No Moderation

An interesting read from an old Issues, Etc. .. (if anyone actually reads this blog)

Issues, Etc. Journal - Spring 1998 - Vol. 3 No. 1

Hitting For The Cycle

What is sanctification? How is it produced? To grow in our Christian faith and life, do we simply go in circles and do the same things over and over again? You got it!

by Don Matzat

On a recent Issues, Etc. interview, we discussed the subject of sanctification. My guest, a Reformed theologian, compared the various views on sanctification with a wind-up doll. When you wind-up the Pentecostal doll, it speaks in tongues. The Reformed doll grabs the third use of the Law. The Holiness doll goes after perfect sanctification. And what about the Lutheran doll? Well, from his perspective, when you wind-up the Lutheran doll it simply goes in circles.

After giving some thought to what he had said, I came to the conclusion that he was right. Lutherans go in circles. Or, to put it into baseball parlance, we hit for the cycle. Let me explain. . .

Think of a baseball diamond. At home plate, put the Law. At first base, the Gospel. At second base, Faith. At third base, Good Works or the Christian Life.

Now then, when an unbeliever steps up to the plate, the first thing he is hit with is the Law. He becomes aware of his sin before God.

This drives him to first base where the Gospel confronts him with the Good News of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

As he rounds first base, the Holy Spirit produces faith causing him to grasp the Good News and rejoice in his salvation.

As he rounds second base, faith, being no idle notion, brings the Holy Spirit, and produces good works. His life is changed as he motors to the Good Works of third base.

In the third base coaching box there are a variety of coaches holding up the "stop" sign.

"Stop," they cry. "Come over here and speak in tongues to get really holy." Others offer the dream of perfect sanctification. Some promote their own evangelical house rules – don’t drink, smoke, dance, or go to movies. Some theologians of the Reformation group are debating the third use of the Law.

The Apostle Paul is also in the coaches box waving the runner through. "Get to home plate," he shouts. "Keep going! Don’t stop at third base."

So the runner rounds third and heads for home saying to himself, "Wow! I am really a good, holy Christian."

As he gets to home plate, he is in for a surprise. He gets nailed by the Law again. This time, though, it is not Romans 1 and 2, but rather Romans 7.

"So, you think you are really hot stuff," the Law says to him. "Quite a good Christian, eh? You are merely a wretched man born out of the wretched root of your father Adam."

Filled with sorrow and contrition, he wanders back up the first base line declaring, "Almighty God, merciful Father, I a poor, miserable sinner. . ." This time, as he gets to first base, he not only hears the Good News of forgiveness, but his pastor is waiting for him with words of absolution – "I forgive you!" He also hears Jesus saying to him, "Take and eat, this is my Body and Blood given for your forgiveness."

"This is fantastic," he cries as his faith is again built up and his heart is filled with great joy. He heads toward second base renewed in his faith. As a result, his behavior, actions, and attitudes are again being adjusted.

This time, as he arrives at third base, the coaches box is filled to overflowing. Everyone wants him to stop. One former football coach offers "Promise Keeping." Someone else wants to put a "What would Jesus do?" bracelet on his wrist. Bearded psychologists are there offering self-esteem, support groups, and help for his wounded inner child.

The apostle Paul is still there waving him home. But this time he is being backed up with some of the saints of the past – Martin Luther and C.F.W. Walther.

So our faithful baserunner heads back to home plate only to get clobbered with the Law again.

He continues to run the bases and his understanding of sin deepens. He grows in the knowledge of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. His Faith increases and good works freely flow from his life. Much to his amazement, as he reads the Bible, he discovers that this is exactly what God wants for him.

As he grows, he learns to love the worship of the Church. He discovers that various elements of the liturgy deal with either the Law, Gospel, Faith, or Good Works.

The traditional hymnody of the Church enhances his experience of Christian growth. He sings with enthusiasm "Alas, My God, My Sins are Great," "Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness," "My Faith Looks Up to Thee," and "May We Thy Precepts Lord Fulfill." In so doing, he is running the bases again and growing.

So, we go in circles! Fight the good fight, and run the good race, but whatever you do – don’t stop at third base!

As a Park Sloper, I'm sad to say I'm not completely suprised by this nonsense, but it makes for an interesting read nonetheless. Check the below link to the article in Gawker.

The Park Slope Hat Spat: Read All the Emails - Gawker:

" few weeks ago, a member of the Park Slope Parents e-mail forum who’d encountered a stray piece of winterwear in the neighborhood posted a notice to the group titled “Found: boy’s hat.” … [S]ubscriber “Lisa” went public with her problems regarding the gender-specifying description of the hat. Wondering how such a categorization would feel to a spiky-hat-wearing girl, Lisa wrote, “It’s innocent little comments like this that I find the most hurtful.” A third member responded soon after, saying such political correctness drove her “up the wall,” and a heated discussion ensued. Lisa’s supporters questioned their opponents’ commitment to “the free interchange of ideas and questions” … while an opposing faction expressed facetious dismay that the original poster, who had described the hat as likely belonging to “an older child,” was not more considerate toward “younger children who happen to have large heads.” … [O]ne poster questioned the use of “hat,” asking if the object might be more sensitively labeled a “soft, porous bowl.”

It’s all pleasantly, kookily amusing, right? Not quite. In summarized form, yes, it’s amusing enough. But we had a chance to read the entire exchange — stretching on for days, with charges of political correctness and anti-political correctness, sexism and stereotyping — and we’re much less amused. The whole thing is after the jump; prepare to be intrigued, amazed, disgusted — and quite certain you could never, ever be paid enough to move out there."

The Park Slope Hat Spat: Read All the Emails - Gawker:

Mark: 8:31-39

31He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

I was thinking about the text, and specifically 'he must deny himself and take up his cross'. I've been reading the AA Big Book, and lo and behold AA has a lot to say about this 'denial'. AA is strong on the diagosis of sin - ie that our problems 'arise out of ourselves' - that we're selfish and self-seeking, etc. . . We're given a 'daily reprive contingent upon the maintance of our spiritual condition' - and 'our very lives as ex-problem drinkers depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs.' The denial of self boils down to service - that we've been given a second chance on life to help others - not to win a bunch of cash and prizes or to have this 'glorious life' - but to help those who still suffer. It's about serving others; not ourselves - though by servicing others we too are served - another paradox!

It's all a big Chrisitan microchosim - we're saved by grace to serve others by proclaiming the good news (in aa speak - to proclaim that there is a solution to the alcoholic who still suffers...) I think the denial is that which pushes us out and away from our own natural an innate wiring that seeks to serve ourselves. (to be self-justifying/our own Gods as it were) Our default mode as drunks (sinners) is to do for ourselves at the expense of everyone else. For the alcoholic this is life threating,b/c the more it becomes about self again - the closer he is to another drink - and to drink is to die. Drunks get to see the mortal consequences of sin up close and personal. Intense.

So much of the AA solution is about admitting a 'lack of power' (Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves.p.45) It's amazing that the solution to the drink is focused on service. Doing the inventory to look at resetnements/fear/past sex conduct - is all about revealing where the drunk is wrong; where he is self-propelled - and pushes him to make 'amends' - to clear wreckage so we can serve others. Pretty cool.

Anyway, I'm rambling a bit, but I guess the crux of what I'm getting at is I think the 'deny himself' is much much deeper than the denial of worldly or physical comforts, but really hits us where it hurts - the denial of our intrisic selfish/self-seeking comforts-the deinal of our own self-diefication or self justification. I see it a lot in marriage - 'love your wife as Christ loved the church' - self sacrifical love - service that hurts - esp. when I WANT to be right/justified.

Some selected excerpts from the "Big Book"
The AA Eleventh Step Prayer a.k.a. St. Francis Prayer

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace
That where there is hatred I may bring love
That where there is wrong I may bring the spirit of forgiveness
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony
That where there is error, I may bring truth
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith
That where there is despair, I may bring hope
That where there are shadows, I may bring light
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather
to comfort than to be comforted
to understand than to be undersdood
to love than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Amen. (AA 12 & 12 p.99)


Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs. p.20
Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us. p.77
-------------------------------------------
Selfishness, self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably
find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.

So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own
making. They arise out of ourselves, (ie SIN - my emphasis TB) and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kill us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God's help.

This is the how and the why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn't work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most Good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom. p.62
----------------------------------------------
Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.

These were revolutionary and drastic proposals, but the moment I fully accepted them, the effect was electric. There was a sense of victory, followed by such a peace and serenity as I had never know. There was utter confidence. I felt lifted up, as though the great clean wind of a
mountain top blew through and through. God comes to most men gradually, but His impact on me was sudden and profound.p.14
________________________

My friend had emphasized the absolute necessity of demonstrating these principles in all my affairs. Particularly was it imperative to work with others as he had worked with me. Faith without works was dead, he said. And how appallingly true for the alcoholic! For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge hisspiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If
he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead indeed. With us it is just like that. pp 14-15
_____________________________
Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic.p.31
_________________________

I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots.p.42
But the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly any exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge .p.39

When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crises we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing.p.53

The first requirement is that we be convinced that any life run on self-will can hardly be a success. On that basis we are almost always in collision with something or somebody, even though our motives are good. Most people try to live by self-propulsion. Each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show; is forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet, the scenery and the rest of the players in his own way. If his arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as he wished, the show would be great. Everybody,including himself, would be pleased. Life would be wonderful. In trying to make these arrangements our actor may sometimes be quite virtuous. He may be kind, considerate, patient, generous; even modest and self-sacrificing. On the other hand, he may be mean, egotistical, selfish and dishonest. But, as with most humans, he is more likely to have varied traits.

What usually happens? The show doesn't come off very well. He begins to think life doesn't treat him right.He decides to exert himself more. He becomes, on the next occasion, still more demanding or gracious, as the case may be. Still the play does not suit him. Admitting he may be somewhat at fault, he is sure that other people are more to blame. He becomes angry, indignant, self-pitying. What is his basic trouble? Is he not really a
self-seeker even when trying to be kind? Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only manages well? Is it not evident to all the rest of the players that these are the things he wants? And do not his actions make each
of them wish to retaliate, snatching all they can get out of the show? Is he not, even in his best moments, a producer of confusion rather than harmony?

Our actor is self-centered -- ego-centric, as people like to call it nowadays. He is like the retired business man who lolls in the Florida sunshine in the winter complaining of the sad state of the nation; the minister who sighs over the sins of the twentieth century; politicians and reformers who are sure all would be Utopia if the rest of the world would only behave; the outlaw safe cracker who thinks society has wronged him; and the alcoholic who has lost all and is locked up. Whatever our protestations, are not most of us concerned with ourselves, our resentments, or our self-pity? pp 61-62

Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. p62

Before we begin (our day), we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. p86

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee, Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. p.85

BMW is finally releasing a new line of more 'afforable' mid range 800cc bikes. Their new 1200 twins are bikes I'm just in love with, but at almost 17K out the door, I don't predict there will be any new 1200 twins in my life in the near future (unless I some how score a new gig that is willing to pay me ridiculous amounts of cash).

These new 800 twins, however are another story. At less than 9K, the value proposition becomes a little more 'attainable'. My old R1100S was my dream bike (never should've sold that bike!), and it looks like this new 800S is like it's little brother. I'm excited to take one for a spin when they hit the dealers later this summer!

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If you haven't listened to this show, I couldn't recommend it more highly. It is by far the most consistent and engaging theological resource I've used. They now have FREE PODCASTS for all you iTunes users. Check it. . .

The White Horse Inn

Below are 2 great positings I read on incarnatus est.

Enjoy (if anyone is reading),

Tom

Its crucial : At the same time saint and sinner

From Diane Hampson, Christian Contradictions, p. 24-25.

The formula "simul iustus et peccator" encapsulates the structure of Lutheran thought. As we have seen, the Christian lives by Christ's righteousness, a righteousness which is extrinsic to him. Thus he is, at one and the same time, both a sinner (in himself) but also righteous (in that he lives by God's righteousness). Heiko Oberman expresses this in a helpful manner. Righteousness is not one's property; but one's possession.

For example, the book that I have out of the library is in my possession but not my property… Thus the extra nos shows that justification is not based on a claim of man, on a debitum iustitiae. Another way of putting this is simply to say that God accepts the human just as he is for Christ's sake and that which man is -at least in relation to God - is a sinner.

This for Luther is the message of the gospel, overturning our presupposition that we have first to be good before we can be accepted by God.

What it is important to notice, particularly in view of the debate with Catholicism, is that iustus and peccator are relational terms and we are involved in a relational understanding of what it is to be justified, There is a sense in which neither term refers to the inward 'state' of the person. Certainly neither is to be understood as a quality which could be predicated of the human, understood as a substantial entity.

On the one hand God, for Christ's sake, holds the sinner to be just; he acquits us … Thus we may say that we are indeed to be considered fully just. On the other hand when the human is placed coram deo (before God), faced with God's goodness he must necessarily judge himself a sinner. But again it is not so much that the human is a sinner in himself. It is not that there is nothing good in the human. It is simply that when one considers the nature of God, the human cannot bring anything to God, on account of which God could accept him. In relation to God, he must count himself a sinner. The human thus has a double sense of himself; as both fully just and yet also as a sinner.

http://incarnatusest.blogspot.com/2006/04/its-crucial-at-same-time-saint-and.html

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Its Crucial #2

Are we righteous before God because we have been placed on "the way" by God and so eventually will arrive at righteousness or are we ( as Luther would have it) only by faith in a promise, not by supposing that someday God will help us by his grace actually be righteous.

For Luther and Lutherans there is a contradiction and conflict at the heart of the Christian religion. The conflict is not one of purity (I must be pure, I must attain righteousness with God's help), it is the conflict of faith. God says that I am righteous and yet I can, see, know and feel I am not. The conflict is one over the Word and promise of God versus my sense of sinful self, not over my inner state which by work or acetic practice or the sacramental system of the church God purifies so He can then accept me. No, for Luther, God says, Sinner, I accept you. Thus the conflict.

Again, Hampson in Christian Contradictions(p. 25):

We can express the Lutheran simul in another way; which is present in the quotation which we have just given. The Christian has a double sense of time. He lives 'from' the future, in that his sense of himself now is derived from his sense of Christ. The future is not placed at the end of a via, a path, which consists in his own transformation. Rather -to repeat myself -the Christian lives 'from' that future, for his sense of himself is bound up with that future. It is in this sense that Luther is future orientated. The Christian bases himself on something which is not at his disposal, of which he knows through the promise. Thus the Christian lives by a kind of a dare, which is the nature of faith. He holds in faith to what is scarcely credible, that God accepts him fully and completely for Christ's sake.

In this sense he believes against reason and on the ground of the revelation alone. Faith is eschatalogical in that through belief in that other future it is actualised in the present. Yet, while the Christian knows himself as accepted and living from that future, he is struggling with his present condition in the world. The Lutheran simul iustus et peccator thus brings with it a double sense not only of self but of time … Clearly it is a quite different sense of time from the Catholic, in which the human is at one 'place' (to put it figuratively) on the via which leads from the present to the future.

http://incarnatusest.blogspot.com/2006/04/its-crucial-at-same-time-saint-and.html