An Educated Christian

"If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all. But, fortunately, it works the other way around. Anyone who is honestly trying to be a Christian will soon find his intelligence being sharpened: one of the reasons why it needs no special education to be a Christian is the Christianity is an education itself. That is why an educated believer like Bunyan was able to write a book that has astonished the whole world."

--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, "The Cardinal Virtues"

Awe Fill

Two things fill the mind with awe the more and more you think on them: (1) the starry hosts above and (2) the moral law within.

--Unknown (by me)

How are you right with God?

“Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.”

—The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 60

Absortion

"We almost never think about one truth for 5 minutes."
"It is not how much we get but how much we absorb."

--Donald Whitney, from lectures for the class 'Personal Spiritual Disciplines'

Meditation is an idea I have not given much thought to. Ironic. I fail to read my Bible in such a way so as to be able to meditate on it day and night with ease. Meditation proceeds obedience. Obedience proceeds God's blessing. Though I struggle with the vague idea of God's blessing, the principle stands. Meditation on truth will lead and does proceed change in action--and feeling. For I will never feel deeply about which I never think deeply. Depth of thought and depth of emotion have a direct relation.

May God lead me into a growing desire to discipline myself toward godliness through meditation. Amen.

Continual Reformation and The Idol of Certainty

"Careful handling of the Bible will enable us to "hear" it a little better. It is all too easy to read the traditional interpretations we have received from others into the text of Scripture. Then we may unwittingly transfer the authority of Scripture to our traditional interpretations and invest them with a false, even an idolatrous, degree of certainty. Because traditions are reshaped as they are passed on, after a while we drift far from God's Word while still insisting all our theological opinions are "biblical" and therefore true. If when we are in such a state we study the Bible uncritically, more than likely it will simply reinforce our errors. If the Bible is to accomplish its work of continual reformation--reformation of our lives and our doctrine--we must do all we can to listen to it afresh and to utilize the best resources at our disposal."

-- D.A. Caron, Exegetical Fallacies, 2nd ed, pp. 17-18

Liberalism

Liberals consider themselves to be reasonable and moderate in their views. This moderation flows from the reasonable view that Scripture is not authoritative historically. Upon this reasoning, liberals can move in countless directions away from the Scriptures--always considering themselves to remain consistently reasonable and moderate.

Ethics

"Most of ethics is not a matter of intellect, but rather a matter of the will."

--K. T. Magnuson, 9/5/08