Monthly Archives: August 2005

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"Saving Faith" was a sermon that was delivered on March 15, 1874 by Charles H. Spurgeon, the text of which is available here.

I tend to get all wrapped up in studies and debates (got a little OCD going on...) but God consistently uses them, not to "win" - since the battle is already won, but rather to solidify (or reveal) to me deeper things about Him. A while ago, I learned (through a Word-Faith debate) what faith is not. Now I am seeing, in more concrete ways, what faith is.

Luke 7:50 "And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."
Luke 18:42 "And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee."

What was it that saved these two people? Christ said it was faith. Not love, not repentance, not works, not humility, not earnestness. Faith.

WHY FAITH?

First of all, because God has a right to choose what way of salvation He pleases. He has chosen that man be saved, not by works, but by faith in His dear Son.

But more: the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace (Romans 4:16).

If our salvation is entirely by grace, it must be entirely through faith. If there is any of me, any works, any merit of my own, then it is no longer entirely by grace, but by grace and works. Spurgeon said, "Faith is chosen by Christ to wear the crown of salvation because it refuses to wear the crown."

DOES FAITH SAVE?

No, faith is not salvation, it is the vehicle God has chosen to use. When we are hungry, we eat with our mouths, but it is not our mouth that fills us - it is the food. Our mouth is but the means by which to gain nurishment.

Just so, salvation is only by the grace of God - faith is the means by which to gain it.

All who are saved will travel a different road. Right now, I'm dreading facing my mom over an issue - but I'm not a cookie cutter Christian and I'm not going to try to be one anymore. My faith has traveled a different road.

Like the repentant woman and the blind man, faith is manifested in different ways and we must not measure ourselves by other Christians. Paul used meat as an example, "He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God." (Romans 14:6).

Where the Bible is silent, we have freedom. Thank God! Through faith, I can eat meat (or not).

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I have a couple of weeks off, so I'll probably be blogging a bit. We have a family wedding on the 27, school starts the 29th, we have a family reunion/camping trip on Labor Day weekend...and then it's back to school for real 😉

I'm taking 7 credit hours this semester, finally picking up "History of Western Civilization, Pre-Reformation" and "General Psychology". Add to that homeschooling a high schooler - Algebra, Writing, Computers, Greek; and she's taking Art, Psychology and a health credit at Community College. So I'm really enjoying digging into the Word, theology, history and even a little fiction before life gets crazy.

Tom finally has a job interview on Monday!

My tattoo is feeling "sun-burny", but not itchy. It got dry while we were grocery shopping - like *BIG TIME* grocery shopping. I ran into the secretary from my last school, Janice. We had a nice chat - she remembers Manda.

I told Tom that I was really okay with him telling folks I got a tattoo and he designed it - he asked for a photo for his art book; I told him that I'd rather wait until the redness and swelling is gone so it looks cleaner, then I'd be glad to let him take a picture!

And...I got new shoes. (on clearance for 75% off!)

😉

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The Magdalene Laundries
by Joni Mitchell

I was an unmarried girl
I'd just turned twenty-seven
When they sent me to the sisters
For the way men looked at me.
Branded as a jezebel,
I knew I was not bound for Heaven
I'd be cast in shame
Into the Magdalene laundries.

Most girls come here pregnant
Some by their own fathers.
Bridget got that belly
By her parish priest.
We're trying to get things white as snow,
All of us woe-begotten daughters,
In the steaming stains
Of the Magdalene laundries.

Prostitutes and destitutes
And temptresses like me—
Fallen women—
Sentenced into dreamless drudgery—
Why do they call this heartless place
Our Lady of Charity?
Oh, charity!

These bloodless brides of Jesus,
If they had just once glimpsed their groom,
Then they'd know, and they'd drop the stones
Concealed behind their rosaries.
They wilt the grass they walk upon,
They leech the light out of a room,
They'd like to drive us down the drain
At the Magdalene laundries.

Peg O'Connell died today.
She was a cheeky girl,
A flirt
They just stuffed her in a hole!
Surely to God you'd think at least
some bells should ring!
One day I'm going to die here too.
And they'll plant me in the dirt
Like some lame bulb
That never blooms come any spring,
Come any spring,
No, not any spring...

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I'm posting again, largely because I'm addressing some misconceptions.

Here is a list of "problems" that was posted on another blog. (Again, Sola Scriptura is the doctrine that the Word of God is the only infallible rule for deciding issues of faith and practices that involve doctrinesour final authority). These problems disappear when you use the Reformer's definition "Sola Scriptura."

1. Requires ability to print.

- actually, it requires the ability to hear. Sola Scriptura does not require literacy, it requires faith in the Word of God.
- Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

2. Requires mass distribution of bibles!

- these two list items do require a goal of distributing Bibles and teaching people to read, a goal that the Roman Catholic church has opposed in the past. Is this a bad goal to have?
- but be that as it may... Sola Scriptura does not require literacy, or even owning a Bible, it requires faith in the Word of God.
- There are churches (and synogues) that do not preach. All they do is read the Word.
- because faith comes from hearing the message

3. Requires Christians be able to read!

- Again, Sola Scriptura does not require literacy, it requires faith in the Word of God.
- A person does not have to read, they have to understand because
- faith comes from hearing the message.

4. Must have scholarly materials available.

- Scripture is the final authority, not the work of man. Read Roman 3:23. Can you figure it out for yourself?
- Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
I doubt that David had a copy of Calvin's Commentaries, or even the Catechism. The Word was enough.

5.Need time to study! ..." If he is working in the fields or a home (or, later, in the factory) for ten, twelve, fifteen, or eighteen hours a day, he obviously doesn't have time to do this, especially not in addition to the care and raising of his family and his own need to eat and sleep and recreate.

- Remember the story of Abraham Lincoln? Work all day and then come home and read for just a few minutes?
- Arguing from the extreme raises bad arguments and in fact, only exposes the weakness of your position.
- When I'm gardening or doing something with my hands, I'm recite Scripture. In the past, this was common. Part of "hiding the Word in the heart"

6.Sola scriptura pre supposes universal adequate nutrition

- Any more so that hearing the teachings of any teacher? No. So, under this "problem", hearing the teaching of the bishop of Rome (or any other teacher) would require just as much "adequate nutrition.
- The Bible teaches us, "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isa 55:11)
- The Bible does not teach us that about the teaching of man and tradition. Paul told his readers to pay attention, listen - but only the Word of God has the guarantee, so I'd be more concerned with the teachings of humans being lost in malnutrition than God's Word.

7.Must be skilled in evaluating arguments - Sola Scriptura requires thinking.

-Stop and think about the ramifications of this "problem".
- Is the reverse true? People rely on the teaching of man and tradition because they cannot think?

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I did it...

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and both of my kids watched!

My son designed it - Christ on the cross - in Greek because Manda and I are taking Greek together. It reminds me that when Christ is all there is on the cross, my works mean nothing to my salvation. All my righteousness is like filthy rags. Christ's work is finished and the understanding of Christ's finished work on the cross is part my Reformation.

It's on the back of my shoulder - well, that part is "just because"

😉

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Short story: PLEASE watch both the movie and the documentary. NOT FOR CHILDREN.

(NOTE: I'm not sure I'm very good at "official" reviews, so I'll probably end up telling about this movie the way I'd describe a book to a friend.)

"The Magdalene Sisters" is based on a documentary, "Sex in a Cold Climate" - the DVD includes the documentary). The movie reflects not only the truth that "power corrupts - and absolute power corrupts absolutely", it also reflects the era of the time, when victims were blamed for their own rapes, when girls were "gotten rid of" for becoming pregnant out of wedlock, but the boys got off with nothing, when beauty was looked on with suspicion.

It's the story of four women who were incarcerated for forced labor in a "Magdalene asylum" in the 1960's. One woman was sent there by her father because she had a child out of wedlock, another was sent there after being raped, the third was sent there because she was pretty and the fourth (appearing to be mildly mentally impaired) also had a baby out of wedlock. The nun in charge of the laundry bluntly told the girls when they arrived (I'm paraphrasing): The philosophy here is simple. Your sins will be purged through the washing of laundry. By doing penance here, you will earn your salvation.

They quickly learned that escape was not just difficult, it was nearly impossible. One scene showed an escapee who ran to her home, only to be returned by her angry father. She begged, "I just want to go home." He beat her with a belt, yelling, "You have no home! You have no parents! You killed them!" This girl eventually became a nun and joined the order, the only safe place. When Bernadette tried to escape, she was beaten and her hair was shorn. Sister Brigid forced her to look into a mirror, blood running in her eyes - "you're not so pretty now!"

In a nutshell, "The Magdalene Sisters" showed works-based salvation taken to extreme. The emphasis was all on working off your own sin and earning your salvation through your own work and suffering.

It is a difficult movie to watch and I had to take a couple of breaks. I watched the movie before the documentary and immediately called the friend that told me to watch it and asked, "It said *based* on the true story. Is the story true or are these 4 women true." He said, "Yes." There are a few additions to "flesh out" the attitudes and actions within the asylums - but there was stuff that was left out also that would have made a great emotional impact on any feeling human being watching. Nothing that contradicted the documentary.

Watch BOTH!

Next up: the history...

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For me, debates and controversy spark great amounts of self-examination and study.

Over the last few weeks, I've been studying the "Solas" - I've studied TULIP backward and forward, from an Arminian/Calvinist view, but not the Solas.

The first time I "did" TULIP, I changed religions (from a lifelong Arminian to Reformed). In the last four years I've learned to look deeper...but never at the Solas.

This study is taking me to some very interesting places, SOLA FIDE most of all.

The Reformed answer to Arminius' followers was capsulated in TULIP (and not all of the letters are the best ones they could have used, but the word works, especially coming out of Holland).

The SOLAS were a direct attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church in western Europe, so they actually came first.

I've studied Catholic doctrine before, because of a familial relationship, but not as a direct study of the Reformation, or how Catholic doctrine and the Reformation interacted.

A week ago today I was challenged by a dear friend to examine my reasons for my tatoo - after much time spent in prayer and contemplation, the motives for the design are more firm in my mind. It is Christ/Kristos alone on that cross that delivers.

If I put Christ squarely on that cross, there is no room for my works being involved in my salvation, either getting it, or keeping it.

I watched a movie and a documentary last night that hit home so hard (hint: there's a review coming) that bad doctrine has bad consequences. When you mess around with the finished work of Christ on the cross, when you bring works into the equation - wicked things happen.

For me, I believe that the Solas will be more meaningful than TULIP...

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Sola Scriptura
Solus Christus
Sola Gratia
Sola Fide

This "sola" doctrine drew much ire from the Roman Catholic Church and it was the doctrine that prompted Marin Luther, in his 95 Theses, to challenge the Roman Catholic doctine on "indulgences".

Sola Fide means that we are saved by faith alone, a faith that flows from the Grace, alone, of God. Sola Fide means a faith that does not require works to be (or stay) saved. We are dead in our sin (DEAD) and without the work of God, we are not able to generate a saving faith.

I'm discovering that, in some ways, Sola Fide is best illustrated alongside the Roman Catholic 1563 Council of Trent. The Roman Catholic doctrine comes first, followed by Scripture.

1. CANON 9: "If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own free will; let him be anathema."

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," (Romans 3:24).

"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law," (Romans 3:28).

"For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness," (Romans 4:3).

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Romans 5:1).

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God," (Eph. 2:8).

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost," (Titus 3:5).

Canon 14: "If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because that he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema."

"For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness," (Roamns 4:3).

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Romans 5:1).

Canon 24: "If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema."

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law," (Gal 5:1-3)

Canon 30: "If any one saith, that, after the grace of Justification has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is remitted, and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such wise, that there remains not any debt of temporal punishment to be discharged either in this world, or in the next in Purgatory, before the entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be opened (to him); let him be anathema."

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross," (Col. 2:13-14).

Canon 33: "If any one saith, that, by the Catholic doctrine touching Justification, by this holy Synod inset forth in this present decree, the glory of God, or the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ are in any way derogated from, and not rather that the truth of our faith, and the glory in fine of God and of Jesus Christ are rendered (more) illustrious; let him be anathema.

This council declares that if anyone disagrees with it, they are damned.

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We just got back from a weekend in Chicago (Tom and I went to pick up Manda after she enjoyed a vacation with her aunts). We went to the Museum of Science and Industry and went through an interesting exhibit (you'll either be appalled or fascinated).

This exhibit shows real human bodies that have been "plastinized", or permeated with plastic. All of the people knew exactly what science their bodies were going to be used for.

This gave me a very real look at the wonder of the human body and how it works, as well as the damage that we can do to it. Yes, you do get to see the lungs of a smoker... Manda didn't make it all the way through - she hurried around and met us on the other end.

We're all home, safe and sound - getting ready for Greek tonight.

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Soon after my husband died, I had the urge to do something that "my husband's wife" would not have done. It began my journey to "me", not "Mrs."

Actually, I did a lot of things that "Art's wife" would not have done. Got a cell phone contract, actually did research and changed churches, changed my major...and a few other things that not a lot of people know about. These are not "poor me" things - they are growth things, and I don't regret them.

My old pastor nearly went postal when I took a camping trip by myself (I was going to say all by myself, but the dog went along. I threw the tent and an overnight bag in the trunk and away we went. I did wimp out and stay in a hotel when the temperature dropped into the lower 30's (in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan - in July). He advocated for me to stay home and be safe ("you don't know who you'll run into"). I went to a lot of the places that Art and I went together and it taught me that I enjoyed some things a lot more by myself. It was the first time I had traveled alone and it was GOOD.

The "out of character" things seem be every two years and center around dates - two years ago, it was the day before the anniversary of my widowhood.

This year - well, today would have been my 27th anniversary.

And this year...the tattoo wins.