Think Wink.

In Genesis 1, Elohim gave humanity in Adam the responsibility to subdue the earth and to take dominion over it, filling it with the image of Elohim through procreation. Humanity’s great position in the universe is to reign as Yahweh’s vice-regents and to represent his presence upon the earth. However as we look around the world around us, we can clearly see something happened because the image of God, humanity, is busy rejecting the very God who created them to rule and have dominion over the earth. The created order is at war with the imago dei with violent storms and earthquakes and the animal kingdom fixed an a circle that is deadly to humans. Humanity itself is so concerned with itself that it will kill itself. The question is, what happened?

Genesis 3 is where the answer to this question lies. It is here that humanity will find out why the world around them is so broken, ravaged by disease and death. Read more

Imagio Dei

An Informative Review

“In his image” and Aramaisms

Thursday a twister hit downtown Minneapolis, MN at the time the Evangelical Luther Church of Amarica (ELCA) was holding a vote on whether they would allow homosexuals as pastors in their denomination. In light of several passages, John Piper concluded the following from this twister,

The tornado in Minneapolis was a gentle but firm warning to the ELCA and all of us: Turn from the approval of sin. Turn from the promotion of behaviors that lead to destruction. Reaffirm the great Lutheran heritage of allegiance to the truth and authority of Scripture. Turn back from distorting the grace of God into sensuality. Rejoice in the pardon of the cross of Christ and its power to transform left and right wing sinners.

I just finished reading Denny Burk’s blog this afternoon where he noted something that is quite sad,

What concerns me most about Piper’s “evangelical” critics is that the direction of their outrage indicates that something is askew in their priorities. There appears to be little concern about the fact that an entire denomination has just taken a public stand against the Bible and 2,000 years of unanimous Christian teaching. There is scarcely a cross word about the fact that the Lutherans are walking away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead, the critics are offended by Piper. Moreover, the offended have responded with what amounts to a lot of ugly mud-slinging—the very kind of stumbling-block to unbelievers that Emergents say they wish to avoid.

I thought Piper lovingly and humbly called sin for what it was: sin. I thought Piper’s words were wise and pleaded with everyone to stop approving of sin. But Burk is right. I read Tony Jones’ response and Greg Boyd’s response as well (Here is the Heidelblog’s similar response). They are more concerned about attacking Piper (Boyd was more polite about it than Jones) and not once did they call the ELCA to vote for homosexuality to disqualify a person from being a pastor. Not once, and that was Piper’s point! They did not engage Piper and what his post was about. They were more interested in putting Piper down than engaging him in a meaningful way. Most of the counter-exegesis offered by Boyd, as Jones did not offer any, was unconvincing and did not get the whole point of what Jesus was doing and what was being said.

For example, Mark 4:41 the disciples said after Jesus rebuked a storm, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Boyd says of this text, “What’s interesting to me is that the disciples make this remark in response to Jesus having just rebuked a threatening storm. If Jesus was already controlling all storms, as John claims, why on earth would he need to rebuke this one?” The answer is that Jesus was demonstrating this control to his disciples. They did not know that he had authority over the storms. The gap between how Boyd and Piper conceptualize the Triune God’s authority and sovereignty is so vast that only an open-theist like Boyd would (or a Piper hater) buy it. No one who shares Piper’s belief in a sovereign God and Christ could buy into what he says without first having it out on the sovereignty issue.

I have no problems with people thinking Piper should not read into storms like he did, which was very humble and did not single out the ELCA but anyone and everyone who would read that post. I do have a problem when fellow Christians will not call the ELCA to repent of the sin they were considering adopting and to return to the Gospel and to the Scripture. I do have a problem when people are so bent on disproving anything Piper says that they will fail to actually read what he says and try to get his point, instead of just reading to find something to refute.

I really appreciated what Piper said in a rejoinder. He said the same thing about his cancer that he had three years ago as he said about the ELCA Tornado, the calamity and blessings are God’s warnings to sinners, even sanctified sinners, to repent of their sin. Piper concludes,

My tornado was a call to repentance. Yours will be too. But that is not Satan’s design. Only God’s. Satan’s design is that you approve your sin. God’s is that you let him forgive it and overcome it.

Don’t Waste Your Pulpit

John Piper on Justification and “Don’t Waste Your Life”

Why I Don’t Watch The NBA

I mean I have to agree with Piper’s case here about this inexplicable weather event in downtown Minneapolis, MN yesterday. I really hope the ELCA hears the warning and reaffirms the biblical position on the issue they were supposed to be voting on.

No related posts

In this post I wish to look at the impact of Isaiah 53:11 and Romans 5:18-19 and how they influence justification. Romans 4:25 has been shown that Paul (or someone from whom Paul adapts a traditional Christological formula) does in fact read Isaiah 53:11 into his doctrine of justification in that the resurrection of the Righteous One, Jesus Messiah, effects justification for the people of God. This follows what was seen in Acts 13:38-39 and that Jesus being the Righteous One comes from being raised by the Spirit of God, vindicated or justified in that resurrection or by that resurrection. It does seem that Isaiah 53:11 is playing a very central role in how Paul understands our justification. Read more

Romans 4:25 and Isaiah 53:11

Some Questions I Have

One More Question

Shalom, “peace,” has been rejected by humanity in the actions of Adam and Eve. Their choice was to seize the rewards of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to be like God, and crafty like the serpent (There is a pun running through the narrative of the fall, where “crafty” and “naked” are distinguished by vowel-pointing, that though Adam and Eve wanted to be arum/crafty or wise they were still left arummim/naked). The rejection of I AM took away from us peace. Peace with God, peace with fellow humans (e.g. Cain and Abel and the people of earth before the flood as well as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah), and peace with nature and the created order (e.g. physical death, natural disasters, disease etc.) was all forfeit. So the question is how does humanity get back shalom? How is everything return to what it is supposed to be, the way I AM made it to be? In one word: grace. Read more

Peace Part 1

The “euaggelion” of Peace

Peace Part 4

As we draw near to Easter and celebrate the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he accomplished for us, I was reminded this morning of one important theme that is present with the coming Messiah: peace. The Messiah was to create peace between Israel and her God, I AM, as well as between Israel and the nations/Gentiles. So this week, I wanted to trace these themes from their Old Testament prophetic roots, namely the Law and the Prophets, to their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And thus be reminded that we have peace not only with those who will call upon the name of Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but with I AM whom humanity has spurned in its rebellion against him. Easter is a celebration of peace. Read more

The “euaggelion” of Peace

Peace Part 2

Peace Part 4

Okay now that I have seen the movie and had some time to ponder it, I want to give a review of the film.

First off, I felt like the movie did a good job of sticking to the graphic novel. When I got home last night, I pulled out my copy of Watchmen and read through it again. It was faithful to the feel of the book, right down to the lines. I really want to thank the filmakers and cast for doing such a good job of getting to the heart of the book in this regard. The look and style of the book was in the movie. I really did feel like reading the book again.

This movie definitely needed the rating it got. The action beats in the film could be over the top (i.e. the ally fight with Night Owl II and Silk Spectre II with the gang. The sex in the movie was too much if I were to be asked. There is sticking with the source material and then there is what was seen in the movie.

My roommate’s response was that of amazement for just how bizarre the movie was. Granted it was an apocalyptic scenario of nuclear war breaking out between the US and the USSR when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan back in the 1980’s. But then there is Dr. Manhattan (think of Superman only with the ability to manipulate matter) and his detachment to humanity and his role in the conclusion of the movie. There was the Comedian and why he is actually called the Comedian. I warned him that this movie was going to make the Joker from The Dark Knight look sane and even that didn’t repare him for what he saw.

Now here is what I liked most about the movie: the over all unifying theme. In the movie our world was five minutes from destroying itself from nuclear war. In the film we are in a perpetual state of crisis and war. There is no peace. And to really amplify this bleak picture of humanity there is one scene involving the Comedian and Night Owl II. There is a riot and these two heroes come in to stop it. When the mob turns on the heroes, Comedian moves in for some crown control. When confronted by Night Owl, the comedian tells him that he’s just living the American dream, doing whatever he wants. The bleak world that they live in is what follows from living the American dream. It’s one sick joke because the “American Dream” was supposed to better the world and instead it had only made it worse!

But the blam is not on anyone but humans for the world they live in. They have created it. They made it. From within their black hearts a black world, set to destroy itself, has appeared. This graphic novel and movie understand something very fundamental, something is wrong and the problem isn’t found outside of man, it is inside of him. Human beings are wrong, fundamentally and internally. Dare I say it is something ontological. Dr. Manhattan was supposed to guarantee the US’s national security but only put them in greater danger from the Soviets.

The solution posed in the movie by one of the characters recognizes the problem but doesn’t fix it. The answer is only temporary at best. It doesn’t allow for the flaw in human nature. If Everyone can get anything they want why fight and destroy each other? Cuz human nature is corrupt! The comedian saw this and it made him laugh.

But this film really illustrates that something is wrong with humanity. It points to that great reality of sin. We are sinful creatures, fallen and depraved. We are children of wrath, following “the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind” (Ephesians 2:3 NET). There must be a change internal, not external. This is where the movie fails to see the answer. Human nature is flawed, the movie does admit. But it still thinks that something flawed can remove the flaw. Yet that effort will be a flawed effort! Something outside of human nature must remove that flaw. That something is the grace of God purchased for us on the cross in the death of this Son! Only in being united to Jesus will that flawed nature be killed and we be raised to new spiritual life. Only in Christ can humanity fin a new heart and receive a new Spirit that causes our obedience and replace that sick heart of stone with sin etched in it. A leopard cannot change its sports, unless the leopard ceases being a leopard and becomes something else.

The Watchmen Movie

Watching Watchmen Lightheartedly

Reviewing Spider-Man 3

I still have no idea why this is part 9 of 5 but I find it fun. No clue just do. In this post I just want to deal with an objection that was raised in this video to the double payment argument. You can find Dr. White coming to similar conclusions on his Dividing Line webcast from 12-02-08 (Dr. White also explains what the double payment argument is in this webcast). In this post I want to posit Dr. White’s illustration of DP (double payment) and the objection raised against it and then respond to the objection. As with my previous post on the objections to limited atonement, I’m not going to reassert a defense of the doctrine but rather refute the objection. Read more

Objections to Calvinism Part 1 of 5

Objections to Calvinism Part 7 of 5

My Comfort in Romans 9

In this post we come to Habakkuk’s second complaint, responding to God’s solution to the problem of injustice in Habakkuk 1:5-11. As you read this passage, I hope that you will see a close connection between Habakkuk and two other Old Covenant prophets: Jeremiah and Jonah. Let us turn to the text now and begin the third post in introducing the context of Habakkuk 2:4. Read more

What does it mean to be “called”?

Interview with Dr. Mark Futato

Redemptive-Historical Preaching and Charles Dennison

I read an interesting article summarizing J.J. Niehaus’ translation of Genesis 3:8. Niehaus offers a rather different translation of this verse and the theophany it reveals to the reader. Genesis 3:8 in the ESV reads,

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

The key phrase that is retranslated by Niehaus retranslates in his 1995 work entitled God at Sinai is “the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” I find the new translation interesting and I want to ponder it in this post after briefly summarizing his arguments that are found on pages 155-159 in the book.
Read more

A Thunderous, Roaring, Crushing Voice?

Imago Dei Part 2

La Voz