Redimete Diem!

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
making the most of the time, because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:15-16, ESV)

Survey of the Westminster Confession of Faith

Class Blog Q & A

10/26/08

The situation of a severely mentally handicapped child that you mentioned in today's class, or even of a baby aborted before birth, both of whom we entrust to God's mercy for salvation, is indeed a picture of the spiritual state of every one of us outside of Christ: absolutely helpless and unable to respond of our own initiative.

We whom Providence allowed to escape such tragedy in our own personal moment on earth, even if fairly staunch Calvinists, occasionally tend, deep down, to see the handicapped child as being totally in need of God's grace but ourselves as being contributors to our salvation in some way intellectual or synergistic: "I made a decision for Christ because I recognized my sin."

The truth is, we are just as totally dependent as the mentally incapacitated person is on God sovereignly choosing to call us His own, however He works that out.

If I had a question for you, I'd ask your opinion about if ALL of the aborted children and mentally incapacitated individuals will be saved. I know that the Bible does not seem to answer that explicitly. However, my own opinion is that yes, ALL of them are foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified. I don't believe that an aborted child is one whom God "hardens" (Romans 9:18) so that he or she is a "vessel prepared for destruction" (Romans 9:22). I also find comfort in Ezekiel 16:21, where God refers to children offered to the idols by causing them to pass through the fire as "My children."

This is an emotionally charged issue, to be sure, and one in which we must depend squarely on our Lord God and His sovereign mercy and will. I have written an article on this which you may read here on my website entitled: "Is There an Age of Innocence?".

10/20/08

My question was the verse from Matthew 11:25 which you listed under total depravity. I could see the correlation with the other references thus far but couldn't get this one.

Total Depravity not only effects the will but also the knowledge of God. "This total inability, however, arises not merely from a perverted moral nature, but also from ignorance. Paul wrote that the Gentiles 'walk in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart,' (Eph. 4:17-18). To add to man's own condition of ignorance is God's deliberate withholding of knowledge. "All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Mt. 11:27) "Here we are plainly told that man in his unregenerate nature does not know God in any sense worthy [of] the name, and that the Son is sovereign in choosing who shall come into this saving knowledge of God." (The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, L. Boettner, p. 64)

9/23/08

In this book the examples about the Roman Catholic Church and the Jehovah’s Witnesses date back to much earlier times – 1893, 1950’s, etc. Have things, at least, in the Roman Catholic Church not changed (rf. pp. 24, 25, 17)?

The Roman Catholic Church has not changed its position on the issues of authority and interpretation.

Wikipedia briefly describes the Baltimore Catechism this way:

A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, Prepared and Enjoined by Order of the Third Council of Baltimore (or, simply, the Baltimore Catechism) was the de facto standard Catholic school text in the United States from 1885 to the late 1960s. It was the first such catechism written for Catholics in North America, replacing a translation of Bellarmine's Small Catechism. In response to criticisms, various editions include annotations or other modifications. The Baltimore Catechism remained in use in nearly all Catholic schools until many moved away from catechism-based education, though it is still used up to this day in some.

Here is how the Roman Catholic Church officially teaches it today:

“Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together and communicate one with the other. … Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit. And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. … As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, ‘does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1995)

As far as I can tell, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have not changed their perspective on the importance of the Watchtower’s teachings over and above that of the Bible alone.

9/2/08

Are you sure that Princess Diana's wedding and funeral both took place at Westminster Abbey?

I was incorrect about the wedding. The wedding took place at St. Paul's Cathedral. The funeral, however, was in the Abbey.

9/7/08

I recently finished 'A Short History of the Early Church', one of those books on the book table. It covered Church history up through about 600 AD--and so it was nice to have our WCF (sounds like one of those bogus wrestling organizations) class start off today with Church history picking up at about that date.

One thing I was thinking about this morning during class: I really don't feel any kinship to the pre-Reformation Church (if I had to measure it) for the thousand years prior to the Reformation. I do feel kinship with the NT church and the OT church, and not just because of my Jewish ancestry--but spiritual kinship. Even growing up, I felt that the heroes of the OT and NT were part of my family, my ancient family. I'm sure that I can thank my parents for that, in part, for making the Bible and church central in their/our home.

Not so with the 'catholic' church--and I don't think that this disconnect was learned from the vitriol one sometimes encounters against the Romish church from Protestants. With the selling of indulgences, Mary veneration, relics and whatnot, I feel about as related to the Catholic church as I do to Mormons or Hindus. It's like Christianity, true Christianity, was dead for so long.

And yet, our church today, true believers today, have some Catholic DNA in their spiritual system, so to speak. That's where we came from. Perhaps it is (we are) like a child who is the product of a second marriage. The second mother is the true biological mother of the child, but the child still has some sort of connection to that first wife--kind of, you know what I mean? Just kind of but, still, kind of.

Anyway. Looking forward to more of the class.

Bob Brown

I know what you mean. We Protestants have been so conditioned to begin our history lessons with Martin Luther and to only regard the more blatant errors of the Roman Catholic church in identifying with her. But there really is much more to our Christian history during the first 1500 years to know and appreciate. One of my burdens is to teach Church history for just that reason. There really are some remarkable men and movements during those years that we should know about. But our generation seems to be a rather impatient one with the past and I think that really stunts our own perceptions as well as our growth potential.

David G. Barker
david.barker@ncpres.org