Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 12

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, —John 12:12

Devotional:
This entrance of Christ is more copiously related by the other Evangelists; but John here embraces the leading points. In the first place, we ought to remember Christ's design, which was that he came to Jerusalem of his own accord, to offer himself to die; for it was necessary that his death should be voluntary, because the wrath of God could be appeased only by a sacrifice of obedience.

And, indeed, he well knew what would be the result; but before he is dragged to the cross, he wishes to be solemnly acknowledged by the people as their King; nay, he openly declares that he commences his reign by advancing to death.

Rational Irrationalism

Quantum Mechanics and the Big Bang

The reviewer for the Dallas Morning News must have been having a bad hair day.  He or she declared that Leon Lederman's The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question (New York: Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006) was "the funniest book about physics ever written."  If that were true, physics must be world's apart from sophisticated humour.  Closer to the truth is Lederman's penchant for geeky humour, which often falls flat and is overdone.  Hardly humorous, unless the author was engaged in self-parody, which would be another matter entirely. 

But, humour aside, as a book about particle physics, Lederman's The God Particle is pretty good.  It covers all the usual "stuff".  The micro-world of the atom is counter-intuitive and abnormal (as far as our human experience is concerned).  Federman writes

So forget about normal; expect shock, disbelief.  Niels Bohr, one of the founders, said that anyone who isn't shocked by quantum theory doesn't understand it.  Richard Feynman asserted that no one understands quantum theory.  (Op cit., p. 143f)

 The overwhelming impression for the non-specialist lay reader is of extreme complexity in the micro-world of matter.

Arts And Letters

How to Think Like an Editor: A Conversation with John Wilson

Justin Taylor 2:47 pm CT

Doug Wilson talks with one-of-a-kind Books & Culture founder and editor John Wilson:




HT: @wesleyhill

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 10

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. —John 12:47


Devotional:
"If any man hear my words." After having spoken concerning his grace, and exhorted his disciples to steady faith, he now begins to strike the rebellious, though even here he mitigates the severity due to the wickedness of those who deliberately—as it were—reject God; for he delays to pronounce judgment on them, because, on the contrary, he has come for the salvation of all.

In the first place, we ought to understand that he does not speak here of all unbelievers without distinction, but of those who, knowingly and wittingly, reject the doctrine of the gospel which has been exhibited to them.

Unrighteous Espionage

Doubts and Suspicions

We posted recently on the unavoidable necessity of espionage.  We also argued that those who spy and those who receive information from the espionage apparatus should not be trusted.  They need at all times to be checked and balanced by other powers.  "Trust but examine and verify" is the apt slogan.

The present spying legislation has been amended since first introduced to the House.  It is a better piece of legislation than it once was.  There are more checks and balances.  The issue of spying on behalf of other governments with whom we have espionage agreements is another matter.  As far as we can tell the Bill is silent or unclear when it comes to NZ espionage agencies spying on NZ citizens at the behest of the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom (our "Five Eyes" partners).

To cut to the chase: if the US wanted to spy on a New Zealand citizen (say, just for argument's sake, Kim Dotcom) would the NZ espionage agencies need a warrant under New Zealand law, and would those activities on behalf of a foreign power, be subject to the same checks and balances and disclosures that a New Zealand agency would require (for example, the NZ Police wanting to surveil a New Zealand citizen)?  We hope so.  We would argue strenuously that this ought to be the case.  We fear the worst, however.

Letter From Australia (About Child Protection Apartheid)

End Child Protection Apartheid

Miranda Devine 

Sunday, July 28, 2013 (7:31am)
Daily Telegraph
 
IN response to last week’s column on tragic Kiesha Weippeart, bashed to death by her mother at six, a social worker contacted me. She wanted to add her voice to the chorus demanding an end to the child protection apartheid which condemns indigenous children to subpar care.

For fear of creating another “stolen generation” state and federal agencies persist with policies which keep indigenous children too long in abusive homes, and require indigenous foster carers, despite chronic shortages. In Kiesha’s case, a court overturned a decision she be kept in foster care for reasons which are shrouded in secrecy but which are suspected to include her indigenous heritage.

“We work with this every single day,” said the NSW Family and Community Services caseworker, who asked to remain nameless.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 09

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous.... He openeth also their ear to discipline.... If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity.... But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword.... —Job 36:7a, 1Oa, 11a, 12a

Devotional:
So then let us not murmur any longer when we see God sending such troubles into the world, neither let us be offended as though he had his eyes shut. For he well knows what he is doing, and he has an infinite wisdom which is not immediately apparent to us.

In the end we shall see that he has disposed all things in good order and measure. Let us learn not to be too greatly grieved when we are so afflicted, assuring ourselves that God by that means is furthering our salvation.

Besides, do we wish to be healed when we are in torment and pain? Do we want these things to have a favorable outcome? Then let us follow the way that is showed to us here, namely to hear and obey. How shall we hear? By being taught when God sends us to school, so that our afflictions may be like so many lessons to make us flee to him.

The Real Deal

 Can Fonterra Prove Up?

The bureaucrats and tourism industry big-wallahs dreamed up a marketing slogan for New Zealand Inc: "One Hundred Percent Pure".  Wow.  That sounded good.  Perception is reality to narcissistic marketers.  So the slogan became a mantra.  It was a most stupid move.

The slogan could only be taken seriously if it were regarded as hyperbole.  If it were a mere exaggeration for effect, no-one could complain.  But as a statement of a literal standard one has to live up to it is an impossible millstone around the neck.  The brute reality is that no-one and nothing in this life is one hundred percent pure (whatever that might mean).  Experimental chemists, working in the cleanest laboratory environments able to be achieved, are not infrequently frustrated by impurities messing up experiments.  No "100% Pure" there.  And if not there, not anywhere.  Certainly not when it comes to agricultural products, such as milk. 

When it comes to the marketing slogan, "NZ--100% Pure" we are guilty of engaging in deceptive and misleading behaviour.  There will always be markets, customers, and general idiots to take the slogan as literal truth, not hyperbole.  We have created a rod for our own backs and our stupidity is justly punished every time the rod whips through the air.

Stupid slogans aside, it is worthwhile considering the broader context of the Fonterra botulism scandal.

Letter From America (About Islam)

Islamism’s Likely Doom

The divisions of radical Islam offer us grounds for optimism but not complacency.

By Daniel Pipes 

National Review Online

July 23, 2013 12:00 AM

As recently as 2012, it appeared that Islamists could overcome their many internal dissimilarities — sectarian (Sunni or Shiite), political (monarchical or republican), tactical (political or violent), and attitudes toward modernity (Salafi or Muslim Brotherhood) — and cooperate. In Tunisia, for example, Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood types found common ground. Differences between all these groups were real but secondary, as I put it then, because “all Islamists pull in the same direction, toward the full and severe application of Islamic law (the sharia).”

This sort of cooperation still persists in small ways, as shown by a recent meeting between a member of Turkey’s ruling party and the head of a Salafi organization in Germany. But Islamists have in recent months abruptly and overwhelmingly thrown themselves at each others’ throats. Islamists still constitute a single movement that shares similar supremacist and utopian goals, but they also have different personnel, ethnic affiliations, methods, and philosophies.  Islamist internecine hostilities have flared up in many other Muslim-majority countries. Sunni-versus-Shiite tensions can be seen between Turkey and Iran, in Egypt, and in Lebanon, where it’s Sunni versus Shiite Islamists and Sunni Islamists versus the army. In Yemen, it’s Houthis versus Salafis.

More often, however, members of the same sect fight each other:

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 08

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. —John 17:15

Devotional:
"I ask not that thou shouldest take them out of the world." He shows in what the safety of believers consists, not that they are free from annoyance, and live in luxury and at their ease, but that in the midst of dangers they continue to be safe through the assistance of God. For he does not admonish the Father of what is proper to be done, but rather makes provision for their weakness, that, by the method which he prescribes, they may restrain their desires, which are apt to go beyond all bounds.

In short, he promises to his disciples the grace of the Father; not to relieve them from all anxiety and toil, but to furnish them with invincible strength against their enemies, and not to suffer them to be overwhelmed by the heavy burden of contests which they will have to endure.

Righteous Espionage

Trust, But Thoroughly Verify

It's looking as though the NZ government will get its amendments to spying legislation through the Parliament and into law.  There is continued opposition to the bill, despite substantial changes and amendments being made.  This continued opposition has begged a question: what changes to the bill would satisfy the remaining opponents?  The answer seems to be: nix spying completely.  In this view, espionage is wrong, period. 

This totaliter aliter opposition has two forms: a semi-strong form, and a strong form.  The semi-strong form makes a divide between spying on citizens and spying on non-citizens.  Spying on citizens is always wrong--in this view.  The strong form opposition has it that all spying period, regardless of the object, is wrong.  Neither the semi-strong or strong forms of opposition make much sense. 

In reality we have domestic spying going on all the time.  All forms of police surveillance constitute a form of spying.  Some require a judicial warrant.  Some don't.

Letter From America (About Uncool Churches)

How to keep Millennials in the church? Let’s keep church un-cool.

By Brett McCracken, Updated: July 31, 2013

The Washington Post
 
 Last week a column on CNN’s Belief Blog titled “Why Millennials Are Leaving the Church” went viral, partially because any time the words “Millennials,” “leaving,” and “church” are combined in a headline, people pay attention.

But why? Why do we care so much about the reasons Millennials are reportedly leaving churches?

I’m a Millennial, but I am weary of everyone caring so much about why Millennials do this or don’t do that. I’m sorry Millennials, but I’m going to have to throw us under the bus here: we do not have everything figured out. And if we expect older generations and well-established institutions to morph to fit our every fickle desire, we do so at our peril.

The CNN piece, written by Rachel Held Evans, makes some good points, to be sure. The line that I saw shared on Facebook more than any other is this:

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 07

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; —Isaiah 51:12

Devotional:
"I, I am ...." Here the Lord not only promises grace and salvation to the Jews, but remonstrates with them for refusing to believe him, and for valuing his power less than they ought.

It is exceedingly base to tremble at the threatenings of men to such a degree as to care nothing about God's assistance; for he displays his power for this purpose, that he may at least fortify us against every attack. Accordingly, by an excessive fear of men we betray contempt of God.

Hence it is evident how sinful it is to be agitated by the terrors of men, when God calls us to repose. And indeed it is amazing ingratitude of men who, when they hear that God is on their side, derive no hope from his magnificent promises, so as to venture boldly to exclaim, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31).

Mockumentary Extraordinaire

Painful Embarrassment

In the comedy Dumb and Dumber we are treated to the spectacle of two idiots succeeding because of their relentless stupidity.  During the course of the movie the characters manage to mouth just about every inane cliche known to man.  To get comedy sharper and more sophisticated than this is a challenge.  Well, not really.  There is always a ready supply of sublimely ridiculous clichés  from every aspiring politician "positioning" himself  as a statesmen.

Take the following:

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet.  Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands.  Senator Barack Obama, Berlin, July 24, 2008.

This has to rank right up there as one of the greatest chains of  dumb clichés ever strung together by a politician.

Ex Post Conclusions

Would You Know a Revival If You Saw One?

Justin Taylor
August 02, 2013

The venerable theologian, teacher, and author J. I. Packer, expressed some thoughts on the matter:

Would we recognize a reviving of religion if we were part of one?

I ask myself that question. For more than half a century the need of such reviving in the places where I have lived, worshiped, and worked has weighed me down.

I have read of past revivals. I have learned, through a latter-day revival convert from Wales, that there is a tinc in the air, a kind of moral and spiritual electricity, when God’s close presence is enforcing his Word.

I have sat under the electrifying ministry of the late Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who as it were brought God into the pulpit with him and let him loose on the listeners. Lloyd-Jones’s ministry blessed many, but he never believed he was seeing the revival he sought.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 06

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. —Isaiah 41:17

Devotional:
"I Jehovah will listen to them." God declares that he will relieve them, when they are brought to this needy condition; and hence we ought to learn to whom this promise belongs, namely, to those who, having been reduced to extremity, are as it were parched with thirst and almost fainting.

Hence also we see that the Church does not always possess an abundance of blessings, but sometimes feels the pressure of great poverty, that she may be driven by these spurs to call upon God. For we commonly fall into slothfulness, when everything moves on according to our wish.

It is therefore advantageous to us to thirst and hunger, that we may learn to flee to the Lord with our whole heart. In a word, we need to be deeply affected with a conviction of our poverty, that we may feel the Lord's assistance.

The Prophet unquestionably intended, by this circumstance, partly to illustrate the greatness of the favor, and partly to advise the people not to lose heart on account of their poverty. —Commentaries

---

John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Mugwumps All

Secular State Schools Versus the Bible

The debate or faux-controversy over teaching the Bible in public schools in New Zealand has been diverting.  But it has offered nothing new.  David Hines, self-proclaimed rationalist and propagandist, wants all religious instruction gone--according to his opinions expressed in the NZ Herald.  No exceptions.  He, however, is perfectly willing to accept religious education--by which he means learning "about" religions.  But here is the legerdemain: he wants all religious education to be from the perspective of rationalist, secular humanism.

He has a point.  New Zealand state schools are supposed to be secular, by law.  That is, they are to deny the validity of each and every religious belief.  They are all inadequate, wrong and mistaken.  The only thing which is right, the only perspective which is both true and adequate, is secularism.  This particular religion has the necessary tenet that there is no deity: secularism is the working brief of atheist assumptions.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

Book of the Month/August

Posted on Thursday, August 1, 2013 

by Douglas Wilson 

I owe a lot to George Gilder, and with his release of Knowledge and Power, that debt has increased significantly.

Decades ago, I first read Sexual Suicide, a book that later became Men and Marriage, and which I have read again several times in that form. I was greatly influenced by Wealth and Poverty when it first came out, and have enjoyed other books as well, the most recent example being The Israel Test. This book is a worthy companion to the others in a long line of worthy companions.

There are three things I want to say about this book, and then I will leave you to get your own copy.

The first is that Gilder is a contrarian, but a sane one. He is what any sane person would look like in an insane world, provided that sane person had the guts to say what he thought out loud. The book provides kind of a grab bag of examples. He has a delightful chapter on the need for insider trading, for instance. By outlawing insider trading, we are requiring people to trade stupidly, blindly.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 05

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. —Ezekiel 6:10

Devotional:
God therefore says, "They shall then know that I have not spoken in vain, when I bring upon them this evil."
This knowledge, which is produced by real dissatisfaction with self, is very useful. I have said that it is the fruit of repentance, but at the same time it profits the miserable, to humble themselves seriously before God, and to call to memory their own ingratitude; then they perceive what they have never admitted before, that God is trustworthy as well in his threats as in his promises. Hence it happens that they reverently embrace his word which they had formerly despised.

He pronounced the same thing previously concerning the reprobate, who, as we have already said, feel God's hand without producing fruit. But because he now speaks of those very few whose conversion he had previously praised, he doubtless comprehends the fear of God under recognition or perception of him.
For if all God's threats had been buried, the people could not be thought to have returned to the right way, nor could their conversion have any existence before God. That the sinner may submit himself sincerely to God, he ought to consider how he had formerly repudiated or neglected the word of God. —Commentaries

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

A Man In Full

They Always Punish Prophets

Ariel Castro is a prophet, and we need many more of his ilk.  Of course, he has also committed acts of murder, kidnapping, rape, slaving, and torture--but that's beside the point.  These things are nothing because . . . well, read it out of his own mouth. 

The man convicted of holding three women captive in a house he turned into a prison and raping them repeatedly for a decade has been sentenced to life without parole plus 1000 years.  Ariel Castro, 53, apologised to his victims in a rambling, defiant statement before he was sentenced. He blamed a sex addiction, his former wife and even the FBI for not thoroughly investigating the abductions while claiming most of the sex was consensual and that the women were never tortured.

"These people are trying to paint me as a monster," he said. "I'm not a monster. I'm sick."  [NZ Herald]

Sure he did all these things.  But he was sick.  And the ones truly to blame are those who did not observe and diagnose him skilfully and early enough so that he would not have committed all those crimes and despicable acts. 

Castro is a poster boy for our world.  Evil is not evil; it is merely an illness.  And you can treat illnesses, right?

Letter from America (About Education in Washington DC)

The District’s public education is on a healthy trajectory

By Editorial Board, Washington Post 
Published: July 31, 2013


[Ed note:  the sort of reform, progress and achievement occurring in Washington DC could not happen in New Zealand at present.  Why?  The official line from the education establishment in New Zealand, a line parsed from the ideology of educrats and the teacher unions, is that there is nothing wrong with the NZ education.  It is the best in the world--or so the story goes.  The only thing that needs improving is teacher salaries and working conditions.  That's the official line from the education establishment.

One leading unionist recently pronounced that our education system is a taonga.  (For our international readers, "taonga" is a Maori word, meaning "treasure"--although Wikipedia points out this is a modern gloss.  "A taonga in Māori culture is a treasured thing, whether tangible or intangible. This is the current modern definition which differs from the historical definition that was noted by Hongi Hika as "property procured by the spear" [one could understand this as war booty or defended property].")  This attitude sums up the NZ problem in a nutshell.  A treasure is something you put in a glass case in a museum and you don't touch it.  You preserve it.  Reform, change, progress, development is the last thing you do with an alleged national taonga.  Meanwhile Washington DC, and some US states, power ahead.  JT]

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of historic achievement levels by D.C. public school students on annual math and reading tests was accompanied by reams of numbers, bar charts and graphs. But the best encapsulation of the accomplishment was the fist-pump-punctuated “Yes!” from D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D). It was a reaffirmation of the reform of public education launched in 2007, a rebuke to the naysayers who want us to believe reform has failed and a warning to those who would interfere with policies that are clearly gaining traction.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 03

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. —Matthew 6:6

Devotional:
He immediately adds a better direction, which is to enter into our closet, and there to pray with the door shut. In which words, as I understand them, he has taught us to seek retirement, that we may be enabled to descend into our own hearts with all our powers of reflection, and promised us that God, whose temples our bodies ought to be, will accede to the desires of our souls. For he did not intend to deny the expediency of praying also in other places; but shows that prayer is a kind of secret thing, which lies principally in the heart, and requires a tranquillity of mind undisturbed by all cares.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 03

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? —Acts 2:12

Devotional:
If God should openly and visibly descend from heaven, his majesty could scarcely appear more manifestly than in this miracle. Whoever has any drop of sound understanding in him must be stricken with only hearing of it. How beastly, then, are those men who see it with their eyes, and yet scoff, and go about with their jests to mock the power of God?

But the matter is so. There is nothing so wonderful which those men do not turn to a jest who are touched with no care of God; because they do, even purposely, harden themselves in their ignorance of things most plain. And it is a just punishment of God, which he brings upon such pride, to deliver them to Satan, to be driven headlong into blind fury.

Meaningless Morass, Part III

Two-Heeled Achilles

In his book, The Tyranny of Cliches, Jonah Goldberg gives us a history of the concept of "social justice".  It first entered the lexicon of the West in the middle of the nineteenth century, courtesy of the Roman Catholic moral theologian, Luigi Taparelli.

Taparelli was concerned to resist the statist view of reality, where there are only two entities that count--the individual and the State.  He argued that human beings are social creatures.  The individual is necessarily involved in more social institutions--more communities--than just the State.

These intermediary associations act as both bridge and buffer between the individual and the State.  The associations of "lower society" maintain their own autonomy . . . . Taparelli introduced the phrase "social justice" as a way to emphasize that much of the important stuff lay outside the realm of the State.  It had nothing to do with redistributing wealth (never mind fighting for gender equity).  Taparelli thought of and employed social justice in a completely different way that (sic) almost everyone, Catholic and otherwise, does in contemporary society.  [Jonah Goldberg, The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas (New York: Sentinel/Penguin, 2012), p.138.]

Just as "liberalism" back in the eighteenth century indicated the maximisation of individual liberty against the Leviathan State, yet today its meaning has been subverted and taken over by proponents of soft-state-despotism, so with the concept of "social justice".

Measuring Standard

What is your authority?

Christians who invoke millions of years cannot make their arguments from the biblical texts.

by Gary Bates CEO, 

Creation Ministries Internationsl–US

Published: 1 August 2013 (GMT+10)

First appeared in a CMI newsletter.

Is the age of the earth an important issue, really?

Pastors often love CMI speakers to take questions as part of our ministry program at their churches. These often flush out the discordant views of some members, surprising the pastors.

Q & A sessions are not always easy for our speakers. We don’t know what’s coming, or whether rabid anticreationists, some with scientific qualifications, are attending, intent on demonstrating the ‘ignorance’ of the visiting creationist. In the hot seat, we now have to be instant ‘experts’ in paleontology, biology, geology, cosmology and even theology. Of course, no one is an expert in all fields, but we do our best to show there are answers!
 
Sadly, the most hostile audience members are usually Christians agitated by our ‘young-earth’ (biblical) presentation.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 02

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. —Acts 22:16


Devotional:
For as baptism is given for the support, consolation, and confirmation of our faith, it requires to be received as from the hand of the Author himself; we ought to consider it as beyond all doubt, that it is he who speaks to us by this sign; that it is he who purifies and cleanses us, and obliterates the remembrance of our sins; that it is he who makes us partakers of his death, who demolishes the kingdom of Satan, who weakens the power of our corrupt propensities, who even makes us one with himself, that, being clothed with him, we may be reckoned children of God; and that he as truly and certainly performs these things internally on our souls, as we see that our bodies are externally washed, immersed, and enclosed in water. —Institutes, IV, xv, xiv

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Meaningless Morass, Part II

Holy Discrimination

In Part I of "Meaningless Morass" we argued that the concept of social justice is meaningless because it can be expanded to embrace anything which a human being thinks is good.  Social justice, once the "good" is identified is a social or political order which delivers the good, whatever it may be.

Take, as an example, the evil of abortion.  Since some believe that a woman's "right" to her own body is axiomatic and ultimate, the rights of the unborn child are subordinate (at best), non-existent, at worst (the unborn is not human, therefore by definition cannot have human rights).  Therefore, abortion is a good thing, preserving a woman's control (or, property right) over her own body.  Consequently the cause of social justice must provide free, accessible abortion.  If not, injustice stalks the land. 

In addition, modern Nazi organizations assert they are committed to social justice for white people, which means getting for white people what they are due.  What white people are due, presumably, is their rightful position of racial supremacy.  Modern communist parties also claim they are committed to achieving social justice.  Naturally, the notion of what is just is worlds apart from Nazi ideology.  But both alike claim they represent the cause of social justice.

Christians are starting to get swept up in this errant nonsense.

Taking Offence at God

Exposing the Inner Man

Some Christian churches have long ago decided they would worship God, not as He is and revealed Himself to be, but they would worship Him as they want Him to be.  And what they want God to be is someone who minces around their lusts.

A recent piece in The Blaze provides a case study.  The hymn writers in the example are faithful; the denomination concerned is not. 

Why Is a Major Church Denomination Banning Famed Hymn ‘In Christ Alone’ From Its New Song Book?

Jul. 30, 2013 11:43am  
Billy Hallowell

It’s no secret that the Presbyterian Church (USA) — which is different from other branches of Presbyterianism — collectively takes a more liberal approach to theology. Most recently, the denomination is gaining attention for its rejection of the hymn, “In Christ Alone.” Rather than including the song in its new hymnal book, PCUSA axed it — an action that may leave some faithful believers scratching their heads.

After all, the song is robust with Christian themes of hope, strength and Christ’s dying on the cross. So, why would the PCUSA turn its back on it?

Here’s why: There’s one, key line in the third stanza that created a barrier — and debate: “Till on that cross as Jesus died/the wrath of God was satisfied.”

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

August 01

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. —Psalm 1:1

Devotional:
The sum of the whole is that the servants of God must endeavor utterly to abhor the life of ungodly men. But as it is the policy of Satan to insinuate his deceits in a very crafty way, the Prophet, in order that none may be insensibly deceived, shows how by little and little men are ordinarily induced to turn aside from the right path. They do not, at the first step, advance so far as a proud contempt of God; but having once begun to give ear to evil counsel, Satan leads them, step by step, farther astray, till they rush headlong into open transgression.
The Prophet, therefore, begins with counsel, by which term I understand the wickedness which does not as yet show itself openly. Then he speaks of the way, which is to be understood of the customary mode or manner of living. And he places at the top of the climax the seat, by which metaphorical expression he designates the obduracy produced by the habit of a sinful life.

In the same way, also, ought the three phrases, to walk, to stand, and to sit, to be understood. When a person willingly walks after the gratification of his corrupt lust, the practice of sinning so infatuates him that, forgetful of himself, he grows hardened in wickedness; and this the Prophet terms standing in the way of sinners. Then at length follows a desperate obstinacy, which he expresses by the figure of sitting. —Commentaries

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Meaningless Morass, Part I

The Inanity of "Social Justice"

Jonah Goldberg in his book The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas has written an excellent chapter on Social Justice.  We observe that some Christian leaders are foolishly starting to employ the term.  One key problem (there are many) is that when Christians and churches start using the term, they fall into a great big quagmire.  It's full of stinky, rotting things as Frodo and Sam found out as they crossed the Dead Marshes on their way to Mordor.

What does "social justice" mean?  Are Christians obligated to work hard to establish social justice in our communities and nations?  Let's find out.  We will end up with some mighty offensive bedfellows.