Airdrie, Alberta Canda
R. Scott Clark writes:
Something I heard recently led to me think about the claim that is frequently made about the three great Western religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We are all frequently said to be “people of the book” and just as frequently said to be “Abraham’s children.” It is sometimes said that, on the basis of these two points of commonality, we should accept one another as equally valid religious traditions with common roots and resources.
Wes Bredenhof writes:
I recently finished reading a book entitled Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centred Church. Authored by Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson, and Eric Geiger, this book could be considered a popular introduction to ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church). The authors are associated with New Calvinism (a.k.a. Young, Restless, and Reformed) and even might want to describe themselves as being ‘Reformed.’
There are many good things to say about this book. Chief among them would be the way in which the authors argue that biblical churches need to be focussed on the Saviour in every aspect of their existence. The authors have a high view of Scripture and that leads them to see rightly many aspects of the doctrine of the church. For example, they argue for the centrality of preaching and the necessity of biblical church discipline. As I was reading Creature of the Word, there were several times where I had to stop and share with my Facebook friends some of its excellent insights.
And yet this book also highlighted for me some significant differences between confessionally Reformed churches and the New Calvinism. While there are many things we can appreciate about this movement, there are also points of departure. They call themselves Calvinists, and in terms of the doctrine of salvation they are. However, I’m quite confident that Calvin would not want his name associated with this book. Let me highlight the main problems under three headings.
In Proverbs 9:8, God says
“A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you;
the wise, when rebuked, will love you”
In that light, consider what David Murray writes:
There is one characteristic that separates the successful from the unsuccessful in every walk of life: teachability.
Those who are teachable, and remain so, usually succeed. The unteachable usually fail. I’ve seen that in business, I’ve seen it in the ministry, I’ve seen it among students, and I’ve seen it in my children.
Tim Challies writes:
Though Satan can never steal the Christian’s crown, though he can never snatch him away from the hand of the Father, he is so envious and malicious that he will leave no stone unturned in robbing Christians of comfort and peace, in making their life miserable, in giving them reason to live in constant sorrow and mourning, doubt and questioning.
Puritan Thomas Brooks once identified eight ways in which Satan keeps Christians—Christians like you!—in this sad, doubting, questioning, condition.
William Boekestein writes:
There was once a powerful Syrian general named Naaman who had contracted the dreaded disease of leprosy. At God’s instruction, the prophet Elisha promised Naaman healing if he would wash in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman was indignant. Dipping in the Jordan was too undignified an act for him, and it didn’t fit his definition of help. If not for the persistence of his servants, he would have returned to Syria unhealed (2 Kings 5:1–14).
For the same reason, many people miss God’s simple, ordinary plan for their spiritual growth—diligent attendance to the means of grace.