Author: fundyreformed

"Imitate their faith": The Godly Example of John Piper

~ fundyreformed ~ 1 Comment

1 Cor. 11:1 “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Heb. 13:7b “Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”

Pastors and elders are the de facto leaders of the congregation. And more than that, they are called to lead. And still more, we are called to follow.  

Throughout history and in each age God has graciously blessed the church with Godly leaders. The Christian biographies on my shelf each tell the story  of a life worth emulating. Many leaders are men of insignificance from a human standpoint, yet God takes note of them. Others are destined given by God to be the prime leaders and movers in His Church in each era. Some leaders fail the test of insignificance while more, possibly, fail the test of influence. Rare are those who  have passed both.

In encouraging you to read this article (see below) I do not want to deify man. I want to lift up a good, though fallible example of a leader God wants us to imitate. I respect my pastor John Piper very much, even though I have spoken to him only a few times. His writing and preaching ministry is very influential and used by God. Yet when you see him in person, you truly get a sense of how truly humble and serious this man is about pursuing Christ–at whose side there are “pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).  

I know that some who read my story or hear of others who leave fundamentalism through Piper’s influence are content to think the worst of him. I know that Piper takes criticism from more sides than just the fundamentalist corner, though. But I truly encourage everyone, including any scoffers out there, to read this article. It describes Piper’s recent sabbatical. But more than that it is a window into his life and it reveals a Christ centered walk that matches his talk. It is a long read, but I encourage you to read it anyway–you may just be challenged to serve Christ more completely and joyfully then you have hitherto.  

Like a good biography, the living testimony of a man of God can have a dramatic impact on your life. Even you who disagree with Piper’s Calvinism and “lack of separation” will find rich food for your soul in many of his books. His Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ has no “ulterior motives”, it is simply one of the best devotional looks into the life of our Savior as revealed in the Gospels.

So go to this article, read it, and imitate his faith, giving the glory to God.

(Thanks to Mathew Sims who pointed me to this article)

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

Welch's Grape Juice, Worldly Wisdom, and Wine

~ fundyreformed ~ 31 Comments

With wine on the mind, I thought I would discuss the interesting role of Thomas B. Welch in the controversy concerning the use of alcohol.

Thomas Welch is remembered as the inventor of modern grape juice. He applied Louis Pasteur’s new pasteurization process to grapes: the result was unfermented wine better known as grape juice. But what many do not know is that Welch had a specific reason for experimenting with grape juice. He was a minister who objected to alcoholic wine being used for communion. So much so, in fact that he refused to touch it even though he had been elected communion steward. After developing his unfermented communion alternative, he tried, unsuccessfully to substitute it in his church’s communion. Eventually, however, he convinced his church and many others to use the unfermented wine, furthering his temperance movement cause. The family business soon grew and his son Charles E. Welch developed the business into the large company it is today.

So there you have it. A centuries long practice of using alcoholic wine in communion is overturned by a prohibitionist and profiteer. To substantiate my history claims above look no further than Welch’s own company history. At the bottom of this article there are further resources.

Now I do not want this article to say too much. I definitely want to be fair and honest in my presentation of the facts. For instance, it appears that Welch was moved more by conviction than capitalism (at least initially). And also the fact that Welch invented the modern method of preserving grape juice does not imply that there were no other methods prior to 1869. For instance the link provided here gives some documentation of ancient methods of preserving grape juice which may have been used in Bible times and after. I am not advocating that every instance of the word wine in the Bible must only be understood as alcoholic wine. However, in my research I believe there are numerous places where the Bible affirms the intoxicating nature of wine (thus fermented wine) as a gift of God, see my first post on the topic here.

The link provided above goes on to cite evidence that unfermented wine was the normal practice of the early church. While I have not looked into all that evidence closely, I do believe there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. For instance Keith Mathison claims that fermented wine was the universal custom of the church for 1800 years, see this link to a pertinent excerpt from his book Given for You: Reclaiming Calvin’s Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. History unequivocally testifies that from 1500 until the late 1800s it was universal practice among Catholic, Protestant, and Anabaptist groups to use alcoholic wine in communion and daily life. It should be startling, therefore, to learn that the prohibition movement and a particular representative of it, Thomas Welch, were extremely instrumental in changing that consensus into the great controversy of the present. Today, many churches and even entire denominations decry any use of alcohol and act as if this has always been the position of God’s church.

Before I close, let me briefly discuss the prohibition movement. The movement was spawned from a worldly wisdom not a Christian belief system: the church joined the bandwagon of the secular movement, not vice versa. This claim is easily substantiated through basic research. I encourage you to peruse this article to gain an understanding of the previous widespread consumption in America and the birth of Prohibition. The article goes on to document the underhanded tactics used by the prohibitionists. They censored school textbooks and paraded pure fallacies as documented fact. Also of note is prohibition’s view that alcohol was bad and that which inherently caused drunkenness and alcoholism. They saw many of the problems of society traced to the disease of alcoholism with alcohol as the culprit. In this focus the movement practically denied the Biblical contention that what is inside a man defiles him, not what comes into him. They thought society could be cured of its evils by purging it of alcohol, but society is only cured through its submission to the Lordship of Christ.

When anyone wants to develop a position on alcohol and hopes to prove whether or not Scripture permits its use they must not ignore the facts presented here. Failing to admit that the practice and doctrine of churches were influenced by the secular temperance movement will not permit the investigator to understand that he may be severely prejudiced through his own church traditions of the past one hundred or more years. In this discussion, therefore, it is vital to remember the role Thomas Welch and the worldly wise temperance movement made in the history of the church and its views concerning wine.

Resources and Documentation:

Welch’s Grape Juice

Prohibition

picture borrowed from here

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

Will You Be Having Some Wine?

~ fundyreformed ~ 57 Comments

Ps. 104:15 About six years ago I took my future wife out on our first OCD (off campus date). We were at Olive Garden and at our own table (which was a big deal back then :)) and this suave waiter walks on up and presents us with a bottle of wine. He asks, “Will you be having some wine?” I quickly replied to my wife’s chagrin, “I’m not old enough but she is!” Flustered, Carolyn declined the wine and gave me a look. It was her 21st birthday, and drinking wine was the farthest thing from either of our minds.These days, I am still not much of a wine drinker. I am slowly developing a taste for it and experimenting with all the options. But at times it still shocks me to think that I am actually allowing alcohol to pass through my lips. Any such drink was the biggest taboo, growing up. It was just assumed that the only Biblical position was absolute and total abstinence.During a period of a few years, while I was beginning to slowly register conflicting opinions and doubts concerning my fundamentalist beliefs, I began coming across verses concerning wine which amazed me. I kept a running list, even before we made our break with fundamentalism. A professor at college had even argued that alcohol for medicinal purposes was clearly condoned by Prov. 31:6-7 and 1 Tim. 5:23.

Judg. 9:13 After changing our positions on many of the extreme fundamentalist beliefs I was raised with, I was even more open to the potential (which at that point seemed likely based on my ever growing list) that the Bible allowed for the moderate use of wine and alcoholic beverages. But still several months went by without a determination to even give alcohol a sip. I say this to reitirate that drinking alcohol was no special desire of mine. Tee-totalism was just normal, as both of our families and extended families for the most part do not drink.Two events moved me to have some wine, however. First, I came across some blogposts written by a blog friend of mine, Matt Fitzsimmons. They were well written, and adequately defended in the comments (check them out here & here). That discussion brought my list back to mind. By this time I was completely convinced (having been quite familiar with tee-totaller arguments for some time) that the Bible not only permitted but encouraged the moderate use and enjoyment of wine and alcoholic beverages. Further I had been convinced that many of the “wisdom” arguments against liquor had equally convincing counter arguments and further “wisdom” arguments levied against them.Still I remained dry. But a month or so later I was asked what I thought about alcohol by a cousin of mine. He actually married into the family as I did, and we both went to the same college (even sang on a men’s quintet together). Our discussion was overheard and the fundamentalist in-laws grew livid! Well not exactly, but there was quite a commotion for a usually soft-spoken bunch. Further conversations with Nathan led to my being given some flavored beer. He also gave me some research he had compiled–a list of all the verses referring to alcoholic beverages in Scripture, along with a few articles. Reading the articles made me even more convinced that wine is to be viewed as a good gift from God. Who was I to snub my nose at God’s gift and say, “No, thanks, God. I am better off without that.”So, I determined to partake of alcoholic beverages to God’s glory. And to this day I conscientiously seek to honor God and thank Him for the wonderful gift of alcohol. By no means am I an experienced drinker yet. But I have experienced the joy God intends for us through this refreshing means.Enough about me, what about you? Will you be having some wine?

I am writing this because of stumbling onto several blogposts on this very subject. The Southern Baptist Convention just recently passed another resolution condemning the “use” of alcohol. Not the “abuse” but its “use”. This has sparked several blog objections and a few have caught my eye. Below I am listing some links for you to peruse. I also mention a few things I have learned recently through these blogposts. But before I send you to these links, take the time to read my first post defending wine entitled “‘Wine to Gladden the Heart of Man’: Thoughts on God’s Good Gift of Wine”.

Cheers!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Links:

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

Spurgeon on Regeneration and Faith

~ fundyreformed

I am sure that some of my readers disagree with my Calvinism. In my debates and discussions concerning Calvinism, I have found that many particularly object to the idea that regeneration precedes faith (I defend this belief here). Some people go so far as to suggest that this belief represents an extreme form of Calvinism. Others suggest that this belief is a relatively new development in Calvinism. And inevitably, Charles H. Spurgeon gets dragged into the affair. Yes, some people go so far as to state that Spurgeon was against the belief that regeneration precedes faith.

Well, I stumbled onto a blogpost which does an excellent job explaining Spurgeon’s true position. Yes, he affirmed that regeneration preceedes faith. Of course, we shouldn’t have to look any further than his sermon entitled “Faith and Regeneration”. Michael Riley explains in his post (entitled “Spurgeon on the priority of regeneration to faith”) just what is so confusing about Spurgeon that could potentially lead people to misunderstand him, while offering a compelling case that Spurgeon believed regeneration was the cause of faith. His post is worth the short read, and he offers further documentation for those who desire to dig deeper.

(HT: Sharper Iron)

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

Fundamentalist Joke

~ fundyreformed ~ 2 Comments

While I was preparing for my recent post on secondary separation, I stumbled across this joke.    I thought it would lighten the discussion and add humor to my latest discussion of secondary separation. However, it also illustrates the extremes to which secondary separation can digress.

There was a man who was about to jump from a bridge to end his own life. A passerby stopped to try to prevent it. The passerby tried to start a conversation and told the jumper, “I am a Baptist”. The jumper said, “me too”. “Oh really, that’s great”, said the passerby, “are you a pre-millenialist Baptist?” The jumper replied, “yes I am”. The passerby said, “great, me too”. The passerby asked, “are you a King James version only Baptist or will you use other versions?” “King James only” said the jumper. “Me too” said the passerby. “Are you a 5-point Calvinist?”, asked the passerby. “No” replied the jumper. “Me either” said the passerby. “Would you recognize baptism from a Baptist Church where the pastor did not attend a Baptist seminary?” The jumper replied “Yes”. The passerby then shouts, “Die! Heretic! And pushes the jumper off the bridge.

[The above joke was given in a comment by Ron Bean (who states it is not original to him) in the discussion of an article entitled “Unity is Fundamental”  on Sharper Iron.]

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7