"The true looking of faith, I say, is placing Christ before one's eyes and beholding in Him the heart of God poured out in love. Our firm and substantial support is to rest on the death of Christ as its only pledge." - John Calvin
Some beliefs seem to be contradictory. While 56 per cent of people believe in heaven, only 38 per cent believe in hell, and belief in God is much more popular than faith in the devil, with only 37 per cent of respondents believing in Satan.
The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, said the poll results showed the religious instinct was universal.
"That faith is important or very important to at least half of the population is what we have always suspected - an 'iceberg effect' that people may not necessarily speak up about their faith but it is very significant to their lives," he said.
The fact that the Christian faith was in the clear majority among believers was "no cause for triumphalism".
"I would reflect rather on why this is not translating into church membership."
There was no denying that increased numbers of people described themselves as non-believers, but this was no boon to the atheist cause, he said.
"The decline of Christian faith does not lead to lack of religious belief; it just opens the way for superstition."
'What are you so afraid of, Ransom of Thulcandra?' [Oyarsa of Malacandra] said. - p.152
We think that Meleldil would not give it up utterly to the Bent One, and there are stories among us that He has taken strange counsel and dared terrible things, wrestling with the Bent One in Thulcandra. But of this we know less than you; it is a thing we desire to look into. - p.154
I wish to hear of Thulcandra and of Meleldil's strange wars there with the Bent One; for that, as I have said, is a thing we desire to look into. -p.156
[After Ransom answered the question above from Oyarsa] 'You have shown me more wonders than are known in the whole of heaven.' -p.182
The worst tragedy would be to turn the Sermon on the Mount into another form of legalism; it should rather put an end to all legalism. Legalism like the Pharisees' will always fail, not because it is too strict but because it is not strict enough. Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace.
- Philip Yancey, from The Jesus I never knew, p.144
He will save his people from their sins. - Matt 1:21
44. Resolved, that no other end but religion, shall have any influence at all on any of my actions; and that no action shall be, in the least circumstance, any otherwise than the religious end will carry it. Jan.12, 1723.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
-- Lam 3:22-23
Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
Psalm 43:3-5
43. Resolved, never henceforward, till I die, to act as if I were any way my own, but entirely and altogether God's, agreeable to what is to be found in. Saturday, January 12. Jan.12, 1723.
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:3-7
"O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!"
- Psalm 41:4
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees
-- Heb 12:12
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."Confessions from people of God don't get much better than that.
- Daniel 3:16-18 (NIV)
I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
-- St. Paul to Timothy, from 1 Timothy 6:13-16
42. Resolved, frequently to renew the dedication of myself to God, which was made at my baptism; which I solemnly renewed, when I was received into the communion of the church; and which I have solemnly re-made this twelfth day of January, 1722-23.
41. Resolved, to ask myself at the end of every day, week, month and year, wherein I could possibly in any respect have done better. Jan. 11, 1723.
I think one could brush this book off as a mere collection of weird stories.40. Resolved, to inquire every night, before I go to bed, whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could, with respect to eating and drinking. Jan. 7, 1723.
39. Resolved, never to do anything that I so much question the lawfulness of, as that I intend, at the same time, to consider and examine afterwards, whether it be lawful or no; except I as much question the lawfulness of the omission.
The goal of the Christian life is not external conformity or mindless action, but a passionate love for God informed by the mind and embraced by the will. ... Do not seek to empty your cup as a way to avoid sin, but rather seek to fill it up with the Spirit of life, so there is no longer room for sin.
- Kelly M. Kapic, p. 28 "Introduction" for "Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen" (edited by Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor)
36. Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call for it. Dec. 19, 1722.
37. Resolved, to inquire every night, as I am going to bed, wherein I have been negligent, what sin I have committed, and wherein I have denied myself: also at the end of every week, month and year. Dec.22 and 26, 1722.
38. Resolved, never to speak anything that is ridiculous, sportive, or matter of laughter on the Lord's day. Sabbath evening, Dec. 23, 1722.
34. Resolved, in narration's never to speak anything but the pure and simple verity.
35. Resolved, whenever I so much question whether I have done my duty, as that my quiet and calm is thereby disturbed, to set it down, and also how the question was resolved. Dec. 18, 1722.
"... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
The trouble with Richard Dawkins from CPX on Vimeo.
33. Resolved, always to do what I can towards making, maintaining, establishing and preserving peace, when it can be without over-balancing detriment in other respects. Dec.26, 1722.
Mongol General: Hao! Dai ye! We won again! This is good, but what is best in life?
Mongol: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.
[I'm thinking, mmm... meh.]
Mongol General: Wrong! [oooh, thank you for rebuking him.] Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
[RRAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!]
Mongol General: That is good! That is good.
The Libyan jailed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing was granted release on compassionate grounds in Scotland on Thursday, despite fierce US opposition to freeing him.
In a move likely to be hailed by Libya as a new sign of its return to global respectability, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi -- who has terminal prostate cancer -- was given his freedom by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
MacAskill said Megrahi, who medics say has less than three months to live, could return to Libya to die because Scottish law required that "justice be served but mercy be shown".
The 57-year-old "now faces justice from a higher power... he is going to die", MacAskill added.
32. Resolved, to be strictly and firmly faithful to my trust, that that in Prov. 20:6, "A faithful man who can find?" may not be partly fulfilled in me.
31. Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this Resolution.
30. Resolved, to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.
29. Resolved, never to count that a prayer, nor to let that pass as a prayer, nor that as a petition of a prayer, which is so made, that I cannot hope that God will answer it; nor that as a confession, which I cannot hope God will accept.
27. Resolved, never willfully to omit anything, except the omission be for the glory of God; and frequently to examine my omissions.
28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.
26. Resolved, to cast away such things, as I find do abate my assurance.
24. Resolved, whenever I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray with all my might against the original of it.
25. Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.
23. Resolved, frequently to take some deliberate action, which seems most unlikely to be done, for the glory of God, and trace it back to the original intention, designs and ends of it; and if I find it not to be for God's glory, to repute it as a breach of the 4th Resolution.
Finished reading "Unpacking Forgiveness" by Chris Brauns. I'm not going to write a book review on this even though my title says Book Review. I cannot simply "review" this book for I am too deeply affected by it. As I read through the book, there were moments where my heart cried out to God for justice. No, more like vengeance. I argued with Him that it was too much not to seek revenge on at least some of the offences committed in this world. I argued that the only thing evil needs to thrive is the idleness and silence of the good. But deep down, I had to agree with what the author was saying, for he was merely reflecting what God had said in His word. (And by the way, the author was not saying that we should let the evil have its way, nor does the bible says so. But that's another blog post for another time.)22. Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power; might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.
Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
The I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
Psalm 70
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O LORD, make haste to help me!
Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonour who delight in my hurt!
Let them turn back because of their shame who say, "Aha, Aha!"
May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation say evermore, "God is great!"
But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!
The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.
- by C. S. Lewis, from The Weight of Glory, p.45
What shall I render to the Lord
for all his benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
21. Resolved, never to do anything, which if I should see in another, I should count a just occasion to despise him for, or to think any way the more meanly of him.
20. Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking.This may sound too restrictive to a modern (or a post-modern) mind, but I think it is a good displine to watch how much I eat. I should and want to be more displined in this way, not to become simply a thinner and healthier person, but to be more self-controlled, and sober-minded.
17. Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
18. Resolved, to live so at all times, as I think is best in my devout frames, and when I have clearest notions of things of the gospel, and another world.
19. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump.
16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.
I argue, then, that both Arminians and Calvinists should rightly affirm that Christ died for all, in the sense that Christ’s death was sufficient for all and that Scripture portrays God as inviting, commanding, and desiring the salvation of all, out of love (in the third sense developed in the first chapter). Further, all Christians ought also to confess that, in a slightly different sense, Christ Jesus, in the intent of God, died effectively for the elect alone, in line with the way the Bible speaks of God’s special selecting love for the elect (in the fourth sense developed in the first chapter).
14. Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.
15. Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger to irrational beings.
I didn't know this book was going to go through the five points of Calvinism and show the importance and relevance of the Calvinistic or Reformed theology in current age of Evangelicalism. I simply thought, initially, that, "ah, I was hoping to learn more about Grace, but I'm going to learn more about Calvinism." I was half wrong. I did learn more about Calvinism, but I also learned much more about grace. After reading the book, I am more thankful to the God of grace, and feel much more secure in our great God who is sovereign over all.
A friend of mine recommended this book, The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels by Gordon Fee. It's only 45 pages long, and it's more like a booklet than a real book, but the content of the book is definitely worth a read. The downside would be its brivety perhaps, but it is also its strength since anyone can read this short book and understand where and why those "Health and Wealth Gospel preachers" have got wrong. I personally found Gordon's treatment on the "wealth" part of the false gospel particularly helpful and compelling.This carefree attitude toward wealth and possessions, for which neither prosperity nor poverty is a value, is thoroughgoing in the New Testament. According to Jesus, the good news of the inbreaking of the Kingdom frees us from all those pagan concerns (Matt. 6:32) [p.14]
All of this is true because for Jesus wealth and possessions were a zero value. In the new age they simply do not count. The standard is sufficiency: and surplus is called into question. [p.44]
12. Resolved, if I take delight in it as a gratification of pride, or vanity, or on any such account, immediately to throw it by.
13. Resolved, to be endeavoring to find out fit objects of charity and liberality.
"The Savior does not break the bruised reed. He hears our pleas for help and is patient with our doubts. He does not condemn us. He has paid completely for any sin that is exposed in our pain.
He does not always answer with the speed we desire, nor is his answer always the deliverance we hope for. But he will always send the help that is needed. His grace will always be sufficient for those who trust him. The hope we taste in the promises we trust will often be the sweetest thing we experience in this age. And his reward will be beyond our imagination.
In John's darkness and pain Jesus sent a promise to sustain John's faith. He will do the same for you."
8. Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.
The only certain foundation which any person has to believe that he is invited to partake of the blessings of the gospel, is, that the Word of God declares that persons so qualified as he is, are invited, and that God, who declares it, is true, and cannot lie. If a sinner be once convinced of the veracity of God, and that the Scriptures are His word, he will need no more to convince and satisfy him that he is invited; for the Scriptures are full of invitations to sinners, to the chief of sinners, to come and partake of the benefits of the gospel; he will not want any new speaking of God to him; what he hath spoken already will be enough with him.
- p. 151, The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards
5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.
6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.
7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
It is not God's design that men should obtain assurance in any other way than by mortifying corruption, and increasing in grace, and obtaining the lively exercises of it. And although self-examination be a duty of great use and importance, and by no means to be neglected, yet it is not the principal means by which the saints do get satisfaction of their good estate. Assurance is not to be obtained so much by self-examination as by action. The Apostle Paul sought assurance chiefly this way, even by "forgetting the things that were behind, and reaching forth unto those things that were before, pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus; if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." And it was by this means chiefly that he obtained assurance: 1 Cor. 9:26, "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly." He obtained assurance of winning the prize, more by running than by considering. The swiftness of his pace did more towards his assurance of a conquest than the strictness of his examination.
-- Jonathan Edwards, from The Religious Affections p. 123 (italics original)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
-- Eph. 2:1-9
When I try to go to the link, it displays a warning page, then, when I try to look at the actual threat diagnostic page, it shows there's a server error.
A server error at Google?!If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.
4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.
