That You May Prosper: Dominion by Covenant by Ray R. Sutton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As Doug Wilson says, when you first discover the hammer you think everything looks like a nail. Continue reading
More than thirty years after the release of their hit song, “Down Under,” (1978) Australian rock band Men at Work were hauled into court for ripping their flute riff from a nursery rhyme. The issue came up after discussion on a popular rock quiz TV show. [1]
Most Aussies of my generation knew the original (really uncool) song, and the use of it as a motif in a rock song was, well, really cool. The very fact that it didn’t have a big yellow sticker on it saying “This bit is from Kookaburra,” and the listener picked it up, was gratifying. All good music does this. All good movies do this. TV shows also use subtle allusions to past episodes as a nod to faithful viewers (and no show does it with the concrete-cracking understatement of Mad Men).
In this case of the flute riff, any dunderhead could pick it up. While I think that the current owners of the copyright, Larrikin Records, are a bunch of opportunistic bastards (and though they were once considered indie and cool, I guess they are now really uncool), it pains me that modern teachers of the Bible are too cautious to read the Scriptures in this way, too conservative to pick up the motifs, phrases and structural allusions that are obvious once they are pointed out. They are looking for the big yellow sticker, and it ain’t coming.
“Courage is the flower of conviction.”
When Christians speak of “cultural engagement,” what comes to mind? Are we thinking diamond rings or swords and strategies?
Jefferey Ventrella again:
Postmillennialism provides a biblically tenable basis for hope in God’s future grace. But we must not forget that God’s decree ordains both the end as well as the means. Christians must “work out their own salvation,” and this means ethical living by God’s holy standard, that is, theonomic living…
Doug Wilson writes:
“Why do baptists not understand the covenant? The answer is not what many paedobaptists want to hear — the baptists do not understand it because paedobaptists do not understand it” (To a Thousand Generations, p. 95).
In context, Pastor Wilson’s argument here seems to be that if the church is suffering from nominalism, paedobaptism is not to blame.
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One more Friedman post. Rich Bledsoe commented that the Biblical Covenant structure is very apparent in Friedman’s writings. Here’s a few of Mr Friedman’s principles for understanding the nature of true and false leadership (I have left quite a few of them out, as they wouldn’t make sense without his elaboration). For the whole outline, you’ll just have to get the book.
A fascinating article by Peter Leithart for Biblical Horizons:
But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 9).
Jude 9 raises several difficulties (though not insuperable difficulties) for conservative commentators. The event that Jude recounts does not seem to be drawn from the Old Testament, and most scholars claim, based on statements of Clement of Alexandria and Origen, that Jude borrowed this story from the Assumption of Moses, an apocryphal work.
“If the Federal Vision got baptism right, they would be demonstrating the biblical dominion pattern in every individual’s life.”
Matt Caslow posted some thinking man’s questions concerning Bully’s broadband brand of credobaptism. Matt, I hope these answers help you understand my assertions. Happy to discuss further. I’ll soon be posting a page at the top of the blog with baptism links.
“And God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food’; and it was so.” Genesis 1:29-30
“‘Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.’” Genesis 9:3
We can’t accurately imagine what the pre-Fall world was like. If there was no death for Adam, was there animal death? And if there was animal death, was there death for things like bacteria?
NOTE: THIS POST HAS BEEN EXTENDED AND REMIXED AND INCLUDED IN GOD’S KITCHEN.
A truly “catholic” church has universal appeal. It doesn’t pander to diverse audience. And it simply can’t be that diverse anyhow. Terry Johnson writes:
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Hebrews 11:1-16 | Sermon Notes 24 July 2011
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
Introduction
Movies and TV teach our children a lot about faith. “It doesn’t matter in what or in whom you have faith, even if it’s in yourself, just as long as you have faith.”
Modern Christians go one step further and tell us to have faith, to trust in Jesus to save us. That’s a big step in the right direction, and a saving one, but it doesn’t give us much practical help in the day-to-day trials and temptations of life. The reason for this is because moderns do not understand biblical Covenants.
Bible Matrix blog
