BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too...

Tim Tebow and Jim Dobson: "He was my friend, faithful and just to me"...

He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man….
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.

(Tim, w/thanks to many) Like Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, Jim Dobson's breakout book, Dare to Discipline, was rejected by many publishers before one gave it a try--in Dobson's case, my father-in-law's Tyndale House Publishers. Later, Dad Taylor gave money to Jim to do a radio show, and the rest is history.

I am not ashamed of Dr. James Dobson. Rather, I've long expressed my deep gratitude for Jim's work on the air and in print. Few men have contributed so much Biblical instruction to my flocks. When the history of the late twentieth century is written, it will become clear Jim was one of the most courageous warriors for truth and mercy and justice in these United States.

You may have noticed on this blog that I've never mentioned the name of that publication in Wheaton calling itself Christianity Today. One reason is their sotto voce attacks on Jim Dobson. Among Wheaton's detelligentsia, it's hip to smirk when Dobson's name comes up, and CT has taken its cue and place among the pea-shooters.

This has been very discouraging for Jim; it's hurt him, his wife Shirley, and their children.

I can hear the exclamations: "Hello! How does Tim Keller feel about your criticism, dude? Something about the splinter and the log!"

Fair enough...

And women rule over them...

O My people! Their oppressors are children, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray And confuse the direction of your paths. -Isaiah 3:12

If we wanted to describe the repudiation of Biblical sexuality spreading across conservative churches and denominations today, we'd have a hard time finding a better text than this curse of God recorded by the prophet Isaiah. Women lead men, those who guide the People of God lead them astray, and pastors confuse the direction of their flocks' paths.

It's everywhere, from Campus Crusade for Christ to Operation Mobilization to Columbia International University to Wheaton College to the Presbyterian Church in America...

A while back, the New Yorker ran an article by Malcolm Gladwell profiling Cesar Millan, the man behind the National Geographic show, Dog Whisperer. Titled "What the Dog Saw," the piece gave readers a spellbinding glimpse into the life of a man expert at disciplining incorrigible dogs. The central thrust of the article was an explanation of Millan's "phrasing," his ability to bring his body movements, hand gestures, tone of voice, and eye contact into perfect harmony so that dogs understand Millan says what he means and means what he says. In an interview following the publication of his article, Gladwell described Millan's good phrasing:

What we're talking about, when it comes to phrasing, is simply the ability to communicate with clarity. We all think that those around us have the ability to read our minds--and we get frustrated when our intentions are misunderstood. But the truth is that accurate communication is really hard, and only a very small number of people can do it well.

Gladwell's profile contained a number of examples of dog owners who hired Millan to tame their dogs. Here's the story of a dog named Beauty:

"I have forty-seven dogs right now," Cesar...idly scratched a big German shepherd. "My girlfriend here, Beauty. If you were to see the relationship between her and her owner." He shook his head. "A very sick relationship. A 'Fatal Attraction' kind of thing. Beauty sees her (owner) and she starts scratching her and biting her, and the owner is, like, 'I love you, too.'"

Near the end of his article, Gladwell told the story of a Chihuahua named...

Are video recordings of famous men, used in corporate worship services, the true preaching of God's Word...

(Tim) This post was a comment by son Joseph under a previous post titled "Beware of Despising Preaching." I thought it should be a post of its own.

* * *

Let's start with a book of sermons by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. These are actual sermons that he preached and were recorded onto paper. You read one of them. Is it a real sermon? Yes. Did M.L. Jones preach it? Yes. Was it the proper preaching of the Word when he delivered the sermon? Yes. Did he preach it to you? No. Therefore, you have not been "under" the preaching of the Word. You have indeed read a written record of the proper preaching of the Word, and it is more than likely to be beneficial to you, but not in the way that you would be benefited had you been present in the congregation when he originally preached the sermon. And similarly, although it might have been infinitely better preaching, reading it is not going to benefit you as much as attending a real church where you are a member, submitted to the authority of the pastor preaching *to* you.

Now let's move to radio/mp3 sermons. The same thing can be said. You've heard an audio recording of a real sermon, but it wasn't preached to you. There is a big difference between the two. (I will ignore radio "sermons"  that are "preached" to a studio microphone instead of a congregation as they are not even preaching in my mind.)

Now what about public video recordings (as opposed to private video feeds, which I will address next)? Here I would make the same argument. Watching a recording of somebody preaching is not the same thing as them preaching to you. And yet there is a big difference between audio and video, isn't there? One difference is that video makes you *think* and *feel* that the person is addressing you directly, much more effectively than audio does. Why?

The "endlessly lovely" Ayn Rand...

(Tim, w/thanks to Phil M.) Apostasy is the greatest of all tragedies. When unrepented, it leaves a soul beyond the blood of Jesus Christ.

Yet even in apostasy, there are comedies that appear, providing us hope the tragedy may not be quite as tragic as it thinks itself. Take, for instance, this phrase from a recent announcement of conversion to atheism by a member of Indelible Grace, the PCA's house praise band. In his denial of the Faith, this man refers to "the endlessly lovely Ayn Rand."

The endlessly lovely Ayn Rand? Surely he jests...

Deacon is an office, and therefore always involves the exercise of authority...

(Tim) A proposed amendment to the Presbyterian Church in America's Book of Church Order adopted by the session of Atlanta's Westminster Presbyterian Church is being presented to Metro Atlanta Presbytery, today. One part of Westminster's argument depends upon an abuse of the statement of the Biblical authority of the office of deacon relative to the office of elder. This equivocation is a cornerstone in the propaganda put out by churches in Redeemer's camp who are trying to get woman officers into the PCA--a denomination, it should be remembered, largely founded to repent of this sin.

Proposed Amendment: WHEREAS, the New Testament office of deacon was established, not by the direct revelation of a divine command, but by apostolic prudence, and not in a governing office but as an office of service, Acts 6:2 – 4 “‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.’”; and...

It's clear from the New Testament that the office of deacon is normative. To say that it was not divinely instituted is misleading.

But, more seriously, the oft-repeated statement today, that the office of deacon is "not a governing office, but one of service," is only helpful when demonstrating the relationship of these two offices, one to the other. It's equivocation when dealing with the relationship of church members to the office of deacon...

And we think we're modern...

(Tim) This excellent exhortation to church planters and other pastors by son Joseph was just posted on the ClearNote Fellowship Blog. With his wife, Heidi, Joseph is planting a church in Indianapolis and I commend the work to our readers if they know residents of Indy looking for a church home. For more information, please e-mail Joseph.

* * *

Currently, my wife and I are reading out loud together volume one of Iain Murray’s two-volume biography of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The First Forty Years 1899-1939 (v. 1). (By the way, reading out loud is an excellent way to pass the time, but more about that another day.)

Whenever I read history, I find myself wondering at my own stupidity... It's truly amazing I so easily forget the truth of God’s declaration through King Solomon that “there is nothing new under the sun.” But I always do, and this is why it's so important to read history. Whenever I read about the past, I find that it's just like the present. Only today we’re so conceited we honestly think we’re the first ones to…

Saddleback: "transcendence is not on the menu"...

(Tim) From the Guardian:

...popular evangelical Christianity is religiously vacuous. It is directed to secular ends, which, arguably, should be promoted by secular means. Saddleback is religion for people who don't like religion: transcendence is not on the menu. ...I was depressed by Saddleback. It seemed the butt-end of Christianity: stripped of history and iconography, wholly immersed in its secular surroundings, constructed according to a business model and promoted by motivational speakers, bland, cheerful, dull...

Boston Herald: "A revolution begins..."

(Tim) Just posted, this editorial from the Boston Herald:

It was - for the second time in Massachusetts history - the shot heard round the world, or at the very least from coast to coast and surely in the halls of Congress.

Scott Brown won this one fair and square with his down-to-earth charm, his hard work and his forthright position on issues - and with the help of that much-disparaged by the opposition pick-up truck.

But it is also true that Brown was the right candidate at the right time with the right message. And it’s that message that the White House and congressional Democrats can no longer ignore. After all, if the people of Massachusetts can send a Republican to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat Ted Kennedy had a lock on for 47 years, then the revolution has indeed begun.

Not trusting in horses and chariots (and certainly not the Republican Party), as a former resident of the Bay State who worked for a couple years for the only other man who came close to taking this seat from Ted Kennedy (Si Spaulding), I view tonight's defeat of the Kennedy legacy as God's kindness to us.

Reading a review of Chadwick's just-released bio of Augustine earlier this evening...

Woman officers in the PCA: local practice seeking GA confirmation...

(Tim) A number of times I've heard men ask whether Tim Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church are planning to follow the lead of other former PCA congregations by moving into another denomination that embraces woman officers? I've wondered this myself. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Church in America have served former PCA churches well in this regard and have seemed the most likely candidates.

Then comes news that Metro New York Presbytery recently nominated both Tim Keller and his right hand man, Bruce Terrell, for the Bills and Overtures Committee of this year's General Assembly, as well as Bruce Terrell for a seat on the Standing Judicial Commission.

We have our answer.

Announcing the ClearNote Fellowship blog...

(Tim) Today, the ClearNote Fellowship Blog is up with its first post by Josh Congrove titled, Why Study Church History: The Myopia of the Modern. If you like Baylyblog, you'll want to add the ClearNote Blog to your bookmarks or RSS feeds. We'll have posts by people involved with ClearNote, posts by women for women, and posts by a number of pastors. I'll be posting there, too.

To whet your appetite, here are a couple paragraphs from Josh's piece posted today, the first day of 2010. We hope the work of ClearNote Fellowship will be a great encouragement to you and that you'll join with us in any way you're able. May God bless your new year!

* * *

...Understanding Church history shows us that the most incredible, most sophisticated discoveries in the Christian faith were made long ago. It shows us that our great need today is not to let postmodernism inform the doctrine of the Trinity, but rather to proclaim its doctrine, already discovered, to a world that needs old truth explained, not new truth uncovered. Church history shows us that most of the new perspectives we think we've opened today are really little more than rehashing of old heresy. Open theism is nothing more than the posterity of Pelagianism; and its adherents, if more sophisticated, are only the degraded descendants of the man St. Augustine defeated 1,600 years ago. Feminism is nothing but...

Tim Keller, my hero...

(Tim) Speaking of honor to whom honor is due, I was very pleased yesterday with Tim Keller's expressed distaste for video worship. In the piece that ran on the front page of USA Today yesterday (I guess that's how you say it?) concerning multi-site megachurches, he was profiled and several times given the opportunity to sign on to the world of video-worship-sermons inhabited by many, but most sadly our dear brothers John Piper and Mark Driscoll.

He demurred, and because of his demurral I'm proud to be PCA. Seriously.

Thank you, Tim Keller.

Now, if someone will just write a jeremiad against the corruption of the church and worship and pastoral care these idolatrous video screens are solidifying among us, I can die in peace.

* * *

And while I'm commending Tim Keller, here's a helpful article he did a couple days ago on the role doctrinal criticism has in our sanctification. It's a good read, pastoral and quite true.

"Such artfully crafted ambiguity": androgyny owns Manhattan...

 
(Tim, w/thanks to a bunch of people) "Such artfully crafted ambiguity" isn't a summary statement describing the caviling of Tim Keller concerning what distinction his church makes between her male and female officers. Rather, it's a quote from the The New York Times which recently has published several articles on the mainstreaming of androgyny. Running in the Fashion & Style Section, first there was a piece titled "Can a Boy Wear a Skirt to School?" Then, this past week, a second piece ran titled "It's All a Blur to Them."

Karlo Steel of gender-bending clothier, Atelier, said this about New York's love affair with metrosexuality: "Today the more successful designers are the ones that try to bridge the gap between the sexes rather than drive a wedge between them."

Finally, I'm coming to understand why Manhattan's Redeemer Presbyterian Church makes no distinction between her male and female officers. From beginning to end including their nomination, training, examination, election, and installation, male and female officers are lumped together in a mass, indiscriminately. The process is entirely androgynous...

Brian McLaren exposed by a Stupak question...

(Tim, w/thanks to Kamilla) Christians who voted for Barack Obama and now support centralized government health care normally are great supporters of that Emergent businessman, Brian McLaren. You can warn them away from him, but they persevere in their adulation because he speaks their language as no one else. As one woman put it to me, he answers the questions of my heart.

McLaren has been quite influential in getting such naifs to support Barack Obama while convincing themselves that he (Obama) is pro-life. In other words, that he opposes abortion. Well, maybe not actually "opposes"--that may be taking it a bit too far. It might be better to say that he wishes he opposed abortion. Or maybe better yet, that he wishes others thought of him as opposing abortion.

Maybe best to say that sometimes, very late at night, he admits to himself that he wishes "those people" would have fewer abortions. But then, what's a poor boy to do?

Anyhow, as I said, McLaren is the guy that seduced them all to board this ship and now, courtesy of Brian's grandpa, Jim Wallis, we know precisely how opposed to abortion McLaren isn't.

What passes for professing at Covenant College...

(Tim) A couple days ago, under the post "Why Same-Sex Intimacy Is Sin," a comment appeared written by Baylyblog's resident scoffer, Cliff Foreman. For twenty-five years, Professor Foreman's day job has been professing Reformed Christian faith as a member of the English Department at the Presbyterian Church in America's Covenant College. Most of our readers are aware that David and I aren't fans of Covenant College. We think it would be best for our denomination to sell it to Tim Keller, but to this point no one's taking our suggestion seriously.

As a simple defense of our position, consider this exchange between Prof. Foreman and a mere graduate student here at Indiana University--a young whippersnapper who lacks the terminal degree as well as the wonderful privilege of a quarter-century of spiritual and theological growth there at Covenant College, at ease in Zion on top of Lookout Mountain within the wonderfully safe cocoon of scores of like-minded Reformed PhDs sharing his commitment to the Westminster Standards.

Here then is Prof. Foreman's explanation to a shake-the-dust-off-your-feet hard-hearted unbeliever of why sodomy is wrong, followed by Josh Congrove's deconstruction of Prof. Foreman's explanation:

* * *

CLIFF FOREMAN WRITES: How about this: God created human beings and intended them to find happiness and fulfillment in committed heterosexual marriages. Then human beings fell and sin entered the world. This meant that people would be born with sinful desires and that through life experiences those desires would solidify into sinful patterns of behavior. But God set his son to offer us forgiveness and the opportunity for significant healing in this life. Our struggle against sin is difficult, but success is possible because of Jesus' sacrifice and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. But of course, in order to be healed and to enjoy the blessings of health, we need to admit that we are sick. If we say that our sinfulness is normal, we won't seek healing. We may tell ourselves that our disease isn't contagious and that it hurts no one, but we will never, then, know what it is to be healthy.

If this scenario, which is what the Bible teaches, is true, then the people who are condemning your behavior are doing so because they think you are missing out on something that would be better for you...

Praise God for the love and compassion of Bible-believing Christians...

(Tim) This is written by a convert to Eastern Orthodoxy. Thinking readers might have some responses, I post it here. I've received it second or third hand, so I don't know the writer or context.

While recognizing that some people have a calling from God to speak out specifically on these sins, I find that the focus among many Evangelicals on the abortion and same-sex marriage issues to the exclusion of all others reflects the extreme individualism of Protestant theology and ethics, both "conservative" and "liberal". Evangelicals care rightly about the killing that goes on within a woman's womb, and about the improper and irreverent use of our God-given sexual organs in our own bodies or in the bodies of others. But there is not always a corresponding concern about the killing and grave threats to human life that are present outside of the womb, and about the improper and irreverent use of the natural world and material possessions given to us by God.

I don't think it's an accident that the same individualistic faith traditions that emphasize and sanctify "my personal choice" (to accept Jesus as "personal Savior" in the case of conservative Protestants, to have an abortion as a "personal matter" in the case of the liberals) but downplay the physical unity and continuity of the Body of Christ across space and time would also be quite uncertain regarding the social obligations that Christians have to their political and military enemies, to the poor and sick among us, and to the rest of God's creation. A faith tradition that fails to connect our moral obligations inside our bodies with our moral obligations outside of our bodies is deficient in both its anthropology and its ecology.

To get things started, it seems to me evangelicals are now close to the heart of the movement for the social justice of cutting carbon emissions, calling for the government to increase funds for AIDS research, and shaming people who litter. Rick Warren, anyone? Brian McLaren? Rob Bell up there in Grand Rapids? Inter-Varsity? Zondervan? Navigators? Willow Creek? Tim Keller and his flock?

And of course, every last prof at Covenant and Taylor and Gordon and Westmont and Wheaton.

Maybe our critic is only speaking of historic evangelicalism--not the classic liberalism that's taken over these past few decades.

But then he has an entirely different problem...

Redeemer plays deek-a-boo...

(Tim) This e-mail just went out to the members of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City over the signature of the church's pastor, Tim Keller. The e-mail's purpose is to solicit nominations of men and women for church office. Nominations are to be sent to Jenny Chang, Redeemer's Director of the Diaconate. And for those not keeping track, Tim Keller is the main proponent of woman officers in the Presbyterian Church in America.

What's written here is one more indication of a promotion and practice of woman officers at Redeemer that's contrary both to Scripture and to our denomination's Constitution.

If anyone's still lost in wishful thinking that the practice of woman officers by Redeemer and her sister churches is nothing more than the implementation of deaconesses defended by Calvin and Warfield, please repeat after me: Deeks. Deeks. Deeks...

Reading this to my wife just now, she thought I'd made the word up. Then, I arrived at Tim Keller's e-mail below and, with shock and disbelief, she exclaimed, "I thought you were making it up. That's astounding!"

Indeed.

New words are hard to learn, aren't they? Speaking only for myself, it took forever to get the hang of 'waiter' for 'waitress' and 'actor' for 'actress'. So I'm not looking forward to the next half a year learning to avoid 'deacon' and 'deaconess', trading them in for the gender-neutered 'deek.'

But hey, Redeemer's hip...

Christianity left behind...

(Tim, w/thanks to several readers) A prominent evangelical magazine just did a piece on the complaint by Calvin College faculty reps that Calvin's board has issued policy barring members of their faculty from promoting sodomy. The article starts this way:

The homosexuality debate that has torn apart mainline denominations is fanning faculty and student protests at Calvin College, and highlights a growing issue facing evangelical schools.

The magazine, published in Wheaton, continues:

The case is being watched with interest by other (evangelical) schools struggling to balance compassion and doctrine in their policies on gays.

"Struggling to balance compassion and doctrine?" What on earth are they saying?

Well of course, the point is that the evangelical world today is moving toward the normalization of sodomy and the rubric under which it's being done is the silencing of Scripture's denunciation of sodomy as an abomination before the Lord. Other abominations such as fornication, unbiblical divorce and remarriage, and adultery have already been normalized, and now it's sodomy's turn.

The path to normalization is cleared by much talk of compassion with only an occasional tip of the hat to sin and righteousness and judgment. Which is to say that the Holy Spirit is nowhere present in such discussions since "When He comes, He will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment."

There's no conviction of sin going on--none at all. Instead, we're busy balancing compassion and doctrine. Wheaton College's "sexuality scholar," Stan Jones, puts it like this...

Calvin's best and brightest: bestiality, sodomy, and cannibalism...

(Tim) What do you say when Calvin College's confessional Protestant and Reformed faculty members have a hissy fit over their trustees' adoption of a policy barring them from advocating sodomy? What about bestiality--would these magnificent minds object to a policy barring them from advocating sex with animals? And cannibalism--would it be an infringement on academic freedom if they were barred from advocating the haute cuisine of the raft of the Medusa?

One of these is just like the others.

Keep in mind every Calvin faculty member promises, as a condition of his employment, that he will...

CRC schoolmen join the parade...

(Tim, w/thanks to Andy) Readers may have noted my mention of Grand Rapids in the post on False Shepherd Rob Bell. It was purposeful. When a community committed to confessing the most Biblical doctrine turns its back on God's Word in as flagrant a way as the Christian Reformed Church has turned her back on the Creation order of sexuality, God's future judgment will be as severe as His past blessing. To whom much is given, much shall be required.

For clear signs of that judgment, watch the present history of both the mother country, Holland, and the mother institution of the CRC here in these United States, Calvin College and Seminary.

For instance, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Calvin's schoolmen are all in a huff over their trustees forbidding the promotion of sodomy and sodomite marriage by Calvin's faculty members. So Faculty Senate (thanks for the correction, Sue) members took a vote...

Derek Webb again...

(Tim) By the way, yesterday Herr Professor Doctor Jürgen von Hagen brought us the Word of God at Church of the Good Shepherd. His text was the Rich Fool and it's context, Luke 12:16-34. Concerning the statements there, "he began reasoning to himself" and "I will say to my soul," Juergen made the point that Scripture does not commend a man talking to himself.

This occurred to me watching Derek. Eyes closed, all alone, singing. He appears to be completely entranced with his own music and himself.

* * *

By the way, the sermon is well worth your time. If you're within driving distance, we have a number of men who would be delighted to preach for you--including Pastor von Hagen. Just send me an e-mail with your location and proposed date.

Rick Phillips reviews Tim Keller reviewing Bill Hybels...

(Tim, w/thanks to our Redeemer Manhattanite correspondent) Pastor Rick Phillips recently did a post critical of a review of Willow Creek written by the Rev. Dr. Tim Keller. Rick was apologetic as he got started:

Our poor friend Tim Keller suffers the fate of having his every word parsed over a thousand times...  For this reason, I try to avoid such parsing...

But fortunately, truth got the better of Rick and he quickly hit his stride. Check it out.

Me and Jesus, plus nothing...

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. (Hebrews 13:17)

(Tim) The results of Trinity College's 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) are in and they confirm that the souls of Americans are not being lost to false religions, but to the complete rejection of the Church. This confirms my own experience.

Far and away the largest number of souls who have rejected Church of the Good Shepherd's doctrine in the past decade, investigating us but leaving for somewhere else, left because we require a believer be a member in good standing of some evangelical, Bible-believing church to join with us at the Lord's Table.

We fence the Table quite inclusively, really. I use the liturgy of the old Scottish Book of Worship and it's a balm for weak souls trusting in Christ alone for our salvation. But then, at the end, I warn off those who reject Christ's authority, rejecting the authority of elders over their own soul. If they believe they can relate directly to God, bypassing the ministry and authority of His Church, this rebellion disqualifies them from communing with us, I tell them.

Of course, I go on to show them how easily they may correct the matter...

Nationalized healthcare and abortion: just say "No"...

(Tim, w/thanks to Mark) Lest there be any doubt in the matter, I'm absolutely opposed to any expansion of the authority and power of our national government in the lives of citizens of our united states. And this is particularly true with regard to what is being referred to as national healthcare. The national healthcare we need is CPR for the Tenth Amendment--not President Barack Obama forcing believers in Jesus Christ to send our taxes to him so he can pay for someone else's daughter to slaughter her unborn child or intimidate someone else's son into pulling the plug on his aging mother.

If you want to read the definitive work on national healthcare and where it will lead us...

SJC Officers try for a TKO of complaint against Redeemer's presbytery...

(Tim: the text below is contributed by our NYC correspondent) A letter from PCA Stated Clerk Roy Taylor dated September 9, 2009 states that certain officers of the Standing Judicial Commission ("SJC") have ruled that the complaint filed with the SJC objecting to the ruling by the Metropolitan New York Presbytery regarding certain diaconal practices was filed prematurely. The letter states:

"The Officers of the Standing Judicial Commission have met September 4, 2009 and considered the documents submitted by the complainants and the Stated Clerk of Presbytery. The officers found the case to be administratively out of order since Presbytery adopted Amends No.1, which nullified, rescinded, annulled and or retracted its previous action, and with Amends Nos. 2,3, and 4 being addressed by the Presbytery through further discussions, debates and actions, all of which indicate that the Case was filed prematurely."

Here are a few preliminary thoughts:

1. The officers of the SJC that ruled the complaint was premature constitute only a portion of the SJC and may not represent the views of the SJC as a whole. It remains the prerogative of the full body of the SJC to allow this ruling to stand or to overturn it...

Women teach and exercise authority in Redeemer's Sunday school classes...

(Tim) Our New York correspondent writes:

The current round of Sunday school classes at Redeemer Presbyterian Church features three different classes led by women. Attendance for these classes is not restricted to women. It seems that some explanation for Redeemer's practice is warranted given Scripture's prohibition of women teaching men:

Class One

A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. (1 Timothy 2:11-13)

Class Two

I wonder if Redeemer would defend this practice by suggesting...

In the godly, fear and love embrace.

(Tim) The problem with Evangelicalism is illustrated by our local Contemporary Christian Music station. Every piece of music ends with a crescendo. Sopranos screech, brass blares, tenors hitch into falsetto, and every word's either 'grace' or 'blessing' or 'peace' or 'Heaven.' Can't stand the stuff. Ain't real.

It's like touring the color house with my art director brother-in-law twenty years ago, back when they still used airbrush technology to remove wrinkles and moles. Peter did a lot of work with the company and they were proud to show us their twenty-thousand dollar drum scanner. Before we saw the scanner, though, they showed us the other work they did.

A lot of the color work for national glossy magazines went through their shop and we were shown each step in the process. It all went well until we hit the airbrush expert. All of a sudden, we were peering over the shoulder of a man removing moles and pimples and wrinkles from a certain well-known woman's naked body. Pop! There it was.

Or rather, there she was. But not really her--someone else. Someone who didn't exist and never had.

Since then, I've seen the puppetmaster behind every ad and picture and movie and I am not fooled.

People aren't willing to listen to Tim Keller...

(Tim) Everyone ready for a belly laugh?

In a post titled "Eloquent Whining Is Still Whining," Kevin Carroll quotes Bryan Chapell lamenting in the latest byFaith that the egalitarians pushing for woman officers in the PCA haven't been listened to enough. Complains Chapell:

Whether we are talking about a local church or the entire denomination, a refusal to listen to half of the body because we have the votes to end the discussion is not healthy long-term.

Surely Bryan's not serious. Tim Keller hasn't been heard enough?

Bully pulpits provided him at each General Assembly and in the pages of every other "byFaith"; his books on every Barnes & Noble and Border bestseller table; his name on every conference marquee; interviewed by every media outlet; sermons flooding the web; and we need to listen to Tim Keller more?

Has Bryan been stranded on a desert island for the past ten years?

The death of the TNIV: follow the money...

(Tim) Before everyone forgets about it, here are a couple thoughts about the announcement by Zondervan and Biblica that they're scrapping their TNIV product.

I've spent my life inside the world of Christian publishing, particularly the Bible publishing world. And the thing everyone must understand is that it's an exceedingly rare Bible translator or publisher who is unaware of the money that can be made or lost on Bible sales. And usually made--not lost. We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars per year, and the necessity of keeping an eye on the mammon is as applicable to men like Don Carson who have been paid to translate gender-neutered Bibles as it is to the women like Moe Girkins who have been paid to head up gender-neutered Bible publishing corporations like Zondervan.

So, for instance, we all know Zondervan has canned their TNIV product because its sales have been pitiful. Looking more deeply into the matter, we find...

Yes, they're women officers, but they don't teach or exercise authority...

(Tim) Now that it's clear there are women officers in the PCA, I'm guessing their patrons will tell us their women officers are over the entire congregation (not just the women), but that these particular officers never, ever exercise authority over any man. Never.

Then, they'll issue a press release: "Our women officers do not teach or exercise authority over men, but are silent, because Adam was created first, and then Eve; and it was not Adam who was deceived; but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression."

We're waiting. With bated breath.

Finally, the Presbyterian Church in America has women officers...

(Tim) To understand the current state of our confessional and connectional union, you must know only one thing: The Presbyterian Church in America now has women officers.

We had to jettison a lot of baggage on the way, but we got there.

As just one among many examples, this from the February 2009 Redeemer Presbyterian Church (NYC) Newsletter:

Metro New York Presbytery's response to Judicial Complaint...

(Tim) Presbyteries release draft minutes a few weeks after their meetings, but those minutes aren't official until approved at their next meeting. Here is the record of Metro NY's May 9, 2009 response to the Judicial Complaint filed against it. If you haven't yet read the complaint, you'll want to. It provides a perfectly efficient education on the failures of Metro NY Presbytery, her flagship church, Redeemer, and churches around the country following them in their promotion of woman officers. (Clicking that link downloads the HTML for Redeemer's "Officer Nominations" page, documenting that woman deacons are called "officers" in Redeemer's web pages--as they also are in her Newsletter and Officer Nomination Form.

Please keep two things in mind: first, that these minutes await final approval at Metro NY's upcoming September 11, 2009 meeting; and second, that another Judicial Complaint has now been filed against Metro NY Presbytery...

Missional or Commissional?

(Tim) Here's the manuscript for our final sermon on the Gospel of Matthew; and specifically, our final sermon on the Great Commission. Please forgive me for not cleaning it up prior to posting it, here. Lots of formatting and spelling mistakes will irritate you, I'm sure. And please keep in mind that sermon manuscripts are not sermons.

"He Who sits in the heavens laughs."

(Tim, w/thanks to Bob) Uwe Siemon-Netto comments on his fellow Lutherans' approval of the ordination of sodomites to pastoral ministry and the tornado many Reformed men are quick to say should not be attributed to any Divine purpose communicating any Divine message. Don't miss it.

Brian McLaren bloviating his shame...

(Tim) Three or four of you have now sent me notification that Emergent Church leader Brian McLaren is observing the Muslim holy days of Ramadan this year. Joining with them in their daily fast/feast cycle, McLaren makes this promise in behalf of himself and all those following him in his folly:

We will seek to avoid being disrespectful or unfaithful to our own faith tradition in our desire to be respectful to the faith tradition of our friends.

Good readers, when you and your pastor start to refer to our only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Only Begotten Son of the Father as "our own faith tradition," your soul is in peril and you need to get out of that church and find a true Christian church where your own soul, as well as that of your wife and children, will be guarded--not sold for fame and fortune. Do it quickly.

But back to His Pomposity: McLaren has a bunch of reasons for turning towards Mecca and he's spreading all of them across the known world. If you think of the Emergent Church leaders as publicity hounds...

Feeding the 5,000...

(Tim, w/thanks to someone I can't remember) Speaking of numbers and growth and success, another speaker at Acts 29's Lead Pastors Conference in Boulder was church growth brainiac, Ed Stetzer. For about a week, now, I've had an open tab in my Firefox window marking a recent article by Ed summarizing findings of a study he led of today's most sucessful churches. The research, funded by the Southern Baptists' Lifeway Research, is titled, "OUTREACH 100: Largest and Fastest-Growing Churches in America."

Ed introduces his summary this way:

"Joy and purpose and passion and pleasure and enthusiasm and hope and joy..."

(Tim, w/ thanks to Craig) Several years ago at the Acts 29 Lead Pastors Conference in Boulder, I heard Mark Driscoll talk about the irony of being invited to preach in the Crystal Cathedral and being embraced by its founding pastor, Robert Schuller.

Why would they want bad-boy Mark when they know he's going to punch them in the face with the Word, right?

Mark talked to sixty of us or so about how he'd not back down or compromise. He'd give it to them straight and see what happened. Robert Schuller posed no threat to his integrity.

So I was interested to be sent a link to his sermon given this past Lord's Day at the Crystal Cathedral. But before preaching, the prince of positivism, Robert Schuller, did a short interview to elicit Mark's credentials for speaking to his cosseted congregation in behalf of the Holy Spirit:

Robert Schuller: Your church has how many members?

Government healthcare means cruelty, oppression, and murder...

For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous, So that the righteous will not put forth their hands to do wrong.  - Psalm 125:3

(Tim) Government funding always means more government control. Always. And today, that cannot possibly be good news.

More government control will lead to less compassion (for single mothers, for instance), responsibility (for single fathers, for instance), justice (for unborn children, for instance), mercy (for the homeless, for instance), truth (for children educated in government schools, for instance) and freedom for citizens forced to foot the bill for government's aborting those very virtues her subjects hold dear.

This is the reason compassionate, responsible, just, merciful, and truthful Americans are joining Libertarian ranks in droves. They've read Paul Johnson's Intellectuals and learned that the sort of leaders profiled by the New Yorker and the NYTimes Magazine will talk about love for the people and national compassion while demonstrating an astounding selfishness in their own personal lives.

Need I list examples?

Hillary Clinton of It Takes a Village fame? Her husband, Bill? The latest entrant into the race for that moral squalor called the Office of Governor of the State of New York, Rudy Giuliani? Our resident global-warming prophet safely ensconced in his carbon-spewing mansion (except when he's flying in his carbon-spewing coporate jets), Al Gore?

Democrats won this last election by hoodwinking young and middle-aged "Christians" who had been softened up to the deception by years of being inoculated against all discernment by ear-scratchers like Rob Bell and Brian McLaren. Their pastors had turned them into easy marks for Barack Obama's lies.

But among those who saw through President Obama's lies...

I've been corrected: Redeemer's session meetings are not men-only...

(Tim; For greater clarity, I've split this post into two, so a couple of the comments are missing some of their context)

In another post, I made the statement that Redeemer's session meetings are male-only. Quickly, I received an e-mail correction with this information that, for several years, Redeemer's session has had a woman in attendance at their meetings whose presence and privileges there appear, for all practical purposes, identical to those of Redeemer's assistant pastors. (I'm unaware of any rubric put in place to make some sort of formal distinction between them.)

In the exchange with the e-mail correspondent, I also found out that, during Lord's Day worship, half or more of Redeemer's pastoral prayers (scrupulously called "Prayers of the People") are given by women; half or more of Redeemer's Scripture lessons (maybe scrupulously called "Readings of the People" to distinguish them from pastors) are read by women; and half or more of those serving the Lord's Supper at Redeemer (maybe scrupulously called "waiters" to distinguish them from elders) are women...

The shepherding and discipline of man by woman at Redeemer...

(Tim, w/thanks to past and present Redeemer Presbyterian Church members and leaders)

Recently, I was sent a PowerPoint slide that was distributed among Redeemer's pastors and Shepherding Team members explaining to them how Redeemer's five "Clusters" are to shepherd all those involved in the church's "Fellowship Groups." What it reveals about the pastoral authority woman exercises over man at Redeemer isn't surprising given Tim Keller's stated commitment that a woman may do anything an unordained man may do, there.

Here's an excerpt:

Redeemer's intolerance when it comes to woman officers front and center...

(Tim) This stuff is old hat here on Baylyblog, but for those who are latecomers or have a tendency to think where there's smoke, there's not necessarily fire, check out this Warfield list post describing one PCA pastor's visit to Redeemer (New York) last Sunday. Note particularly three things: first, the woman leading the pastoral/congregational prayer; second, his perception that elders are hidden from the masses; and third, his record of what is said about woman officers being available following the service each Lord's Day.

A friend who used to be an assistant pastor at Redeemer made a practice of forgoing that language when he closed Redeemer's corporate worship services. When called on the carpet and asked why his words weren't in line with the other staff pastors, he said it was a matter of conscience to him. Rather than "there are deaconesses and deacons available down front to answer any questions you may have," he announced, "There are Redeemer leaders available down front to answer any questions you may have."

Shortly after the meeting, he was fired.

Of course, I don't mean to imply...

"To be a Christian is to be intrinsically in a community..."

(Tim) Searching for information about the women who teach and exercise authority over men at the church Tim Keller serves, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, I found this video clip selling people on getting involved in Redeemer's Fellowship Groups. Two comments:

First, note Redeemer's target audience--the demographic their appeal is aimed at. The married? Nope. Dweebs? Nope. Husbands? Nope. Families? Nope. Mothers? Nope. Children? Nope. Babies? Heavens no.

The clip's come-on is "family." Listen to it again.

The closest we come to family is the man on the park bench surrounded by his dogs.

Second, note carefully the cool hip Rob Bell factor.

Think about what this clip says about church growth, today... The way we attract people to the Body of Christ, the Household of Faith, the "family" that membership in constitutes being a Christian, is to sell that family as hipsters.

The glorious Bride of Christ...

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. (Acts 20:28)

He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother. (Cyprian, martyred 258 AD; John Calvin says much the same in his Institutes)

(Tim) A couple years ago, I spoke at a Youth for Christ conference. There were around five hundred youth workers in attendance from a number of eastern African countries including Burundi, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.

The conference's main events were led by a man's man. Sitting in the plenary sessions, it was clear he had the admiration and commitment of every man and woman there. They'd follow his God, go where he asked, and imitate him as he followed Christ. It was dynamic, missional, unpretentious, hardworking, and joyful.

Then there was the small group of pastors who watched from the wings. Next to the dynamism of the conference host, this group looked cowed. The host oozed manly leadership while these men oozed diffidence and timidity. As I watched, I noted how perfectly contrasted the church and the parachurch were there that week...

Park Street Church celebrates her 200th anniversary...

(Tim) It was a sad day when Park Street Church on Boston Common appointed an unapologetic feminist to be its lead pastor/senior minister/senior pastor. Earlier, a dear friend of mine had been their first choice, but holding firmly to God's order of creation--Adam first, and then Eve--he'd seen the writing on the wall and, not wanting to preside over one more evangelical church's apostasy concerning the idolatry of our age, he'd declined the position.

With their money and status, it wasn't hard for Park Street to find another man willing to scratch their itching ears, and my old friend from seminary days, Gordon Hugenberger, has presided there since.

When they were the only Inter-Varsity staff for all of New England and lived in Cambridge, my father and mother attended Park Street...

The whole world's crazy but me and thee...

The biblical pattern of headship is neither the traditional nor the feminist. The feminist rejects the idea that subordination can ever co-exist with equality (though this is the basis of the Trinity’s relationship). The traditionalist believes that subordination assumes inequality. So both of these groups agree! They reject the biblical concept of headship as inconsistent. -Tim Keller

(Tim) As I've said before, if the Biblical doctrine of sexuality is limited in its significance and application according to what Tim Keller teaches--namely to "tie-breaking" authority in marriage, to session meetings and the pulpit in the church, and to nowhere in civil society--then the Bible doesn't say what it means or mean what it says.

And if the Bible's wrong, it's no surprise the Church has been wrong, too--for two-thousand years.

Sure enough, Tim Keller tells us the doctrine and practice of all previous centuries of the Church was given birth to in misogyny...

Just trust us...

(Tim) For several weeks, now, the news has been filled with articles reassuring Americans that government medicine is inevitable and poses no danger to us. They tell us government medicine will not fund abortions except in the most extraordinary cases where any reasonable man would agree the baby must die. It will not require the wholesale slaughter of the old and feeble--what we are taught to refer to as "euthanasia." After all, termination counseling isn't mandatory; it's simply an option offered those who may find it helpful.

A front page article in the Indy Star yesterday (picked up from the LA Times, by the way) blamed Rush Limbaugh for all the fear. "Nothing bad will happen," the civil authority tells us. "Just trust us."

Trust you?

You have got to be kidding! Trust you? You can't be serious!

Look at your track record. Your government education is so bad you'd sooner die than enroll your own children in the public schools serving your neighborhood there at the White House. And this is equally true of Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama.

Trust you?

We don't "believe in" rain or gravity...

(Tim) Something Tim Keller said to this year's commissioners to the PCA General Assembly is worth pointing out and exegeting:

"I believe in male headship. I believe in the…uhhhh…traditional gender roles."

- Tim Keller; PCA General Assembly; Orlando, June 2009

Had this been poker, everyone should have recognized that statement as a tell. No heavily nuanced Christian apologist to postmoderns wants to go on record as believing in "traditional gender roles." This is the reason this heavily nuanced Christian apologist to postmoderns in particular appears to go out of his way to blur the distinction between male and female church officers by not ordaining his male deacons.

If I've understood Tim Keller correctly through the years, from his mouth the word 'traditional' married to "gender roles" is a pejorative term. Redeemer Presbyterian Church leads the way in the PCA...

Professional wrestling drama in the PCA big top...

"In fact, right now, I’m in a denomination where only men should be deacons and therefore that’s what I believe….and I mean…. that’s what I hold to…and that’s what I support and I don’t…... I do very little in the way of trying to undermine people’s belief on that."

- Tim Keller explaining that everyone watching him and his church and presbytery's actions for years, now, have misunderstood their significance. Completely misunderstood their significance. Things are not at all what they seem. Not at all.

(Tim) The debate between Tim Keller and Lig Duncan at the PCA General Assembly last month was a professional wrestling match with the conflict carefully scripted to produce no pain or danger. The room was packed with 750 commissioners and their wives, but if anyone showed up hoping for the appearance of consciences and convictions, they were disappointed: there there was none of this, "Here I stand; I can do no other; God help me" sort of thing.

Some of the statements documented here should have been met with raspberries or guffaws.

So, why give the exchange broader distribution?

Well, I'm hopeful those who weren't there will be scandalized. And, seeing the words in black and white, some who were there will realize they should have been scandalized and it's not to their credit they weren't.

This stuff is totally awful and the fact that no one said so is simply an indication of the hankering after fame and success that sells tabloids and woman church officers, alike...

"Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true..."

(Tim, w/thanks to David B.) Shortly after posting on the charade-posing-as-debate-over-woman-officers-in-the-PCA, I opened an old e-mail from David Baker and read this one-paragraph review of a book that might have arrived in the nick of time. We're at a kairos in our denomination, and before we go whole hog for submergent contextualization, we ought to give Harry Frankfurt's latest work a chance. Here's a description:

One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern. We have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us.

Submergent church leaders have a lot to answer for...

(Tim, w/thanks to Tim W.) Among the many wicked things Submergent church leaders have given us through their support of Barack Obama's presidency, we come to this:

...the Senate (defense) bill also expands the federal hate-crimes law to those attacked because of their sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability.

I'm wondering if Rob Bell will negotiate an exception for pastors preaching that sodomy is an abomination before God?

It's an ill wind that blows nobody some good...

(Tim, w/thanks to Scott) Being profoundly color blind, I've known it's not always a deficit. Here's a good article on the sexes, their senses and sense utilities (ahem) documenting what I've long known; that the ill wind of colorblindness does indeed blow us some good.

The story's told that, during the Second World War, the RAF had a small group of pilots they noted were quite good at spotting camouflage. When they looked into the matter, they found the thing this group of pilots had in common was that they were all color blind and had memorized the color charts to get into the RAF.

As the article puts it, "'Dichromads do better at tasks where color acts as a distraction,' in situations where spotting camouflaged objects is important, for example."