There is biblical precedent for allowing some pagan influences continue in the Church if they have been redeemed and given new meaning. Consider for example in Judges 6:25 where God tells Gideon to tear down the altar of Baal that was built by his fathers. It was on the very same spot where people worshipped Baal and Asherah that Gideon was commanded by the Lord to build a new altar to Him. Imagine the significance of the supremacy of Yahweh, declared in such an act.
Today, some folks in our tradition are struggling with some of the "pagan elements" still lurking around in our worship. Questions like, isn't just Easter a pagan holiday? and "what about Christmas wreaths and advent candles?" Every year when the holiday season comes closer, we start to scuttle around these concerns. This is not a cut and dry issue, by any means. Israel plundered the gold of Egypt and we must recognize that all truth is God's truth. The ancient church evangelized pagan lands not by wiping out everything about the indigenous cultures, but by tearing down the pagan altars and reconstituting the claim of the supremacy and Lordship of Jesus Christ. Augustine in his On Christian Teaching said the same could be done regarding good pagan music. Why should the devil have all the good music, was the question Luther asked.Calvin himself was no one to give admittance to pagan ideas, but he saw the value of the church celebrating the "dominical holidays", like Christmas and Easter.
When we study history and see a memory of a pagan past, it is a reminder of the victory of Christ and His kingdom over all idolatry and false religion. It is not an accommodation to paganism, but a triumph and defeat over it. Yet, Calvin reminds us of our own predilection towards idolatry. We are idol makers. Just as Gideon later made a religious relic from the gold of his victorious spoils, which then became a snare to his family and all of Israel (Judges 8:27). We too should remember than any tradition we celebrate should not bind us or inhibit our true worship of our Triune God. Only then do our past victories turn into present defeats.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Yet I Sin - Confessing Sin
Eternal Father,
Thou art good beyond all thought, But I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind; My lips are ready to confess, but my heart is slow to feel, and my ways reluctant to amend. I bring my soul to thee; break it, wound it, bend it, mould it. Unmask to me sin’s deformity, that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.
Work in me more profound and abiding repentance; Give me the fullness of a godly grief that trembles and fears, yet ever trusts and loves. Grant that through the tears of repentance I may see more clearly the brightness and glories of the saving Cross of Jesus Christ. Amen. (from Valley of Vision*)
Thou art good beyond all thought, But I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind; My lips are ready to confess, but my heart is slow to feel, and my ways reluctant to amend. I bring my soul to thee; break it, wound it, bend it, mould it. Unmask to me sin’s deformity, that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.
Work in me more profound and abiding repentance; Give me the fullness of a godly grief that trembles and fears, yet ever trusts and loves. Grant that through the tears of repentance I may see more clearly the brightness and glories of the saving Cross of Jesus Christ. Amen. (from Valley of Vision*)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
A Year in Mexico
My oldest daugher is raising support with MTW to be a missionary intern in Monterrey, Mexico where she will work with the team of missionaries in a new church plant and an orphanage. She will no doubt use her gifts in music and the guitar for the glory of God. Check out her support level and continue to pray for her. www.ayearinmexico.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Why We Choose Christian Education
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deut. 11:18-19 (NIV)
“The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright and out of that knowledge to love Him, to imitate Him, to be like Him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.” – John Milton
“I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt…. I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth.” – Martin Luther
Several years ago, I wrote an article on why our family decided to home school our children. We have done so for eleven years now, having seen two daughters finish high school and one to finish a bachelor’s degree at a distinctively Christian college. Today I am even more convinced that pursuing an educational path that recognizes the centrality of Christian truth is never the more critical. When school started up this past month, we believed God led us to enroll our last two daughters in a Christian School. Every year in fact, we prayed and sought the Lord about the educational choices we made.
What I wrote about education years ago, still shapes my thinking. Here’s a part of what I said in the article:
“The three greatest intellectual forces of our day have been Darwin, Marx and Freud. All three started a revolution in the way we think about the world, and understanding of our world apart from the knowledge of God. Most educational systems of the secular world are influenced by these views to some degree. While there are very few outright atheists in our country, faith in general has been relegated to private opinion and to matters of personal taste. We believe faith and education, as Scripture teach us are inseparably linked.
We believe public education had an important role in serving our society. But, what was once a way to give education to all citizens regardless of class, race or ability, has turned to what John Dewey envisioned as a way to free the individual from the tyranny of the religious mind. Today, most education is little more than indoctrination into the secular world-views that undermine a Biblical world-view. ... We desire to reform our culture and to influence it, but as parents our first obligation before God, is to shape the hearts and the minds of our children and not let others shape the formative years of their lives. As Timothy Dwight put it, “To commit our children to the care of irreligious persons is to commit lambs to the superintendency of wolves.”
We are not reactionary isolationists, who seek to withdraw from the world. Like most home educators we are taking a proactive role in shaping the lives of our children to make a difference in the next generation of our society. We believe to follow the currents of popular society is to invite disaster upon our children and diminish our Christian influence in the world for decades to come.”
Now that we take our girls to a Christian school everyday does not change that commitment or abrogate our God-given responsibility to educate our children. What it means is it gives us greater cause to be ever diligent in watching over what they learn, engaging with teachers and administrators and connecting with our children in their studies and family worship. An article in World Magazine recently highlighted the choices Christian families have in education. It offers a balanced perspective on what parents choose, recognizing that not everybody is the same. See the article http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15835.
My hope is that many young parents today will make one of the most important decisions they will ever face with prayer and wisdom.
“The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright and out of that knowledge to love Him, to imitate Him, to be like Him, as we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.” – John Milton
“I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt…. I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth.” – Martin Luther
Several years ago, I wrote an article on why our family decided to home school our children. We have done so for eleven years now, having seen two daughters finish high school and one to finish a bachelor’s degree at a distinctively Christian college. Today I am even more convinced that pursuing an educational path that recognizes the centrality of Christian truth is never the more critical. When school started up this past month, we believed God led us to enroll our last two daughters in a Christian School. Every year in fact, we prayed and sought the Lord about the educational choices we made.
What I wrote about education years ago, still shapes my thinking. Here’s a part of what I said in the article:
“The three greatest intellectual forces of our day have been Darwin, Marx and Freud. All three started a revolution in the way we think about the world, and understanding of our world apart from the knowledge of God. Most educational systems of the secular world are influenced by these views to some degree. While there are very few outright atheists in our country, faith in general has been relegated to private opinion and to matters of personal taste. We believe faith and education, as Scripture teach us are inseparably linked.
We believe public education had an important role in serving our society. But, what was once a way to give education to all citizens regardless of class, race or ability, has turned to what John Dewey envisioned as a way to free the individual from the tyranny of the religious mind. Today, most education is little more than indoctrination into the secular world-views that undermine a Biblical world-view. ... We desire to reform our culture and to influence it, but as parents our first obligation before God, is to shape the hearts and the minds of our children and not let others shape the formative years of their lives. As Timothy Dwight put it, “To commit our children to the care of irreligious persons is to commit lambs to the superintendency of wolves.”
We are not reactionary isolationists, who seek to withdraw from the world. Like most home educators we are taking a proactive role in shaping the lives of our children to make a difference in the next generation of our society. We believe to follow the currents of popular society is to invite disaster upon our children and diminish our Christian influence in the world for decades to come.”
Now that we take our girls to a Christian school everyday does not change that commitment or abrogate our God-given responsibility to educate our children. What it means is it gives us greater cause to be ever diligent in watching over what they learn, engaging with teachers and administrators and connecting with our children in their studies and family worship. An article in World Magazine recently highlighted the choices Christian families have in education. It offers a balanced perspective on what parents choose, recognizing that not everybody is the same. See the article http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15835.
My hope is that many young parents today will make one of the most important decisions they will ever face with prayer and wisdom.
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