logos redux

The title of this book is alarming, certainly by design. But the subtitle is even more so. Does it mean that the whole American church (all traditions, denominations, locations) is committed to an “alternative Gospel?” Or is it that, though part of the American church upholds the true, biblical gospel, there is within that church a movement (evidently a significant movement) to the contrary?

We should keep in mind that such language makes the most serious indictments. To be Christless is to be doomed to Hell (John 3:36). And if someone preaches an “alternative gospel,” contrary to the gospel preached by the apostle Paul, he is to be accursed (Gal. 1:8-9). People who preach “another gospel” are not Christian friends who happen to disagree with us on this or that matter. Rather, they have betrayed Christ himself. The whole church ought to rise up against such persons and declare that they are not part of the body of Christ and that they have no part in the blessings of salvation. Indeed, if they do not repent, they have no future except eternal punishment.

In my view, many Christians (especially those in the conservative Reformed tradition that Horton and I both inhabit) use this sort of language far too loosely, even flippantly. It is time we learned that when we criticize someone for preaching “another gospel” we are doing nothing less than cursing him, damning him to Hell.

But Horton actually indicates to his readers that these charges are not to be taken seriously. So Horton backs away from the serious language of his title:

“Before I launch this protest, I should carefully state up front what I am not saying. First, I acknowledge that there are many churches, pastors, missionaries, evangelists, and distinguished Christian laypeople around the world, proclaiming Christ and fulfilling their vocations with integrity. (20)”

So evidently “Christless Christianity” is not the gospel of the American church. Many of its members are assuredly not Christless. Further,

“Second, I am not arguing in this book that we have arrived at Christless Christianity but that we are well on our way. (20)”

Whew! Evidently Christless Christianity is not yet the gospel of the American church, though we are on our way to adopting it.

This is something of a “bait and switch.” Horton scares us to death with his brash title, telling us that we are headed for Hell. But then he backtracks, says he didn’t really mean it.

Since Horton spends a great part of this book telling us that we have lost seriousness about the issues of God’s law and gospel, we should hold him also to a high standard of seriousness. To say that we are under God’s curse, and then to turn around and say, “well, not really,” is not to meet such a standard. We might conclude that Horton is not joking here about holy things, but he is “well on his way.”

“It seems to me all things became grist for the movement’s mill…And if things or people got in the way, they were to be blasted…We threw everything which came to hand…But we could have remembered that, wrong though they were, [those with whom we clashed] were brothers in Christ…But ‘the movement’ rolls on, and now differences arise between us. Quickly the pattern repeats itself; the habit is too well learned. The movement is in jeopardy! So everything is thrown again [at one another, as in battle]…And who is wounded? We are and our Lord…

I am sure ’separation’ is correct, but it is only one principle. There are others to be kept as well. The command to love should mean something…”

Francis Schaeffer, letter to “Jeffrey,” 8 November 1951

HT: Mark Horne

“Scripture is the school of the Holy Spirit, in which, as nothing is omitted that is both necessary and useful to know, so nothing is taught but what is expedient to know…Let us, I say, permit the Christian man to open his mind and ears to every utterance of God directed to him, provided it be with such restraint that when the Lord closes his holy lips, he also shall at once close the way to inquiry. The best limit of sobriety for us will be not only to follow God’s lead always in learning but, when he sets an end to teaching, to stop trying to be wise.”

John Calvin, Institutes 3.21.3

In the spirit of the Life Chain protest, and in the spirit of the Church’s witness against evil, both of which you can read about here, here are ten woes against the nation that harbors and protects abortionists and their clients…

Read more.

My wife posted this before but it needs to be posted again. Particularly pay attention to the last two minutes of Part 1.

Here and here you can see Barak Obama’s view on these issues. And here you can here him refer to having a baby as a punishment.

“The ‘big name’ pastors, as we sometimes call them, thanks to the Christian conference circuit, book publishing, the internet, and so on, tempt many evangelicals to cannibalize each other in the spirit of following ‘Paul’ or ‘Apollos.’ In today’s terms, these could be men like John Piper, Tim Keller, Mark Dever, C.J. Mahaney, Mark Driscoll, Rob Bell, R.C. Sproul, Tony Evans, or whomever people would rather download and listen to instead of their own pastor…

Quarrels, dissension, and divisions are plastered all over the internet as Jesus followers poke passive insults at each other in the name of whatever peripheral minutiae we determine as ‘getting the gospel right.’ For example, not being Reformed enough, or not ‘traditional’ enough, or too traditional, or too literal, or too involved in social issues, or not evangelistic enough, and so on.”

Anthony Bradley, “Celebrity Pastor Worship,” Worldmag blog

“The appeal to justice as a way of cutting the ethical knot in favour of including active homosexuals in Christian ministry simply begs the question. Nobody has a right to be ordained: it is always a gift of sheer and unmerited grace. The appeal also seriously misrepresents the notion of justice itself, not just in the Christian tradition of Augustine, Aquinas and others, but in the wider philosophical discussion from Aristotle to John Rawls. Justice never means ‘treating everybody the same way’, but ‘treating people appropriately’, which involves making distinctions between different people and situations. Justice has never meant ‘the right to give active expression to any and every sexual desire’.”

N.T. Wright, “The Americans Know This Will End in Schism“

Please, please read this. This is an important statement demonstrating the illegality of what the current administration is doing, and the bullying tactics they are using to avoid being called on it.

Unafraid In Greenwich Connecticut Clifford S. Asness

Managing and Founding Principal

AQR Capital Management, LLC

The President has just harshly castigated hedge fund managers for being unwilling to take his administration’s bid for their Chrysler bonds. He called them “speculators” who were “refusing to sacrifice like everyone else” and who wanted “to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout.”

The responses of hedge fund managers have been, appropriately, outrage, but generally have been anonymous for fear of going on the record against a powerful President (an exception, though still in the form of a “group letter,” was the superb note from “The Committee of Chrysler Non-TARP Lenders,” some of the points of which I echo here, and a relatively few firms, like Oppenheimer, that have publicly defended themselves). Furthermore, one by one the managers and banks are said to be caving to the President’s wishes out of justifiable fear.

I run an approximately twenty billion dollar money management firm that offers hedge funds as well as public mutual funds and unhedged traditional investments. My company is not involved in the Chrysler situation, but I am still aghast at the President’s comments (of course, these are my own views, not those of my company). Furthermore, for some reason I was not born with the common sense to keep it to myself, though my title should more accurately be called “Not Afraid Enough” as I am indeed fearful writing this… It’s really a bad idea to speak out. Continue Reading…