Christian Nationalism? First Things First.

By all means, let nations be Christian. Christ is not only Prophet, and Priest, but King. And the government of every nation owes explicit allegiance and submission to Him.

But as transgression of the first table of the law is rampant in their homes and congregations, men who are waking up about the second table are in danger of letting zeal run without knowledge. 

It is a trap to think that one can make a nation Christian, when the home and the church have yet to recover the right worship of God as the rhythm of our days and weeks, and the heartbeat of lives lived in communion with Him, and therefore diligently offered as sacrifice unto Him.

"Christian" Music?

I got to work from a beautiful conference room in a hospital most of today. When I turned to go home, the maps app told me that the drive would be 20 minutes longer if I returned at that time, due to traffic. So I got a $1 bottomless drink and worked from a Wendy's. 

They're playing what I assume are the current "Christian hits." Even when quoting or alluding to Scripture, the songs don't sound at all like Scripture (generally) or the Psalms (specifically). Many of these songs are even unintentionally blasphemous. Musically, the timbre is so indulgent of the self rather than expressive of greater realities. It's been quite the experience (enough to take the time to break from work to post this).

And to listen to it, you would think that man's biggest problem is that his feelings have been hurt and that he feels badly about himself. It occurs to me that American Christianity is ultradistorted, not experiencing "real" suffering like the vast majority of the church throughout the whole of history. And, of course, we are theologically distorted by our ignorance of the immensity either of God's glory or of the evil of the guilt/power/presence of our sin.

The Sum of the Law

In opening WSC 42 to my children yesterday, we noted that the sum of the law is our relation to the Lawgiver. The second great commandment flows from the first because man is made in God's image. 

One thing I forgot to tell them this time (though we have done, many times) is that man's being made in God's image is because of how God had decreed to make the ultimate display of Himself and His glory in the Son: as the incarnate God and Savior. 

In this way, the sum of the law is intimately tied to knowing Jesus as God, glorifying Jesus as God, loving Jesus as God, and enjoying Jesus as God. 

Apart from this, there is neither loving God nor loving neighbor. The proper way to love God is to know and love Him especially through His Son. The proper way to love oneself is to love God in this way. And the proper way to love our neighbor is to aim, in all of our law-keeping, at his loving God in this way.

Impietism More Widespread and Dangerous than Pietism

I realize that there is a possible danger of becoming so reflective about spiritual things that one does not labor well in this life—to be a soul without a body, here, so to speak. And I understand that there is an introspection that is not spiritual at all, for it dwells little upon the Lord Himself and much upon the labyrinth of one's own thoughts and affections. Yes, there is such a thing as false piety. And it may or may not be helpful to call it "pietism" (aside from the fact that this is a technical term for splinter-movements within Lutheranism).

But I don't think I have ever met such a person. Ours is an age of epidemic, lethal impiety. The visible church is full of those who profess faith but have little thought of God, take little time with Him, make much of the temporal and little of the spiritual. They treat the means of grace as if they have little effect upon real life, spiritual pleasures and blessings as if they are worth much less than temporal. Of such the churches are full. And yet there are many who constantly warn against "pietism" in the churches, warning against too much of an emphasis upon certain habits and realities that actually comprise a necessary and crucial biblical piety. 

So, dear reader, watch out for those who are always railing against "pietism." It may be that they are selling you a soul-destroying impietism, by which you will assure yourself of spiritual life and forgiveness and godliness, where there really is none.

Does the ARP Form of Government Really Give the General Synod the Right to Dissolve a Presbytery?

In my recap of Day 2 of the General Synod, I wrote of the two options that were before us at the time: "(1) General Synod dissolves Second Presbytery (which it has the right to do, for any reason, without process, in the form of government)."

I must clarify, now, and admit that I was simply relaying what we were told on the floor of the General Synod meeting.

2024 General Synod, Day 3 Recap

Thank you, especially to the brethren of the Hopewell congregation, for the keen interest in how things go with our Lord's church in the ARP, and for giving yourselves to prayer for it. Since these include my own personal observations, I'm posting these summaries here, rather than on the church blog. If you'd like to try to keep up with the General Synod, you can see the Synod materials here, and watch the live streams here.

2024 General Synod, Day 2 Recap

Thank you, especially to the brethren of the Hopewell congregation, for the keen interest in how things go with our Lord's church in the ARP, and for giving yourselves to prayer for it. Since these include my own personal observations, I'm posting these summaries here, rather than on the church blog. If you'd like to try to keep up with the General Synod, you can see the Synod materials here, and watch the live streams here.