Monday, May 21, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Five Points of Calvinism
I am a Calvinist. This is not a very popular term among Baptists, and has been met with sneers of derision from Baptist laymen and pastors. Accusations leveled to those who share my soteriological understanding vary from "anti-evangelism" to "narrow-mindedness." We are seen to "reject free will" and "preach a false gospel," since we teach that "only a few will be saved."
I can very much answer all those accusations, but first, let me define what I mean when I call myself a Calvinist. In the strict sense, I do not fall under this label, since I do not accept John Calvin's understanding of infant baptism and covenant theology, but as far as soteriological understanding is concerned, I affirm what have come to be known as the "TULIP," the "Five Points of Calvinism," or the "Doctrines of Grace."
And what precisely are these? Allow me to spell them out. I have taken the following from the
site http://www.pilgrim-platform.org/.
THE FIVE POINTS OF CALVINISM
Total Inability or Total Depravity
Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free, it is in bondage to his evil nature, therefore, he will not - indeed he cannot - choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit's assistance to bring a sinner to Christ - it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to salvation but is itself a part of God's gift of salvation - it is God's gift to the sinner, not the sinner's gift to God.
Unconditional Election
God's choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world rested solely in His own sovereign will. His choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response of obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc. On the contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He selected. These acts are the result, not the cause of God's choice. Election therefore was not determined by or conditioned upon any virtuous quality or act foreseen in man. Those whom God sovereignly elected He brings through the power of the Spirit to a willing acceptance of Christ. Thus God's choice of the sinner, not the sinner's choice of Christ, is the ultimate cause of salvation.
Deuteronomy 7:6-10, 15, 9:5, 29:4; Psalm 65:4; Isaiah 45:4; Mark 13:20; John 1:13, 6:44, 65, 15:16, 17:2; Acts 2:39, 9:1-18, 11:17, 16:14, 18:27; Romans 8:28-30, 9:10-26, 10:20, 11:5; Ephesians 1:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Philippians 1:29; 1 Thessalonians 1:2-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 1:9, 2:10, 19, 25; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 9:15; James 1:18; Jude 1.
Particular Redemption or Limited Atonement
Christ's redeeming work was intended to save the elect only and actually secured salvation for them. His death was substitutionary endurance of the penalty of sin in the place of certain specified sinners. In addition to putting away the sins of His people, Christ's redemption secured everything necessary for their salvation, including faith which unites them to Him. The gift of faith is infallibly applied by the Spirit to all for whom Christ died, therefore guaranteeing their salvation.
The Efficacious Call of the Spirit or Irresistible Grace
In addition to the outward general call to salvation which is made to everyone who hears the gospel, the Holy Spirit extends to the elect a special inward call that inevitably brings them to salvation. The internal call (which is made only to the elect) cannot be rejected; it always results in conversion. By means of this special call the Spirit irresistibly draws sinners to Christ. He is not limited in His work of applying salvation by man's will, nor is He dependent upon man's cooperation for success. The Spirit graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ. God's grace, therefore, is invincible; it never fails to result in the salvation of those to whom it is extended.
Perseverance of the Saints
All who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given faith by the Spirit are eternally saved. They are kept in faith by the power of Almighty God and thus persevere to the end.
1 Samuel 2:9; Nehemiah 9:16-19; Psalm 31:23, 32:7,23,28-33, 38, 84:5-7, 89:30-33, 94:14, 97:10, 121:7, 125:1; Proverbs 2:8; Isaiah 40:30, 54:4-10; Jeremiah 32:38-42; Matthew 18:6, 12-14, 24:22-24; Luke 1:74, 22:32; John 3:36, 4:13, 5:24, 6:37-40, 51, 8:31, 10:4, 8, 27-29, 17:11, 15; Romans 6:1-4, 7:24-8:4, 28-39, 11:29, 14:14; 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, 3:15, 10:13; 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5; Ephesians 1:11-14, 4:30; Philippians 1:6; Colossians 3:1-4; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 3:3-5; 2 Timothy 1:12, 4:18; Hebrews 3:14, 7:25, 10:14, 36-39, 13:5; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 2 Peter 3:8; 1 John 2:19, 3:9, 5:4, 13, 18; Jude 1, 24.
I am a Calvinist because I believe that salvation is all of grace. I have done nothing to contribute to it. I can claim no credit, and can only express gratefulness that one as undeserving as myself has become the object of infinite mercy and love when He loved me before I was even born. Jesus paid the price for the debt He did not owe for the sin that He did not commit, so that people such as myself, who could not afford to pay the penalty for my sins, could come to know so great a salvation.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Ten Effects of Believing in the Five Points of Calvinism
by John Piper
These ten points are my personal testimony to the effects of believing in the five points of Calvinism. I have just completed teaching a seminar on this topic and was asked by the class members to post these reflections so they could have access to them. I am happy to do so. They, of course, assume the content of the course, which is available on tape from Desiring God Ministries, but I will put them here for wider use in the hope that they might stir others to search, Berean-like, to see if the Bible teaches what I call "Calvinism."
1. These truths make me stand in awe of God and lead me into the depth of true God-centered worship.
I recall the time I first saw, while teaching Ephesians at Bethel College in the late '70's, the threefold statement of the goal of all God's work, namely, "to the praise of the glory of his grace" (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).
It has led me to see that we cannot enrich God and that therefore his glory shines most brightly not when we try to meet his needs but when we are satisfied in him as the essence of our deeds. "From him and through him and to him are all things. To him the glory forever" (Romans 11:36). Worship becomes an end in itself.
It has made me feel how low and inadequate are my affections, so that the Psalms of longing come alive and make worship intense.
2. These truths help protect me from trifling with divine things.
One of the curses of our culture is banality, cuteness, cleverness. Television is the main sustainer of our addiction to superficiality and triviality.
God is swept into this. Hence the trifling with divine things.
Earnestness is not excessive in our day. It might have been once. And, yes, there are imbalances in certain people today who don't seem to be able to relax and talk about the weather.
Robertson Nicole said of Spurgeon, "Evangelism of the humorous type [we might say, church growth of the marketing type] may attract multitudes, but it lays the soul in ashes and destroys the very germs of religion. Mr. Spurgeon is often thought by those who do not know his sermons to have been a humorous preacher. As a matter of fact there was no preacher whose tone was more uniformly earnest, reverent and solemn" (Quoted in The Supremacy of God in Preaching, p. 57).
3. These truths make me marvel at my own salvation.
After laying out the great, God-wrought salvation in Ephesians 1, Paul prays, in the last part of that chapter, that the effect of that theology will be the enlightenment of our hearts so that we marvel at our hope, and at the riches of the glory of our inheritance, and at the power of God at work in us – that is, the power to raise the dead.
Every ground of boasting is removed. Brokenhearted joy and gratitude abound.
The piety of Jonathan Edwards begins to grow. When God has given us a taste of his own majesty and our own wickedness, then the Christian life becomes a thing very different than conventional piety. Edwards describes it beautifully when he says,
The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires: their hope is a humble hope, and their joy, even when it is unspeakable, and full of glory, is humble, brokenhearted joy, and leaves the Christian more poor in spirit, and more like a little child, and more disposed to a universal lowliness of behavior (Religious Affections, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959, pp. 339f).
4. These truths make me alert to man-centered substitutes that pose as good news.
In my book, The Pleasures of God (2000), pp. 144-145, I show that in the 18th century in New England the slide from the sovereignty of God led to Arminianism and thence to universalism and thence to Unitarianism. The same thing happened in England in the 19thcentury after Spurgeon.
Iain Murray's Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), p. 454, documents the same thing: "Calvinistic convictions waned in North America. In the progress of the decline which Edwards had rightly anticipated, those Congregational churches of New England which had embraced Arminianism after the Great Awakening gradually moved into Unitarianism and universalism, led by Charles Chauncy."
You can also read in J. I. Packer's Quest for Godliness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 160, how Richard Baxter forsook these teachings and how the following generations reaped a grim harvest in the Baxter church in Kidderminster.
These doctrines are a bulwark against man-centered teachings in many forms that gradually corrupt the church and make her weak from the inside, all the while looking strong or popular.
1 Timothy 3:15, "The church of the living God [is] the pillar and bulwark of the truth."
5. These truths make me groan over the indescribable disease of our secular, God-belittling culture.
I can hardly read the newspaper or look at a TV ad or a billboard without feeling the burden that God is missing.
When God is the main reality in the universe and is treated as a non-reality, I tremble at the wrath that is being stored up. I am able to be shocked. So many Christians are sedated with the same drug as the world. But these teachings are a great antidote.
And I pray for awakening and revival.
And I try to preach to create a people that are so God-saturated that they will show and tell God everywhere and all the time.
We exist to reassert the reality of God and the supremacy of God in all of life.
6. These truths make me confident that the work which God planned and began, he will finish – both globally and personally.
This is the point of Romans 8:28-39.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died- more than that, who was raised- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
7. These truths make me see everything in the light of God's sovereign purposes – that from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be glory forever and ever.
All of life relates to God. There's no compartment where he is not all-important and the one who gives meaning to everything. 1 Corinthians 10:31.
Seeing God's sovereign purpose worked out in Scripture, and hearing Paul say that "he accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11) makes me see the world this way.
8. These truths make me hopeful that God has the will, the right, and the power to answer prayer that people be changed.
The warrant for prayer is that God may break in and change things – including the human heart. He can turn the will around. "Hallowed be thy name" means: cause people to hallow your name. "May your word run and be glorified" means: cause hearts to be opened to the gospel.
We should take the New Covenant promises and plead with God to bring them to pass in our children and in our neighbors and among all the mission fields of the world.
"God, take out of their flesh the heart of stone and give him a new heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 11:19).
"Lord, circumcise their hearts so that they love you" (Deuteronomy 30:6).
"Father, put your spirit within them and cause them to walk in Your statutes" (Ezekiel 36:27).
"Lord, grant them repentance and the knowledge of the truth that they may escape from the snare of the devil" (2 Timothy 2:25-26).
"Father, open their hearts so that they believe the gospel" (Acts 16:14).
9. These truths reminds me that evangelism is absolutely essential for people to come to Christ and be saved, and that there is great hope for success in leading people to faith, but that conversion is not finally dependent on me or limited by the hardness of the unbeliever.
So it gives hope to evangelism, especially in the hard places and among the hard peoples.
John 10:16, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them also. They will heed my voice."
It is God's work. Throw yourself into it with abandon.
10. These truths make me sure that God will triumph in the end.
Isaiah 46:9-10, "I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand that I will accomplish all my purpose'"
Putting them altogether: God gets the glory and we get the joy.
© Desiring God. Reposted with permission.
By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
TRUE ETERNAL SECURITY
WHO ARE THE SHEEP?
The doctrine of eternal security, also referred to by some as “once saved, always saved,” has been crucial for me in understanding the goodness and faithfulness of God. It firmly establishes God as the author and sustainer of salvation and negates any source of credit that one may claim before the cross.
One of the bedrock verses supporting this doctrine are the words of Jesus Christ Himself, who declared that:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. (John 10:27-29, ESV)
Sadly, as many detractors and even believers of this doctrine point out, the belief in eternal security can be misconstrued by some to be a license to sin. After all, where is the danger? Our salvation is safe and secure already, after all!
Many jump on the promises that the sheep “never perish” and “no one will snatch them out of my hand,” and while these are true, we must remember that the same passages also describe certain characteristics of those who are saved.
First, they hear God’s voice (John 10:27a). This is more than hearing preaching on Sunday morning or a cursory reading of one’s Bible. To hear, as the passage uses it, implies a recognition of one’s Master (cf. John 10:5).
In Bible times, shepherds would often guard their sheep together with other shepherds. The flocks would be mixed in the common sheep-pen, but despite this, the shepherd knew whose sheep belonged to him. He knew their physical characteristics, their peculiarities even and not only that, but he also knew them by name. He could call them and they would follow him out of the sheep-pen. They would not do so to a stranger.
Second, they followed him (John 10:27b). Not only is hearing in view here, but also hearing that seeks to obey. There is not only recognition, but there is also obedience.
At this point, it is necessary to stress that obedience is not a prerequisite for salvation. We are saved through God’s grace, through faith:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.(Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV)
However, this faith is more than mere intellectual assent to a set of facts, but it is living and dynamic. It is active, and as such, it necessarily gives proof of being genuine through external manifestation. After all, the same passage in Ephesians tells us that we were saved to do good works:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.(Ephesians 2:10, ESV)
A claim that one has saving faith without the presence of proof is something that is highly questionable. In fact, the brother of Jesus, James, addresses his Epistle to such claims:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (James 2:14, ESV)
James points out the absurdity of such a claim, if, upon examination, it fails to provide the vital proof that its is real saving faith.
But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?…For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:18-19, 26 ESV)
THE SIGNS OF A BELIEVER
A truly saved person is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) is justified by faith (Romans 5:1), is redeemed and rescued by God (Colossians 1:13-14), is led and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14-17, Ephesians 1:13, 4:30), and who bears the characteristics or fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Galatians 5:22-23). He is not perfect (cf. 1 John 1:8-10) but he has in himself the prompting of the Holy Spirit to desire to please God.
He has repented of his sin (Acts 3:19, 20:21) and continues to live a repentant life (cf. 1 John 1:9), always conscious of his shortcomings, yet trusting in the God who justifies the sinner (Romans 3:26, 4:4-5). There is, in the saved person, a growing disgust for sin, which is the natural result of a relationship with God: we begin to love what He loves, and abhors what He abhors. Gerry Bridges drives home this point:
”Because God is holy, He hates sin. Hate is such a strong word we dislike using it. We reprove our children for saying they hate someone. Yet when it comes to God’s attitude toward sin, only a strong word such as hate conveys the adequate depth of meaning. Hatred is a legitimate emotion when it comes to sin. In fact, the more we see ourselves grow in holiness, the more we hate sin…As we grow in holiness, we grow in hatred of sin; and God, being infinitely holy, has an infinite hatred of sin.
“We often say. “God hates the sin but loves the sinner.” This is blessedly true, but too often we quickly rush over the first half of the statement to get to the second. We cannot escape the fact that God hates our sins. We may trifle with our sins or excuse them, but God hates them.
“Therefore every time we sin, we are doing something God hates. He hates our lustful thoughts, our pride and jealousy, our outbursts of temper, and our rationalization that the end justifies the means. We need to be gripped by the fact that god hates all these things. We become so accustomed to our sins we sometimes lapse into a state of peaceful coexistence with them, but God never ceases to hate them.
“We need to cultivate in our hearts the same hatred of sin God has. Hatred of sin as sin, not just as something disquieting or defeating to ourselves, but displeasing to God, lies at the root of all true holiness. We must cultivate the attitude of Joseph, who said when he was tempted, ‘How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?’ (Genesis 39:9)
“In the deceitfulness of our hearts, we sometimes play with temptations by entertaining the thought that we can always confess and later ask forgiveness. Such thinking is exceedingly dangerous. God’s judgment is without partiality. He never overlooks our sin. He never decides not to bother, since the sin is only as small one. No, God hates sin intensely whenever and wherever he finds it.” ” – (Gerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, pp. 31-33)
OBEDIENCE IS PROOF OF SAVING FAITH
True saving faith not only rescues a person from hell and gives eternal life, but it empowers a person to obey. One to whom God has graciously bestowed repentance and faith is likewise given the motivation and the ability to obey God:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 1ho gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11-14, ESV)
John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, described the error common among many evangelical and Baptist churches today that seemingly creates a false division between justification and sanctification, which makes it sound that sanctification is an optional “second level” that may or may not occur in a Christian’s life.
In a lecture at Wheaton Christian High School, Piper spoke about the need for lust. Building on Matthew 5:28–29 where Jesus says, "Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell." he pointed out that Jesus said heaven and hell are at stake in what a person does with his eyes and with the thoughts of his imagination. Describing the reaction to the message, Piper writes:
After the message one of the students came up to me and asked, "Are you saying, then, that a person can lose his salvation?"
This is exactly the same response I got a few years ago when I confronted a man about the adultery he was presently living in. I tried to understand his situation and I pled with him to return to his wife. Then I said, "You know Jesus says that if you don't fight this sin with the kind of seriousness that is willing to gouge out your own eye, you will go to hell and suffer there forever."
He looked at me in utter disbelief, as though he had never heard anything like this in his life, and said, "You mean you think a person can lose his salvation?"
So I have learned again and again from first hand experience that there are many professing Christians who have a view of salvation that disconnects it from real life, and that nullifies the warnings of the Bible and puts the sinning person who claims to be a Christian beyond the reach of biblical threats. And this doctrine is comforting thousands on the way to hell. “ (John Piper, Battling the Unbelief of Lust, November 13, 1988)
Addressing the issue squarely, Piper says: :
“The great error that I am trying to…is the error that says, faith in God is one thing and the fight for holiness is another thing. Faith gets you to heaven and holiness gets you rewards. You get your justification by faith, and you get your sanctification by works. You start the Christian life in the power of the Spirit, you press on in the efforts of the flesh. This is the great evangelical error of our day. The battle for obedience is optional, they say, because only faith is necessary for salvation.
Our response: the battle for obedience is absolutely necessary for salvation because it IS the fight of faith. The battle against lust is absolutely necessary for salvation because it is the battle against unbelief. Faith alone delivers from hell and the faith that delivers from hell delivers from lust. “ (ibid.)
Jesus likewise strongly emphasized obedience as the proof that one knows, believes and loves Him:
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15, ESV)
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. (John 14:21-24, ESV)
GOD’S PURPOSE FOR THE SHEEP
The second most famous set of verses describing the security of the believer’s salvation, Romans 8:28-39, emphasizes that salvation also involves a predestination of those who are saved to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). The same verses begin with an assurance that what God has purposed in a believer will definitely come to pass:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)
Having stated such, Paul then emphasizes the complete assurance of a salvation that cannot be lost or cannot be stolen:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39, ESV)
God’s purpose cannot be broken. Those whom He saves He will conform into the image of His Son. If the work of God in one’s life is absent: if there is no growing desire to please God; if there is no sorrow and repentance over sin; if there is no compulsion to obey; if there is no proof of a changed and sanctified life, then there is no real comfort in the doctrine of eternal security. Worse, it might be the bedrock of a delusion where one believes that he or she is saved, perhaps because he or she once “said a prayer,” or walked down the aisle in an altar call, or perhaps raised his or her hand when some preacher said so.
It is no sin to question one’s salvation if it seems that the fruits are missing. Paul in fact challenges the Corinthians to do just that:
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? --unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5, ESV)
All quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Our Ex-Dog, Fluffy
This is Fluffy, our ex-dog. We had to give him to our uncle because we were concerned that our baby might be allergic to Fluffy's hair. We still miss him...
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
WHAT IS TRUTH?
Pontius Pilate asked that question (c.f. John 18:37). He had a lot on his mind then: an innocent convict who was just beaten up by his soldiers, pressure from the Jewish Sanhedrin to have this same convict executed by crucifixion, a troubled wife who had dreams about the convict, an unsteady and revolt-prone province full of stiff-necked monotheists who practiced a strange religion with a God who refused to use statues or images, and finally, a battered and bruised man, with dry blood caking his brow from a crown of thorns that pressed on his head; a man who amidst the pain could still look at him with eyes that seemed to pierce Pilate's innermost heart.
33Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
34"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"
35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
36Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
37"You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to
38"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him.
(John 18:33-38)
Rhetorically he asked the question, not really expecting an answer. Thus Pilate turned his back on the very personification of the answer of his question, not knowing that he stood just before it. Had Pilate truly asked from his heart, he would have heard the answer:
"I AM...THE TRUTH..." (c.f. John 14:6)
A Roman Governor, with his wealth, power and army: He had it all, and yet he had nothing...
Monday, May 07, 2007
Dream Books III
ESV Reformation Study Bible, Hardcover
By: R.C. Sproul
Ligonier Ministries / 2005
Respected theologian Dr. R.C. Sproul, founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries, served as this study Bible's general editor. "The Reformation Study Bible contains a modern restatement of Reformation truth in its comments and theological notes. Its purpose is to present the light of the Reformation afresh," stated Dr. Sproul.
The thousands of in-depth study notes included in the RSB were compiled from over 50 distinguished biblical scholars, including Drs. J.I. Packer, James Boice, and Wayne Grudem. In addition to the comprehensive study notes, the RSB offers readers extended discussions on the authority of Scripture, the atonement, and other key aspects of biblical theology.
The RSB is intended for use by anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the Scriptures. The reader will appreciate book introductions, an extensive cross-reference system, and illuminated words and terms within the Bible that are crucial to an in-depth understanding. This new edition in the ESV is published by Ligonier Ministries and produced and distributed by P&R Publishing of Phillipsburg, NJ.
Features:- Theological Notes index
- In-text maps index
- Charts index
- Section introductions (Pentateuch, History, etc)
- Book Introductions
- Passage headings
- Double-column format
- Center-column references
- Black letter edtion
- Concordance
- Gold page edges
- Ribbon Marker
- Hardcover
Dream Books II
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 4 Vols.
Edited By:Geofferey W. Bromiley
Eerdmans Publishing Co. / 1988 / Hardcover
This set contains over 9,000 topics and 3,500 cross-references, including an article on every name of a person or place mentioned in the Bible. It also examines major Bible doctrines and gives opposing articles on controversial topics to ensure a rounded explanation and description. Hundreds of evangelical contributors from many fields of biblical research make this encyclopedia a well-rounded resource. The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Apocrypha and other extrabiblical resources are utilized and explained. This work is based on the Revised Standard Version, however the distinctive readings of the AV and the NEB are included usually as cross-references. ISBE is also an exegetical tool because it provides a brief discussion of problem texts under the English keywords and guides the exegete to more information that is found in other scholarly resources. Each entry provides a maximum amount of information in compact form, including pronunciation, etymology, and variant renderings. This is a must have for any biblical scholar.
Dream Books I
The Expositor's Bible Commentary Complete Set (OT & NT), 12 Volumes
Edited By: Frank E. Gaebelein
By: Edited by Frank E. Gaebelein
More in Bible Exposition Commentary Series
Zondervan Corp. / 1992 / Hardcover
For more than 20 years, the EBC has been widely recognized by preachers, teachers, and laypeople as one of the best commentaries available.
Each Bible book features an insightful introduction, detailed outline, penetrating theological and critical exposition, and useful bibliography. Notes on textual difficulties are kept separate and all Hebrew and Greek is transliterated.
Esteemed evangelical contributors include:
Volume 1: Introductory Articles: General, Old Testament, New Testament (see Excerpts for complete list of article titles and contributors)
Volume 2: Genesis: John H. Sailhamer; Exodus: Walter C. Kaiser Jr. ; Leviticus: R. Laird Harris; Numbers: Ronald B. Allen
Volume 3: Deuteronomy: Earl S. Kalland; Joshua: Donald H. Madvig; Judges: Herbert Wolf;F. B. Huey Jr.; ; 1, 2 Samuel: Ronald F. Youngblood
Volume 4: 1, 2 Kings: Richard D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel; 1, 2 Chronicles: J. Barton Payne; Ezra, Nehemiah: Edwin Yamauchi; Esther: F. B. Huey Jr. ; Job: Elmer B. Smick
Volume 5: Psalms: Willem A. VanGemeren; Proverbs: Allen P. Ross; Ecclesiastes: J. Stafford Wright; Song of Songs: Dennis F. Kinlaw
Volume 6: Isaiah: Geoffrey W. Grogan; Jeremiah: Charles L. Feinberg; Lamentations: H. L. Ellison; Ezekiel: Ralph H. Alexander
Volume 7: Daniel: Gleason L. Archer Jr.; Hosea: Leon J. Wood ;Joel: Richard D. Patterson; Amos: Thomas E. McComiskey; Obadiah: Carl E. Armerding; Jonah: H. L. Ellison; Micah: Thomas E. McComiskey; Nahum, Habakkuk: Carl E. Armerding; Zephaniah: Larry Walker; Haggai: Robert L. Alden; Zechariah: Kenneth L. Barker; Malachi: Robert L. Alden;
Volume 8: Matthew: D. A. Carson; Mark: Walter W. Wessel; Luke: Walter L. Liefeld
Volume 9: John: Merrill C. Tenney; Acts: Richard N. Longenecker
Volume 10: Romans: Everett F. Harrison; 1 Corinthians: W. Harold Mare; 2 Corinthians: Murray J. Harris; Galatians: James Montgomery Boice
Volume 11: Ephesians: A. Skevington Wood; Philippians: Homer A. Kent Jr.; Colossians: Curtis Vaughan; 1, 2 Thessalonians: Robert L. Thomas; 1, 2 Timothy: Ralph Earle; Titus: D. Edmond Hiebert; Philemon: Arthur A. Rupprecht;
Volume 12: Hebrews: Leon Morris; James: Donald W. Burdick; 1, 2 Peter: Edwin A Blum; 1,2, 3 John: Glenn W. Barker; Jude: Edwin A. Blum; Revelation: Alan F. Johnson
Ruth:
EDGARDO "ED" ANGARA FOR SENATOR!
RE-ELECT ED ANGARA FOR SENATOR!!!
A legislator, educator, lawyer, banker, farmer, patron of the arts, former Secretary of Agriculture and former Executive Secretary, Senator Edgardo J. Angara, more popularly known as Edong, has come a long way from his humble beginnings in Baler, Aurora. And in all of these, Angara has stood out and made his mark, rising up the ladder of the law profession, the academe, and public service to emerge as one of the country's top leaders.
A graduate of the University of the Philippines (Bachelor of Laws, 1958), and the University of Michigan (Master of Laws, 1964), he founded in the early 70's what eventually became the country's most prestigious law firm- the Angara, Concepcion, Cruz, Regala and Abello Law Offices, better known as ACCRA Law.
Angara gained recognition during his stint as President of the University of the Philippines from 1981 to 1987, where he defended the University's academic freedom and significantly improved its financial and human resources. In his term, he raised the salaries of the deserving U.P. faculty and staff and upgraded all the facilities making U.P. a world class University.
His achievements as U.P. President and his active involvement in the citizens group NAMFREL during the 1986 snap elections pushed Angara to national prominence. He placed 5th in the senatorial election in 1987, the first free election after martial law, and was named "the No. 1 Senator" of the 8th Congress by the UP Institute of Strategic and Development Studies.
In the 1992 senatorial elections, Angara placed 3rd, and from 1993 to 1995 served as Senate President, the third highest post in the land.
During his term as Senate President, the chamber was an activist and reformist institution, pushing the passage of over a hundred laws that turned the economy around and created the environment for economic dynamism and growth.
As a legislator, Angara has authored and sponsored many landmark laws in education, health, the arts, culture, social welfare, economics and agriculture.
There is free high school education for every Filipino in the country because of Angara, who authored the Free High School Act. He also authored another landmark law in education, the GASTPE or Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education.
Angara, known as "Mr. Education", also headed the Congressional Commission on Education that restructured and instituted major reforms in the country's educational system.
Two laws sponsored by Angara created the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), enabling the Department of Education to focus on basic education for the Filipino.
For the welfare of the elderly, he authored the Senior Citizens Act, now known as The Angara Law, which grants benefits for the country's more than seven million senior citizens, such as discounts in drugstores, restaurants, transportation, and even in movie houses.
Angara has also authored the Generics Drug Law, the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers, the Breast Feeding Act and the law that created PHILHEALTH, the national health insurance program.
A committed patron of the arts, Angara was responsible for the creation of the new National Museum and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts. The law on the country's National Living Treasures, also authored by him, bestows great honor on the Filipino folk and traditional artists.
Angara, an anti-corruption crusader, principally authored and sponsored the Government Procurement Reform Act. The country's biggest anti-corruption measure in history, this law will save the government about 22 billion pesos a year, which can be used to build more classrooms and other infrastructure.
He has shepherded the landmark Absentee Voting Law, giving millions of overseas Filipinos the right to vote in the elections, when he was Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
A staunch environmentalist, Angara was the principal author of the NIPAS Act or the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act, the most important piece of environmental legislation, which has greatly ensured the preservation of our country's natural resources. He has also been consistently for a total log ban, voting for it in the Senate.
Angara once again proved to be an excellent leader when he became the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. Under his stewardship, the agricultural sector made dramatic strides as the government, after years of neglect, made agriculture the number one priority for development.
Food security, research and development, seed and crop production became the hallmarks of his programs. Angara fought hard for the welfare of the country's farmers and fisherfolk and ardently pushed for the entry of Philippine agricultural products in international markets.
Even today, under the present administration, the strides recently achieved by the agricultural sector for the country's economy are largely attributed to Angara's leadership.
He served briefly as the Executive Secretary of President Joseph Estrada, and was one of the few committed officials who stayed with President Estrada until the very end. Angara, because of his unwavering commitment to serve the country, was responsible for the peaceful transition of power after Edsa 2.
Before joining the Estrada cabinet on May 25, 1999, he served as Chairman of the Philippine National Bank.
He was again elected Senator of the Philippines in the May 2001 elections, garnering the most number of votes among the opposition. In the current Congress, Angara continues to promote very important measures such as Political Party Reform Act and the Corporate Recovery Act, as well as issues concerning the environment and natural resources.
Angara is a highly regarded Filipino leader by the international community. Over the past several years, he has represented the country in many important international conferences and congresses. He was elected to the International Executive Board of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC), representing Asia. Just recently, Angara was elected the first president of the South East Asia Parliamentarians Against Corruption or SEAPAC.
Today, Senator Edgardo J. Angara continues to advocate issues that seek to give every Filipino a fighting chance.
He is married to Gloria Manalang Angara, the former chairperson of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. They have four children. In 2004, his only son, Juan Edgardo, was elected to Congress, representing his home province of Aurora.
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President of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) 1981-87
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Outstanding Senator
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Chairman of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP)
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Senate President 1993-95
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As Senate President, he pushed hard for the passage of key structural reforms that turned the economy around and laid down the environment for economic dynamism and growth.
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Served as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Executive Secretary in the Estrada Administration.
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Today, he is considered as the Leader of the Opposition.
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As a legislator, he has authored and pushed for significant laws in education, health, agriculture and social welfare.
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Among his landmark legislation are the following:
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Free High School Education Act
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Senior Citizens Act, better known as The Angara Law
-
Procurement Reform Act (biggest anti-corruption law in history)
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PHILHEALTH (National Health Insurance Act)
-
Absentee Voting Law
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NIPAS Act (National Integrated Protected Areas System Act)
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Magna Carta for Public Health Workers
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Generics Drug Law
-
Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA)
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Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE)
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Breast Feeding Act
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Acts Creating the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)
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He is currently pushing for major legislative measures such as the Political Party Reform Act, Magna Carta for Social Workers, Corporate Recovery Act, Credit Information System Act, Land Administration Reform Act, and the Juvenile Justice Act.
WHO AM I?
I heard this song, composed by Christian band CASTING CROWNS, for the first time when a churchmate sang it as a special number. There was rarely a dry eye after that.
Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I?
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart.
Bridge:
Not because of who I am,
But because of what you've done.
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who you are.
Chorus:
I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,
And you've told me who I am.
I am yours.
I am yours.
Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again.
Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.
Bridge&Chorus 2x
I am yours.
Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
'Cause I am yours.
I am yours.
Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I?
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart.
Bridge:
Not because of who I am,
But because of what you've done.
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who you are.
Chorus:
I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,
And you've told me who I am.
I am yours.
I am yours.
Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again.
Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.
Bridge&Chorus 2x
I am yours.
Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
'Cause I am yours.
I am yours.
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