3 Big Features of our Fallen Nature
Self-Justifying
Resentment
Violence and/or Self-Pity
(Usually in that order as events play out.)
7.08.2012
About Me
- Name: c.t.
Five solas, doctrines of grace, covenant of redemption (Covenant Theology is not the servant of infant baptism), Traditional Text, King James Version only; doing the two great commandments of Christ at the practical level (i.e. actually doing them); and recovering by degree the full image of God. This is the foundation I stand on and build upon.
Index:
ESSENTIAL I ~ II ~ III ~ IV ~ V ~ VI ~ VII ~ VIII ~ IX ~ X ~ XI ~ XII ~ XIII ~ XIV ~ XV ~ XVI ~ XVII ~ XVIII ~ XIX ~ XX ~ XXI ~ XXII ~ XXIII ~ XXIV ~ XXV ~ XXVI ~ XXVII ~ XXVIII ~ XXIX ~ XXX ~ XXXI ~ XXXII ~ XXXIII ~ XXXIV ~ XXXV ~ XXXVI ~ XXXVII ~ XXXVIII ~ XXXIX ~ XL ~ XLI ~ XLII ~ XLIII ~ XLIV ~ XLV ~ XLVI ~ XLVII ~ XLVIII ~ XLIX ~ L ~ LI ~ LII ~ LIII ~ LIV ~ LV ~ LVI ~ LVII ~ LVIII ~ LIX ~ LX ~ LXI ~ LXII ~ LXIII ~ LXIV ~ LXV ~ LXVI ~ LXVII ~ LXVIII ~ LXIX ~ LXX ~ LXXI ~ LXXII
STICK DRAWINGS & DIAGRAMS 1 (Note on 1) ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5
--Fuse the Word of God into Memory, Will, and Understanding Prayer and Fasting -- (of --) Acute Warring of the Holy Spirit with the carnal spirit -- (storms struggled through; extending limits to glorify God by doing it when it's most difficult) |
SOME BOOKS READ COMPLETE
SINCE STARTING THIS BLOG:
(Short Essay On My Reading History)
The practical, experimental level of the faith (the Puritans called it experimental Calvinism) is for those ready to leave off laying the foundation over and over and begin building the house (see Calvin's commentary on Hebrews 6:1).
Psalms 27:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path...
"God examineth with trials, the devil examineth with temptations, the world examineth with persecutions."
- Henry Smith
"The word of God . . . is the light to our paths, the key of the kingdom of heaven, our comfort in affliction, our shield and sword against Satan, the school of all wisdom, the glass wherein we behold God's face, the testimony of his favour, and the only food and nourishment of our souls."
- Geneva translators, 10 April 1560
"When the heart is cast indeed into the mould of the doctrine that the mind embraceth - when the evidence and necessity of the truth abides in us - when not the sense of the words only is in our heads, but the sense of the thing abides in our hearts - when we have communion with God in the doctrine we contend for - then shall we be garrisoned by the grace of God against all the assaults of men."
- John Owen
"Where the Puritans excelled was at bringing this high view of God
down to the level of ordinary life. One Puritan woman - the wife of a
soldier in Cromwell's army - defined Christianity as
'that universal habit of grace which is wrought in a soul by the
regenerating Spirit of God, whereby the whole creature is designed up
into the Divine will and love, and all its actions designed to the
obedience and glory of its Maker.'
By defining the Christian faith in this way, she was making a
connection between the doctrines of grace and daily experience."
- the Doctrines of Grace,
Boice/Ryken
"Previously, men had looked to the Church for all the trustworthy knowledge of God obtainable, and as well for all the communications of grace accessible. Calvin taught them that neither function has been committed to the Church, but God the Holy Spirit has retained both in His own hands and confers both knowledge of God and communion with God on whom He will."
- B. B. Warfield (from his essay Calvin as a Theologian)
A plain path puritan. That means the faith that is pure, bold, and practical. Five solas. Doctrines of Grace. Covenant of Redemption. Experimental Calvinism. No clericalism, ritualism, formalism, or moralism. The devil's nightmare.
CHOOSE YOUR BOOKS, CONQUER THEM, POSSESS THEM IN ESSENCE:
Holy Bible, AV1611
Iliad & Odyssey - Homer
On War - von Clausewitz
Wealth of Nations - Smith
Fourth Way - Ouspensky
Lives - Plutarch
History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
"The fearful are in the forlorn of those that march for hell; the violent and valiant are they which take heaven by force: cowards never won heaven. Say not that thou hast royal blood running in thy veins, and art begotten of God, except thou canst prove thy pedigree by this heroic spirit, to dare to be holy despite men and devils."
- William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour
"As among all the doctrines of the gospel, there is none opposed with more violence and subtlety than that concerning our regeneration by the immediate, powerful, effectual operation of the Holy Spirit of grace; so there is not scarce anything more despised or scorned by many in the world than that any should profess that there hath been such a work of God upon themselves, or on any occasion declare aught of the way and manner whereby it was wrought... yea, the enmity of Cain against Abel was but a branch of this proud and perverse inclination."
- John Owen, A Discourse Concerning The Holy Spirit
The antithesis of vanity is: faith. The antithesis of worldly pride is: repentance. The antithesis of self-will is: descent-of-the-dove God's will.
9 Comments:
How do those features relate to our `sleep`, a word which appears throughout the New Testament often together with the idea that we need to `awake`. Would we still be subject to our Fallen Nature if were awake.
To awaken we need something new inside us. A new heart. An awakened conscience. These are given by regeneration. But once regenerated we still have to deal with our fallen nature. That's why progressive sanctification involves *mortifying* our old nature, and *cultivating* our new nature.
Those three features of our fallen nature I listed tend to be very foundational, and very active. Our conscience begins to alert us to self-justifying. Resentment is a difficult one because it is so glorified in the world. We don't even know that resentment is not a noble emotion. It is portrayed as the most noble emotion there is. It is really for losers. In fact we generally don't even know that emotions can be noble or ignoble. Positive or negative. So we have to learn that, and I believe once regenerated we seek such knowledge. Violence decreases, certainly active violence, as conscience awakens and resentment is seen for what it is. Self-pity is also an indulgence like violence and decreases as it's source - resentment - is seen for what it is.
I wonder if it might not be Biblically proper to consider the twisted forces of lust and pride as most foundational to our fallen nature, as the duel wellsprings of the flesh by which all other sins are but variations of. [consider 1 John 2:16]
These ignoble features, emotions, attitudes and actions have as their source, if you will—a double helix structure like that of DNA. The twisted backbone which serves to encode our flesh is none other than base lust and abject pride.
don’t know, ct, if you’ll find my comments i just left on your post of 8.06.2007. but fwiw, here’s the link: Meredith G. Kline and C. S. Lewis
Yes, if we are looking at foundational features, pride, vanity, self-will...; sleep would be another.
I responded to your comment on that Kline post. On a line of thought (you brought up where God is Heaven is), if you are not familiar with this person's blog you might find it interesting:
http://bylogos.blogspot.com/
He's an astronomer, a Ph.D. He is very much orthodox Reformed in his understanding and belief. And for where God is see this post, for instance:
http://bylogos.blogspot.ca/2011/07/moving-earth.html
Here's an excerpt:
"The Absolute Standard of Rest
You might think it implausible for the immense visible universe to revolve about a tiny fixed earth. This, however, presumes the materialist error that the visible world is all that exists. Christians know better. God’s creation is much larger, encompassing also the vast, spatial heaven where God and His angels reside (see my post Cosmology and Heaven). The ultimate focal point of the entire creation is God's heavenly Throne. Would it not be most fitting for God to designate this--the dwelling place of the Absolute--as the ultimate standard of absolute rest?
The link between the earth and God's throne will become even more obvious in the future, after the earth is renewed. Then God's dwelling place shall descend from heaven to be with man (Rev.21:1-4), and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be established on the earth itself (Rev.22:1-5).
The universe in its fullest sense is therefore neither helio-centric nor geo-centric but, rather, Christo-centric."
- John Byl, Ph.D. (astronomy)
Professor emeritus
Trinity Western University
O, I like it! Thanks for pointing me to him.
He's written books. You can find them on Amazon. I haven't bought any yet, but they look interesting.
I left another comment over at the other post re Meredith Kline and C. S. Lewis. I recommend a book by Kline over there.
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