Analogia de Haeresis

Below is an analogy of "heresies".  Though the term heresy seems to have as many definitions as there are persons willing to apply it, I think it is necessary to offer one more to help explain my purposes in this article.  I simply refer to the term as an idea or conception of truth  and reality that at least appears Christian, but upon measurement against scripture and orthodox historical theology, it is found to deny such doctrines so as to render it non-Christian.   Having said that, here is a list of such bodies of belief to which I've applied the analogy of a man and his creation of a statue as a self portrait so to explain in the simplest way possible, the teachings behind the terms that name them.

Arianism - The Man makes a statue that bears His resemblance.  The Man then sits on top of the statue and proclaims his existence to the statue.

Marcianism - The Man makes a statue that bears His resemblance.  The Man hates the statue and contemplates its destruction.  The Man has a Son and The Son and The Son loves the statue and, against His Father's wishes, He claims it for His own.

Pelagianism - The Man makes a statue that bears His resemblance. The Man leaves the statue to its own devises, and the statue is left to will itself to life.

Romanism - The Man makes a statue that bears His resemblance. The Man gives the statue life, but it must wonder back and forth in order to maintain its life.  If it stumbles, then it must bring its broken pieces to another man whom The Man has hired, so that man can take the pieces to The Man so He can mend its pieces.  If the statue stumbles and breaks its head off in a fall, it must take its head to the hireling and the hireling entreats The Man to remake the statue and re-constitute it with new life.  Once The Man decides not to remake the statue, the pieces are loaded into a dump truck which drives aimlessly around until The Man decides the statue's worth is such that it can finally go to the New Quarry to work for His Son.

Unitarianism - The Man makes a statue that bears His resemblance. The Man has no son of His own, but adopts a son ans sends him to stand beside the statue and proclaim his adopted Father's existence.

Annihilationism - The Man makes 2 statues, both bearing His resemblance. The Man gives one of them life,but He leaves the other alone.  The one given life, eventually ends up at the New Quarry working for The Man's Son, while the other is completely destroyed.

Universalism - The Man makes 2 statues, both bearing His resemblance.  The Man gives them both life and they both end up working for His Son at the New Quarry.

Quotes on Sanctification - Calvin

I thought this quote from John Calvin was illuminating.  It is taken from his comments on Galatians 3:22.

"No man who has a choice given him will be so mad as to despise freedom, and prefer slavery."

It appears that Calvin considered those (as Paul probably did) who preferred to place themselves under the strict tutelage of the Law, crazy.  We fallen creatures are bent in that direction even today, when we prefer the moralistic position of the weaker brother to the freedom of the mature.

Idols - Taking My Joy into My Own Hands

     They are cunning and clever; sometimes I thrust them over my head like trophies; other times I conceal them in my pocket like a weapon.  Those who don't admit their ownership of them, are likely owned far too easily by them.
     As for me, I have three that I covet in particular, and though they are accompanied by an army of others, these three are most valuable to me and as a result, probably the most dangerous.  One looks like a lantern whose flame is ever burning and I am fooled to think that it provides light in darkness, when its only, actual purpose is to consume fuel, and when aggravated enough, it tips over and catches fire everything around it.  The second one is an ordinary wooden block; plain in it's appearance, and would easily fit in one's hand.  If it was displayed on a mantle, no one would notice it as they entered the room.  But the trouble with this one is that, it starts off in the background, unassuming; but as I pass it by, it daily grows larger and draws me to itself irresistibly like a Siren, and it eventually fills the room so fully that everything else must be removed.  The third, and last one, is perhaps the most powerful.  Oddly enough, this one is the smallest of the three, yet it is arrogantly ordained with haughty carvings and ornaments that are gilt with gold; but its shape shifts as it imitates what it considers to be the most beautiful object in the room, so it deceives its admirer into believing that it is something that it is not.  It draws the attention of everyone who enters its room, and likes to tip over the lantern when ignored.
     Idols are things by, through, and with which we presumptuous creatures attempt to take the creation and maintenance of our joy into our own hands.  We often do not trust God, the Giver of All, and Promise Keeper, to provide us with sufficient joy, or we mistake the fleeting happiness of this world for the joy that is only found in God, by grace, through faith in His gospel.

Movies - 3a Addendum

I just noticed that I had fogotten to add "Gods and Generals" to the last list.

Analogy of the Law

1.     Imagine that natural (Sun) light represents the light that shines on all men to illuminate the Divine ethos.  Like in Romans 1, the rules of conduct that (unless so deeply suppressed) generally agreed upon by every people group, in every culture.

2.     Imagine the Law of God, spiritually discerned by His special revelation (as it was almost exclusively given to the Jews in the Old Covenant and whose purpose was fully revealed in the New) to be represented by a magnifying glass which the Word holds between the light of the Sun and those on which it should shine.  The light now, in a more acute manner, either illuminates those clothed in Christ's righteousness, or scorches those who stand naked in its light.

3.     Imagine the laws of moralistic legalism as the artificial light produced by man as an imitation; intended to light their way inside shelters built in order to actually shield themselves from the natural light and its reveling powers. 

Quotes on the Gospel: Sanctification

Below is a quote from John Calvin from his commentary on Romans 2, verse 25 specifically.  I found this as I read through his comments on chapter two, looking to be enlightened on the topic of Amillennialism, and stumbled onto this brief statement that I find describes what it really means to be under the gracious sanctification of God.

"...for no one, who is seriously touched and moved by the fear of God, will ever dare to raise up his eyes to heaven, since the more he strives after true righteousness, the clearer he sees how far he is from it."

Movies - 3

OK...here are some more...

One Flew Over the Coo-Coo’s Nest

Amadeus

Cool Hand Luke

Jeremiah Johnson

The Sting

LA Confidential

Monte Python’s The Search for the Holy Grail

2001: A Space Odyssey

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

The Hustler

The Color of Money

Marathon Man

A Clockwork Orange

The Shining

Midnight Cowboy

The Shawshank Redemption

Schindler’s List

The Usual Suspects

Fight Club

The Prestige

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Star Wars: Episode 4

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi

12 Monkeys

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek: First Contact

The Truman Show

Taxi Driver

American History X

Reservoir Dogs

The Great Escape

Blade Runner

Stand by Me

Crash

Christological Predestination? - Lapsarianism

     In many discussions about predestination, the ominous word, "Lapsarianism" may possibly come up.  It comes from the Latin word lapsus, and means "fall" in theological usage.  Some may say from the outset, that any discussion that attempts to apprehend the order in which God decreed events (and that is the topic with which Lapsarianism is concerned) is arrogant and presumes that the creature could actually understand and speculate on such an order.  I certainly don't pretend to have figured out for myself, topics such as these, and I don't expect to resolve this matter in a simple blog article, nor do I submit that, because our minds are finite, this discussion is wholly off limits.

     There are two primary forms of lapsarianism and they are used to describe one's view of the timing of God's decrees: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism.  The former posits that God decreed the election and reprobation of the human race before He decreed the fall, and the later submits that God must have decreed the election and reprobation of humanity after He had decreed the fall.  For a detailed description of these two terms, please see Herman Bavinck's article.

     In the context of this series of articles on "Christological Predestination", Lapsarianism is useful precisely because it focuses in on the nature and order of God's decrees regarding the salvation or damnation of His creatures.  It is readily apparent that any type of Lapsarianism assumes God's decree or ordination of the fall, an idea that many evangelicals (particularly those breathing the air of democracy) hold in contempt against their libertarian freedom from God's sovereignty.  For instance, those who promote  Christological Predestination as opposed to God's positive predestination of individuals in addition to setting Christ aside as the Elect one, are likely to use the idea of God's direct decree only of the election of Christ (Isaiah 42) to deny that His foreknowledge of one's regeneration is not conditioned upon His foresight of their future faith, that the Holy Spirit never fails in the attempt to regenerate those who will believe, thus proponents of Christological Predestination also deny the actual atonement made specially for those who God has elected in favor of an atonement that only potentially covers everyone. In other words, those who hold to the doctrine of Christological Predestination are likely to deny the doctrines of grace (Calvinism), in fact, that seems to be its very point.  But the converse statement is not true; those who do hold to the doctrines of grace do not deny that Christ is the Elect One, just as He is the True Israel.

Christological Predestination?

I have recently been engaged in a discussion of "Christological Predestination".  Though this idea was not new to me yesterday, I had not given it a great deal of thought until now.  I believe this will result in a brief series on the topic and its consequent beliefs.  By the way, anyone else who has thought about this, doesn't it sound a bit like the teachings of Norm Shepard and the Auburn Ave. crew?

What is Christological Predestination?

As far as I can gather, it is the idea that God elected Christ, and those who believe are, as Paul so often puts it, "in Christ", but to the exclusion (or neglect) of God's election of individuals, but that persons "elect" themselves by believing.

Movies - 2

Here is an addendum to the last post. After the post, I thought of several more movies to add to the list:

Rocky

The Machinist

Envy

Wild at Heart

Blue Velvet

The Lost Highway

Mulholland Drive

Leaving Las Vegas

Bringing Out the Dead

Gone in 60 Seconds

The Boiler Room

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

National Treasure

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Bakshi’s animated: The Lord of the Rings

Walk the Line

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

Krull

The Secret of Nymn

Deep Cover

Castaway

The Road to Perdition

The Money Pit

Big

Apollo 13

The Green Mile

Catch Me If You Can

The Terminal

The Sixth Sense

Unbreakable

The Others

Far and Away

The Village

Signs

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Hellboy

Hellboy 2

Spiderman I

Spiderman II

Spiderman III

Movies

An interesting thing happened to me this past Saturday. A friend of mine asked me what my favorite movies were, suggesting maybe a list of five, and I froze...my mind nearly drew a blank. After several minutes I was able to name many movies I enjoy, but I told my fried I'd really have to consider what I would label as my top five. So this post is that thought process.

Movies I enjoy (sorry...a long list in no particular order)

The Fellowship of the Ring

The Two Towers

Return of the King

The Matrix

The Matrix Reloaded

The Matrix Revolutions

Excalibur

Willow

The Saint

The Salton Sea

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Tombstone

A Few Dollars More

A Fist Full of Dollars

Hang 'um High

Unforgiven

Meet the Parents

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Elf

The Godfather I

The Godfather II

The Godfather III

Vampire Hunter D

Ghost in the Shell

Bandits

Labyrinth

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

Laurence of Arabia

Army of Darkness

Van Helsing

Underworld

Underworld: Evolution

Most Bond movies

Time Bandits

Serpico

Dog Day Afternoon

Scarface

Heat

Sling Blade

Donnie Brasco

Any Given Sunday

A River Runs Through It

Legends of the Fall

The Devil's Advocate

Ocean's 11, 12, & 13

Insomnia

One Hour Photo

The Doors

The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Supremacy

The Bourne Ultimatum

Awakenings

Gangs of New York

300

Batman

Batman Returns

The Dark Knight

Good Will Hunting

Ironman

Mission Impossible 1, 2, & 3

True Romance

Top Gun

Real Genius

The Legend of Bagger Vance

Taxi Driver

Good Fellas

Dune

Tron

All the Pretty Horses

Cape Fear

Ronin

Casino

Top Secret!

The Ghost and the Darkness

Rounders

Saving Private Ryan

The Breakfast Club

Dead Man Walking

O Brother Where Art Thou

Mystic River

Traffic

Pulp Fiction

21 grams

The Game

Vampire's Kiss

Apocalypse Now

Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3

Braveheart

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Raising Arizona

Indiana Jones 1-3

Lost Boys

Goonies

The Departed

Alien

Predator

The Beach

The Gladiator

A Beautiful Mind

Snatch

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Hell Raiser

Just to name a few...now I intend to narrow it down to a top ten list.

Correction - Disputations on Hermeneutics 5

I discovered several changes that needed to be made to the post, "Disputations on Hermeneutics 5".  Their nature warranted a noted correction; below is the corrected material.

Justification

Another doctrine one may observe in order to see the affects had by a hermeneutical structure as it is applied to scripture is the doctrine of justification.  In opposition to much of recent liberal theology, all Christian theology affirms the legal aspect of the atonement.   Often referred to in academic circles as “forensic justification”, the atonement wrought for us by Christ on the cross involves two sides: in Covenant Theology, the first part is expressed in terms of covenantal obedience on the part of the elect—the first Adam disobeyed the covenant God made with him, resulting in the condemnation of the world and the imputation of his sin to all his posterity, thus meriting for us God’s just damnation.  The second Adam, who is Christ, obeyed the covenant perfectly and merited favor for God’s elect, and by having His own righteousness imputed to us, God could be justified in declaring us “not guilty”, and calling us His Sons.  The second aspect of the event of Christ’s atonement was the sacrifice demanded by God’s holiness—having Christ’s righteousness imputed to us alone (however unimaginable given the wreched state of our souls) would not have been enough for God to justify us, because His justice demands payment of the debt against it, and it is not cast aside in the atonement, but Christ sacrificed Himself in the place of all those sinners who would eventually and who had already believed.  So, God does not love the elect in spite of their sin, but because of Christ’s payment for their sins.  The two sides of this doctrine (in Covenant Theology and other systems) are often referred to as the passive and active obedience of Christ: Christ actively obeyed God’s Law thus establishing the righteousness all believers need to stand before God without condemnation, and He passively obeyed God as He allowed Himself to be crucified and forsaken on the cross as a payment for all the sins of all who would ever believe.  So, in the atonement we see redemption accomplished by Christ in His life, death and resurrection (wherein the sins of all believers were imputed to Him), and applied to individuals temporally as they believe (having the righteousness of Christ imputed to them).  Therefore God’s exoneration of the elect is justified; His holiness is vindicated on the cross, and we inherit the Heavens and the Earth with Christ.

            Where Christian theological systems part ways has been over the doctrine of justification throughout the different ages of redemptive history; its accomplishment is generally viewed as transepochal but the manner of its application seems to be the source of the dispute.  Below I have included a chart that may be helpful in discerning the different views held by the different hermeneutical systems.

Correction -

In a post on 10/29/08, I referred readers to a link that no longer exists.  The post can be found here, but the link to the blog titled, "FM No Static at All" no longer exists.

Disputations on Hermeneutics - 6

Below is the conclusion of the comparison of the affects that different hermenutical systems have on the doctrine of justification.

Classic Dispensationalism – Justification of Old Testament Saints

Grounds:           Christ’s passion (life, death, resurrection).

Means:              the gospel of the Law.

Instrument:        faith one’s own ability to fulfill the commands of Old Covenant Law, which obedience was made possible through the mediation of the priests in the sacrificial system.

Revised Dispensationalism – Justification of Old Testament Saints

Grounds:           Christ’s passion.

Means:             The proclamation of a very limited understanding of the New Testament gospel hidden under the veil of the Mosaic shadows.

Instrument:        faith in Father God in general—knowledge or belief in the sufficiency of the sacrifice of the coming Messiah was superfluous to one’s justification.

Covenant Theology – Justification of Saints in Every Age

Grounds:           Christ’s passion.

Means:              the gospel of grace proclaimed.

Instrument:        faith alone in Christ alone (the degree to which an individual understood who Christ was, was dictated by the progression of special revelation through the accumulation of covenantal knowledge.

Disputations on Hermeneutics - 5

In my ongoing attempt to edit and re-edit the paper I began several months ago, regarding different hermeneutical systems, I've included a section that examines a couple consequential doctrines that result from the assumptions made within the system.  Below is the introduction of the portion on the doctrine of justification.  I'd like to get some feedback regarding the ideas I've presented.

Justification

Another doctrine one may observe in order to see the affects of a hermeneutical structure as it is applied is that of justification.  In opposition to some liberal theologies today, all Christian theology affirms the legal aspect of the atonement.   Often referred to in academic circles as “forensic justification”, the atonement wrought for us by Christ on the cross involved two sides; in Covenant Theology it is expressed in terms of Christ’s covenantal obedience on the part of the elect—where Adam disobeyed that covenant resulting in the condemnation of the world and the imputation of his sin to all his posterity, thus meriting for us God’s just damnation, Christ on the other hand merited for God’s elect, His own righteousness so God could be justified in calling us His Sons.  The two sides of this doctrine (in Covenant Theology and other systems) are often referred to as the passive and active obedience of Christ: Christ actively obeyed God’s Law thus establishing the righteousness all believers need to stand before God without condemnation, and He passively obeyed God as He allowed Himself to be crucified and forsaken on the cross as a payment for all the sins of all who would ever believe.  So, in the atonement we see redemption accomplished by Christ in His life, death and resurrection (wherein the sins of all believers were imputed to Him), and applied to individuals temporally as they believe (having the righteousness of Christ imputed to them).  Therefore God’s exoneration of the elect is justified; His holiness is vindicated on the cross, and we inherit the Heavens and the Earth with Christ.

            Where Christian theological systems part ways has been over the doctrine of justification throughout the different ages of redemptive history; its accomplishment is generally viewed as transepochal but the manner of its application seems to be the source of the dispute.  Below I have included a chart that may be helpful in discerning the different views held by the different hermeneutical systems.

Brief Break

Well, I've been away from the desk for a while...back soon with some more ramblings.