Type 2 Errors
In statistics, a Type 1 error is the rejection of a true statement whereas a Type 2 error is the failure to reject a false statement.
Reformed Evangelicals are adept at catching Type 1 errors when a clear and explicit denial of a doctrine is made (a denial of hell, election, substitution, sola fide, etc.).
They completely suck at catching Type 2 errors, though, where something unbiblical is said or done but not rejected (such as women taking leadership but not titled "pastors," when people say "but that was the OT," when people say "God has been laying XYZ on my heart," singing hymns with poor theology, etc.).
In statistics, a Type 1 error is the rejection of a true statement whereas a Type 2 error is the failure to reject a false statement.
Reformed Evangelicals are adept at catching Type 1 errors when a clear and explicit denial of a doctrine is made (a denial of hell, election, substitution, sola fide, etc.).
They completely suck at catching Type 2 errors, though, where something unbiblical is said or done but not rejected (such as women taking leadership but not titled "pastors," when people say "but that was the OT," when people say "God has been laying XYZ on my heart," singing hymns with poor theology, etc.).
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Book of Common Prayer (1559 by Thomas Cranmer) Infant Baptismal Liturgy:
Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that this child is regenerate, adopted, and grafted into the body of Christ, let us receive him in Christ’s name. We do indeed welcome this child into the congregation of Christ’s flock and family, and pray that he will never be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and will manfully fight under the banner of the cross against sin, against the world, and against the devil; and will continue to be Christ’s faithful soldier and servant to life’s end, living the rest of his days according to this good beginning. Amen.
Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that this child is regenerate, adopted, and grafted into the body of Christ, let us receive him in Christ’s name. We do indeed welcome this child into the congregation of Christ’s flock and family, and pray that he will never be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and will manfully fight under the banner of the cross against sin, against the world, and against the devil; and will continue to be Christ’s faithful soldier and servant to life’s end, living the rest of his days according to this good beginning. Amen.
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Read the Bible How It Was Written:
Modern Christians rarely do this. We read snippets ranging from a single verse to at most 2 or 3 chapters at a time.
But this is not how its original audience would have heard it (and they would have generally heard, not read it).
For instance, almost all the NT letters would be read beginning to end as a sermon or homily to a church. The prophetic oracles would have been delivered in full, one at a time. Many of the Psalms are war chants, 180 degrees from the soft, effeminate melodies we moderns typically sing to God with.
We disassemble Scripture into so many jigsaw pieces and then wonder why people don't get the big picture.
Modern Christians rarely do this. We read snippets ranging from a single verse to at most 2 or 3 chapters at a time.
But this is not how its original audience would have heard it (and they would have generally heard, not read it).
For instance, almost all the NT letters would be read beginning to end as a sermon or homily to a church. The prophetic oracles would have been delivered in full, one at a time. Many of the Psalms are war chants, 180 degrees from the soft, effeminate melodies we moderns typically sing to God with.
We disassemble Scripture into so many jigsaw pieces and then wonder why people don't get the big picture.
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Does “Baptize” Mean “to Immerse” in Greek?
In the Septuagint, Bapto and baptizo occur five times. Thus, Dan. 4:33, Nebuchadnezzar is said to have been wet (baptized) with the dew of heaven. Ecclus. 34:30: "He that baptizeth himself after the touching of a dead body;" -- but this purification was performed by sprinkling. Num. 9:9, 13, 20…. In the New Testament, baptizo is used interchangeably with nipto, which only means to wash. Compare Mark 7:3-4; Luke 11:38; Matt. 15:2, 20…. When John's disciples disputed about baptism, it is expressly said to have been a dispute about purification. John 3:25; 4:2. The same idea is uniformly expressed by the word baptism, or baptisms, in the New Testament. In Mark 7:2-8 we read of the baptisms of cups, pots, brazen vessels, and tables (couches upon which several persons reclined at table). These things could not be, and were not, immersed.
-- A. A. Hodge, Commentary on the WCF
In the Septuagint, Bapto and baptizo occur five times. Thus, Dan. 4:33, Nebuchadnezzar is said to have been wet (baptized) with the dew of heaven. Ecclus. 34:30: "He that baptizeth himself after the touching of a dead body;" -- but this purification was performed by sprinkling. Num. 9:9, 13, 20…. In the New Testament, baptizo is used interchangeably with nipto, which only means to wash. Compare Mark 7:3-4; Luke 11:38; Matt. 15:2, 20…. When John's disciples disputed about baptism, it is expressly said to have been a dispute about purification. John 3:25; 4:2. The same idea is uniformly expressed by the word baptism, or baptisms, in the New Testament. In Mark 7:2-8 we read of the baptisms of cups, pots, brazen vessels, and tables (couches upon which several persons reclined at table). These things could not be, and were not, immersed.
-- A. A. Hodge, Commentary on the WCF
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Tragically, many modern Christians agree with the Pharisees that their understanding of the law accurately represents the Old Testament. This is not the case at all– their view was a radical misreading of the Old Testament. Jesus did not praise them for reading the Old Testament correctly, but then urge them to adapt themselves to the coming changes. Rather, He rebukes them for never having had a clue.
– Doug Wilson, "Reformed" Is Not Enough
– Doug Wilson, "Reformed" Is Not Enough
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America Hates Children:
We kill the unborn by the millions. We also have fewer children than ever before because we deem them "inconvenient." To remedy the inconvenience, we separate from their families immediately and send them to day care.
This imprisonment continues through the school years, and then we send them to yet another version of school where they are indoctrinated, saddled with debt, and subject to their unwise decisions.
We refused to teach them and discipline them to become adults, and now the children pay for the sins of the parents. And make no mistake, it was the church who taught the culture this hatred, not the other way around.
Most Christian parents who baptize their children completely renege on their baptismal vows, and many don't even baptize them in the first place. We have been excluding children from the sanctuary, pulling them back from the welcoming arms of Christ. If we do allow them into sanctuary, we still exclude them from the central moment of Christ's presence with us and our spirital entrance into heaven itself -- the celebration of the Lord's Supper.
America absolutely hates children, and the church taught her to. God help us.
We kill the unborn by the millions. We also have fewer children than ever before because we deem them "inconvenient." To remedy the inconvenience, we separate from their families immediately and send them to day care.
This imprisonment continues through the school years, and then we send them to yet another version of school where they are indoctrinated, saddled with debt, and subject to their unwise decisions.
We refused to teach them and discipline them to become adults, and now the children pay for the sins of the parents. And make no mistake, it was the church who taught the culture this hatred, not the other way around.
Most Christian parents who baptize their children completely renege on their baptismal vows, and many don't even baptize them in the first place. We have been excluding children from the sanctuary, pulling them back from the welcoming arms of Christ. If we do allow them into sanctuary, we still exclude them from the central moment of Christ's presence with us and our spirital entrance into heaven itself -- the celebration of the Lord's Supper.
America absolutely hates children, and the church taught her to. God help us.
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For the story here written, showeth us how we be in God’s hand, and that it lieth in him to determine of our life, and to dispose of the same according to his good pleasure: and that it is our duty to submit ourselves unto him with all humbleness and obedience: and that it is good reason that we should be wholly his, both to live and die, and specially that when it pleaseth him to lay his hand upon us, although we perceive not for what cause he doeth it, yet we should glorify him continually, acknowledging him to be just and upright, and not to grudge against him, nor fall to striving with him, assuring ourselves that we shall always be vanquished in pleading against him.
– John Calvin, Sermons on Job
– John Calvin, Sermons on Job
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In constituting human nature and ordaining the propagation of infant children from parents, God has in all respects made the standing of the child while an infant to depend upon that of the parent. The sin of the parent carries away the infant from God; so the faith of the parent brings the infant near to God. Every covenant God has ever formed with mankind has included the child with the parent.
-- A. A. Hodge, Commentary on the WCF
-- A. A. Hodge, Commentary on the WCF
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Ten Postmillennial White Pills:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:15)
And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Gen. 15:5)
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. (Ps. 2:8)
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. (Ps. 72:8)
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
(Ps. 110:1-2)
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it (Is. 2:2)
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Hab. 2:14)
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:19-20)
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Rom. 16:20)
Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” (1 Cor. 15:24-27)
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:15)
And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Gen. 15:5)
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. (Ps. 2:8)
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. (Ps. 72:8)
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
(Ps. 110:1-2)
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it (Is. 2:2)
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Hab. 2:14)
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:19-20)
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Rom. 16:20)
Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” (1 Cor. 15:24-27)
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Time to offend everyone:
Presbyterian
Anglican
Lutheran
Reformed Baptist
Evanjelly Nondenom
Roman Catholic
Wesleyan/Arminian
Eastern Orthodox
Pentecostal/Charismatic
Presbyterian
Anglican
Lutheran
Reformed Baptist
Evanjelly Nondenom
Roman Catholic
Wesleyan/Arminian
Eastern Orthodox
Pentecostal/Charismatic
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