Let me start an investigation of the third movement of Paul’s defense by directing attention to Russ’ series on Calvanism. There are many discussions that may arise based on very old arguments that I don’t want to spend (too much) time discussing. Not that the discussions shouldn’t be—but rather it detracts from my purpose of going through the book of Romans. Calvinists and Arminians would both agree that their respective stance is a systematic doctrine. These camps do not establish their doctrine solely on the grounds of these three chapters of the Bible so I will not limit my overview of these chapters to those doctrines either.
Category: church
Every Halloween Christians argue about what they should do on Halloween (I dealt with that here). Every Christmas and Easter another group of Christians points out the pagan origins of those holidays and level a similar charge. But rarely has the same point been raised about Thanksgiving. “It’s a time to thank God for all He has done” are the usual words while any pagan relationship to the holiday is ignored. My main premise with this post is not to validate or deny the celebration of the day but rather to show how far spread certain practices and celebrations are across religions and how that’s not surprising in the least.
Traditionally, on October 31st, 1517 Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg—I guess that was his blog. The document is concerned with the authority of the pope in regard to indulgences and most of us Protestant Children of the Reformation would look back at the thing with a quizzical raised eyebrow—it means little to us today. I and countless believers who hold to the traditions shouted from barrack-tops are grateful for the unearthed truths and even repeat the Sola-statements: By Grace Alone, by Faith Alone, by Scripture Alone, by Christ alone, Glory to only God. But do we remember the price?
Years ago someone from my old church handed me a Chick tract on the “true meaning†of Halloween; it scared me (and it scared Joe Carter—let him link to it). Mind you, I saw The Exorcist when I was eight and the Lord saved me two weeks later—even so, Chick scared me. But as I grew older I came to see that many of the things Chick said were not sound and with Halloween specifically I had to draw (sorry) my own conclusions. After all, if I was to be a husband and a father I would have to have some solid convictions to share with the family. So should a Christian observe Halloween?
In my experience urban Teens have usually appealed to 1 Corinthians 9 for supporting the way they dress, act and use modern vernacular: Apparently adults are thinking the same thing about how to approach society in general. “To preach the gospel to those bar hoppers—I have to go to the bar and have a drink with them!†Centurion’s post on TeamPyro that circumstantially deals with Driscoll but really is concerned with the vehicle for the Gospel sparked this post so I wanted to look at this: Does Paul’s statement of becoming all things to all people mean becoming just like them so that we can preach to them?