Category: Theological Thoughts

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10 Opinions on Today’s News

1) Reading the news about the new Omicron album almost makes you feel as if you are living in the good ol’ days of March 2020 when government officials treated us like naive children and did the Fauci dance for mere entertainment value. But we won’t be fooled again. Aaron Ginn has been a lucid voice since the first day (https://twitter.com/aginnt). A lazy child garners sympathy by lying about an illness; the government garners sympathy by lying.

2) The Dobbs case has the potential of opening up the conservative agenda that progressives have tried to strangle since 1973. Conservatives have failed miserably to obtain their goal, with a few minor victories here and there. The Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks can unravel the murderous record in this country and provide the Court an opportunity to consider the most consequential abortion litigation in nearly a half-century. Christians need to pray for clarity and wisdom that this evil would be overturned. Then, we can strategize on how to move forward in caring for the millions of babies who will be born into this world once this heinous ritual is outlawed. Should this proceed, I foresee the Church as a protagonist in the new fostering and adoption reformation.

3) CNN proves regularly that it is the paradigm of media sewage. They have been at the forefront of massive disinformation campaigns. Cuomo’s recent scandal is only a sample of the filthy lucre of technological and sociological mafia-like strategies prevalent.

4) Christians should learn all verses of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

5) Sweden will end the year 2021 with below-average mortality. No lockdown and no masks and open schools. And my lovely state of Florida continues with the lowest Covid transmission rate in the country. Follow the science, people!

6) David French has completely lost his way in his latest Op-Ed. His criticism of boldness, toughness, and masculinity in favor of a middle-of-the-road conservatism is only a sophisticated way of saying that cultural wars are not worth fighting. Trumpism continues to be French’s biggest nightmare.

7) I have great friends in the PCA, but they will need to deal speedily with the ever-increasing influence of the REVOICE movement. Their new agenda to begin chapters and online groups will only create more dissension within the denomination. PCA pastors need to work in every conceivable way to distance themselves from this distortion of biblical sexual ethics.

8 ) The Project of Deconstruction was first used by David Gushee and supported by several evangelical figures. The attempt is to take apart evangelicalism and reconsider our priorities. The idea is to undo the “Christian worldview” and the “whiteness” of Western thought and learn to re-consider Jesus “after evangelicalism.” Supporters like Jemar Tisby and even conservative theologians like Michael Bird are asking the Church to begin the conversation. These are usually keywords that translate to “undo the Western tradition.”

Dr. Kevin DeYoung says it best:

“Looking for blind spots is one thing. Acting as if we are blind is another. We don’t have to let sociological fads and ill-defined ‘isms’ set the agenda when we have the necessary theological categories already.”

9) Pastoral theology is the way to move forward in dealing with particular trends in the Church. Pastors need to establish seeds of skepticism toward overreach, but also establish seeds of trust in Word and Sacrament and Life among the parish.

10) Don’t forget to order our new commentary on Jonah: https://athanasiuspress.org/…/jonah-through-new-eyes…

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Advent Communion Meditation: The Great Comedy

Genesis 3 gave us a deep tragedy but hidden in the trees of the tragedy was a promise of a great comedy. God promised that through the seed of a woman a child would come who would undo the evil of the curse. The prophets foretold that a son was given and through a series of remarkable events, a little babe so few days old is come to rifle Satan’s fold.

But the hilarity of the whole thing stems from the expectation of political leaders. When Jesus enters the world, these demonic figures believed that murder could keep the great tragedy going. But their schemes were short-lived. The promise of Messiah Jesus was a promise of a massive script change in God’s story. While the demonic forces believed that Advent was the expectation of greater and greater tragedy, God’s story caught them and the world by surprise by making the whole thing a comedy of epic proportions.

The expectation of God’s Son is an expectation of comedic relief to the nations. We come to the Table with hearty laughter and joy knowing that we live in a history of great comedy where the angels and archangels and all God’s people on earth laugh at the agenda of evil for we know that Christ was promised, but he has come, and he will come again.

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When Brandon Goes to the Church

And speaking of John Hagee, I fell into a ring of a fire yesterday by implying that the “Let’s Go Brandon” chanting mood came from the Sunday morning ethos. I was wrong, and while some fine people have told me that such occasions are not outside the ordinary on a Sunday morning experience and that Cornerstone in Texas is not pro-Regulative Principle (Puritan angels are not shocked!), the argument I made from Nadab and Abihu did not apply to that incident. Now, whether such things happen regularly and whether such chants could come from the pulpit of one of America’s most apocalyptic-chart-saturated-Dispensational-pastor, I have no doubt. The few times I have tuned in to watch a clip or some matter surrounding Hagee, it has always been in the context of some political narrative tied directly to pro-Israeli policies. And further, I am also not surprised that Q-Anon advocates chose that building to do their Kennedy-ghost thingy and other shenanigans.

None of this is to imply that I am in total disagreement with their efforts. I suspect I share some common assumptions about reality with some of the speakers, but I have a high sense that we would be drinking whiskey at different tables at the bar. Not all conservatism is created equal.

That aside, I now wish to address something that stirred within me during this endeavor. I made an observation to a friend yesterday that what these types are trying to do has a ring of truth to it. They are fighting against an obvious force of evil in the White House. But what I wish to assert is that where these enthusiasts are wrong is in chanting a secularized imprecation instead of a sacred imprecation. This is very crucial. Gary North once said that you can’t fight something with nothing, well, these guys are fighting something–genuine–but with nothing but a slogan gained at a Nascar race. “Let’s Go Brandon” is their attempt to fight Bidenism to the core, but they end up heaping havoc upon themselves. Secularized forms of imprecation can only get you so far. Sure it can stir people to join forces. Sure it can motivate social media platforms and bring money into the treasure box of GOP candidates, but it has no eternal value.

After all, the implication of Romans 1 is that there is consequential insanity that comes from allowing our fleshly desires to frame our reality. Insane times call for sane measures, and sane measures only come from a revelation that defines sanity as that which proceeds from the mouth of God. Biden and Kamala hath a distaste for Christendom. I think we can all follow that logic.

My proposal is that Christians can actually erupt in chants in church on Sundays. But our chants are composed of angels and Davidic figures who know how to fight something with something good. We don’t need “Let’s Go Brandon” to motivate our forces, we need a Christianized imprecation:

May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him.

May you blow them away like smoke— as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God.

The problem with many Christians is not that they don’t have a song to sing, it’s that they tend to choose the wrong one for the party. They prefer the weak options at the table to fille the dragon, but sometimes the dragon gets stronger instead. Chanting stuff at a rally is not sinful, especially since it communicates disdain for evil, but chanting true words on Sundays is more desirable and ultimately more effective in the pages of redemptive history.

Imprecation saves the world from tyrants. It keeps perspective and it allows us to say exactly how God feels about evildoers in our age. Sacred words for a sacred people will take us much farther in line in our pursuit of a just society. Everything else is only a dent in the kingdom of darkness.

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When Reformed Icons Go Gnostic

I have often talked about the boogeyman of Gnosticism and its egregious side effects after a workout. Gnosticism is a tendency to minimize the body for more ethereal categories; it turns the act of eating chicken wings into an unspiritual act, and I take umbrage at that remark because chicken wings are a Solomonic meal. But alas, Gnosticism is bad and it turns the beauty of tangible living into an exercise in soul-ciology–you can quote me on that.

But if Gnosticism stayed far away from the church, and only emerged from its cave once every 23rd Spring, like Jeepers Creepers, we would make it a topic of interest in the spring prior in preparation. However, Gnosticism is everywhere in the church. It shows up in praise choruses about wreckless loves and stuff, you know, like cool. But it is also more pervasive than we think, especially when it hits close to home in terrific authors whose name will remain hidden (but it rhymes with Schim Schmeller).

This long-standing grandfather of the Presbyterian Church tweeted thusly recently:”We should be neither overly elated by getting married nor overly disappointed by not being so—because Christ is the only spouse that can truly fulfill us and God’s family the only family that will truly embrace and satisfy us.”

As the Germans would say, “Wat is dis!?” This pile of word garbage has the right-sounding words, but it adds up to a dung-grammar pile. I don’t want to say it walks like Gnosticism, but it sure acts like a Gnostic duck. And because of it, my theological nose is all up its business.

Let’s be fairly graphic about this endeavor: What man is not thrilled to have sex with his new wife on the wedding night? Or, what woman does not feel the elation of being protected by her lover? What single man does not feel elated to give his life to another in sacred communion? If a man in his 30’s is not disappointed in his unmarried state, I’d be concerned. There are singular cases of exception, but Mr. Schmeller spoke nothing of it. He made absolute statements excoriating the over-elation of a husband for the love of his wife.

And then the crème de la crème comes at the end when he adds a heavy dose of spirituality to minimize the elevation of marriage. For the record, yes, Jesus is the all and all of marriage, and yes, the church is the best community; and yes, these things are fulfilling in a different category altogether, but they are not to be placed against the category of marriage. If that is the case, then nothing is relevant or worthy of acting elated over.

Don’t take elation out of the equation by adding Jesus to it! Gnosticism is a freak of a monster and it showed up in that little statement viciously, with no mercy! So, in kindness to Mr. Schmeller, I decided to re-quote him:

“We should be overly elated by getting married (Prov. 5:18) and overly disappointed by not being so unless God has a very particular call in my life—because Christ is the true spouse, he accentuates our marriages and truly fulfills it with gratitude and tremendous joy and beyond that, he puts us in his family to add even more benediction to us.”

There. Fixed it.

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Deaths and Resurrections

God is a God of deaths and resurrections. His world is a constant refrain of repetitive themes. We might say that God is gloriously repetitive. He repeats themes because his creation reflects his thematic ability to kill and make alive. God gives us and takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

The practicality of such historical imperatives is that phases of history come to an end, and God brings new stages fresh from heaven. Humans experience this often in daily life. Parents, in particular, see these transitional phases occurring with frequency. Diapers, potty training, speech, and sicknesses are all a part of the grand scheme of transitions in the home. Little deaths provide new liberties.

In very tangible ways, the Church is transitioning as well in our day. Many whose commitment to the sacred scriptures was a vital part of their DNA have had two years to navigate their convictions to test their loyalties. In the process, many things have died, and many new things are flourishing. The natural quest for neutrality is over! In fact, the game is over. Neutrality is a myth, but beyond that, it’s a death—the good kind. Some deaths are needed in the Church to awaken her to her responsibilities and plant her in new pastures.

As I have said throughout this season, men need to put away their baby bottles and dust off their wedding glasses and pour the real, unadulterated stuff in them. It’s time to man up, love up, and serve up! Neutrality is dead!

This entails that church life needs serious invigoration in the days ahead. The kinds of churches that prepared you for tea parties won’t survive another generation. The types of churches that prepared you for martyrdom will shine like the sun. Deaths are coming, but resurrections are in high demand, and God loves when we petition him to raise the dead.

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What is Liturgy? And Is All Liturgy Roman Catholic?

Dear friend,

Upon visiting our congregation some months ago, you asked why the service was so liturgical, and why are we so concerned with order and flow. You equated our “style” with more liturgical systems like Roman Catholicism.

Like many of us, I too grew up in a standard evangelical environment where much of the service functioned through spontaneity. At times, even the song leader didn’t know what we were going to sing and when we sang whatever he had just chosen, he was careful to articulate which ones we should sing. It was endearing at the time, but as I look back, I find the entire process an unhappy circumstance.

I do not wish to attack high liturgical non-Protestant traditions, but suffice to say, liturgy–which means “the work of the people”– is a fairly historical method of doing church. And we do not need to associate it with any particular movement. You should judge their merits based on their local expression.

What I wish to convey, ever so briefly, is that when you hear “liturgy,” think “intentionality and purpose.” This is what we are after when we structure our services in a liturgical fashion.
We could also add that every church has a liturgy, but some churches are more intentional about structuring their services.

So, the problem with your assessment (which is not negative, but the natural fruit of the first reaction to something you’ve never experienced) is that you have allowed one way of looking at a church service to control your entire narrative. Further, you assume that anything that is not creative or new is, therefore, originated in some Roman practice. But the reality is that a structured liturgy–one with repeated elements each Sunday–is actually found in any Protestant denomination or tradition whether Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and even many Baptist Churches that adhere to more classic Baptist theology.

I don’t state these things to belittle your knowledge but to supplement what you already know with a more catholic view of the faith. Oh, there’s that word again, “catholic.” The word simply refers to “wholeness” or “completeness” and is sometimes translated as “universal.” Therefore, when the Creeds speak of “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church,” we are not offering you, a Protestant, a secret Roman Catholic handshake. We are simply saying that to be biblical is to be a part of a Church that encompasses a greater territory than where you live and that treasures purity and is founded on Apostolic teaching.

I hope this helps you get a better perspective on liturgy and why we do–and have done–things a certain way for a long time. Mighty cheers and I look forward to future conversations.

Sincerely,
Pastor Brito 

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Practical Steps to Training Children in Worship

It’s time to say goodbye to our short series on children in worship. Some of you have raised important questions, but in the end, the majority of them stemmed from a deep concern about practical issues, rather than particular biblical interpretation. These are always legitimate unless one is stuck on the exceptions rather than the ordinary and objective imperatives of the Bible.

Having worked on some of the rationales from the Scriptures, it’s time to offer some practical wisdom for those who are open to the practice of keeping children in worship from the beginning to the end. The following is an insert we offer our congregation. I will place a link in the comment section of the document in case you wish to print it.

Children in the Worship Service

You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide (Deuteronomy 16:11-12)

But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:16-17)

One of the greatest joys for Christians is to come into the presence of God for worship together as families. As members of God’s covenant household, our children are both commanded and permitted to participate in worship with the community of the redeemed. Worship is not something that comes naturally, which means we must work hard to learn it well. Training our children to worship the Lord is one of the responsibilities of parents. We offer this as an aid to parents as they help their little ones under their charge to come into the presence of God with joy and celebration of His grace in their lives.

We need to be patient with one another, understanding that the children are learning to participate with us in worship. We need to be willing to allow for a certain amount of noise and distraction when children are present. Parents are often aware when their little ones are being too loud or making it difficult for those around them to worship. Use your good judgment and if necessary, you may want to take the child out of the service for a time, but please bring him/her back in after they calm down. Worship offers us various opportunities to learn and train one another in virtuous habits, and the process is never simple, but we are beneficiaries of the blessings of perseverance.

Prepare Your Child for Worship

~ Try to come to worship with a relaxed and joyful attitude. Your children reflect the attitude that you have as you come to worship. Avoid being rushed and tense before church. Take time on Saturday to prepare for the Lord’s Day, so that you can worship without undue care and concern.

~ Help your children to think about their lives throughout the week. They should be taught to come to worship thankful for God’s blessings and eager to confess their sins and receive assurance of forgiveness from Him.

~ Teach and practice regular elements of the service such as the hymns/psalms, the Lord’s Prayer, the Nicene Creed, and the Gloria Patri at home together. Children love to participate in worship, especially in those parts they know and understand.

~ Allow time for your children to use the bathroom and get a drink before the worship service begins.

~ Help them to get a copy of the order of worship and to understand how to use it. Explain how they can be actively participating in worship.

~ Positively reinforce behavior by your attention to your child. If you have lots of little ones, you may want to have single adults or older teenagers sit with you to help. This will emphasize that all believers are in the Lord’s family.

Help Your Child During Worship

~ Encourage your child to participate with the congregation in standing, sitting, reading, praying, and confessing, and responding appropriately to hymns and Scriptural readings.

~ Encourage your children to be attentive to certain elements in the sermon. Begin habits of conversation about the sermon on your way back home and make it a regular topic of discussion at the dinner table.

~ Help your child to participate by making sure he has his own offering, no matter how small. This helps him understand that he must give not only his tithes and offerings to the Lord but also himself.

~ During the Lord’s Supper, help your children joyfully participate in the passing of the peace and remind them of the promises Jesus makes to the little children, for unto such belong the kingdom of heaven.

Thanks for reading these posts and please feel free to send any questions via private messaging.