Starting about 3 weeks ago when we had a pre-spring warm spell, I started looking longingly at my fishing stuff hanging in the garage. Regrettably, I have not done a lot of hunting or fishing in the last year (back surgery and busy schedule hindered these activities). So today…today I changed my schedule and determined to spend THE ENTIRE DAY TROUT FISHING. Oh, let me tell you, it was to be a wonderful day.
I woke up this morning and it was RAINING! Arrrgh! "I’m doing it anyway," I decided. I got all my rain gear and extra clothing together, packed it along with my fly fishing gear and headed down the road toward the Hiwassee river (one of my favorite places in this world). I decided to go all out, so I stopped by Bojangles for one of my favorite indulgences—a country-ham-and-egg biscuit, and discovered that I had left my wallet at home! Arrgh! I emptied out my ashtray (where I keep my loose change), paid for the food, and back-tracked home. 40 minutes after I left home the first time I’m on the rainy road again (after grabbing my spinning rod—just in case) and I realize I don’t have a current hunting/fishing license (it expired March 1)! Arrrgh! So I go to Wally World and pick one up.
"Now," I say to myself, "I’m going fishing." The rain was coming down pretty hard by then but there was no wind. "Nothing’s going to stop me." I was convincing myself that I could fly fish in the cold rain as I pulled up to the little fly-fishing store just a mile from my favorite spot where I could buy some tippet and bead-heads (fly fishing stuff). It was CLOSED! Arrrgh! I knew that the nearest place to buy tippet (which I had to have) was 45 minutes away! "Ok Lord, what’s going on?" I protested out loud. I was feeling sorry for myself. "This is crazy!" I said and got back in my truck. At this point, I decided to go back 5 miles and buy some worms and just fish with my spinning rod. It was still raining. I was not happy. I bought the worms and headed toward my spot again. About 500 yards past the fly-fishing store I was aghast to find that THE ROAD WAS CLOSED!! ARRRGH! "You’ve got to be kidding me!" I just sat there in my truck staring at the "Road Closed" sign and caution tape blocking the road. I was numb. I started to turn around and I saw a dump truck coming down the closed road.
"What’s going on?" I yelled to the driver.
"Cleaning up a little landslide," was the reply.
"When will it open back up?" I asked. I thought to myself, "I don’t even know why I asked. It’s obvious that God doesn’t want me to fish today. I’m just going to go home."
"We’re pretty much done. I guess you can come on through if you want since you’ve got a 4wd. Just be careful."
The rain stopped (literally and figuratively)! I drove the mile-or-so and saw the blessed river. There were NO other cars. "I’m the only one fishing today," I thought. I pulled up to a beautiful spot, put on my waders, vest, and gear, and got in the water. The sun came out. I put on a worm and cast it into the water. Bite. The first of MANY trout, and it was a big beautiful rainbow. The wind picked up. "It’s a good thing I brought this spinning…" I stopped in mid-thought. If I wouldn’t have left my wallet at home, I wouldn’t have picked up my spinning rod. If I wouldn’t have had all the delays, I would have fished in the rain and would’ve been soaked. I thought about all the other set-backs I had experienced. Each one had a purpose. Each one. Whoa.
"Thank you, Lord," I said out loud.
Today I caught a boat-load of fish (I’m exaggerating, but not much). I really lost count. I caught them on worms, corn, fake salmon eggs, rooster-tails, and virtually everything else I threw in the water. I fished all day and left the river when it was dark. It was a beautiful day. A little windy, but beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever had more pure, relaxing, refreshing, contemplative, fun. Nothing was on my mind but beauty, fish, and the Creator who made it all. It was worship.
thoughts of an aspiring disciple, husband, dad, & pastor
Monday, March 31, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Concerning Calvin...
Ok, guess it’s time for another email and answer. Pretty regularly I get a question about how Calvinistic I am (or our church is). At risk of making everyone mad (the Calvinism vs. Arminianism debates tend to polarize Christians), below is a recent question and my answer (in part). As usual, I used a faux name for the inquirer.
-----Original Message-----
From: email address withheld
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 4:31 PM
To: Ellen Bright
Subject: RE: Doctrinal statement
Ellen, thank you very much! Would you mind forwarding a question to Chad regarding 3. About Jesus Christ?
My 2 questions are these: The (Providence Church) doctrinal statement under 3, sentence 2, reads that Jesus "offered Himself as the penal substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross"...
1. Are you saying that Jesus died for "all" elect sinners that God had predestined before the foundation of the world...or...all sinners (every single person on earth ever born, every single person who goes to heaven or to hell).
2. Do you teach that regeneration (being born again/born from above) precedes faith...or that faith precedes regeneration? Another way of saying it is...do you teach that we are born again to be able to believe in Christ or do you teach that we believe in Christ to be able to be born again?
Thank you very much!
Very respectfully in Christ,
Tom
Hey Tom,
Ahh the ole’ debate. Fun isn’t it? Wish I had more time to engage you more completely—hope my short answer will suffice.
Solid, Bible-believing Christians can disagree about the L, and I (and perhaps even the U—as there are different definitions floating about of "Unconditional Election") of TULIP. As you saw in our doctrinal statement that Ellen sent you, we frequently quote Augustine who said that there are some matters on which we must have unity and some on which we can have liberty. We see that the finer points of Calvinism are some of those "liberty" matters. Everyone who joins our church must agree that all are born sinners and that all who receive Christ will persevere (T and P)—on these we clearly state our Calvinistic stance. On the others we allow room for different opinions.
Personally I believe (in short) that Christ’s saving work on the cross is general in potential and limited in application (applying only to those who believe—who were, of course, predestined by God—the elect, if you will.) But I believe that the intent of Christ’s death is not the main issue, but rather, what his death actually accomplished. To me the main issue of "Limited Atonement" is that Christ’s death means something different to the elect than it does to the non-elect. As John Piper wrote, "We do not deny that all men are the intended beneficiaries of the cross in some sense. 1 Timothy 4:10 says that Christ is ’the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.’ What we deny is that all men are intended as the beneficiaries of the death of Christ in the same way. All of God’s mercy toward unbelievers—from the rising sun (Matthew 5:45) to the worldwide preaching of the gospel (John 3:16)—is made possible because of the cross." Or you could say it like this: Jesus’ death accomplished much more for the elect than it did for the non-elect. Unlike some, I believe and proclaim that God loves all humanity and gave his life for the whole world, making his grace available to anyone who would believe—because that’s what the Bible teaches. Our doctrinal statement is not meant to be either a general OR limited atonement statement. And please remember: no human statement of beliefs is inerrant. This is why we say our true creed is the Bible (which is inerrant).
As to the-chicken-or-the-egg questions of which came first, faith or regeneration...if FORCED I will err on the side of God’s sovereignty. I am a Calvinist. However, I am quite comfortable with holding these "which came first" questions in tension. I am comfortable with a "neither came first" kind of answer when I consider the fact that God is unaffected by time nor is he bound by a time-line. He, while in eternal existence before the creation of time itself, both predestined and chose those who would be saved AND foreknew those who would by their own free will choose him. I see no contradiction when I consider his perfect providence and infinite wisdom. I know, I know...philosophical purists really don’t like that kind of answer. But I believe that God is far greater than what we pitiful humans can possibly comprehend intellectually. He is extra-dimensional in every way. How dare I try to make him fit in a box constructed of a man-made philosophical system? I choose (sorry) not to do that.
We have decided not to make these Calvinism/Arminianism philosophical banterings litmus tests for our church membership or Christian fellowship. 2-pointers are welcome (they must acknowledge God’s sovereignty) and 5-pointers are welcome (it mustn’t affect their commitment to evangelism). Again as Augustine said, "In some things...liberty. In all things...Charity." In my opinion it does not bring glory to God to be divisive about these non-essentials. There are hyper-Calvinists who can come off as condescending to those with whom they disagree. It’s fun stuff to talk about, it causes me to seek God’s heart in the pages of the Scriptures, but its not worth dividing over! We’ve lost people who thought I was too Arminian and some who thought I was too Calvinistic! Oh well. Spurgeon had the same problem (not that I am in any way worthy to be compared with Spurgeon!).
Blessings,
Chad
-----Original Message-----
From: email address withheld
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 4:31 PM
To: Ellen Bright
Subject: RE: Doctrinal statement
Ellen, thank you very much! Would you mind forwarding a question to Chad regarding 3. About Jesus Christ?
My 2 questions are these: The (Providence Church) doctrinal statement under 3, sentence 2, reads that Jesus "offered Himself as the penal substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross"...
1. Are you saying that Jesus died for "all" elect sinners that God had predestined before the foundation of the world...or...all sinners (every single person on earth ever born, every single person who goes to heaven or to hell).
2. Do you teach that regeneration (being born again/born from above) precedes faith...or that faith precedes regeneration? Another way of saying it is...do you teach that we are born again to be able to believe in Christ or do you teach that we believe in Christ to be able to be born again?
Thank you very much!
Very respectfully in Christ,
Tom
Hey Tom,
Ahh the ole’ debate. Fun isn’t it? Wish I had more time to engage you more completely—hope my short answer will suffice.
Solid, Bible-believing Christians can disagree about the L, and I (and perhaps even the U—as there are different definitions floating about of "Unconditional Election") of TULIP. As you saw in our doctrinal statement that Ellen sent you, we frequently quote Augustine who said that there are some matters on which we must have unity and some on which we can have liberty. We see that the finer points of Calvinism are some of those "liberty" matters. Everyone who joins our church must agree that all are born sinners and that all who receive Christ will persevere (T and P)—on these we clearly state our Calvinistic stance. On the others we allow room for different opinions.
Personally I believe (in short) that Christ’s saving work on the cross is general in potential and limited in application (applying only to those who believe—who were, of course, predestined by God—the elect, if you will.) But I believe that the intent of Christ’s death is not the main issue, but rather, what his death actually accomplished. To me the main issue of "Limited Atonement" is that Christ’s death means something different to the elect than it does to the non-elect. As John Piper wrote, "We do not deny that all men are the intended beneficiaries of the cross in some sense. 1 Timothy 4:10 says that Christ is ’the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.’ What we deny is that all men are intended as the beneficiaries of the death of Christ in the same way. All of God’s mercy toward unbelievers—from the rising sun (Matthew 5:45) to the worldwide preaching of the gospel (John 3:16)—is made possible because of the cross." Or you could say it like this: Jesus’ death accomplished much more for the elect than it did for the non-elect. Unlike some, I believe and proclaim that God loves all humanity and gave his life for the whole world, making his grace available to anyone who would believe—because that’s what the Bible teaches. Our doctrinal statement is not meant to be either a general OR limited atonement statement. And please remember: no human statement of beliefs is inerrant. This is why we say our true creed is the Bible (which is inerrant).
As to the-chicken-or-the-egg questions of which came first, faith or regeneration...if FORCED I will err on the side of God’s sovereignty. I am a Calvinist. However, I am quite comfortable with holding these "which came first" questions in tension. I am comfortable with a "neither came first" kind of answer when I consider the fact that God is unaffected by time nor is he bound by a time-line. He, while in eternal existence before the creation of time itself, both predestined and chose those who would be saved AND foreknew those who would by their own free will choose him. I see no contradiction when I consider his perfect providence and infinite wisdom. I know, I know...philosophical purists really don’t like that kind of answer. But I believe that God is far greater than what we pitiful humans can possibly comprehend intellectually. He is extra-dimensional in every way. How dare I try to make him fit in a box constructed of a man-made philosophical system? I choose (sorry) not to do that.
We have decided not to make these Calvinism/Arminianism philosophical banterings litmus tests for our church membership or Christian fellowship. 2-pointers are welcome (they must acknowledge God’s sovereignty) and 5-pointers are welcome (it mustn’t affect their commitment to evangelism). Again as Augustine said, "In some things...liberty. In all things...Charity." In my opinion it does not bring glory to God to be divisive about these non-essentials. There are hyper-Calvinists who can come off as condescending to those with whom they disagree. It’s fun stuff to talk about, it causes me to seek God’s heart in the pages of the Scriptures, but its not worth dividing over! We’ve lost people who thought I was too Arminian and some who thought I was too Calvinistic! Oh well. Spurgeon had the same problem (not that I am in any way worthy to be compared with Spurgeon!).
Blessings,
Chad
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