It's good to talk it out

[JeffR]

We can sometimes feel like we always got to say the right thing to the letter, and end up not saying much. As one learns, one should also weave into one's activities natural speech, and when opportunity comes to make use of what is being learned. My post here is coming on the heels of just a tiny bit more activity i've done here where i let my hair down and just talk, say what's on my mind, through practice, my actions, speech, and deeds might improve.

We are all on a journey, God gives us all we need, but we still need to exercise our faith, in the act of being made right with God, we have absolutely no credit, but as we proceed we make choices, we goof up sometimes, and each goof up is dead serious.

To see every goof up as costing the Son of God's sacrifice, to dwell on the seriousness of it should be a part of our continual war with sin, temptation and the devil.

We serve the winning side, be ever mindful of that, and be ever vigilant against all that opposes our mighty Savior.

So, as i loosen up, and just "speak" (type), have a dual understanding 1) I am a fellow traveller susceptible to errors like everyone else and 2) hold me accountable, if you have the time, and or care, as you get to know me and what i tend to say, rebuke and admonish me, for why on earth would i want to remain in a God dishonoring rut, i desire to work out my salvation in fear and trembling, and yet within that, is joy inexpressible, getting to know God better through the readings, speaking, and practical living is like nothing else, it's exhilarating, and should be contagious. The lost ought to look at us and in the words of that lady in When Harry Met Sally say "I'll have what they're having."

 

[JeffR]

When someone says "He's too pietistic" like that was a bad thing what exactly does that mean? That it lacks intellectual rigor, or just a heart string plucker? Does it go into some Teutonic mystical occultism underneath it's shiny surface?

I send this out into the Reformed aether while soothing my nerves with the warm devotional piety of a Brakel, if that's a kind of pietism, i am all for it.

It's like this, i love all kinds of writings in this field, when i tire of one i go to another, and so on, it never gets old, in the past when i'd be swayed by other interests it wasn't that i got bored, but that i was too much concerned about diversifying, a heroic complex where i'd cram in 20 or so lifetime fields of study into a optimistic lifespan remainder of 20 years.

With secular literature, it's all floating around largely by themselves, even when there's a school of them, it doesn't feel like there's a warm connection, a universe of deeply connected parts, but Reformed Literature has that, as i continue, daily spending as much time as i can with it, i should see where some differed, and so on, but i think i will have built up such a regard for them all, that those differences will only matter insofar as it draws me in even deeper into the inscrutable mysteries of God's infinite wonderousness.

 

[JeffR]

Easter Sunday, getting some precious minutes of reading before heading out. We had some drama with dad getting an iphone, he's the antithesis of a tech savvy person, but we finally got the wifi connected for it, and he's out for a quick coffee before we go to the city to our non-confessional church. The NAB is where our church is from, the wife of our former pastor expressed disagreement with the Reformed position to dad in the past. Just so you know.

Is there a not respecting special days and events with the Reformed like there is i believe for Christmas? That what these days represent should be a present reality all the time? I may be out to lunch here but just throwing it out there.

In my reading i want there to be always something to fall back into, Needham's church history is nice as it just gives you a vivid picture of the ongoing story of the Church. It's a world and mindset i want to live in and not for a second be out of, sort of like praying without ceasing, always being in that state of mind. Which can be erroneously caricatured as having your head in the clouds.

Whether y'all celebrate Easter or not, i wish you all a fine Lord's Day, i thank God for Puritan Board, it's a vital element in my hermetic lifestyle, easing me out of my cocoon so that perhaps in the future i can be more outgoing, and integrate into flesh and blood scenarios without feeling like i can't wait to be alone again with my books.

 

[Boreal]

Which church are you a part of? Somewhere in Edmonton?

 

[JeffR]

Which church are you a part of? Somewhere in Edmonton?

Yes, Northgate Baptist Church, i mainly just go because dad goes there and i don't drive. I guess when i'm all alone i'd attend i think it's an Alliance church in Morinville here, i went once and brought up John Piper and they were all impressed about that.

 

[JeffR]

Our church has a statement of belief they abide by, if that makes it a confessional church than i spoke in error above, but it's not a Reformed church.

 

[DanSSwing]

When someone says "He's too pietistic" like that was a bad thing what exactly does that mean? That it lacks intellectual rigor, or just a heart string plucker? Does it go into some Teutonic mystical occultism underneath it's shiny surface?

It often means, "He's only concerned with doing good works and thinks doctrine doesn't matter."

 

[JeffR]

It often means, "He's only concerned with doing good works and thinks doctrine doesn't matter."

That helps, thanks!!

 

[Jeri Tanner]

Easter Sunday, getting some precious minutes of reading before heading out. We had some drama with dad getting an iphone, he's the antithesis of a tech savvy person, but we finally got the wifi connected for it, and he's out for a quick coffee before we go to the city to our non-confessional church. The NAB is where our church is from, the wife of our former pastor expressed disagreement with the Reformed position to dad in the past. Just so you know.

Is there a not respecting special days and events with the Reformed like there is i believe for Christmas? That what these days represent should be a present reality all the time? I may be out to lunch here but just throwing it out there.

In my reading i want there to be always something to fall back into, Needham's church history is nice as it just gives you a vivid picture of the ongoing story of the Church. It's a world and mindset i want to live in and not for a second be out of, sort of like praying without ceasing, always being in that state of mind. Which can be erroneously caricatured as having your head in the clouds.

Whether y'all celebrate Easter or not, i wish you all a fine Lord's Day, i thank God for Puritan Board, it's a vital element in my hermetic lifestyle, easing me out of my cocoon so that perhaps in the future i can be more outgoing, and integrate into flesh and blood scenarios without feeling like i can't wait to be alone again with my books.

Jeff I hope you had a blessed Lord’s day! On your question regarding “special days and events” (otherwise known as so-called or man-made holy days) yes, it’s the Puritan and Reformed (and confessional and biblical) position that man-made holy days are counter to what God has commanded, and that they pollute His Sabbaths, especially since every seven years or so Christmas for instance falls on the Lord’s day and Easter every year, contrary to His holy purposes for His holy day.

 

[JeffR]

Jeff I hope you had a blessed Lord’s day! On your question regarding “special days and events” (otherwise known as so-called or man-made holy days) yes, it’s the Puritan and Reformed (and confessional and biblical) position that man-made holy days are counter to what God has commanded, and that they pollute His Sabbaths, especially since every seven years or so Christmas for instance falls on the Lord’s day and Easter every year, contrary to His holy purposes for His holy day.

Thank you for this clarification Jeri, oh to be a part of a church like that, oh well, hope your day was good too! I enjoyed this service, even sang along which i refrained from hitherto. There's people we love there, suppose that's a good reason to stay there even if dad was up to a change.

 

[Jeri Tanner]

Thank you for this clarification Jeri, oh to be a part of a church like that, oh well, hope your day was good too! I enjoyed this service, even sang along which i refrained from hitherto. There's people we love there, suppose that's a good reason to stay there even if dad was up to a change.

Well, churches that honor the Sabbath as they ought are all too few in these days. But by God’s grace we can strive to keep the Lord’s day holy no matter what our circumstances, or what church we attend or are members of.

 

[JeffR]

Much appreciated the feedback given, i should know these things by now, but i for the most part limit my learning in historical books, lately however i've had my eyes opened on some matters such as the Rapture teaching, one of dad's church pals (who co-pastored with him in a Cambodian church) doesn't believe the Rapture teaching, so dad therefore believes he doesn't believe in the bible.

It would be too unsettling for dad and me by the way to bring up these things, let alone Christmas and Easter, so like those bidden to be silent, i shall all the more treasure the tools God has given me in the kindle and online, to be taught pure doctrine, and set the heart aflame to put into practice this faith. To wed doctrine and good deeds.

It's interesting learning about the Anabaptists, last spending spree included some volumes from The Classics of the Radical Reformation, how initially Zwingli was all gung ho about them. Just like man made holy days, the Rapture and these things i need to understand better, not just head knowledge, now doctrine aside, i dislike how there was such persecution in the past, but i also need to put everything into context, see how there was disruption that posed serious problems. On a historical level, i want to learn EVERYTHING about the Reformation times, and thereafter to around the time of the 17th Century, as thee highlight area, and in the light of that, a proper apprehension, to then look at the patristic period, Methodists, and how that spawned the holiness movement, which branched out into Pentecostalism. Christianity is my choice for specialized learning, Reformed at the heart, but all things to do with it, including learning about Roman Catholicism. Many would be better with sticking to the edifying stuff, but i'm a wreckless fella, to get my bearings first of all, focus on Scripture and the Reformed, then a little broadening with the wider Reformation picture including the Radical branch, then to other Protestant branches, and then RC and EO (Eastern Orthodox) -- i have those 5 volumes of The Philokalia, monk devotionals, all kinds and then all those things concerning Christianity, with all that established, if there is still time to fit anything in, to wile away a few hours here and there with a Shakepeare play, or settle scores with Nietzsche, you know when Nietzsche said to his sister that the believer choice is just about security and comfort, he really didn't know the life of faith that well there, and judging by his later writings, he didn't then either, all it was was how the things stand for the individual, a thinker i'd like to see through a Reformed lens even more is Kierkegaard, how Barth used his thought and so on, i wish the Church Dogmatics was kindle ready in full, but it would be quite an undertaking, and Barth is known i take it to lead people astray.

 

[DanSSwing]

Jeff I hope you had a blessed Lord’s day! On your question regarding “special days and events” (otherwise known as so-called or man-made holy days) yes, it’s the Puritan and Reformed (and confessional and biblical) position that man-made holy days are counter to what God has commanded, and that they pollute His Sabbaths, especially since every seven years or so Christmas for instance falls on the Lord’s day and Easter every year, contrary to His holy purposes for His holy day.

Doesn't Colossians 2:16 work in both directions? "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath."

 

[MarrowMan]

Doesn't Colossians 2:16 work in both directions? "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath."

Only if you're into anachronism.

 

[Jeri Tanner]

Doesn't Colossians 2:16 work in both directions? "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath."

My brief and lady lay-person answer is that what’s so often missed is that in that passage Paul is speaking to the Colossians about the cessation of the ceremonial law. He’s telling them not to let anyone Judaize, try to make the not keeping of those abolished laws a moral issue. The “handwriting of ordinances against us” being blotted out by Christ’s accomplishment. So the festivals and new moons and sabbaths referred to are all the ceremonial ones, not the weekly Sabbath instituted at creation.

 

[DanSSwing]

My brief and lady lay-person answer is that what’s so often missed is that in that passage Paul is speaking to the Colossians about the cessation of the ceremonial law. He’s telling them not to let anyone Judaize, try to make the not keeping of those abolished laws a moral issue. The “handwriting of ordinances against us” being blotted out by Christ’s accomplishment. So the festivals and new moons and sabbaths referred to are all the ceremonial ones, not the weekly Sabbath instituted at creation.

Romans 14 is even clearer. It's hard to believe he's telling the Romans one thing and the Colossians something else.

 

[Jeri Tanner]

Romans 14 is even clearer. It's hard to believe he's telling the Romans one thing and the Colossians something else.

It's all the same situation- the old Jewish ceremonies and ceremoinial laws concerning foods and days had been abolished, but there needed to be patience and charity for Jewish believers as sometimes their consciences were uneasy about not keeping a formerly commanded feast day, for instance, Especially in Romans Paul is writing to a church made up of Jew and Gentile, so this is especially pertinent for them and he addresses it from a bit different angle with them. I recommend Rev. Todd Ruddell's readings on Sermon Audio on Colossians 2 and Romans 14 if interested, they are relatively short and should be helpful on this view of what's going on in those passages.

 

[MarrowMan]

Romans 14 is even clearer. It's hard to believe he's telling the Romans one thing and the Colossians something else.

Clearer about what?

 

[JeffR]

Great discussion going on, i've decided to read through the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards each week for at least April which would make it 4 times, so by May i trust to be a little more gounded in the Reformed outlook, and will keep referring to these orienting documents throughout my life. ... I see how people here are always citing scripture, and i, babe needing milk usually go off on pseudo-philosophical tangents, but i'm learning, slowly but surely. And i want to balance the reading of these documents with the Pauline epistles. Each week would look thus:

Monday -- The Heidelberg Catechism // Romans, I and II Corinthians
Tuesday -- The Belgic Confession // Galatians, Ephesians
Wednesday -- The Canons of Dort // Philippians, Colossians
Thursday -- The Westminster Confession of Faith // I and II Thessalonians, I and II Timothy
Friday -- The Westminster Shorter Catechism // I and II Timothy
Saturday -- The Westminster Larger Catechism // Titus, Philemon (and Hebrews)

 

[jwithnell]

Take a look too at the Directory for Public Worship as written by the Westminster divines. It is historically proximate to the writing of the confession and helps to interpret the section on worship.

Pietistic in popular culture can mean having a "holier than thou" approach to life. Theologically it has a specific meaning and refers to an 18th century movement in the Church of England that taught that a person can reach a fully holy state during life on earth. It might have encouraged a great zeal for the faith, but ultimately denied the full fallen state of man.

 

[Sam Jer]

Take a look too at the Directory for Public Worship as written by the Westminster divines. It is historically proximate to the writing of the confession and helps to interpret the section on worship.

Pietistic in popular culture can mean having a "holier than thou" approach to life. Theologically it has a specific meaning and refers to an 18th century movement in the Church of England that taught that a person can reach a fully holy state during life on earth. It might have encouraged a great zeal for the faith, but ultimately denied the full fallen state of man.

And after that, the Directory of Family Worship and Form of Presbyterian Church Government

 

[JeffR]

I am so glad i clicked on Poole on 2 Samuel here on PB, for it directed me here

Bible Instruction | From Reformation to Reformation Ministries

Promoting Serious-Minded Christian Discipleship, in this period between Reformations

www.fromreformationtoreformation.com

Each and every part of that will be of immeasurable use to me. For one thing i never heard of De Moor before!! And the names cited in the background articles. 2ndly the teaching lectures. When i started the lecture series on John Knox Institute in Systematic Theology, the speaker strongly suggested going through the Biblical Theology series, to lay a solid foundation, and that is what i'm doing and will weave into my April the Biblical Theology series in this site as well. God is moving here!!