There's Beauty in the Bellow

Strong paedobaptist covenantalists frequently talk about the corporate nature of God's covenant(s) and the Bible's style. Unless the speaker/writer is directly addressing an individual (Ahab, Mary, Hezekiah, Philemon, or Yahweh for example), most of the "you's" in Scripture are plural. Paedobaptists argue that credobaptists overlook this corporate nature and read the Bible too individualistically: Credos just can't help it: it's wired into their theological DNA. If credobaptism only originated with the anabaptists, or the First and Second Great Awakenings (I know, that's a really broad swath of history) -- then maybe individualism is intertwined into the credo baptist position. That doesn't mean that it has to be. After all, we are learning that we can improve upon our physical genetic material -- say, diet and exercise can diminish a strong genetic tendency towards heart disease. I've been memorizing Psalm 139 and have just started verse 1...

Why work for diversity in the Church? I've seen this question posed a couple times. Partly out of concern for tokenism, partly out of concern for creating a new legalism. As I see it, there are three major reasons for seeking diversity and racial reconciliation: coming to terms with our own history, a vision for maturity in the American church, and the Eschatological Church. Reckoning with our own history (especially the SBC) I don't remember where I got this observation (I think it was Tim Mackie), but here it is: In chapter nine of the book of Daniel, Daniel offers a prayer of repentance for Israel's past sins -- the corporate sins that culminate in the Babylonian exile that contextualizes the book. Daniel has acted uprightly in every dilemma presented him, so why should he have to repent for others? It's a strange idea for our autonomous age. The Southern Baptist Convention broke off from the American Baptist over the preservation of slavery. Chattel slavery as...

I recently came across an article warning that The Bible Project has an insufficiently robust explanation of the Atonement. ( The Bible Project: Brilliant but Flawed ) I love  the Bible Project. The visuals are nice but I really love the depth and clarity of their content. Really, I prefer the podcasts. I appreciated the criticism because heretofore I've not seen any. And for all its perfections, it must  have some flaws. The author of the article ended by saying that he would not recommend TBP at all. I wouldn't go so far as that. But this instance was a good reminder as the Church deals with a new series of scandals: do not follow any one leader or thinker slavishly. Tim Keller believes in Old Earth Creationism. C.S. Lewis was an open theist. Greg Bausen had rather too large an ego. Martin Luther had some unsavory sentiments (antiSemitic if I remember correctly). Charles Spurgeon had some exegetical problems. Wayne Grudem might have some problems explaining the Trinity. ...

So now I'm here: married to a credo-baptist who is crowned with the fruits of the Spirit and who possesses a warm and generous heart. We attend an SBC Reformed Baptist church. I had to receive believer's baptism before I could join. And from my solid upbringing, church membership is a vital ingredient for spiritual maturity. As I started spending more time with Baptists, I started wondering why Presbyterians (of a certain sort at least) seem to continually harp on baptism -- even to the point of implying that Baptists can't fully grasp the Gospel because they don't subscribe to infant baptism. My Baptist husband and friends seem somewhat bewildered by the vehemence over paedobaptism. Michael Bull over at Bully's Blog has been invaluable at pointing out something so simple, I can't believe I overlooked it: Baptism is not the new covenant equivalent of circumcision, because the "circumcised," transformed   heart  is the sign of the new covenant. It a...

A little over three years ago, I joined a Reformed Baptist church. The Baptist part was some time in the happening. I worked for a baptist and my work took me to a couple Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings. He mostly brought me to pique his vanity and as an attempt to bring me to the "dark side." I had grown up in various Presbyterian and Reformed churches, culminating with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC). Other than early childhood outside of big cities in California (plus a babyhood stint in Minneapolis of which I have no recollection), I've spent the last 20 years in a small town in the "lower Alabama" part of Florida. (i.e. the Panhandle) I've been in small churches all my life (other than the fountainhead of the CREC in Idaho) and small towns. In all the churches I had ever been in, almost everyone was white. In 27 years, there was a total of three  black members and they were all single and never at the same church at...