Make believe

The problem gay people have is they can't consummate a marriage. They dress up in mommy and daddy's clothes. Playing make believe.

No longer pathetic...

We're all very pathetic. We don't know, don't admit, how pathetic we are. With the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) we are no longer pathetic.

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Basic list

Gary said...

I very much like your idea of "plain simple books that sum up the faith" as it gives me more time to spend with the Bible itself. I have been using this list for a while and find it extremely helpful, so thank you. I wonder, some five years on, would the list look the same if you compiled it today or do you have any new recommendations?

This comment was left here. The basic list was the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, Human Nature in its Fourfold State, and Berkhof's Manual of Christian Doctrine.

I responded:

c.t. said...

Hi, I'm trying to think of one. That list is pretty good in that I didn't include any subjective types of influences and it's balanced. I was using the template of 'history, poetry, philosophy' (poetry representing imaginative literature and philosophy in this case representing theology). Boston's great work I listed can be seen as a history of redemption.

I suppose confessions, creeds, and catechisms would be candidates. Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation ed. by James T. Dennison, Jr. would be an all-encompassing inclusion.

Heidelberg Commentary by Ursinus is basic.

Of course Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion could be included because it carries so much foundational wisdom.

A foundational subject for a Christian that is getting a lot of attention recently is worldview analysis. It is a powerful subject that gives parts in relation to the whole understanding of the Christian worldview vs. the constellation of false idol worldviews. I think three classics for that are:

David K. Naugle - Worldview: The History of a Concept

James Sire - The Universe Next Door

Nancy Pearcey - Finding Truth

In the Naugle book you'll find answers to common criticisms of worldview analysis from Christians. His chps. 9 and 11 are mandatory to understanding the whole subject.

From an email, postmodernism

[At least read the last paragraph below, interesting historical note...]

First, a definition of postmodernism is necessary:

"Christian philosopher J.P. Moreland notes that Postmodernism refers to a
philosophical approach primarily in the area of epistemology, or what
counts as knowledge or truth. Broadly speaking, Moreland says
"Postmodernism represents a form of cultural relativism about such
things as truth, reality, reason, values, linguistic meaning, the 'self' and other notions."[xxiii]
Though Postmodernism comes in many forms, there are three unifying values: (1) a commitment to relativism; (2) an opposition to metanarratives, or
totalizing explanations of reality that are true for all people of all
cultures; and (3) the idea of culturally created realities. Each of
these commitments are designed to deny that there is a worldview or
belief system that can be considered absolute Truth.
Postmodernism's most effective methodological tool, one used extensively in university
modern language departments, is known as Deconstruction, which means (1) that words do not represent reality, and (2) that concepts expressed in sentences in any language are arbitrary."

http://old.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/print.php?&ArticleID=5324

Basically it asserts that truth can't be known, or, there is no absolute truth, and they try to make you stop believing that language can carry any objective meaning.

George Steiner had a good passage describing them in their attacks on great literature in the preface to his book on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky:

"The Narcissist arrogance (the semiotic anatomist is axiomatically more intelligent, more knowing, more important than the text on which he operates), the espousal of a pseudo -scientific jargon, the covert thrill of violence implicit in current interpretative methods, raise larger issues."

Ultimately (and you'll see this in Pearcey's Finding Truth) postmodernist theory commits suicide by using language to assert language can't carry any truth. People with these unbiblical worldviews always have to make themselves an exception to their false idol assertions.


But to get more into the weeds, these post modernist theorists deny any "transcendental signified" (a metaphysical reality that grounds true meaning in language, what that John chapter 1 passage is about, grounding the Logos, the Word in the Triune God Himself) but only a gaggle of "transcendental signifiers" (humans and groups of humans making up 'truth' and what's true for one person or group is not true for another, etc.).


Into this void, or vacuum, steps the Devil and his anything goes evil.

Interesting historical point on this: the prisoners (everyday people, citizens) living in the Soviet Union vast police state were subjected to this kind of ideology because collectivist regimes like that want to make reality upside down. Nothing has meaning. Everything is arbitrary, laws, goals, rules, one's station in life, etc., etc. So historians have noted that Soviet citizens used the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky to maintain their grasp of what is real. Stalin is on historical record saying that he regretted not banning the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. They became a lifeline to reality for the inmates of the Soviet police state. - C.