CTS Opens the Worldwide Classroom

I just received an email today from Covenant Theological Seminary--seems they're offering 20 free 'classes' (recorded lectures and notes) for personal education.

Check it out here!

I know not everybody's a nerd, much less a Jesus nerd, but I'm super stoked about it. I've heard about this stuff being available before, and I'm sure it is, but this is the first I've actually seen and heard it.

Most of it looks like pretty good stuff. Well, except for two classes dedicated to understanding the man, the myth, the legend, Francis A. Schaeffer. I'm not a big "Christian Right" guy, so me and him would probably have it out. But the rest of the stuff seems really neat! Anyway, check 'em out!

Making Light of Doctrine and WSC #1 (But Seriously, Though)

NOTE: When reading this, please understand that I am by no means a certified expert when it comes to the realm of doctrine. The views and interpretations I express below are mine and mine alone, and quite possibly could be quite wrong if or when considered by persons more studied than I. Be careful down there!

In a recklessly bold moment, I figured it may prove interesting to go through the Westminster Shorter Catechism, since I'm sure it will be something I'll have to agonize over some time in the future. In one of my earlier posts, I wrote about how I think doctrine is pretty important.. Since we do sin, and do it with alarming frequency, and we can't comprehend the entirety of God, doctrine is sort of a man-made straight-edge to alert us when we go shooting off on a crazy tangent and making up things about what the Bible really says, and the implications thereof. Generally, it tells us what our forefathers in the faith concluded about spiritual things, and teaches us the lessons that they learned through their crazy trials of years gone by. Completely disregarding doctrine may land us in a world of hurt, as we could needlessly repeat some grave mistakes that have already happened.

Of course, on the other hand, doctrine is pretty much man-made. It's about as scientific and Newtonian as you can get when it comes to the Bible. It's not the word of God, and should not be treated as such. It's boring. Really boring. It has a very real possibility of choking the life out of good Christians if used improperly. It reminds me of a joke, actually:

"What's the difference between an ice-cold rock and a Presbyterian?"

"Nothing. They're one and the same."

It's funny--if you're not a Presbyterian, of course! Because us PCA folk nearly ALWAYS take ourselves and our doctrine far too seriously. That's why we've been so affectionately coined "The Frozen Chosen." Okay...now that I've poked enough fun out of my denomination, shall we begin? :)

Question 1: What is the chief end of man?
(Oh, a side note. I tried scouring the Internet for a short while to find the WSC in modern-day English, but to no avail--I guess that would spoil the fun of having to understand doctrine if it was made too easy.)
So, what is our real purpose, according to the Bible? What's the point? That's one of the best questions ever, no wonder why it's first. It's probably one of the more frequently asked questions in the history of the human race. It pops up all the time in our minds, from sitting in a 2 hour meeting only 30 minutes into it, or riding on the subway, or waiting in the drive-thru line...Why am I here?

Answer 1: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
Proof Texts: Psalm 86, Isaiah 60:21, Romans 11:36, Revelation 4:11
Although the question starts focused on us, the answer is a complete focus on God. He made us so that we could bring glory to Him, and also be around to enjoy how glorified God really is. Put another way, what we do and who we are should prove to all (or just God if nobody else is around) how awesome God is, AND, we should also exhaust a great portion of our life enjoying how awesome our Creator really is. It almost seems in some circles that it's either one way or the other, but both parts of the answer are equally and critically important. In fact, it's virtually impossible to accomplish one portion without the other. Oh, many have tried, and I am one of the many. But you can't really fool anyone on how cool God is if you're not believing it yourself.

Whew--that wasn't that bad. Well, from what I understand, the worst is yet to come--only 106 questions left! And this is the shorter catechism, too. Hoo-boy! Pray for me that if I so choose to do any more, I don't forget about question number one--what my chief end is.

Everything Is Spiritual: Prelude

I'm not a big fan of Rob Bell. Why? Well, I've grown up understanding that the faith we live by was passed on to us by those before us, and from those before them, and before them, all the way up to Jesus (well, it really started even before 0 A.D., and even before time itself, but Jesus is a good starting point for this post right now). And Christians that sat at his feet told their friends, family, and children, and they did the same, all the way up to me. Now, when we speak of things of God, we have no capacity whatsoever to understand him completely, and while we still walk and breathe in this time, we still have an uncanny ability to get the story a bit jumbled. And occasionally, we mix up parts of God's story with something else, something we put in there. And sometimes, these something-else pieces are treated as God's story. So, when something smells funny, we go back to the Bible, and we go to our brothers and sisters in the faith, and we go to the stories of those who lived before us, and we examine and critique what happened here and there and in the past, and we do our dangedest to brush out the something-else parts and try to learn from our mistakes, because again, we have no capacity whatsoever to understand Him completely. So, in a crude interpretation of what I understand of doctrine, there you have it.

Rob Bell isn't so much in that line of thought. I think he's kind of...well, jumbly. It's sometimes hard for me to understand God's story in his words. I read a quarter-way through one of his popular books, and never finished, because I couldn't comprehend it, and it bothered me. Maybe scared me a bit.

But, in a moment of possible clarity, let me attempt to be clear. Rob, as much as I and others really have problems with his teachings, he's still very much in the family. I'd never explain things like he does, but he's one of us, part of the body, and he plays a very important role that God specifically defined just for him. And I gather that I'm pretty jumbly, just in a different way, because I too have this problem of understanding the fullness of God. I could never fufill Rob's role in God's story, and I doubt he'd do a good job of doing mine, because fingers don't make good elbows.

So Rob, no stones for you today, brother. May God bless you in what you do, and keep doing your elbow thing like no tomorrow. Praise God that He is who He is, for there is none like Him.