Tag: religion

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The Danger of Theology

Dear friend,

You inquired about the nature of theological study. You asked whether your interest in theology meant that you should pursue work in the church or academy or whether you should strive to be an intelligent layman in the kirk.

I started my journey over 20 years ago and have loved every single aspect of it. Theological and pastoral pursuits are my bread and butter and chicken wings. But I wish to begin, first and foremost, by offering some cautions. I don’t want to write to you about the virtues of studying theology or even your future, except to say the “study of God”–“theos logia”–is electrifying, mysterious, and dangerous. Here I wish only to alert you first to the “danger” of studying theology.

One of the great dangers is to assume that theology can be neat and tidy. If we simply have all our categories in order we can right the world’s wrongs. If we grasp fully the intricacies of the ontological Trinity, we will be able to grasp theology in summa. Even though theology comes down from heaven, we shouldn’t assume we have developed an appetite for heavenly things. In fact, I have witnessed too many theological students whose appetite for heavenly things is so small that I hope to never see their faces in the pulpit or leading a study. Be cautious to attend to those matters of piety first. A proud man in the Church is a dangerous man for the church.

Sometimes we treat theology like an engineer treats numbers. Studying theology becomes like reading an encyclopedia of facts. But we must be aware that in every endeavor of reading and studying and writing, we bring presuppositions, experiences, frustrations, and much more to the task. Therefore, we shouldn’t expect that straightforward propositions apply to all situations nor that they should be mechanically applied. Theology, especially pastoral theology, is deeply intimate.

Sometimes, “trust in God” works for the weary, but at other times it can be understood as simplistic and unsympathetic. “All things work together for good” can make a great bumper sticker but de-contextualized, it can seem cheap and even offensive. Be cautious that your theological studies don’t minimize pain or trivialize real concerns. Know your Bible, but know your people as well.

Theology can be difficult to apply. It requires wisdom. In fact, it requires humility to speak into someone’s life. The more we think through it, the more we live together, make mistakes together, the more we learn to speak the truth in love and connect theology to human experience. That is my first real caution as you continue your studies and consider your future. Many cheers and clarity in your pursuits.

Sincerely,

Pastor Brito

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Abraham Kuyper for Dummies

Have you ever wanted a quick and dirty guide to the old, dead, white guy by the name of Abraham Kuyper? The demand was overwhelming, and I obliged the need of the masses. In this episode, I discuss the five principles that guide a Kuyperian viewpoint, namely,

a) Trinitarianism

b) Great Commission

c) Incarnational Lenses

d) Doxological

e) Church as Didactic

Please leave a comment and spread the wealth.

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Dear Friend Letter: Isn’t Liturgy Roman Catholic?

Dear friend,

Sometimes you confuse “liturgy” with Roman Catholicism. I do not wish to attack Roman Catholicism, but suffice to say, liturgy–which means “the work of the people”– is a fairly historical method of doing church used in various Protestant traditions. When you hear “liturgy,” think “order.” 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 organizing and ordering their services. So, the problem with your assessment 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 Catholic 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. And, of course, we are not even delving into the rich liturgical traditions of the Old and New Testaments.

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 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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Preparing our Children for the Future

I have been pondering many things said since March of 2020, and I am deeply grateful to be in a community replete with exemplary people–people who fought well against the principalities with dignity and courage. Two years into this war looks a lot better than it did before it started. We won lots of little victories and put some victory flags in strategic places.

A prime example of this is the local classical Christian school where a few of my kids attend. The headmaster who was there in 2020 is a man of integrity. So, it came as no surprise when he–together with the board–decided to go against the tide in our county and refuse to allow any students to wear masks. Of course, they offered alternatives to parents who were not comfortable with such a set-up, but from my recollection, the vast amount of students attended happily without masks. This avoided the potential tension among students and parents, and also, the headmaster asserted that whatever little protection a mask may have provided, it would not be worth the dehumanizing that would occur when the student body spent all their days together with their faces covered. Behold, a prophet!

This entire thing comes to mind as the leftist Face the Nation heard the opination of their chief correspondent, Jan Crawford. She observed that the biggest underreported story of 2021 has been the devastating effects COVID policies have had on children. The video has now gone viral, and for good reason. It received little to no pushback from other leftists. Now, I would love to nuance the conversation further, but her admission is a good starting point. Acknowledging the devastation this has caused on children mentally, physically, communally gets the ball rolling. I am not as hopeful about their solutions, but I will take any rhetorical victory.

I argued in March of 2020 that people would quickly set aside rituals that define them, and they quickly abandoned them at the altar of safety. And if you think the millennial generation was trigger-happy with their emotions, setting themselves up for victimization in every corner, wait until you see this one coming up. They will make wokey college students look like ideological wimps. This new growing group of humans will attack everything and will find ten reasons to end your happiness.

I had a brief exchange with Abby Johnson last night. Abby is a hero in the pro-life movement and she was pondering why people are so quick to accept all the words from Fauci even after supreme blunders one after the other. I remarked to her that every human is created to submit to something/someone. Submitting to the dictates of a man who makes Mitt Romney look consistent requires an enormous amount of faith. Abby agreed with my assessment, but the additional factor I failed to mention is that this corporate submission puts our children at risk in various ways. In other words, those to whom you submit also become masters of your offspring.

And this leads me to my final observation: this is a long-term game.

It’s our children versus theirs. And I mean that in the most adversarial way possible (Gen. 3:15). Our children will be warring against their children 10-20 years down the road. Of course, our weapons are not fleshly, but spiritual, but the spiritual will have a deep effect on the fleshly.

You may have seen the former cheerleader who spat in the face of an 80-year old man in a flight because he was eating without his mask. She berated him, cursed at him, and slapped him. Now, imagine what the child of this woman thinks of reality with a mother like that? Imagine what kind of human grows from that nurturing soul?

Christians are winning, but the kind of Christians who surrender because they don’t want conflict will realize that they have been duped and their children do pick up on these social and theological cues. They will grow into a world that sees everything through the lens of surrender, and their churches will be havens of submissive hearers and doers. They will not create a psalmic culture, but one that capitulates to everything and everyone.

For Christians, we have ourselves our 15-minutes of fame, which if things continue, may become 15 years of fame. We may have a prolonged season of showing off our theological muscles as churches and families. I trust we are fit during this season. We have the opportunity to show forth our God in his strength and build an army of bold and courageous iconoclasts.

Keep up the good fight! We are in it for the long-term! 

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Deconstruction, Trump Appointees, and Mandates

1) The deconstruction movement within evangelicalism continues to gain an audience among many. Baptist pastor Matt Chandler who attacked “deconstruction” as a philosophical approach taken from Jaque Derrida received some pushback which led him to defend his comments by saying that he was not talking about modern attempts at “deconstruction” from within evangelicalism, but rather on atheist assertions that the text is unknowable. He writes:

“I have the deepest empathy and compassion for those who find themselves wading in those waters. I certainly don’t want to make things harder for anyone in those seasons and struggles.”

This is an entirely disappointing response. The “evangelical” deconstructing taking place is often led by leftists who despise traditional roles in the home and church and who spend most of their time promoting politically unsustainable ideologies like BLM and social justice. These apologists are not using “deconstruction” as a code for struggling with the faith, but as a re-ordering of the social structures of traditional Christian ethics and theology.

This modern attempt falls squarely in line with Machen’s exhortations against the religion of liberalism. Deconstruction has the same goal as liberalism did in the 20th century–to reform the faith after the image of modernism. Chandler’s original observations are true not only about the textual implications of deconstructionism from a philosophical perspective but also in modern attempts to re-examine the faith. It applies to both and he shouldn’t have to apologize or nuance his observations.

2) A public school in Los Angeles bribed students with pizza so that they could get vaccinated. And here is the kicker: “don’t tell your parents.” You do need the parents’ consent to give your child Aspirin, but vaccines are another level of importance according to these arbiters of truth.

I have been speaking about the religiosity of vaccine mandates for a long time, but this form of the priesthood is an entirely new level of ecclesiocracy. Apart from the fact that COVID vaccination for children is entirely irrational scientifically and sociologically, this sphere tyranny puts the issue at the forefront: how long until parents begin to see the ultimate agenda of godless pedagogy?

3) Despite some of the turmoil going on nationally, Christians should be thrilled about the recent legal decisions made across the country. Part of this stems from Trump’s genius in appointing young, conservative judges. The Guardian some years ago referred to Trump’s appointments as a revolution, especially on the pro-life side:

“The new rules threatened to shutter Planned Parenthood clinics and other facilities that offer abortion services alongside healthcare subsidized by federal funds.”

We are now fairly close to seeing his strategies bear national fruit. But beyond that, we are also seeing many of the vaccine mandates overruled as the AP reports:

“A federal judge has blocked President Biden’s administration from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees of federal contractors. It’s the latest in a string of court victories for Republican-led states and others challenging a series of federal vaccine requirements.”

This is good news all around and we should give thanks to God!

4) If you were to ask, “What organizations should I support financially that are doing good cultural and biblical work?” I’d choose two: a) The Center for Cultural Leadership led by P. Andrew Sandlin and the Theopolis Institute led by Peter J. Leithart. These two bodies are decisive in their biblical vision and are seeking to educate a new generation to think about the cultural, economic, and theological implications of the faith.

5) The Church needs more musicalization training which means that she needs to sing more. Music is a hermeneutic to discern where to go in our age. As the Church sings, she is conformed more and more to her Lord, who sings over her (Zep. 3:17). 

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Pursuing Wisdom in Covid-hysteria

In the Bible, the pursuit of wisdom is a tree of life (Prov. 3:18). It’s a tree that keeps giving. It does not dry up because it is an unending gift from above (James 1:5). When we ask for it, God offers it fully and unadulterated for the taking. The tree is ours, but yet our hunger for another tempts us to despise wisdom. We would rather chase after the wisdom of scientism and expertise-ism rather than rely solely on the wisdom from above.

When the COVID-esteria began, leaders in our church and many other churches prayed that God would give us wisdom; that we would not take the most desirable tree. We prayed that God would give us the wisdom to see the problems of today (Matt. 6:34), rather than concern ourselves with tomorrow. We prayed that our hermeneutical lens would not be fear, but faith and fortitude. Thus, we carefully thought-through decisions about closing our doors to worship for a temporary time, or whether we could navigate one Sunday at a time with open doors. We decided on the latter and never once shut down our doors.

This decision does not entitle us to some divine peek into celestial rivers, but it does grant us a healthy dose of wisdom for dealing with hard times in the future and just how much we can handle. We are grateful for God’s good gifts and for how he answered us during that season and our congregation has seen very closely what a loving neighbor actually looks like.

Not to minimize the season. In fact, there were sick saints, set-up adjustments, hospital visits, and even the death of loved ones related to congregational members. We give thanks to God that he sustained our people through these 22 months. There is no pride, but sheer gratitude. We know that many things could have been different whether we had kept our gates open or not.

This is all good and gooder and full of glad-tidings, but it does lead to one overarching principle that I touched upon in the beginning. As an illustration, there is a video making the rounds about a United Methodist pastor who sits down in contentment and professionalism and explains why his congregation will now start requiring vaccine passports or a negative result in the last 72 hours as a way of having access to the sanctuary of God on Sunday morning. To this display of Adamic naivete, I argued that the United Methodist Church should stop ordaining women because most of their male pastors do just fine playing the role of a weak woman from the pulpit. That’s my subtle argument for male-priesthood only in case you were wondering. The strong women know that their role is a different one in the body, but these cowardly voices playing the role of men continue to add more barriers to the house of God. Since I know a couple of faithful Methodist ministers, I leave a modicum of decency in their bodies.

If you are following the score so far, it’s Tree of Life -73 and the pursuit of immaturity far ahead in our day. But there are still those lingering voices out there–like mine and many others–whose congregations are living quiet and peaceable lives doing our cultural, theological, and liturgical thing outside of the scope of visibility. But, I suspect we are content with this and gladly will stay away from any spotlight unless we are driven to opine, and opine we will should we be forced.

Eating from the Tree of Life is not a very attractive, applaud-seeking technique, but it is the way of wisdom, and those who get a taste of it, develop an appetite for it when it is popular or when it is not. Pursuing the Tree of Life gives us an insight into the times, and it allows us to see the times for what it is. Time-tyrants wish to take our capacity to eat from this tree, and they will tempt us with serpentine pleasure to skip the tree and eat from the shiny one down the road. The Church should refuse such offers and crush a few ideological heads when it creeps in our territory enticing us to more scientific ways of looking at the world.

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In Praise of the CREC

Around 23 years ago, three independent churches decided to join forces. The autonomous status did not suit these good fellas, so they formed a little band of happy trouble-makers. Twenty-three years later, we gathered in Monroe, LA, for a Council that included over 100 churches and a famine around the globe for the kind of thing we offer abundantly: courage and creed.

I have just returned from four days of meetings and a few other meetings intertwined with happy meetings and superb fellowship and fine dining. The whole thing was an experience in renewed mercies. First, we deliberated over presbytery matters, and then we debated and deliberated on a host of documents and sundry issues as Council delegates. There was hearty back and forth and then a combo of laughter and decision-making. We are a young denomination, and as my friend, Jerry Owen, says, young denominations need to be quick to repent and quick to be humble lest we fall. That’s a good word. But in our momentum, we don’t want to let our supremely cheerful state go to waste. We are not over here cheering out of hubris for the incredible growth God has provided our tribe during Covidsterya, but because the signs of unity keep showing up from hobbit holes and theopolitan taverns. And if two or three brothers walking in unity is a good thing, a couple of hundred pastors and elders walking together is a whole different level of goodness.

It is hard to express my appreciation for a communion that has given me more than I expected but ultimately has taught me that my expectations for God’s goodness should be greater than I imagined. The CREC has been a home to me for almost 13 full years, and I genuinely pray these guys find my Latin presence fruitful for 33 more.

So, let me conclude this brief praise-worthy effort by sharing three thanksgiving elements of the CREC:

First, let’s put the cards on the table: Doug Wilson is the man! You may not like his beard or from whence his cigars cometh, but this fella has successfully irritated the right people for too many years to count. His joyful disposition and his plodding mammothness come with too many blessings to count. May his tribe increase and may his labors make Peter Enns lose his sleep at night.

Second, I had the joy of addressing the Council, but the more incredible thrill was sitting and listening to faithful pastors exhort and encourage us; many are quietly laboring in unknown towns doing the good work and providing the faithful word shepherding the sheep. They do this in Montana and Maine, and Missouri and their labors are not in vain. My gratitude for these faithful laborers increased a hundred-fold after our time together.

Finally, it is hard to define the joy CREC pastors have when they are together. It’s the sort of elation I never had in any other tradition and have never seen replicated. We don’t just get together to talk business; we get together to sing, share, and cherish one another. The like-mindedness of our communion adds a special touch to our fellowship. There is a rhythm to the things we do that keeps us all marching to the same beat year after year. But beyond the drinks and devil-crushing strategies, there is also a firm reliance on the Triune God to bless our efforts. This commitment and trust mean that when we gather, we are sons of God going forth to war with the Son of God. And that means that our efforts these last 23 years have been one toast after the other.

May the Lord guide and bless our strategies, and may he see fit to strengthen our young tribe!#creccouncil

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Three Virtues of Lion-Hearted People

We were doing our Brito dance this morning to the melody of a contemporary song written in 1712 called “Rise Again, Ye Lion-Hearted.” The boys joined for all stanzas ’cause they’re lion-hearted and all and they have sung it enough that it flows through their blood.

Singing it again this morning reminded me of the forcefulness and necessity of this song for our day. Following are three needed virtues for our day.

Hear ye:

“Honor, gold, they laugh to scorn…”

Lion-hearted men and women scorn the world’s riches. When the naked emperor offers wine, women, and song to any who would forsake Messiah Jesus, the saints mock their offers. He knows that there is no earthly wealth that can surpass the glories and abundance of heaven. When elites offer us a seat at the table with their six-course meals and galas and flatter us with empty words, and “honor” us with prestigious job offers if only we would leave out one of our convictions at the table, lion-hearted children laugh at their contracts. We refuse to be Peter Enns for a chance at notoriety.

2. “Songs of praise outpouring…”

When you put several naked Christians in the arena, taunt them, ridicule their God, and open the gates for ferocious lions, there is only one logical thing to do: we sing.

Our age is completely ripe for the kind of singing I have been advocating for a long time. You cannot face the arena with songs about a secret and a quiet place; that kind of pious gush may scare away kitties, but not hungry beasts. Arenas are made for Athanasius figures, Elizabeth Elliot, and bold singers. The arena is the place for practicing warriors who have been trained to use their voices to fight demons. From the lips of children, God uses our music to frighten foe and avenger; lions and leftists.

3. “Loyal, staunch, and true to Thee.”

This glorious hymn closes with a vocal call to faithfulness; this hearty theology of perseverance that grabs us by our baptisms and releases us at death. If we have learned anything, it is that the greatest threat to the Church today is the allures of the world, the flesh and the devil. And these temptations come in all shapes and sizes.

Christians, however, ought to be masters of repentance and turning their heads away from enslaving rituals. These enslaving rituals keep us away from the battle, and we need to be so daring that the battle is always coming to us, which means that we must keep the devil and his nephews fully aware of the threat we pose to them.

~~~

We take our stand joyously because our scorning of evil, our songs of praise, and our vibrant loyalty will determine whether we will rise again, or whether we shall be content in our slumber.”Joyously they take their stand on the arena’s bloody sand.”

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Becoming a Radical

An esteemed friend I have loved for many years recently stated that he was radicalized during COVID. His antennas became more attuned to the shenanigans of the state. Similarly, I think it is safe to say I have been radicalized in the academy of no-non-sense against leftist ideology. There were simply too many issues to test our theories. And every time I did the scientific experiment it ended with the same results.

But, of course, I was already a radical by the very nature of my affiliations and theological affinities. But practically, my expectations will be much of the same and more of the same and the same of more when it comes to specific institutions. I have no doubt many of these folks, especially those who cherish the Nicene Creed, are of good nature and take their trash out to the curb on Thursday nights, and I am also sure they have a sweet disposition towards their children, but I will no longer assume as I did once that they want biblical authority to permeate everything.

I believe that places like Christianity Today are not institutions of theological integrity. I firmly believe they wish to lead the Church in a direction that does not lead back to Machen and Van Til and Sproul but to Schleiermacher and mainline-ism.

Mark Galli’s recent statements that CT writers are more interested in the approval of the New York Times and other “respectable” magazines is an indication that the Billy Graham era is over and CT has become just another tool to propagate whatever is most classically unconservative. This has been true for some time, but sometimes institutions make themselves abundantly clear. Suffice to say, CT is headed towards oblivion, and the respect they think they will earn from MSNBC as whistleblowers for true orthodoxy will quickly evaporate.

I am desensitized to these cowardly attempts at respectability. I am no longer shocked or dismayed. I will join critiques of Mark Driscoll on a host of issues, but I will not accept that the best critics of Driscoll are leftist mainline female priests or ambulance chasing feminists or CT’s book awards. What these folks are looking for are examples of abuse anywhere to destroy conservative causes everywhere. While they may have good intentions, their telos is absolutely malicious. They do not lead to a “Jesus-loves-me-this-I-know-for-the-Bible-tells-me-so hermeneutic. Instead, they eagerly embrace critical hermeneutics to matters regarding race like classic liberalism welcomed higher criticism to the issues regarding inerrancy. They are seeking to domesticate Jesus, and in doing so, they domesticate his word.

Jesus has no patience for expertise religiosity and scribal law-making; he eagerly takes them apart for their cunning ways and fashionable statements. Our Lord eagerly overthrows their tradition-painted tables and mocks them in derision. The way to avoid this blabbering of foolishness is to stay close to those who share the sentiments of the healthy iconoclasts like Luther and Machen. Eat together. Laugh together. Eat at the table of our Lord together. Sing Psalms together, and on this latter point, I am not aware of any institution that sings imprecatory psalms that fall for this 1st grade understanding of ethics and politics. If we keep cultivating biblical authority in the little acts, we too will be radicalized towards more biblical fidelity.