When I hear
this song, it speak to my heart.
I've written about "Soli Christi" - Christ alone.
There is no other mediator, no other salvation,

No other name by which we can be saved.
strength and my shield, my song of songs.
The Cornerstone that cannot be moved,
my Solid Rock.

Lover of my soul, giver of peace.
In Him only there is peace.

Here, I stand.

There are few
humans more helpless than a newborn,
yet that's how He came to us - fully God and fully man.
Totally sinless, so that He could be the final and only
complete sacrifice to pay for His people's many, many sins -
their sin.

Oh...they hated Him and what He has to say. When you
have lived under a system where your salvation depends on
your following the rules, your sacrifices, your works, it
strikes at your pride to hear - Look upon me and live.
When He died, Christ paid. There is no condemnation for
those who are in Him.

Here, I live.

How His followers
must have felt. They had been so sure
that He was to rescue them. They didn't understand
what He was rescuing them from.

And the new day - the eighth day. Victory over the grave;
for all who believe in Him. I am not cursed. I am my Beloved's
and He is mine.

Here, I am bought and paid for.

Stem cells found in embryonic fluid.

Predectably - even though stem cells can be gotten this way, Dr. George Daley, a Harvard University stem cell researcher, said that finding raises the possibility that someday expectant parents can freeze amnio stem cells for future tissue replacement in a sick child without fear of immune rejection.Nonetheless, Daley said the discovery shouldn't be used as a replacement for human embryonic stem cell research (who began work last year to clone human embryos to produce stem cells), says that this is "not a substitute for human embryonic stem cells."

No, no...of course not.

goals for the week:  Saturday will be the "magic marker day" - we'll be in Chicago with my sister-in-laws.  Other than that, sticking to 25 points per day (with 30 flex points).  Also, walking 30,000 steps (which might be hard, because I have a new pedometer that sits on my belt wrong and I keep resetting it to "0").  And 10 miles of Walk Away the Pounds.

My daily eating will be posted (as usual) on my weight loss blog.

Last week was my first "perfect" weight watchers week.  Right on points, right on exercise.  I gained 1/2 pound.

So, today I had what I affectionately call a "magic marker" day - in my food journal I just take a magic marker and put an "X" through the day and move on tomorrow.

Believe it or not, it sort of shakes up my system and I start losing again...

anyway...the official number is:  today I weigh exactly 2.5 pounds less than I did on the first Saturday of December.

(This is cross-posted on "Laced with Grace"...

I'm writing on Friday night...today I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing N.T.Wright speak at Calvin College's "January Series". The topic was "Simply Christian", also one of his book titles.  He said that his goal with this book was to do for our century what C.S. Lewis did with "Mere Christianity".  Either the man is incredibly arrogant and he'll be found out...or he's incredibly good and will do just what he set out to do.  My guess is that he will do what he set out to do.

He reminded me of a lot of things.

1- All human beings are created in the image of God.

Even though, after the fall, that image is distorted and imperfect, the image is not entirely erased.  It is to these reflections of God that we are to live out the life of the Gospel.

2- Staring at the sun/staring at the Son.

Wright said, "The more you look at God, the more you should expect to be dazzled. Most of the time when I am working my little heart out, what I should be doing is looking at God - and letting Him dazzle me.

3- We live where heaven and earth meet.

In the Old Testament, God met His people in two places: in the Torah and in the Temple.  In the New Covenant, WE are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  God speaks to the world today through His Word and through his people.  For some, we will be the only "Bible" they ever meet.

4- We become like what we worship.

If we worship a stone idol, a bit of us dies as we take on the image of the stone.  If we worship before the TV, we take on the image of what it is showing us.

If we worship the One, True, Living God, we will become more like Him.

I want you all to ponder the last paragraph of the book:

Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection.  Made for joy, we settle for pleasure.  Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance.  Made for relationship, we insist on our own way.  Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment.  But new creation has already begun.  The sun has begun to rise.  Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and imompleteness of the present world.  It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our fully human role, as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning.  That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world.  God's new world, which He has thrown open before us.

When a Baby Dies, by Ronald Nash.

Baptismal Regeneration.

A number of denominations teach baptismal regeneration - Nash puts it like this:

According to this teaching, God uses the means of water baptism to produce the inward change in the human heart that theologians call regeneration. Children or adults who have not been baptized are not saved, they are not born again, and their sins are not forgiven. Water baptism is a necessary condition for the new birth.

If baptism is necessary for salvation, that leaves us with the obvious conclusion that there is no hope for the millions of babies (born and pre-born) that have died without being baptized over the centuries. So we need to look at the question of whether or not baptismal regeneration is taught in Scripture.

One of the things to keep in mind: when a Scripture passage can be read in two different ways, and one of those ways is in conflict with the rest of Scripture, then the interpretation that leads to the conflict must be discarded.

Read John 3:16,18,36.

Regeneration is a matter of the Holy Spirit and the heart of man.

John 3 is a passage that some use as a proof text for baptismal regeneration.

"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit (...)"

Use of this passage assumes that

1. being "born of water" is identical to the baptism that Jesus would institute after His resurrection (Matt 28:19)
2. it is the baptism that produces regeneration.

Looking at the historical context of the encounter, we can ask, "what would Nicodemus have understood Jesus to be saying?"

1. Would he have understood Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist to be identical with "born of water?" (no, the New Testament is clear that the baptism of John is different than the Christian baptism - Acts 19)
2. Would Nicodemus have understood Jesus to be speaking of the Christian baptism? (no, that had not been instituded yet)

On the other hand...

Charles Hodge, (19th Century, Princeton Theological Seminary) argued that John 3:5 sets up an analogy between the way water cleanses the body and the way that the Holy Spirit cleanses the soul. In other Biblical passages, the sign and the thing signifiec are often united (Isa 35 and 55, Jer. 2:13, John 4:10). It is CHRIST that is the water, not baptism.

So we have two conflicting interpretation: 1) born of water = baptism 2) born of water = born of Christ.

The Bible never "waters down" the gospel of grace: we are not saved by anything we DO, our salvation is based on God's unmerited favor; grace. Regeneration comes about through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Since the passage never specifically refers to baptism let along baptismal regeneration, we can come to the conclusion that Nicodemus would not have understood "water" to be physical baptism and that "water" (as used here) can be understood as an analogy for the soul-cleansing work of the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion: the doctrine of baptismal regeneration is not the basis of hope for the families of babies who have died. It gives false hope to those who believe that they or their children are fit for heaven because of a ceremony that happened sometime in the past and it (of necessity) entails the belief that unbaptized infants are in hell because their parents did not participate in a sacramental ceremony of a church.

In honor of the burial of Gerald R. Ford - walking distance from my house.  The formation went right over my yard.

The Carnival of Beauty is up at Sallie's place!

(Note: this is a repost, moving it from a "page" to a post")

From Forgiven to Forgiving, Jay E. Adams

An excellent book (the best that I’ve read - ever) on Biblical forgiveness.

When I say this is the best book - I mean that I buy this book five at a time so that I can give them away!

from the back of the book:

What do the following statements about forgiveness have in common?·Forgiveness is obtained through apologizing.·The best thing you can do is “forgive and forget”.·You aren’t forgiven until you feel forgiven.·Even if someone hasn’t asked for forgiveness, you can still forgive them.These statements all represent popular misconceptions about true biblical forgiveness. Because forgiveness plays such a major role in our relationships with other people, it’s critical to have a clear idea of God’s plan for forgiving and being forgiven. Distortions in His plan can lead to twisted thinking and further pain for those struggling with forgiveness issues.In this book, Dr. Jay Adams carefully explores all dimensions of the process of forgiveness. He can help you understand biblical forgiveness from beginning to end, and apply that understanding to everyday situations ranging from forgiving your straying spouse or prodigal child–and being forgiven by them as well.If you have experienced the incredible power of God’s forgiveness in you life, read this book and see how forgiveness’ power can change your life as you relate to others.

- What forgiveness is and does. Forgiveness is NOT a feeling. Forgiveness is a promise and we are to model our forgiveness after God’s forgiveness of us. God promises to not hold our sins against us, and when we forgive we are promising not to hold another’s sins against them.- Forgiveness is a two-way street. Forgiveness involves repentence - and either way (if we are the one offended, or if we know that we have offended another) restoration begins with us. In one passage we are instructed to go to a spiritual sibling that we know we have offended, in another we are intructed to go to a spiritual sibling who has offended us. Either way, we should be running to the person we are at odds with.- “Apologizing” is the world’s substitute for forgiving. Looking at the entemology, “apologia” was a defense made at court. So, rather than asking forgiveness (God’s way), an apology started out being a defense against one’s sin. Look at our word “apologetics” - it means “defense of”. Saying “I apologize” is a far cry from “I have sinned against God and against you. Will you forgive me?” Think of our kids - how sincere do you think they were when they looked at their feet and mumbled “sorry” to their sibling? When a person says “sorry”, they are not asking the one offended to do anything, nor are they agreeing to do anything. The matter is not put to rest.- “Sorry” is an emotion”. “I sinned, please forgive me” is far more.Adams uses this illustration:

Picture the wrongdoer holding a basketball. He apologizes, saying, “I’m sorry.” The one offended shuffles his feet awkwardly. It is always awkward to respondn to an apology, because you are not asked to do anything, and yet some sort of response is expected. The offended party says something inane like, “Well, that’s OK.” But it isn’t. The matter has not been put to rest. When you say the wrongdoing it OK you either lie or condone a wrong. At the end of the transaction the wrongdoer is still holding the ball.

Now, consider forgiveness. The wrongdoer comes with his basketball. He says, “I wronged you. Will you forgive me?” In doing so, he tosses the ball to the other person. He is freed of his burden. Not the burden of responsibility has shifted. The one wronged is asked to do what God requires him to do. He must either make the promise or risk offending God…

This is where it gets personal. This week I offended a person. I tossed the basketball in this person’s direction - the basketball is in that person’s hands.

The above things are about the offending party - what about the one offended? Adams says the promise of forgiveness involves three things:

1. I will not bring the matter up to you
2. I will not bring the matter up to another
3. I will not bring the matter up myself

I've already posted my "New Year's Resolutions" - like it or not, it seems to be a habit that we think of the new year as a time for contemplation and of new beginnings.  I didn't want my spiritual goals for next year to be "do this, don't do that".  That's moralism.  Me trying to be better is not what makes me better.

Last year, I had a goal of "reading the Bible".  But me reading the Bible is not what works - it's letting the Bible read me.  Am I willing to be examined by the Word of God?  This is not so much about what I DO, but rather my thoughts and motivations.  Knowing what the Bible says is a good thing - I'm not saying that we shouldn't read the Bible...but knowing what it says is only the first step to "getting" why it says what it says.

There is a huge difference between KNOWING who Jesus is (lots of people know that) and BEING who Jesus is.  LIke the saying goes, "Jesus with skin on".  I want to be Jesus with skin on.

• Don't be afraid of controversy.  Jesus was not afraid to call the religious leaders of His time a "brood of vipers" because of what their theology of works was doing to the people.
• Controversy with grace is the key.  There was a difference in the way that Jesus treated people who were doing wrong and the way He treated people who were teaching wrong.

There is a huge difference between knowing the grace that was extended to me - and making a choice to extend that grace to everybody around me - even (especially) those who really don't deserve it.   I want to extend grace.

I sin.  Everybody does.  I've been reading a little Spurgeon here and there (and I'm going to be reading more).  One of the striking things about Spurgeon is that he never, EVER lost his sense of wonder about the grace of God that was extended to him. I am that "wretched man" in Romans who knows what to do, but doesn't have the ability to do it.  That which I want to do I do not do and that which I do not want to do, I do.  Or more to the point, that which I should not want to do, I do anyway.

If I could do it - if I wanted to do it - I wouldn't need grace.  But I do need grace.  And that is what amazing, that I need to let go of what I can DO (which is nothing) and cling to what Christ did.

This is what I want to do.

It is not bad - it is good - to know what you believe and to stand up for it.  Being opinionated is not a bad thing - being able to clearly articulate why you hold that opinion is better.  Having a clearly articulated opinion, and stating it with gentleness and respect is best.

That may be my "phrase" for 2007 - "gentleness and respect"

That's a good goal - and you can start fresh anytime you need to.