The other day I pounded out a blog post for this space and at the very end blogger.com went spastic and I lost it all..... The title of that post was:

What is it We are Afraid of?

Maybe some other day when I have the time, energy, and the burning in the belly...

I think I ended it with, "Perfect love casts out fear..."

... and it does....

Peace,

~ The Billy Goat ~

Observations on the PCA
by John Armstrong

"...The last thing the PCA needs to fear right now is real liberalism. The real danger in the PCA is sectarianism, a sectarianism which threatens to destroy this great fellowship before it begins to reach its fullest missional potential, which I think is still great. This fellowship is not even thirty-five years old ye, but the separatist DNA of its origins may yet slow its dynamic growth significantly in the next few decades if this constant commitment to controversy dosen't stop somewhere. I believe this with all my heart and I think history supports me in this observation. A sustained polemic will never build a great church! It will only produce more and more schism. At some point wiser heads must prevail and this family squabbling needs to stop. I pray for courageous leaders who seek this and who will stand up and say, "Enough!" "

Please click on the link above an read the whole article before responding. I'm not in a position to confirm or deny Armstrong's observations of the Presbyterian Church in America. I can say the description above does describe some other groups, Reformed and otherwise, I'm more familiar with, and the above issue is not limited to just the PCA.

The bottom line: When will we as Christians love and respect one another enough to give each other room for legitimate differences?

I'll close with one other related observation. The Westminster Confession itself yields it's right to settle controversies to the Bible alone. The issue is not if certain viewpoints are consistent with the WCF or not. The issue is are those viewpoints consistent with Scripture alone. If the PCA settles any of its controversies on any other basis, it will have betrayed its heritage of Sola Scriptura, and denied the very confession it says it is upholding.

Semper Reformanda!

~ The Billy Goat ~

Of This and That

"To lose faith and hope is tragic.

I'm not just talking about the loss of Christian hope and faith either... There are those that lose hope and faith in anything at all. No hope period. No faith period.... Totally disillusioned..

Welcome to the nilhism of existential Post-modernity; courtesy of the cultural disillusionment whose genesis came out of four long years in the trenches of France between the years of 1914 - 1918..."

The above is from one of my recent Xanga posts. It's genesis came out of some brief interaction with another younger Xanga member who was raised in a somewhat Evangelical background. Clink on the link above for the full post.

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah (English Standard Version)

The Gospel prophet... Underlining the references to "that day".... Noting the amount of space taken up by God's description of His being as God. If you're going to have a god, why would you want a god who was anything less then this God? The proto-apocalyptic chapters are intriguing.

New Testament Reading: Revelation (Greek/English Interlinear New Testament)

7 Churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls or vials... Notice the use of the word "gan" which is translated "earth" in contrast to the absence of the word "kosmos". The physical earth is clearly in focus... The seals, trumpets, and bowls are consecutive, and not recapitulation of one another.

In Revelation 8:1-5 I find great encouragement regarding prayer. The "prayers of all the saints" I take to refer to the saints of all ages and times. At the consummation of all things those prayers will receive their full answer, in this case specifically, the prayers for justice to be done.

A few years ago I found myself being grabbed by the nape of the neck and dragged kicking, screaming, and protesting back to a basic premillinial view of Revelation. Increasingly more and more I am finding my self dis-enchanted with the amillinial approach to this book of the Bible. In the amill approach, there is in my mind a basic hermeneutical weakness that simply does not do justice to what Revelation says about itself. Nor does that approach do justice to the book of Revelation as revelation from God without which the canon of Scripture would be incomplete.

On a final note: The spring flowers are just about ready to bloom... DST starts tonight.. I really don't like losing an hour... Oh well.....

Sola Deo Gloria!

~ The Billy Goat ~