Thursday, May 22, 2008

No Crybabies!

This post is just so great and so true that I had to link it here!
CampOnThis: Crybabies post.

Read the entire thing and the comments. LOTS of great, honest evaluation of the reprobation and error involved with those who adhere to, and preach, the unbiblical and skewed doctrine of liberal Christianity.

Steve writes:


How I wish that some in the Christian blogging community had one ounce of their honesty, courage, strength of conviction, and grace. One that does, is a dear friend of mine, Carla Rolfe. She posted this today to which I was grateful to be included:

While I am grateful for people like John MacArthur, Steve Camp, James White, Phil Johnson, Albert Mohler and others who take the same stand they do, I'm afraid they are in the minority, as our "culture shift" is sliding straight into some sort of wimpy, watered-down, effeminate, group-hugging, Kumbaya-singing version of what the Scriptures say a real church and real leaders should look and sound like.


Another one of my favorite parts comes at the end:


These are serious times beloved that demand serious answers to the hard questions of our generation. If you're not up to the task that's OK. "Go your own way, get out of the way, or just go away." But don't put those of us down who are dealing with ministry issues everyday from the crucible of grace of systematic theology, sound doctrine, church history, and the pages of the Bible.

Now, here is the truth of it that one blogger didn't want to discuss at his blog because it was just too much for him to handle on this important issue: Rick Warren preaches a watered down gospel; his endorsement of Tom Ascol's resolution for a regenerate church membership hurts that resolution severely. You cannot vet your congregation by reading The Message and heralding a watered-down gospel. Add to this, Warren has partnered with Barack Obama on the AIDS issue and allowed him to speak at his church even though Barack supports abortion, partial birth abortion, and live abortion. That is a fact. IOW, if you're unborn he will support your death if its convenient for the birth mother. But, if you somehow survive abortion and do contract HIV, Barack will fight for your right to live. Ridiculous, hypocritical, and plastinated.

But, Warren doesn't mind partnering with the likes of Barack. Rick has forged these ecumenical alliances with nonbelievers on political and social issues for some time on such issues as global warming (which is a myth), ending poverty (which he can't), and AIDS (with any group that shares his views). Mind you there is no biblical support for his unequally-yoked allies. But this is no surprise, for Warren has consistently demonstrated a skewed and unbiblical view of cobelligerence and seems to be oblivious to what the Scriptures actually teach about these things.


Quotes from the Reflections blog:


"We must resist the tendency to be absorbed into the fads and fashions of worldly thought. We need to emphasize, not downplay, what makes Christianity unique. And in order to do that effectively, we need to have a better grasp of how worldly thought is threatening sound doctrine in the church. We must be able to point out just where the narrow way diverges from the broad way." - John MacArthur

"As Christians we must understand that whatever opposes God’s Word or departs from it in any way is a danger to the very cause of truth. Passivity toward known error is not an option for the Christian. Staunch intolerance of error is built into the very fabric of Scripture. And tolerance of known error is anything but a virtue." - John MacArthur

"We must all ask ourselves in the blogosphere, when a media firestorm is created by a Christian spokesperson, has it been because of ones faith in Jesus, standing strong for His truth, or heralding Christ and Him crucified; or some lesser issue? It's easy to attract a crowd. Spurgeon one time remarked: if you want to draw a crowd, pour kerosene on yourself, strike a match, set yourself on fire, and people will come from miles around just to see you burn." - Steve Camp

"Yesterday four radical judicial revolutionaries decided to overthrow centuries of practice and law and create a monstrosity called "gay marriage." No such thing exists. That is like a round square, or a light of darkness. Marriage is not defined by judges who believe themselves free to create new realities. Marriage is a divine institution. But yesterday, the far-reaching proclamation (it wasn't a decision) of the CA Supreme Court made historic and biblical Christianity officially bigoted by granting civils rights on the basis of deviant sexual practice." - James White


Carla writes:

The common factor in these quotes and with these brothers is that they do not shy away from the elephant in the room. They address it with grace and with truth and with firm conviction that the Bible is the measuring rod by which all Christian faith and practice ought to be followed by professing believers.

Another common factor among these brothers (and they're not the only ones, there are others, thankfully) is that it doesn't take much googling to find plenty of criticism of all of them, for having the audacity to declare God's truth, God's way. They're accused of being unfairly harsh, judgemental, divisive, mean, rude, old fashioned, out of touch, etc. so on and so forth.

I love what John MacArthur said here:
"Truth and error cannot be combined to yield something beneficial."

and then again here:

"If we really believe the Word of God is true, we know that everything opposing it is error. And we are to yield no ground whatsoever to error"
(source)


HT: CampOnThis

Reflections of the Times

Pulpit Magazine

*******

In an unrelated matter -

Heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to Steven Curtis Chapman and his family on the tragic news that his five-year old daughter Maria was accidentally killed in the driveway of their home.

4 comments:

spud tooley said...

interesting post, christine, the links to other sites, too.

here's your homework assignment:

i want you to print out your post and all the other posts you reference, and staple them together in the upper-left corner.

at the top of the first page, write: "scene one".

i then want you to go into your bathroom and stand in front of the mirror. i want you to imagine that the image in your mirror is a character from the gospels: the woman caught in adultery.

i'd like you to run through the script twice - the first time, i want you to imagine yourself in the role of one of the Pharisees that brought the woman to Jesus. read through all the posts. let your voice rise and fall with the scene.

give it your best shot.

then, i want you to imagine yourself playing the role of Jesus, and reading the papers in your hand to the image in the mirror through His persona.

which part felt more comfortable?

mike rucker
fairburn, georgia, usa
mikerucker.wordpress.com

Christinewjc said...

Mike,

The post has nothing to do with the woman caught in adultery. It has to do with sharing truth and exposing error.

The current conversation at these blogs is about believers who either won't face the truth and/or, disparage, mock, or show disdain against the messenger(s). In some cases, certain blog owners shut down their blog threads - simply because they don't like what they are hearing (reading).

If that happens to make you feel uncomfortable, then look in the mirror and examine your own motives here.

SteveJ said...

Hey Mike Rucker. I have a homework assignment for YOU. Do some study into the textual evidence for that story of the woman in adultery. I think you'll find it was never part of the original gospel of John.

spud tooley said...

ah, stevej, well said.

what other pieces of the canon do we want to do away with?

please, be specific.

and, of course, objective - don't limit it to just the verses you don't like...

especially those that paint jesus as full of grace, and not just truth.

mike rucker
fairburn, georgia, usa
mikerucker.wordpress.com