The Analogy of Poor Street Kids

Traversing the pathways and hallways of the metropolis, one cannot help but be confronted with the sad sight of children of various ages, in rags that pass off as clothes, pandering services that range from wiping off otherwise clean windshields of phantom grime, hawking sampaguita buds, to just plain begging for scraps and loose change. When I am thus confronted, I think of my own kids.

I noticed that ever since I became a father, my compassion for children underwent a deepening. I cannot look at them without thinking of my own. My heart is ripped from my chest when I see these street kids, and I think to myself that if not for the providence of God, it could have been Sophia and David sticking their faces on side car windows, wide-eyed, with that trademark sad look plastered on to all the more entice the parting of one's negligibles from oneself.

And then I am reminded of God the Father. Is it not the case that when He looks at those whom He has redeemed, He sees His own Son? He, nonetheless, sees our filth, the odiousness of the sin that we have wrapped ourselves in as with tattered rags, and yet His heart is tugged and pulled, and love and compassion are drawn from Him as He hearkens back to His Son, to His dear Son who obeyed Him at every point for the redemption of these pitiful "street kids" called the elect. What a wonderful analogy of the tenderness of a father's heart the Lord has seen fit to present to us in what would otherwise be an unequivocally tragic scene.

I am a poor street kid, adopted into the family of God because of what Christ the Son did on my behalf. At the present time, the stink and dirt of sin still emanate from me, perceivable by the Father. And yet, even as I cry inside for these impoverished children of the cities, longing for the alleviation of their condition but powerless to do anything about it, the Father, in the grandest of scales, feels the same, sees and thinks of His own Son as He sees me, and in fact will do something about it—when I am freed from this mortal coil and clothed with glorious immortality at the coming of Jesus Christ, my Lord, my Savior, my God, my Brother.

"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are" (1 John 3:1).

Next to the Bible, What Is the Second Most Important Book?

According to Carl Trueman, it is J. Gresham Machen's Christianity and Liberalism, a book that tackled an issue that will stay an issue up until the eschaton finally breaks in.

The Goodness of Gandhi and the Like?

Cast a doubt on whether Mohandas Gandhi (or even Mother Teresa and Cory Aquino) is in heaven, enjoying eternal bliss in the presence of Christ, and more often than not, you will be met with fierce antagonism from those who do not properly comprehend the biblical doctrine of Total Depravity—because these people were just...so good.

Calvin offers us a timely reminder that it is only by God's restraining providence, through common grace, that not every one of us are as evil and barbaric as our totally depraved natures provide potential for us to be, and that ultimately, it is not our goodness that saves us but the goodness of the One who lived and died in the place of the elect:

Dream Theater Song Reminds Me of John Calvin

"If I seem superhuman, I have been misunderstood."

Westminster Wednesday: DVD vs. RubeRad on Images of Christ

Today's WW features a debate that took place between two doctors on the issue of images of Christ (or God), with Dr. David VanDrunen on the anti-images side, and Dr. Ruben Settegren (RubeRad) on the pro-images side.

Note that both sides are against the use of images in the context of public worship, as both adhere to the Reformed Regulative Principle of Worship. The debate hinges on whether depicting Christ's image outside of worship (normative) is forbidden by Scripture. DVD says yes, while RubeRad says it is adiaphora.

I personally enjoyed listening to this debate, as the atmosphere was cool and relaxed, oozing with camaraderie (though possibly offensive to pietistic teetotalers), while still maintaining the erudition that good debates are made of. This debate is part of periodic debates that go on at Hoagies and Stogies. Enjoy!


Part 1: Debate Proper

Part 2: Q & A

The Way to the Unregenerate's Heart Is Through His Stomach?

While it is certainly the duty of the Christian to do good to his neighbor inasmuch as his capacity allows, there is a predominant view among many that it is the unqualified duty of the Church to help in the alleviation of poverty, and this as a pretext for evangelism.

Are we to extend aid to all the poor? Do we not prioritize the poor brethren over the poor unregenerate?

My pastor, in this excellent article, answers these questions and more.

The Man Behind Luther's "Pics"

Ever wondered about the identity of the artist behind most, if not all, of Martin Luther's image depictions?

Wonder no more. The man who rendered his artistic acumen to the cause of the Reformation was Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Wikipedia describes him as a "court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of German princes and those of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, whose cause he embraced with enthusiasm, becoming a close friend of Martin Luther."

More of his works here.

Theology and Philosophy: Husband and Wife or Employer and Employee?

"Theology rules over philosophy, and this latter acts as a handmaid to and subserves the former." (Francis Turretin, Institutes, I:xiii:2)

The vid below, courtesy of Reformed Forum generosity, contains over an hour of profitable, erudite discussion on the relationsip between theology and philosophy. Enjoy!

Stop Studying Theology

Is my love for theology grounded on the desire to grow my gratitude to God by gaining deeper knowledge of who He is and the marvelous works that He has done, for the hastening of my conformity to Christ and the benefit of my family and the Church—or is it because of less nobler motivations (more blog fodder!)?

Carl Trueman sets me straight:

Motley Crü

Campus Crusade for Christ is changing its name to "Cru."

The change comes short of true relevance and hipness. For that you need the touch of Dr. Feelgood (yeah!) by adding a metal umlaut on the letter "U"—Crü!

Now you're ready to conquer the world (tour?)! LOL.

Paul Helm on Piper

Paul Helm offers a gentle criticism of Piper's "Christian Hedonism" here.

I think one problem with Piper's approach is that it does not deal with piety covenantally. Whereas Scripture, and the Reformed confessions, teach that piety is born out of the gratitude that is created in the heart and mind of the redeemed sinner by virtue of being made right with God, Piper proposes that piety is born out of an "appreciation" of the excellencies of God that is not so much mediated through the preaching of the Word and the Sacraments but through an immediate, predominantly emotional, awareness of God's perfections.

The Heidelberg Catechism states:

Question 86. Since then we are delivered from our misery, merely of grace, through Christ, without any merit of ours, why must we still do good works?

Answer: Because Christ, having redeemed and delivered us by his blood, also renews us by his Holy Spirit, after his own image; that so we may testify, by the whole of our conduct, our gratitude to God for his blessings, and that he may be praised by us; also, that every one may be assured in himself of his faith, by the fruits thereof; and that, by our godly conversation others may be gained to Christ.

The neo-Platonism is as evident in Piper as it is in his hero, Jonathan Edwards.

Westminster Wednesday: "Unionism"?

There is somewhat of a "debate" within Reformed circles, one that sees the "unionist" up against the "justificationist." While the doctrines of union with Christ and justification are both unequivocally propounded in Scripture and the Reformed confessions, there has been a tendency in the unionist camp to diminish the importance of the forensic aspect of the redemptive transaction in its wholesale insistence that every God-bestowed blessing is ours solely by virtue of union with Christ.

This view would be in error if it was referring to the mystical/existential union with Christ wrought by the Spirit after justification by grace, through faith. This is precisely the case with the unionist who does not cozy up to the notion of the abstract category of "union with Christ" as being particularized in three aspects: decretal union (election), federal union (active and passive obedience of Christ), and mystical/existential (individualized application of the merits of Christ's active and passive obedience).

The classic Reformed view is that mystical/existential union, by which we are made to be partakers of all that is ours in Christ, is preceded by justification, but grounded in both decretal and federal union. There is a way to uphold union with Christ without sacrificing the Reformed consensus on the priority of justification.

Now This Is How It's Done

G.I. Williamson explains why: