Why didn't the amillennialist cross the road?

When I was a guest on a show with Carl Trueman and others, I was favored with a list of reasons why the dispensationalist would not cross the road.

I thought it would be unkind not to offer back the same filial gesture, and so... ten reasons why the amillennialist would not cross the road:

1. The road is Jesus. Why would I want to cross Jesus?
2. This road is not mentioned in the Three Forms of Unity.
3. So many have already crossed it before me. Who am I to cross it for myself?
4. "Road" sounds so literal...which means it's carnal, which means No.
5. Two thousand years ago roadcrossing was inaugurated, so I'm already living in the Age of The Other Side of the Road.
6. Nobody said anything about this road before 1800.
7. Hal Lindsey crossed a road once. You'll never catch me doing it.
8. Crossing the road might be taken to mean two ways of salvation.
9. Pretty sure Calvin, Knox, Owen, Berkhof and Van Til never crossed this road, and they're my heroes.
10. People who cross roads are not real Calvinists.
11. "Road" might be used metaphorically. Therefore, there is no road to cross.

Monday Music - "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," Pamela York

Not all of you like jazz (hi, Valerie!), but I do, and I enjoyed this arrangement brought to my attention by reader Penn Tomasetti.

By the way, I am actively soliciting suggestions for Monday Music. I prefer vids of live performances, and the range is just as broad as can be, with the edge given to off-the-beaten-path music. DO NOT use the meta; email me, please. Info in the sidebar under PROFILE.

Reformation Luther-related odds 'n' ends

Howdy friends. At CBC, we're gearing up for a sermon this Sunday on the glorious Biblical truths recovered and highlighted by the Reformers, and a first-ever church-wide Reformation Day celebration next Wednesday.

Triablogue has pointed to a couple of great resources recently, and I wanted to share them with you.

First, Christian Audio is offering a free download of Martin Luther: In His Own Words.

Second, they point to a source dispatching top ten Luther myths.

Third, Roman Catholics officially continue to avoid Luther's devastating Scriptural tear-down of their heresies by pointing to what a flawed man he was. And he was a flawed man. This was never the point; and to my mind it is hardly to Rome's credit that such a flawed man admitted the truth they still ignore and/or pervert. Yet, for what it's worth, there is a site responding in depth with many of the attacks on Luther.

Happy Reformation Day!

Monday music, Reformation Day Edition: Martin Luther done to the Bangles' "Manic Monday"

Happy Reformation Day!

(Thanks to Paula for the tip)

So, what are you (and/or your church) doing for Reformation Day?

This year, October 31 falls on a Sunday, presenting a wonderful opportunity to preach a Reformation-themed sermon. I had that joy four years ago — or, well, I reached for it, since 29 is pretty close to 31. The sermon was called Five "Alones" That Changed Everything, taken from Romans 1:17.

For some 20 or so years, we've had a yearly family tradition. We....

Oh, first, I should say: we don't "do" Halloween. When I was a Dodgers fan, I probably wouldn't have gone to a victory party for the evil Giants. Even more, I just don't see the sense in a Christian joining in a party thrown by the other side. Your mileage may vary.

So anyway, what we do is the kids gather in the front room with a fire going and the lights down, and... so far every year, Dr. Martin Luther has appeared, told about his experience in thunderstorm, his misery as a monk, and the freedom he came to find through the truth of Romans 1:17. Then, so the klein kinder will remember the sweetness of the Gospel, he gives them some chocolate.

It's pretty neat, I guess. But, sadly, I always seem to miss him!

We have opened our house on some years to our church family, hosting a variety of Reformation-themed activities and games. The Presbyterian church we attended and served in for about six years came to embrace it as well, as we brought them our traditions of roasting the Papal bull" (tri-tips), singing The Reformation Polka, and various instructive activities.

You can see posts I've done on Reformation Day (always overlooked by raised-pinkie bloggers, for some reason):

Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here

So, there's ours. What's yours?

October 31, 1517 — in Legos?

Just... oh, my.

Knox and MacLeod: two fiery Scots

Many in Scotland were wowed by the prospect of the Pope's visit.

Not pastor Donald MacLeod. His thoughts:

"On the face of things the forthcoming papal visit to Britain should be an unqualified publicity triumph, offering a heady mixture of theatre, religion and politics. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the event was deliberately timed to clash with the 450th anniversary of the Scottish Reformation. Ironically the spoiling tactic has turned out to be entirely unnecessary. Our SNP Government has no intention whatever of acknowledging Scotland's debt to the Reformation, and even less of honouring John Knox, the greatest of all our nation-builders, but now safely airbrushed out of our history. That he saved us from national economic ruin, laid the foundation of our national system of education and fired us with an aversion to tyranny, now counts for nothing. Our Government is in Knox-denial. Why does secular, humanist Scotland so warmly entertain Catholicism, with all its authoritarianism, and yet register terror at the mere mention of the religion of Knox? Is it just that we're suckers for funny costumes, and love to see old men dressed in ancient Roman togas?"

Oh yeah, I like him.

Meanwhile, John Knox's body lies a-moldering under a parking lot. (Ken Ham offers some good thoughts on two contrasting graves.)

Absurd, offensive, sad. Love Scotland, a lot — but what a sad spiritual course it's taken.

Here's a much more fitting tribute; great pose, at the High Kirk of St Giles, Edinburgh.

UPDATE: my dear wife and DAOD saw and liked this window of Knox preaching at St. Giles:

Happy Reformation Day!

Today marks a glorious turn in God's dealings with the world. Today, God used a deeply flawed man, Martin Luther, to wield a hammer in a way that objectively broke Rome's stranglehold on the human soul, and liberated the Gospel from it's countless obscuring layers of tradition.

Do you go freely to a Baptist / Presbyterian / E Free / miscellaneous / independent church that preaches the Word of God faithfully, preaching the free Gospel of God's free grace in Jesus Christ alone, received through faith alone? And do Roman Catholic armies not break down the doors and throw you all into prison, or burn you all at the stake?

Then thank God for this man, for Martin Luther, and for what He did to and through him. The world you live in is not the world he lived in, and that because of this widespread movement of God.

What does Luther teach us? Many things. To single out but a few: to be used of God, you do not have to be might. You do not have to be perfect. You do not have to start with the majority at your back.

What you need is the Word of God, and that you cling to it faithfully and boldly.

Luther undid Rome, and he still does. Mention him to Romanists, and the apologists become unhinged. They cite this and that absurd and foolish thing that Luther said or did; and, sadly, Luther said and did more than his share of foolish things.

But even this undoes them. I always respond in two ways:

1. Imagine that. So foolish, so weak — and yet even Martin Luther could grasp the Biblical gospel of justification by grace alone though faith alone in Christ alone. What does that say about Rome and all its scholars, who still deny and pervert that Gospel?
   
2. Thank God we're not chained to human tradition, and bound to repeat the errors of our elders — as Roman Catholics, by definition, are! Thank God for the Word and its liberating power and supremacy!

Now some Reformation links for your edification:

• First, Pyromaniacs is back in business, and I've offered a few thoughts
• Piper on Luther is excellent reading
  
• Reformation Day thoughts, chuckles, challenges
• Marking the Reformation
  

Question for my church historian readers: Zwingli and Luther and Marburg

My dear wife has been doing some research preparing for our annual Reformation Celebration. She asks me to pass this question along to you, Dear Reader:

I have read that Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli agreed on 14 of 15 points in the Marburg Colloquy in 1529. However, I can find nowhere what these 15 points are. There has been some reference to the Articles of Schwabach that Luther drew up before hand. Were these the points that were discussed in Marburg? I find 17 or 18 points, not 15.

I don’t know if these 15 or 17 or more points were all discussed or if the meeting really centered around Luther’s and Zwingli’s disagreement over the Lord’s Supper.

I’d really like to know what the 15 points are. How did they come about, and were they discussed and agreed upon in Marburg — except for the meaning of the Lord’s Supper?

Link or documentation of any answer, please.